The Armour Archive

Josh W

What do they do when they want to play with something other than sword and shield?

Josh W

Seems like an odd sort of headpiece for anyone calling himself "Dirk"...

Josh W

I do quite like your harness. You look like you stepped right out of a tapestry.

Josh W

It's a "German gothic" style harness you're making, right? I'm curious as to why you did the backplate the way you did; I've never seen one whose lames overlapped in that direction. The back looks more Italian...

Josh W

Tascius...

find me one bodkin in a museum or private collection that was made of steel. I think the evidence from the archaeological record supports the conclusion that they were all soft iron. Arrows don't punch through plate armour -- at least not very often.

Josh W

I'd imagine that .020" thick steel was probably also pretty high-carbon and springy. I'd never have believed that steel that thin could be used for armour until I saw Tom Justus take a piece of 22(?) gauge that had been dished & heat-treated, set it on a stump, and proceed to beat the hell out of it...

Josh W

Josh W

Why would you be horrified and saddened, Duke Ronald? It's no more stupid than filling the office with someone who wins it by right of arms. The only tradition it violates is an SCA tradition, and that should only upset you if you're more interested in recreating the mid-1960's instead of the middle...

Josh W

Does this video game include any real (i.e. metal) armour, or just stuff made from weird materials?

Josh W

The single best piece of advice I ever received was that I should keep my weight on the balls of my feet, not on the heels. Before, I was a fairly static fighter and I totally sucked. Now, I'm nimble even in my plate, and don't suck quite as bad...

Josh W

Well said indeed, Glen. I share your fascination with the First Crusade. In no other Crusade (except perhaps the Third) are the principal characters of such a "larger than life" quality.

Mail is still crappy armour, though.

Josh W

Loved the mail. Hated the mailshirt with plate sections on the Muslim fellow that belongs in the 15th/16th century. Hated the 15th century warhammers/becs-de-corbin. Hated the anticlerical preachiness. I'm really sick of the "organized religion sucks" theme being shoved down our collective throat. T...

Josh W

It sounds as if you're doing the same thing I did in order to acquire a decent, fairly accurate harness of plate. My suit is about half Patrick Thaden pieces, and about half the work of lesser armourers, notably myself.

What else are you wearing with these legs, the sallet, and your "cheap" arms?

Josh W

Shark, the backplate in that thread is very similar to mine; they were made by the same armourer: m The upper backplate does not articulate. It is simply made of four plates and riveted together. All the range of motion in the back is provided by the strap attachment to the lower backplate. Why? Tha...

Josh W

If you mean pauldrons like these:

http://josh.mediumaevum.com/myharness3.jpg

http://josh.mediumaevum.com/mybackplate5.jpg

(ignore that hideous besagew on the right one; it's gone now)

then I can answer your questions...

Josh W

What exactly do you mean by "Great Pauldrons"?

Josh W

How far away from Patrick Thaden do you live? I've visited his shop several times and have always found him to be immensely willing to teach and share his knowledge. Patrick is a first-rate gentleman. Why don't you ask him if you can visit and see if he will show you a trick or two?

Josh W

A freind of mine has a katana that has been passed down through his family for generations. it is in perfect condition. It was folded seveteen thousand times. I can't think of any other Japanese swords that have been folded "seventeen thousand times". A couple of dozen folds, at most, seems more us...

Josh W

18ga is *not* weak, especially after it's been given some three-dimensional shape. So it might dent in use. All armour requires maintenance. What are a few dents? I'd go ahead and use the 18ga steel one.

Josh W

If I were more tech-savvy, I'd happily volunteer to handle the Spanish translation...

Josh W

Gethin, in your invitation you mention that you'd like to engage in some public exercise of the techniques of dei Liberi. This sounds like fun to me. I presume we must do so in accordance with SCA combat conventions, no? So no grappling, throws, disarms, etc, right? How much liberty are we permitted...

Josh W

Josh W

I think that's Lionello Boccia's "Le Armature di Santa Maria delle Grazie di Curtatone di Mantova e L'Armatura Lombarda del '400". No finer book has ever been published.

Josh W

Bascot, I am in the SCA. I have been playing since 1989, albeit mostly on a local level.

I also do Living History, and have a fledgeling 15th Swiss re-enactment group here, though we haven't been able to make it to any of the big coastal events yet.

Josh W

I guess it's time I replied to this... Tentatively, I accept your kind invitation, Gethin. I am flattered that you'd offer this to me, and more than a little ashamed, as there are surely folks out there who deserve such a welcome more than I. For what it's worth, I took no offense, and did not detec...

Josh W

People are taking certain things I said out of context. I don't mean to imply that all SCA fighters should wear full harness, and I don't believe everybody should think like me. However, of those dukes, counts, knights, etc. who do attempt to portray an armed man from the 14th century or later, how ...

Josh W

You probably wouldn't bleed if you were wearing the gorget, cuirass, and pauldrons that would be worn with a helm like that.

Josh W

Aaron wrote:...If Duke Logan (dressed in Josh's armour)...

That might be kinda fun. Logan, what are your chest/waist sizes? Biceps? Etc....

Josh W

Why do you ask, Logan?

Josh W

No offense, Desdichado, but I think this Warcraft armour:

http://www.blizzard.com/war3/wallpaper/ ... er10.shtml

is absolutely atrocious, even for fantasy armour. If that guy raised both his arms at the same time, he'd squish his own head. Also, is he wearing "left" and "right" plates on his torso instead of breast and back plates?

Josh W

If, as is so often claimed by the hero-worshipers, the SCA's best of the best would do just as well if they wore full plate armour, then why don't any of them ever do it? There has to be some reason they don't. Even most of the dukes, counts, knights who purport to portray 14th century nobility seem...

Josh W

I really like that. If I had to do 14th century, I would want a headpiece done just so...

Josh W

A few nice kits there, it seems. Alas, nobody in full armour, though.

Josh W

Where did I insult anyone? Based on the reaction my remarks garnered, I can only conclude that most of them were indeed wearing "typical SCA duke stuff". Now all I want to know is how well-decorated the kidney belts were... Alexander, in case you didn't notice, I am in the SCA; I've been playing sin...

Josh W

Yippee.

SCA hero worship.

gotta love it...

Now, did any of them wear any real armour, or just the typical SCA duke stuff?