As promised, here's the rest of my collection (if you can call it that).
Before I start though,
NONE OF THESE ARE FOR SALE. They are legal to own and keep at home, but buying/selling them is prohibited. Don't ask, cos I don't want to offend anyone by turning them away. I won't tell you where I got them either, so again please don't ask. This thread is for showing off the ones you own, and general discussion. It's not solomon's fucking souk in here.
Another thing I wanna make clear is, whereas I have tried them out on the bag to see what they're like, I would never actually use them on someone. I wouldn't even carry them. But some people seem to have a hard time understanding that people who collect weapons aren't violent sociopaths, so I thought I'd make a point of that.
I'm pretty sure that anyone who has ever bought a set of brass knuckles somewhere, one of the very first things they did was to go and punch some stuff with them on. You can't have a punch bag in the house and
not try them out, let's face it.
With that out of the way, it's time for pretty pictures. I'll start with my favourite:
These ones are hand made, and from what I can tell, from actual brass. I've seen the same ones in other peoples collections so they were probably made in bulk, but they're not neat enough to have been factory machined. I like the rustic look to them, gives them a bit more character.
The fit is almost perfect. There's virtually no finger spacing and the palm brace is a bit more pronounced than normal, so they're really nice to use. Only problem with them is they're quite thin, so the palm brace isn't the comfiest. Hence the wrap. Your girl could demolish a building with these things and not break a nail.
My next favourite is this European T-handle design:
This is a fantastic design, very practical and well thought out. The finger holes get progressively smaller, the palm brace is thicker than the main part and it's nicely rounded to cushion impact better. It's also wrapped with a piece of soft leather which adds a bit of extra grip and comfort. Again, virtually no finger spacing and gripping feels very natural.
In my opinion this is the best mass-produced design out there. I have another one in silver which you can see
here. Wasn't keen on the way it looked so I removed the leather from the palm brace on this one; they're still very comfortable to use.
These are the more iconic American style:
I love how these look, but they're horrible to use. Whereas the finger holes are slightly oval, they're too wide overall so there is considerable spacing of the pinky finger. To hold these with a natural grip would be very bad news for your pinky. Just to clarify, when I say natural grip I don't mean wearing them like rings over a normal fist. That'll break your fingers. The best way to hold them is to have the knuckles over the second knuckle of each finger like
this. Basically as long as the palm brace is sitting tightly and you can put pressure on the pinky without it causing discomfort, you're good to go.
For these ones, holding them in that grip, if a punch were to skim and make contact with just the pinky end, my pinky finger would be on fucking crutches. I have to hold them really tightly with the palm brace higher than normal, right where my fingers meet my palm. It's alright, but the edges are a bit on the sharp side and coupled with the spacing, it's very uncomfortable on the fingers. I can hit the bag as hard as I like with the others, but I wouldn't chance much more than a jab with these. There's just too much stress on the fingers.
The grip feels really unnatural, they dig into your fingers like a motherfucker and they taper in thickness so the palm brace is actually thinner than the striking area too. In my opinion this should be the other way around, like the T-handle versions above. Very cool design, looks great, but unfortunately they're just not practical. If you had gorilla hands they might be ok, or if you're a fan of hammer fists and girl punches they'd also be fine.
These next ones are ABS plastic:
Same deal as before, except the finger holes are circular and they're even wider. If you punched with a natural grip using these, your pinky finger would again be in need of an abulance. If I hold them in the same manner as the previous set though, they're actually ok. They have no taper so they don't hurt the palm as much, but the finger spacing is still pretty uncomfortable. Not
as bad though. I have to say, they're surprisingly sturdy and robust. They weigh next to nothing too.
Speaking of plastic, these are the old ones I mentioned in the first post:
These used to be a 4 finger design, not sure why I modified them to be honest cos they were a perfect fit. I'd love to get another set of these but I can't seem to find them anywhere. They're amazingly comfortable, zero finger spacing, and the grip feels perfectly natural. The ".44 mag" design extends the fingers quite a bit because the palm brace is really long... doesn't really matter, but it does make the fist feel a bit "off". These ones don't extend the fingers whatsoever, so the fist feels perfectly natural. You can actually use these with a normal closed fist, with them right over the fingers. But intact as a 4 finger version, you have to hold them the normal way.
Lastly, these big shiny fuckers:
These actually come in 2 sizes, as do many designs, but most sites only carry the large (and don't care to specify this). I held a set of these years ago and they fit perfectly, so of course I wanted to buy a set... and unfortunately I got the larger size. If you can get them in the smaller size, they're amazing, but the large is just ridiculous. They space the fingers out just as much as the big plastic ones, and at the same time they have the issue with the taper, so the palm brace is much thinner than the striking area. Don't buy these unless you have gorilla hands (or you know for a fact you're getting the smaller size). From what I remember, the smaller ones had pretty much zero finger spacing and were super comfortable... although I didn't hit anything with them, I imagine they would've been really nice to use.
That's all for now. I saw a metal version of those ABS plastic ones, which look cool as fuck. I'm tempted to get those next, but it'll probably be a while before I buy any more. Now let's see yours, mofos!