03-02-2010, 11:53 PM
I find it interesting that, a few years back, it was extremely rare to find any Part 1 replicas with a simulated (or real) index blade break, but now <b>everybody</b> is doing this in some form or other (...even on some otherwise inaccurate gloves). It seems like there has been a great deal of convergence on this feature over the past year, or even the past few months. I recall when I had Chris Grantner make me a custom Numero Uno with this feature, he had only done one other like it up to that point in time (and he had made many, many Numero Unos by then). But now it is nearly standard.In general I find this to be a good thing, because it means replicas on the whole are getting more and more accurate. It is just interesting. The feature has always existed on the original glove. Was it just not noticed by most glovebuilders? Or deemed too trivial to care about until now? The timing of it seems to suggest the extent to which glovebuilders are influenced by each other (or by customers who are requesting features seen on other replicas).I am glad that several very talented glovemakers have recently returned to the scene so that perhaps this will also occur with a variety of other features which have generally been neglected.I personally would love to see some things become equally standard, like:- Blade edging detail (correct straight bevels, no more of the fake edging/honing stuff, and also getting all the minor abrasions)- Finger tip detail (the shaping, and solder and color patterns on the finger tips)- Backplate details (all the little details of the shape and stain, I only know one guy who really nailed this and he is not making gloves now)Hopefully some of the newer replicas (like Travis' new DESA series) will "raise the bar" and make these things commonplace too...