The Armour Archive

Keegan Ingrassia

(American) Aspen isn't a bad choice, actually...at least as far as its working properties. You can also probably find aspen at your local Lowe's, which is another plus...a 1"x6"x4' aspen board runs less than $9 here. But, you would definitely want to seal it...it doesn't handle being wet all that we...

Keegan Ingrassia

Even if Mac doesn't, Sean, I'm stealing that idea for myself. Thanks!

Keegan Ingrassia

The problem with friction holders, like the layered foam, is that while it works well for smooth-sided things like knives, the teeth of the file would start to tear up the material every time they were inserted. Hmm...what about some old cabinet latches? The ones with a pair of spring-loaded wheels ...

Keegan Ingrassia

We're a bit old school here on the AA. We skew the bell curve. I bet his numbers are right on the money for the general public. :) As for me, I practically grew up in a library; my aunt is the High School librarian in my hometown. And I own a typewriter! :lol: I'm fairly certain, however, that if I ...

Keegan Ingrassia

For the large stuff...shields, breastplates, barding, etc: Old school flat file cabinets, like what's used to store blueprints. Architecture firms and similar places might be getting rid of them as they move their old projects into a digital repository. You can also find new ones with a Bing search....

Keegan Ingrassia

Oooh, nice! And we've got good Sycamore in this area, too. Thanks for the tip!

Keegan Ingrassia

Yup. Got my shoes from one of the bulk orders a couple years ago. From here on out, I'm either ordering from Viking Leathercraft, or making my own.

Keegan Ingrassia

Damn...a dozen handmade cedar arrows with self nocks, 5" goose feathers, and field points for $45? I'm marking this for a (few) later purchase(s).

Keegan Ingrassia

If you're wanting shoes from Westland, buy them through Viking Leathercrafts. He's here on the Archive, easy to get in touch with, and with the shoes already in the states, much easier to actually get.

http://www.vikingleathercrafts.com/

Keegan Ingrassia

I actually need to re-haft an axe this weekend; I'll try that linseed trick.

Keegan Ingrassia

If you're going to go big, you might as well chase the dream suit. :) If that is the suit that makes you break out in a grin every time you put it on, even before you actually fight...well, I'd chase that. And Texas is a good place to be, IMHO. The hill country outside of Austin is very pretty. Gast...

Keegan Ingrassia

15 yards long, but how wide? 36"? Or 72"?

Might explain almost twice as much fabric.

Keegan Ingrassia

I'll add that if going towards a mid-14th century look with a coat of plates and splinted limbs, a center-pointed bascinet with a round-faced klappvisor would be the most appropriate choice. Added benefit is the visor won't take up as much room as the pig-faced helms of the later 14th, and you can a...

Keegan Ingrassia

Thanks for sharing that, Steve.

Its always a pain to try and nail down a reliable source.

Keegan Ingrassia

Yay, another Dube video! Always a pleasure.

Keegan Ingrassia

In that vein, Mac, it wouldn't be a far stretch to imagine a pieced set of hosen, in much the way that the CdB cotte is made. Smaller pieces, artfully arranged for better mobility and a tighter fit, could achieve that look. Perhaps even a pre-bent knee, in the same manner that the elbow is pre-bent....

Keegan Ingrassia

Usually, its a flap of mail hung from the demi-greave. Interesting detail, but in that first zoomed-in image, you can actually see the stitches at the top of the mail gusset on the back of the knee.

Keegan Ingrassia

Ernst wrote:I've always wondered if the "strap" isn't made of steel?

It's possible...but all the other straps have the same decorative edge and bare center...like the shynbald straps, and the guige strap for the shield. The guige, at least, is certainly a non-metal strap.

Keegan Ingrassia

For decorative stuff, try Kult of Athena.

For example, this 26", 16ga. bascinet, 70 bucks.
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp ... ced+Helmet

Keegan Ingrassia

It can, depending on how wide the face opening is. For this particular one, the face opening was just the right width, so I took all the excess metal out of the back. That also let the helmet tuck in to follow the back of the skull a little more closely. Then I just raised down the brow line so it w...

Keegan Ingrassia

Alternatively, you could cut up this large one, remove a couple wedges of steel, re-weld, grind, and reshape it. I did that with a helmet that was about the size you're talking about...it fits a 24" head with 1/2" of padding, now. ETA: Found the pics of it. Before: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378...

Keegan Ingrassia

I do not think you can construct an entire hauberk from mail so dense that you can not penetrate it with a needle as in the mail portrayed in the video clip posted by Dan. You could, but why would you want to? That would be similar to making an entire suit of armor out of a homogenous, bullet-proof...

Keegan Ingrassia

He's good people, strives for historical accuracy, and is an honorable man.

What else would you expect from a Knight and a Laurel?

Keegan Ingrassia

That's true...I noticed in my cotehardie that I have only ever unbuttoned about the first 6 out of the 15 buttons on my sleeves to take it off or on. H-uh! Well, that simplifies things a little bit.

Keegan Ingrassia

Thanks Doner! :) I've made a cotte before, but this one feels much less like a costume piece, and more like a proper cotte. Granted, the last one was an unpadded cotehardie, but in this one I don't look and feel like a stuffed, blue sausage. I am definitely a fan! KtR, this particular cotte is going...

Keegan Ingrassia

Alright! Its been a massively crazy month, in a good way. :D Married life, new job...buying ten acres and a house...but that will come up elsewhere, when I've time to write it all down. More to the point, I've made some more progress on my aketon. The sleeves are done, and I was able to do a test fi...

Keegan Ingrassia

IIRC, there are examples of breastplates that once had cloth coverings...the rivets remain, while the fabric under it had deteriorated, leaving a gap. But I cannot remember if those fell under the XIV or XV century, and can't go digging for them while at work. Perhaps someone else here has those exa...

Keegan Ingrassia

Baron Alcyoneus wrote:You won't regret making one of her CdBs.

There is not a +1 big enough.

Keegan Ingrassia

Well, to be fair, there is also a discrepancy on the helmet between images. One has breaths, the prior does not. I'd chalk that up to the artist.

Keegan Ingrassia

Wow! That is an unbelievable amount of work in those garments. Interesting note, the second shirt in your images actually has mail rings sewn in those little rosettes. Hm...that could make a case for "ring-mail"...

Keegan Ingrassia

Not as much fun, though.

Keegan Ingrassia

Well, depending on the size of buttons, you might end up shrinking the overall size of your garment by as much as an inch or two in circumference. Figure a 1/4 " to a 1/2" of cloth needed on each side to roll a tidy, hemmed edge. Then there's the overlap of the buttonholes. That shouldn't be as much...

Keegan Ingrassia

No matter what you get, if it has a flat head like that, I like to dress it a bit. I put it in a hole (wood with a drill hole, with a metal plate on top with a hole) and bash it a few times with a ball peen hammer. This curves the sides down a bit, roughs it up, and makes it look hand made rather t...

Keegan Ingrassia

What a fantastic resource! Thank you for sharing, Tom.

Keegan Ingrassia

There have been a lot of projects just like this on the forum, here. Do a search for splinted arms or legs (search button is in the top right of the page, near the FAQ), and you're sure to get tons of threads on construction, historical information, sales, etc. Many people have been kind enough to p...

Re: Wood for pattens to avoid splitting?

Re: Clever ideas for storing files?

Re: Clever ideas for storing files?

Re: Clever ideas for storing files?

Re: Clever ideas for storing files?

Re: Wood for pattens to avoid splitting?

Re: Westland Crafts Shoes

Re: Chinese knock-off Grozer bows

Re: Westland Crafts Shoes

Re: PSA tool safety reminder.

Re: Need Advice for Starting Over Fighting SCA Melee

Re: SCA heavy kit waffenrocks?

Re: Need Advice for Starting Over Fighting SCA Melee

Re: Gloves- What are the best gloves for finger gauntlets?

Re: New video on raising a Sallet whit visor.

Re: Traytese of the Poyntes of Worship in Armes 1434

Re: Traytese of the Poyntes of Worship in Armes 1434

Re: Effigy Question

Re: WTB bascinet without viser.

Re: Refitting a viser to a smaller basinet.

Re: Refitting a viser to a smaller basinet.

Re: Mystery Mail

Re: Positive review for Gaston de Clermont

Re: A vision of a dream - help me perfect my kit

Re: A vision of a dream - help me perfect my kit

Re: A vision of a dream - help me perfect my kit

Re: Question about covering armor [XIV century]

Re: "Straight" arms for the 14th century arming garment?

Re: Any extant examples of mail like this?

Re: Almost 10,000 pics in Flickr: Frescoes, paintings, armou

Re: Brand New to everything

Re: Semi-buttoned garments of the 14th century?

Re: Working on a coat of plates

Re: Almost 10k pics in Flickr: Frescoes, paintings, armour .

Re: Looking for 1360's matching leg and arm harness