The Armour Archive

Oaken Rose

Notice that I never tried to pass any of that off as fact. Just offered it for whatever it's worth.

Oaken Rose

I heard something very similar, but of course I have no documentation. Supposedly the type of handshake where two people grab eachothers' wrists instead of palms is so they can feel whether or not the other has a dagger hidden in the sleeve, and when the step in and pat eachother on the back it's to...

Oaken Rose

At the risk of temporarily derailing your conversation, I was hoping to teach myself some 3D rendering once I save up enough for a computer upgrade -- I wanted to model the "technological" stuff for a little graphic arts project I have brewing in the back of my head. (Classic sci-fi type stuff: mech...

Oaken Rose

I found sticks of sealing wax (with a pretty good color selection) at a local candle making shop.

Grease the stamp a little before pressing it into the hot wax. Otherwise it will stick and be plenty of trouble to get out of the cooled wax without ripping the paper.

Oaken Rose

Sorry it took me so long to get back; I've been busy with one of the few metalworking commissions I've ever gotten (which is not armour-related, incidentally), so it became priority. Gaston, thanks for the offer. I will more than likely take you up on it. Right now I'm working on a 16th century suit...

Oaken Rose

I use kevlar gloves in my shop. I love the cut resistance and heat resistance, but they wear holes through in no time at all. I probably do't need to tell you that kevlar deteriorates by flexing against itself, so it would probably last a lot longer when it's flat against something (such as your ide...

Oaken Rose

I recently (and after much tribulation) managed to get my hands on some 410 stainless sheet for purpose of armouring. My question is: after I have cut, shaped, and added bells and whistles (or holes for riveting, whichever may apply), how do I heat-treat the finished piece to proper hardness, given ...

Oaken Rose

These things are interesting, especially when what I see in the vid is so different from what I would have done.

Oaken Rose

Wait, someone in town has a forge?

Anyway, I ran into a similar problem the first time I tried 16g stainless. I can't give a perfect answer for what to do, but if it's still giving you problems I can bring what few tools I have and we can take turns trying stuff until we find a method that works.

Oaken Rose

I'd say the appeal is getting at the deep roots of the modern cultures we see. Also a greater sense of freedom as people were defined by more than the station they were born to; I've heard someone more knowledgeable than me claim that among the ancient Celts it was possible for one born as a slave t...

Oaken Rose

What comes to mind is "variety". Last time I attended a major SCA event (which was a while ago) I found myself staring across a sea of tunics and trousers, broken by the occasional odd hakama or late-period garb. And as for the battlefield, it's nice to have variety as (even just in Europe) English,...

Oaken Rose

I can sort of read Cyrilic.

It says "Armii Mongolo-Tatar"

Oaken Rose

Never heard of Dharma trading before. Their hemp is actually a lot cheaper than the place I go. (It looks like they don't give you nearly as many options for fabric weight, though.) I will say about hemp, from my own mistakes, that it wears though quickly if you throw it in the dryer like you would ...

Oaken Rose

The compression joint in a test assembly. (Everything is 18g stainless, roofing nails, and sharpie marks.) Suggestions are welcome, but remember that this is the first articulated piece I've done, apart from floating articulation. It's not clean or pretty, but seems functional. Moreso than I would h...

Oaken Rose

Glad I asked; I'm getting loads of good information. PS: Would you take down my page please. Does that mean you're not selling planishing stakes anymore? (Your own website strikes me as being a bit terse on the matter.) I was hoping to order some finger gauntlet stakes when I get together the money ...

Oaken Rose

You can pien those things? I thought about it, but I figured that since it's not a rivet and, more to the point, doesn't have an actual head, it would probably slip right through the back of the piece to which it's piened, and most likely find a particularly inopportune time to do so, such as when I...

Oaken Rose

That will help considerably. Thanks. The pins will be an issue; I don't have the skill or tools to weld. I guess I'll figure something out. (Maybe just cut a tab on the edge of the plate and bend it up 90 degrees....) And incidentally I think the Hal version of "not that hard to make" is my version ...

Oaken Rose

There's probably a technical name for these things, but I don't know what that might be. I'll post a few pics of museum pieces so you know what I'm talking about. These kinds of latches show up all over 16th century and later armour. I think I could probably craft a crude-looking one if I had to, bu...

Oaken Rose

I can't afford it right now, but sooner or later I want to try working with titanium. What about using it for lames, like for example in an arm cannon? I hear it's a bear to shape, but most lames don't need much shaping, and if you made the bigger bits (vambrace, couter, maybe the rerebrace) from an...

Oaken Rose

I made a few simple silicon bronze pieces over the summer. (16ga.) It's interesting stuff to work with. It starts off much more pliable than steel, but you can quite literally feel it work harden as you dish it. (And I was using rubber hammers.) I got out a set of spaulders with pretty deep dishing ...

Oaken Rose

Just my opinion: Granted I'm no historian, but I'm given to understand that historical evidence for period bargrills is somewhat .....scarce. And yet they're very prevalent in the SCA. I don't generally like them as I see them as anachronisms, and in particular that most of them look like plain old ...

Oaken Rose

Baby steps. I'm working up toward doing it the correct (historical) way, but not there yet. I didn't mention it, but I've since given up on the idea of pinning the center of the compression joint to the cop. The thought had occurred to me that there would need to be lateral give in the system if the...

Oaken Rose

I will run those titles past the bookstore. This may sound really goofy, but why not try to make it the way the real ones were made? I find it often works best to just copy things rather than to try to make things either 'easier' or 'better' - usually when I try to, I find that the original way woul...

Oaken Rose

Sliding rivets. And unless I miss my guess, they would be held down effectively when the vambrace is closed over the end of the compression joint. Interesting, thanks. It sounds like, as with so many things in armor design, there was no single 'correct' way, but several possible solutions. Given tha...

Oaken Rose

Maybe I'm missing your point, but it sounds like you're overanalyzing. Medium. That fits, doesn't it. I suppose you could say "large" if you're a tight fit in a medium and plan on wearing gloves under your gauntlets with a lot of padding, thus making your hand effectively thicker under the gauntlet....

Oaken Rose

I'm working on ideas for my next renfest harness (our period always falls somewhere in the 16th century) and am having a hard time figuring out how a compression articulated elbow works. I'm going off pictures of Henry VIII's golden harness, the same king's foot tourney harness, and a photo from a m...

Oaken Rose

It looks like it would be good for planishing greaves. (I have a set of bad looking greaves now because I couldn't find anything that would fit under them for planishing.)

Oaken Rose

Paper and/or cardboard against the face. Trace, cut, look in the mirror to see what you have. Fold in half to check for symmetry and cut again as needed. That's what I did to get the pattern for a close-fitting fantasy mask in bronze (for renfest) that's almost a dead ringer for a happari. Once you ...

Oaken Rose

Well there goes the mystery. Now we'll have to create a new myth about you. I ran in to him completely by chance last week. (I had no idea he lived within a hundred miles of me.) You know the russet color of that helm comes from quenching it in the shed blood of inexperienced fighters and armorers,...

Oaken Rose

Mexica Eagle or Jaguar knight would probably be best the way to go for a couple reasons: better documentation (Mendoza codex), and having almost everything covered means you can do all the hidden armour you could possibly want. My hair-brained idea to go Maya means I would have to wear green plastic...

Oaken Rose

I've kicked around the idea. Reference thread: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=111272&highlight= I definitely know more about the Maya now that when I started that thread (including some conversational Kakchikel language), but the idea is on the backburner as I have other stuf...

Oaken Rose

Bleach!

And learn from my mistake: don't mix it with an acid.
more info:
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... p?t=114502

The moral of this story could also be "read the labels carefully". I could have sworn I saw "HCl". I guess I just got a head start on going senile.

Oaken Rose

I got a pretty good sense of that wearing 15th century armor on all day stretches for renfest. (Having worn maille a bit, and plate, I think pate does worse in the sun. At least maille breathes.) It's not as hot here, but much more humid. People thought I was nuts when I started wearing a cloak duri...

Oaken Rose

Note UV goggles don't always protect against IR and it's IR you get from forges and kilns, (see Glassblowers' cataracts). UV is more of an Arc Welding issue. Thomas I suspect you're right, but... From the pic of that kiln, it glowed purple. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that's a camera trick as I...

Oaken Rose

"for", not "of".

Slight difference. at least in English.

Re: History of the Handshake...

Re: History of the Handshake...

Re: Making of: Ocean's Wrath (Maxamillian/Gothic/Fantasy)

Re: Wax for seals

Re: Heat-treating spring stainless

Re: Uses for Kevlar

Heat-treating spring stainless

Re: Video of forged brim German Burgeonet

Re: I hate 11ga. steel...

Re: What is the appeal of "Early Period?"

Re: So, explain your fascination with "Late" Period.

Re: mongolian lamellar pics?

The compression articulation

outsourcing swinging pin latches

engineering a cased elbow -- Now with progress pics! (Feb 8)