The Armour Archive

Old_bear

In the northern Illinois & southeastern Wisconsin area there are a ton of scrap yards, this has been an industrial area for a long time. I'll try to dredge up some scrap yard names & numbers post them. But until you get to know the resources in the area it is a bit daunting and can be expensive. Don...

Old_bear

You got a great bunch of shots! Thank you. We just made it to the Thirty after Sir Murdock's knighting and forgot the camera.

-V

Old_bear

I figured I should post this here too... Saturday evening we set up a pavilion, banners & refreshments for the Honorable Murdock McArthur to sit his vigil. Having made his ablutions and said his prayers, he accepted visitors, Their Majesties & Highness Northshield, His Grace Finnvar and many others ...

Old_bear

Saturday evening we set up a pavilion, banners & refreshments for the Honorable Murdock McArthur to sit his vigil. Having made his ablutions and said his prayers, he accepted visitors, Their Majesties & Highness Northshield, His Grace Finnvar and many others were in attendance. It really looked good...

Old_bear

Will any of these fit a type 15 blade, what looks to be a Poitiers?

Thank you,

-V

Old_bear

I'll have to figure out which blade Murdoch & Albrecht got me from the fire sale... It sure would be dandy to get it into a snazzy scabbard...

-V

Old_bear

I've got a photo of one that I'd not seen before. I'll try to post it tonight when I get home from work.

Valerius

Old_bear

I'll second the endorsement for One Shot paint - it's designed for outdoor signage, it's super durable and looks great. They have an excellent metallic gold. We have a hobby shop that carries it, but check your sign painting supply shops too.

Valerius

Old_bear

Nice job Wade, as always. Good fun. Ugh, you actually made the mail too...
What, no gauntlets? Ya slacker

Wow, he's growing up.

Here's a shot from "back in the day" - a demo and some practice photos... these were what our practices looked like in the early 80s. Wade is 2nd from the right.

V

Old_bear

Finally found a vaguely decent shot with mine in it. I went for approx. 48", and works as well one handed as two.

Valerius

*sorry for the tiny image, AA decided to be dumb about images...

Old_bear

If you're only looking to melt lead and other low temp metals (pewter), try one of the shooters supply places like Gander Mountain or possibly even Farm & Fleet might have them. Try looking for them at an older hardware store - look for a solder melting ladle - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B...

Old_bear

Twice a week, while weather holds out. Once it gets too cold, I guess we'll be heading out to Madison or Chicago for our Sunday practice.

...and now off to Monday night practice.

Valerius

Old_bear

Same here, I've been using my round wire aventail for many years. It's a bit on the heavy side, but I pretty much won't give it up, Knut built an embattled border in copper into it... and I'm pretty much biased, I was squired to the man.

Valerius

Old_bear

Early on I made and wore a sallet & bevor which were separate. Yes, you definitely have to pad the bevor. The way Otto has his padded looks really good. You will need to get the sallet and the bevor all padded up and then have a marshal check you over. If the helmet and the bevor can't gap then you ...

Old_bear

Folks, These are really nicely made arming cotes, he does very good work. I'm quite happy with mine. Those are very good prices too, wish I could snag one... Boo! I'm sorry to hear you're not going to making arming clothes anymore, you do very nice work. Maybe sometime in the future (when I'm say, e...

Old_bear

oh man, you're using T-nuts!!! that's great! That totally gets enough metal where you need it....

D'oh, he says slapping forehead...we use those all the time.

V

Old_bear

Indeed, congrats Kenwrec, I'm glad things are getting going again. On a side note, the armourers gathering at Midrealm 40th Year was a complete blast! Talbot did a wonderful presentation on the evolution of SCA armouring, focusing on the early Chicago group. What was particularly great was getting t...

Old_bear

Most all of the ones I've done have been handled that way without any problems. The blow force is still transferred to at least two plates, one of which is the metacarpal and at least two of the cuff plates. The "gap" is probably less then a 1/4" at the largest. For what it's worth, I've been fighti...

Old_bear

I used 2 layers of 1/4" AC ply in my press, cut it to shape and fit the 1/2" x 1/2" aluminum channel on the edge so it fit very snug. I used silicone adhesive to hold it on but the channel fit on tight, the silicone acts as a shock absorber on the edge of the shield. I had wanted to use rawhide but ...

Old_bear

And with cold weather closing in on us soon, we'll be coming to Madison on Sundays fairly regularly...

Valerius

Old_bear

Those Antonio Pisanello study drawings are quite interesting. From the The Vallardi Album. There is a second drawing showing another footman in a similar helmet. There are a ton of nice details in them. Though I would believe the visor representations are more allegorical then realistic.

V

Old_bear

use some version of "B", it is a conical transition from the semi-spherical shape of the spaulder cop to the cylindrical shape of the rerebrace.

Valerius

Old_bear

I use peppermint oil in the wash for gambisons, works great on "fighter funk". Though in the case of yours, the more drastic measures sound about right.

V

Old_bear

Yup, Rough From The Hammer's prices are really decent and it keeps it in the community. and if you're only doing a few pieces - that's definitely the way to go.

Valerius

Old_bear

Pedro, Nice job, much better after the re-work. Here's a little trick for getting the size shank on rivets and keeping the head big enough to detail, chuck one in a heavy duty drill and work the exposed part of the shank down to the size you want with a file, while the drill is running. This is also...

Old_bear

Here are a few places around Milwaukee that we've used in the past. Church Metal Spinning is the primary source for us years ago, and we were having them do custom sizes for us. 10ga 12" hemispheres. http://www.churchmetal.com/ I've used Wagner for architectural elements and trade show exhibit detai...

Old_bear

5'9"
200 lbs.
48 years old
Count, KSCA
Rattan

Started fighting 32 years ago in high school... we did fight practice during our lunch hour.

Valerius

Old_bear

Bummer... that would fun! Pretty much impossible at this point. The whole unemployment thing really puts a cramp on ones style...

Aaron

Old_bear

Kenwrec,

Thanks for hosting today. Adeliz and I had big fun and it was great getting to meet folks. Now if we we could nuke those mosquitoes....

Valerius

Old_bear

Randall does nice solid work on these. They have good shape. The ABS is pretty durable if you don't put the holes too close to the edge. In really cold weather they might be a little more susceptible to damage. In general they hold up well. The finished harness should resemble a corrizina, it will d...

Old_bear

I wear fingered gauntlets also. Pretty much since 1981. I add a layer of felt in between the glove and the leather strip that supports the finger plates. I've never, to the best of knowledge had any broken fingers. When I fight any great weapon, I use small finger bucklers and they are good for abou...

Old_bear

It's called a bickhorn stake. Probably made by Pexto by the look of it. It's a classic sheet metal stake. Very handy for most of what we do. It looks a very nice version of itself - appears to be forged , not cast. Take some emery cloth to it and see what shape the horn, face and edges are in. They ...

Old_bear

Here's an example of some roping tools we've used in the past. http://home.earthlink.net/~old_bear/id8.html The bumpy chisel / stake is used to drive the initial shape into the "U" shaped roll left from the jenny and then the same tool is put in the vise and used as a stake to support the other conc...

Old_bear

I'm in Milwaukee, but I can certainly do it. It's a little more travel time though.

Valerius / Aaron

Old_bear

We had an absolute blast! It was great to meet you and have the day to talk and trade ideas. It was good to get all the folks together, we need to do more of these. Thank you Armoured Air Bear / Aaron for hosting, though we still need to look at the photos from your trip.

Valerius / Aaron

Re: Sick of breaking the bank

Re: CoTT XXLI Pics?

Re: Congratulations Sir Murdoch!

Re: What's happening at Pennsic?

Re: For Sale: Scabbards, belts, baldric for Albion swords

Re: For Sale: Scabbards, belts, baldric for Albion swords