The Armour Archive

Hugo T.

Hi David, are you aware of the description of a doublet of fense? not fencing but defence, similar thing, it is not a full on jack but it is quilted and seems slimmer. English account mid to late 15thC, howards accounts, I toke to the dobelete maker..to make me a dobelete of fense, fore hevery for ...

Hugo T.

A padded jack is one of the most labour-intensive projet you could undertake. The fitting is crucial, and so you will need to be either an expert tailor or have access to one. The stitching itself can't really be done by machine, except for industrial heavy-duty machines. At any rate, it will test t...

Hugo T.

http://www.chronique.com/Library/Armour/Armyd.htm

This is the online version of the document quoted in the above post. It is literally exactly what you are looking for! Click the How a Man shal be Armyd to read the actual text, or you can click on the picture!

Who said research wasn't fun!

Hugo

Hugo T.

Very good place to start:

http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/i ... &catid=353
Hugo

Hugo T.

Keep in mind also that while the plateau itself was labeled as being "Historic", the organisers had never thoguht of a particular timepoint. They wanted reenactors doing a siege, nothing more. The plateau was called "Le siege de Beaupre", which to my konwledge, is nothing that ever happened... The p...

Hugo T.

We'll make sure to let you guys know for future events. As chef said, we asked a lot of groups if they'd be willing to make the trip way back when, but there's always time untill it's too late, right? :) There's even rumors (shush...) of an exclusively 15th century event in Montreal... but it is so ...

Hugo T.

As James hinted, we now need to know why museum armour is so small compared to the archeological evidence. The idea of a demo model is interesting: do we have any record of this practice (ordinances, guild regulations, inventory books from armouries, etc.)? The MET has an FAQ section that mentions a...

Hugo T.

Thanks for the great discussion, but I think this is getting a bit too confrontationnal. Great points on both sides of the argument, though. Even if the pictures provided where not exactly of 3-year olds, they were a good start, and you get the gist of things through them. By looking a bit further, ...

Hugo T.

That's pretty much it: "sauve qui peut" means "save yourself if you can". The way it was used by the Swiss is surprising though, as this expression is now used by the losing side of a battle! :) It is an equivalent to a retreat call. But I can see it used by the winnig side, effectively warning the ...

Hugo T.

Great pic! Thanks Winterfell!
Hugo

Hugo T.

Thank you all!

Karen: I was hoping you'd reply! Do you have any plans to reactivate your most informative website?

Chef: hopefully, you'll be able to witness the final piece at Mont Ste-Anne in a few weeks!

Grimstone: this is an interesting point; I'll try to get more information on this.
Hugo

Hugo T.

Hey! Big event coming up, and I will be bringing the small bouncy one for the first time. He's 3. Does not sit still too often. I would like to know what kind of clothes would be appropriate for a burgundian 1767-1471 toddler. It would be great if the clothes would still allow him to play around. Li...

Hugo T.

Suppose you are somehow able to confirm with sienctific rigor that the belts are indeed painted white no purpose by the original author of the illustrations, how does that constitute evidence that the SCA knightly white belt system is based on historical facts? You are still dealing with a single so...

Hugo T.

Linen tow is a by-product of the linen textile production. It is great to start fire as it is really a big bunch of loose fibers, it burns easily. For gambeson, the stuff would be compressed, and as such, not more flammable than any other fabric you'll use to build the gambeson anyway. This is the o...

Hugo T.

"Do it right the first time" It is NOT possible to do it right the FIRST time. but don't let that stop you! Continue working on your project, with the proper research, tools, and material. This is where you should not take shortcuts. This is what should be right from the start. Spending time, energy...

Hugo T.

It surely beats having to hide that pink soap bottle! Thanks for all the help guys! I'll clean it this way for now on, but I kinda like that it reacted to the food now. It makes it looked used, like a real tool. As it was said in "misconceptions...", one of the biggest problem with LH is that everyt...

Hugo T.

I got my hands on an eating knife from Marck Vickers last weekend. It is a beautiful piece. I loved it instantly. Of course, I used it during dinner (I was at an event), and I wiped it clean, but I did not wash it right away. The blade took on some colouring, and I tried to wash it with dish soap an...

Hugo T.

While there are multiple depictions of fully-armored archers, we have to remember that those represent the archer bodyguards to a lord, not the rank'n'file. Case in point: m So for someone trying to impresonnate an archer of that period, I would personnaly go for a low armor profile, with jack and s...

Hugo T.

Using secondary sources, you also run into the "Everybody-knows-that" syndrome, where the most trivial, yet essential, details are left out. What the hell does "... in the manner of England" means, when referring to gauntlet designs? Why english authors never bothered to describe the archers in deta...

Hugo T.

Get your hands on Carcassonne. Simple yet complicated at the same time. You draw tiles that must be placed in a way to continue the design elements already in place (roads, cities, fields). You also have a pool of followers that you palce on the tiles to take control of the element. You scores point...

Hugo T.

In a word -- sheesh. That is why I leave the rear points undone. Plus, I can fiddle around with the campfire without something going "pop." Or RIPP!!! for that matter! Happened to me a couple weeks ago... which demonstrates that ripped pants were as embarrasing then as they are now... Luckily, the ...

Hugo T.

It is a bit later than your portrayal, but a Churburg-style segmented breatplate might do.
http://www.arador.com/gallery/ct1.jpg Picture took from the Arador website. A great little place for armour freaks!
I'm not sure how appropriate it would be for England, but it's a start!
Hugo

Hugo T.

Hiya! I got my hands on a nice reproduction of the Lewis Chess set this weekend (thank god for flea markets!!!) Anyway, I was wondering if there was a way to figure out how good the reproduction really is, and while looking around, I found that there are a lot of these repros being produced! Does an...

Hugo T.

Things I learned from this experience: 1. Wool is a really GREAT fabric. It took a long time to get my 2 metres thoroughly wet prior to dying it. I'm not worried about rain anymore! 2. Dye powders attract stupid dogs for some reason. And Golden Retreiver hair dies very easily. 3. When choosing the a...

Hugo T.

I agree that you might not be an artist in the purest sense of the term, but that website you maintain and those patterns you produce did not come from a replicator. It takes an artistic mind to come up with those things.
Hugo

Hugo T.

I sit on the fence on this topic. On the one hand, you want your clothes to be as accurate as possible. You do the extra effort to finish it by hand (or sew the whole thing by hand), you research patterns, fabric, construction steps, etc... This allows you to have a piece of clothing that fits and r...

Hugo T.

I'm sure this is a fairly "modern" item, not documentable earlier than 18th c., but I'm not worried about that: it will be a lot more "period" to light my pipe with this than a match!
Hugo

Hugo T.

The site mentions cotton rope, not slowmatch. Sorry for the confusion.
I guess the same can be made with slowmatch to prettyy much the same effect, maybe even more efficient!
Hugo

Hugo T.

you know, I should REALLY get to the bottom of something before posting here...

I found it: TINDER TUBE

http://www.norwestcompany.com/tgtindertube.jpg

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! That fire piston looks like an amazing thing!
Hugo

Hugo T.

Thanks for the link, but not what I am looking for.

This item looks like a slow-burning match with a brass tube at one end. I Googled every single one of these terms in various conbinaisons, but no success...
Hugo

Hugo T.

I know this is probably the worse place to ask this queston, but I know a lot ogf people here are involved in ACW circles and 18-19th c. reenactment, so here is my question: I was surfing the web a few months ago, looking for flint and steel info, and I saw something I'd like to have/make. It was a ...

Hugo T.

Thanks for the tips! However, I will have to modify it a bit...my washer is the front-loading type, so no opening once it's started... and I already washed and dried my wool... I'll try to finc acid dye here, because all of this has to be completed in a week (dye/cut/sew into chausses) so no orderin...

Hugo T.

Hi! I bought a few meters of grey wool flannel yesterday. Wonderful stuff, but grey was the only color they had available. Sadly, grey is not the color I want my hose to be... So, in order to dye this material, should I do something special, or is the good ol' Tintex works fine? Please refrain from ...

Hugo T.

Absolute ant total support for this option. Beginner's Tunic from Kass' site is the easiest thing! And it's period no matter what you want to do! Easy to measure, easy to cut (big squares!), easy to sew (long straight passes!), look AMAZING! Little note: make sure you measure exactly like dictated. ...

Hugo T.

1) Late 15th - England and France: Francs-Archiers and last battles of HYW. Beginning of WOR.

2) Late 14th-early 15th England/France: Agincourt, and the beginning of organized military archery (for Europe at least

)

Hugo

Appropriate clothes for a 3-year old in 1471?

Caring for an eating knife blade

Isle of Lewis Chess set

Out of topic/out of period: pipe lighting thingie

Dying grey wool flannel