The Armour Archive

Otto

One problem in almost any sport I've ever played is that I have a real problem "crushing the weak". I have this rather defective tendency to play at my oponent's level... and when it comes to smaller, weaker, etc. opponents, I find it difficult to just smash them and be done with it. It seems I want...

Otto

Thanks for the responses... it's appreciated. I'm purchasing new fencing weapons again after a couple years off and wondered if what I needed had changed. I'm likely a bit of a wuss... but part of what attracts me to fencing is it's more intentionally gentle nature. I don't mind getting whacked arou...

Otto

So, what has the side-sword/ Cut & Thrust stuff done to fencing.

Most of my fencing was a couple few years ago just before side-sword started.

Are the same toys still usable?

Has the "striking" nature of cut and thrust ratched up the force?

Is fencing still the same gentle game?

Otto

If you don't mind a ding or two on the bar, then hammer directly on it...

If your bars a really clean and you want to keep them that way, using a rubber mallet or guarding the bar with a piece of leather might be in order.

Otto

'cha......... riiiiiiight

Otto

I had a B-2 for awhile and found cutting 14 ga. stainless to be somewhat difficult. I'd do alot more stainless work if I found an easier method of cutting... so I'm seriously considering a B-3 right now. 12 ga. mild would be really handy for bascinets... a subject I intend to spend some time on this...

Otto

In comparing beverly shears, does the B-3 go through 14 ga. stainless easier than the B-2?

Please 'splain the difference Lucy!

Otto

What size? I have a pair of smalls lying around if that's the size you need.

(16 ga. mild/ articulated)

Otto

Congrats! Make sure to give that family of yours the one thing they truly want... generous doses of your time! It's the most valuable gift you have to give. ps... don't worry... it's not at all difficult. Be generous with both your time and patience and all will be right in your family.

Otto

I dunno... I treat stainless rivets just like normal rivets. You just put a little more force into peining them is all.

'course... I've never annealed anything... it's ALL cold work for me.

Otto

Good Luck with your shop!
May it always proper...

Otto

side wondering... I wonder how much of this problem is related to wearing 50+ pounds of gear while engaging in heavy physical activity?

Could this be similar to the "shovelling heavy wet snow" which we are always cautioned about every winter?

Otto

Personally... with the fairly recent deaths of at least a couple of middle-aged practitioners of heavy fighting... and considering my current age (41) and love of food... I think fencing is sounding like the thing for me. At my age, I have a wife and kids to consider. Heavy fighting seems to be poss...

Otto

Anneal it??? What kinda girly-man ARE you???

Let those muscles BULGE and hammer away!

Otto

You can never go wrong with having a wide selection of tools.

Poor folk like me have to go with the most versatile one... granted, I use an industrial grade jigsaw... but still... a jigsaw.

Otto

I had a B2... I wasn't impressed. Now, before the next 5 years passes (at which time I'll be running my shop full time) I intend to aquire a B3 for just such heavy cutting. I have a special table design ready and waiting. All that aside though, I've found a jigsaw equal to my cutting needs for the p...

Otto

Actually mattmus, you can cut stainless with a jigsaw. I've been doing it for years. As a matter of fact, I'm currently working on my personal helm in 14 ga. stainless right now. What ya gotta do is run the saw at slow speeds and every couple of inches, stop and oil the blade and give it a minute or...

Otto

Beauty!

Make sure to drop that pattern in the mail to me... along with some good instructions just in case!

Of course, if you wanna send along the actual helmet as a guide... that's OK too

Otto

Sorry to hear you had to sell your armour Conrad.

Hope I still see you at local events!

Otto

Mountain Dew is a wonderful drink... goes down a bit too easily though, like lemonade. Caffeine? feh!... that stuff doesn't do a thing for me... but da soda is good! If I'm in the shop, it's really water I want. If I sitt'n around watch'n TV or somethn, then soda is good cuz it has some flavor to en...

Otto

In the "long ago", fighting from the knees was a common tactic for me on bridges and such. I'd drop to my knees and become a barricade while my polearms and spears fought above me from behind... safe behind my "wall".

Quite effective.

Otto

Ooo! 'nother note... that looks like hot-rolled steel in the pics...

Personal preference, but I like cold-rolled steel as it is easy to give it a quick once over with a sander and shine it up purty!

(hot-rolled is almost impossible to shine... lotta elbow grease needed)

Otto

You've done quite nicely! A few notes: As Halberds said, a trailer hitch ball (about $5) makes a fine ball-stake. I have one screwed into the end of a 2x4 attached to my work bench. It might be personal preference, but I always roll the edges toward the back, not the front. This has the effect of hi...

Otto

Now, if you wanna spif it up some, planish the bowl lots and lots to smooth it out and then role the outer edge of the buckler in toward the back.

Add a nifty wooden handle attached with rivets and metal brackets and it's done!

Otto

I spent something like 10 years in the shield wall. I was quite good at what I did... but... I also know the pummelling a shieldman takes before finally going down (at least a shieldman worth a poo anyway). I'm a bit older now (over 40) and not in as good physical condition as I was in my 20's... so...

Otto

I'm not talking about an actual "shield" that's allowed to block blows... I only wonder after the effectiveness of the tiny round knuckle-guard bucklers worn over hockey gloves (sorry, but that's what I've got at the moment). I've already broken 3 fingers in SCA combat... once with gooey blood and e...

Otto

Sorry, don't have the picture handy... but I took a long nosed tack-hammer and welded a ball-pein ball onto the end of the "nose" effectively letting me pein rivets deeper inside a helm. Works great, I still use it to this day.

Otto

What gauge steel?

Otto

Not those kind... but the mini-micro-bucklers (about 6 inch dia.) that cover the knuckles and fingers of a hockey glove.

Otto

Now that I think about it... being a poor person who doesn't own any real gauntlets... how well do the miniature bucklers work that I've seen polearms and spears using? I've got some thick aluminuminum that I could use for that IF those are generally effective.

Otto

Yeah, I'm going to try spear... I spent more than a decade in the wall, so I know full well what that abuse is like... and due to skiing, I have 2 bad knees which don't always appreciate the shoving in the front wall.

I'll try it...

maybe I'll like it!

Otto

I guess that begs the questions... which is more restful... standing in the wall and getting pounded to mush or wearing out your arms but not getting anywhere near the abuse?

Otto

I'm going to fight again beginning this fall (at least some anyway)... but I'm not as young or as thin as I once was. I really don't know as I have a burning need to be in the front line of the shield-wall anymore. I like playing combat archer, but that style is obviously not used in all melees, so ...

Otto

POD, I think it'd be best if you donated it to a worthy cause... ME!

Hope you're doing well!

Otto

In one end of my RR track anvil, I have a few carefully drilled dimples just the size of various rivet heads. Works great for setting or peining them without damaging the rivet head.

Crushing the Weak... A personal failing

SCA Fencing/ Midrealm

B-3 vs. B-2

SCA Spears in Melee