The Armour Archive

Derian le Breton

Jehan, it looks like what you did right far outweighs what you did wrong. The road to perfection is endless, but you guys are quite a bit further down it than most of us. I find these photos very inspiring. As an aside, it looks to me like your coin striking setup is a bit lower than I've found to b...

Derian le Breton

Bill Dawson has made several inlaid axes as well:

http://www.billdawsonmetalsmith.com/Migra2.html

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Does it really count as an order if everyone in the kingdom is a member?

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

I used to wear contacts at events before I had my surgery as well.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Bjorn, I think that you're thinking too much about this. Nobody of consequence is going to give you trouble for using a white or blue garter, since these are not registered badges or protected via sumptuary laws. Go for whatever colour you think will work best for your time period / outfit. -Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Looks like loads of fun!

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

So, uhm regulating: Crowns, Coronets, Collars of Estate, Chains, spurs, Baldrics, belts, batons, standards and order badges is a lot?? Seems to me that comparatively this is pretty light when you look at actual sumptuary laws. It's certainly much more than my kingdom, so it seems like a lot to me. ...

Derian le Breton

I had it done when I was 22, and before I finished my first college degree.

But, yeah, it isn't terribly cheap. IIRC, my surgery ran about $2000.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Wait, sumptuary laws about the colors of garters? I knew you Meridians had more of those than most kingdoms, but damn. Uhm, there is no such sumptuary law in Meridies. A quick look shows that Meridies has very few such laws. Perchance your information is dated? Well, I assumed the first post in thi...

Derian le Breton

Shrug, understandable. My vision was extremely terrible, and the surgery was a gift. I didn't need it, but it has made a quite an impact on my life.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

True, but you might poke yourself in the eye with your glasses while you're trying to put them on. The average set of issues that the very rare unlucky LASIK patient has are relatively minor. Severe problems are astonishingly rare, though of course they can happen. You can also die crossing the road...

Derian le Breton

Wait, sumptuary laws about the colors of garters? I knew you Meridians had more of those than most kingdoms, but damn. My garters are black leather, with pewter fittings from <A HREF="http://www.fetteredcockpewters.com/">Fettered Cock Pewters</A>. They're great. They hold my hose up, and look...

Derian le Breton

i looked into that.. it will have to mature another 10 years before I'm willing to trust it.. too many horror stories as it is. The rate of those stories is extremely low. Lower than most surgeries. My surgeon has done something like 25,000 surgeries, and fewer than 1% of his patients had an...

Derian le Breton

LASIK? I had it done... it changed my life.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Were I to buy pewter buttons, I'd do so from <A HREF="http://pewterersguild.org/Main/HomePage">the Pewterers Guild</A>. Largely because they're local to me, and I hang out with them fairly frequently. They're good people. Their gallery doesn't include buttons atm, but I know they make them. -Donasian.

Derian le Breton

You're welcome!

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

It's Knuut.

http://www.weldedchainmail.com/

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Well, true. They'll do so at a *much* slower rate than other metals though. Slow enough for most people not to worry about it much.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Russ Thomas wrote:If you were using standard grinding disc on the angle grinder, I would certainly have to agree with you, but have you tried lamellar flap discs?

Nope. I don't have either tool. I make do with files and emery cloth.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

This needs its own thread, but I'll disagree with Donasian here. Well, it all depends on what works for you, with your particular bits of armour. For me, straps on the front of the cuisse work perfectly well, without any of the problems you describe. I have tried mounting leg harnesses on th...

Derian le Breton

Bronze, Sterling, and pewter will all oxidize over time. If you truly want your buttons to remain shiny forever, you'll have to use something like gold or nickel silver (not a period metal).

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

It all depends on what you want to do. I'd almost never use an angle grinder, but a bench grinder sure would speed up my tool making (I do everything with files now.)

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Am I the only one who thinks those would be better (i.e., more comfy, better fit) if the tab were on the SIDE of the hip instead of in the front? In my experience, hanging cruisses from the side of the hip causes them to rotate as you walk, causing significant pain in the knees. Using an attachment...

Derian le Breton

Crown events out here regularly break 1500, though numbers are down with the slow economy and high gas prices at the moment.

We use state parks, farms, various other private venues... there are lots of possibilities.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

You can use leather straps + rivets for articulation, too. Many period pieces were done this way.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Looks like fun!

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

BL Lansdowne 782 f. 34v (Chanson de Roland) shows a tent that may be conical like those, it's dated to 1240-1250.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Billy & Charlie's stuff is nice. There are lots of other pewterers out there who make buttons too (some at lower prices, too.)

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Can you be more specific in time/place?

Cast pewter buttons, cloth buttons, fancier fine metal buttons... there are lots of possibilities.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

I don't have an answer, but I suspect one probably lies in the following book:

Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Western Europe and the Crusader States, by David Nicolle.

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Why punch multiple holes and play connect-the-dots if it's causing you trouble? I just make a line on the metal with a pencil or a scribing tool and follow that. Personally I find a chisel much faster and less irritating than a jewelers saw, but YMMV. I know plenty of people who can fly with a saw. ...

Derian le Breton

Personally I tie my hose to a light leather belt that I wear over my brais. I dont know if its period or not, but I dont care, Im worried about my hose dragging my undies off if things go horribly wrong. I've been wearing braies and chausses for years, and I've never had this happen. If you tie the...

Derian le Breton

Froissart's illuminated chronicles (images ~1470) show tents similar to the first image, but with much taller walls (look at the siege of Duras image, for example.)

http://www.greydragon.org/library/tentpics/figure18.jpg

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

guthrothr wrote:Just for information, what is the earliest that these tents can be provenanced to ?

http://www.past-tents.demon.co.uk/med.htm

Which one? There's half a dozen tent designs on that page...

This site has some nice images of tents in medieval art:

http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/artgallery.htm

-Donasian.

Derian le Breton

Nice work Hal! That looks great.

-Donasian.