The Armour Archive

Sean M

Tonight I watched the new BBC Henry IV, Part I and finished interlining the left breast of the doublet. I also folded down the neck opening and prick-stitched it down. The back of the neck wants to crinkle after folding the neck opening inwards ... I wonder if I should cut two or three notches into ...

Sean M

I actually have pretty much all of the books linked to above, except one - Medieval Artefacts. And after seeing what it covered I immediately ordered a copy! Checking a PDF online then ordering a paper copy can be a great choice! I just hope nobody downloads one of those which is still in print, ch...

Sean M

Also, I guess ... people in India or Ukraine have to make one kind of choice, because the salaries are very low, but almost all the people who post regularly here are from high-wage countries. I know that some of the people here are in financial trouble, but people living where the minimum wage is $...

Sean M

Most of those are pirated. The people who wrote them are not academics ... any time they spend writing is time they don't get paid a salary, hang out with their families, etc. Do you really want to make it less likely that people will publish more good armour books just to save a few bucks? I do the...

Sean M

Yes, it is worth getting.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160806041 ... th-century
https://bookandsword.com/resources/fash ... ini/#hosen

Sean M

Hey konstantin my search-fu is failing on the gamboised cloth part... Would you be able to point a guy in the right direction? I'm thinking a mix of hardened leather and cloth will be most effective. Though I will probably try the laminated canvas for hidden graves as well! Hi Sigurd, Most of this ...

Sean M

The right breast is now fully interlined, and I have at least temporarily finished all of the seams except the collar and armscye. I sewed the seam allowances of the breast down over the interlining with prick stitch for extra structure. Did I mention that I eased the shoulders together by the runni...

Sean M

https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search.php?q=wangen+bolzano+italy&polygon_geojson=1&viewbox= The default view does not include elevation, so imagine it about 500 to a thousand metres above the stream on an area of rocks and woods and terraced vinyards, and follow the stream south. Runkelstein is...

Sean M

Try these guys for several things http://www.medievaldesign.com/english.asp There are some nice knives on there! Many straight out of the Knives and Scabbards book. I would be glad if this thread helps other people fill their modern-medieval needs! It sounds like some of their other objects are bas...

Sean M

Also, the eating knife by Phil Fraser suits me fine ... it has the black horn scales and brass nails (ok, copper tubing) which I see in documents and art, the blade shape is about what I see in art, and it feels good in my hand. The sheath should be tooled and dyed not smooth and painted, the blade ...

Sean M

Humh, riveting some horn scales in place with brass wire and forming a scabbard around the blade and tooling it don't seem so complicated ... I would just have to find someone to make the blade who I trusted. Sewing and making up the belt take up a lot of craft time already though ... and I don't ha...

Sean M

For Knives, Tod is probably the best quality Yeah, I wish that one of his English Cutler products was appropriate to my persona as an eating or fighting knife. They are great, but not what I see in sources from northern Italy circa 1370, and I don't have money for custom work when there are so many...

Sean M

[quote="Francis Bloomfield, "Inventory of the Effects formerly belonging to Sir John Fastolfe," Archaeologia 21 (1827) p. 273 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022681335;view=1up;seq=308"]Item, iij Kneyves in a schethe, the haftys of every withe nayles gilt.[/quote] Fastolfe died in 14...

Sean M

Thanks everyone. I suspect I have been overthinking this ... its just hard, especially since there are so many suppliers whose 'online store' is a Facebook page, and am not part of a big group where one person is the carpentry expert, another does little metal stuff, another does cooking and dining,...

Sean M

A second wiping with a damp cloth and drying with a dry cloth seemed to help. I think that the white is salt from sweat. Humh, I will try that link when I next log in to FB. I am told that there is a Marquita Volken book on shoes, to read with Stepping through Time and Shoes and Pattens . As an asid...

Sean M

I should probably get some kind of flask or costrel which is appropriate for Verona in 1370 (and maybe a cup, spoon, and bowl). Having water with you in the summer is important. The historical side is one thing ... I know about Karen Larsdatter's site and Gilding the Market , but am pretty ignorant ...

Sean M

After a couple of days alternating between 30* and sunny and 20* and drizzling, my first pair of dark brown shoes have some white stains at 'grass level.' Wiping with a clean damp cloth did not seem to help. Is there anything else I should do to remove the stains? I had not yet figured out the 'tie ...

Sean M

In my attempts at translating those few inventories, the variety of pieces to equip the horse seems unexplored at times. At least we do have references to gamboissed armors for the horse. 1333, Jean II de Chalon, Count of Auxerre Item. Du harnais de guerre. Item. The harness of war. Item iii harnai...

Sean M

Pad-stitching the interlining with relatively short lengths (18") of waxed linen thread. You can see the edge of the front opening on the left, and the armscye on the right. I hope that the stay-stitching prevents the armscye from stretching ... I could have used a machine for that too. https://book...

Sean M

Ok, so on Sunday I had no access to a cutting space/most of the parts of this project, so spent some time prick-stitching down seam allowances on internal seams. On Monday I laid out my biggest scraps against the breast pattern. https://bookandsword.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/p1000141_laying_out_ex...

Sean M

Did several small things including another fitting of the body facing + interlining. This time, I used heavy safety pins to close the front instead of straight pins which tend to bend. After the fitting, I still think that the breast is not stiff enough for the way that I have cut it. So I will inse...

Sean M

Klaus the Red wrote:Do mine eyes deceive me, or is he wearing actual splinted cuisses with shell-articulated knees? I thought they were a purely SCA invention.

Here is a closeup, click to embiggen.

Sean M

I feel the same way about arming doublets in my period! A lot of tech in their construction we barely understand. But that is why do what I do. To understand through experimental fabrication. Learn something and make the next one more accurate from what is learned. At least you guys have that Tudor...

Sean M

I look forward to seeing your progress. This is a neat project and I appreciate your thoroughness in research! Thanks! I figure that people imitating late 14th century fashionable men's clothing are like armourers in the 1980s taking coppersmithing classes at the local community college and hearing...

Sean M

https://bookandsword.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/p1000114_stab_stitching_gussets.jpg?w=576&h=432 Stab-stitching the back gussets onto the facing + interlining of one upper sleeve. I basted some units together by machine, and others by hand to see if the former saves time ... the sewing goes quicker...

Sean M

The facings + interlinings of both sleeves are complete and the seams ironed open. I have to reinforce the tips of one or two gussets where the raw edge of the facing appeared after the ironing. I used a mix of running and stab stitch for the seam which goes around the arm to join the upper and lowe...

Sean M

Both upper sleeve facings are done! One upper sleeve lining is done! So far the main issue is that I cut the "quarter circle" gussets longer along one straight edge than the other, but its easy to trim them. I also need to figure out what I did with the last quarter-circle gusset of the lining ... B...

Sean M

My interest is to have a suit that can go from the Armoured field to C&T/rapier and back with a minimum of undressing or duplication of gear. That said what I am shooting for is way over dressed for what is currently used on either field. But, I am interested in learning how and what was worn by th...

Sean M

Inventories/military treatises/arming scenes will tell you what mail was worn with this style of armour better than pictures. I think that open helmet, cuirass, and sleeves of mail was a very popular configuration for light cavalry and rich men who didn't want to wear the rest of their garniture rig...

Sean M

Thanks for the suggestion Mac!

I have a dropbox with most of my closeup photos. If anyone really wants to look at four of these guys, PM me with an email address. I don't know why they are not famous with 'armour people' because there are lots of interesting details.

Sean M

Also, I guess ... when I read lists of materials for making doublets in the 14th century, I don't see anything like canvas. I can't tell you exactly what linen of Paris or linen of Reimes were like, but they were a lot more like a fine Irish bedsheet than jute. They seem to have preferred multiple l...

Sean M

On a presentation about the Lengberg finds they talked about shaping wool with an iron. They used it, afaik, mainly for the cups on womens gowns but I wondered if one could also shape a doublet chest with this technique? Matthew Gnagy has found 16th and 17th century doublets which used those techni...

Sean M

The executioner in a red doublet above seems to have the uppermost buttons of his doublet open. This late-15th-century guy in purple seems to agree that this is not a faux pas, but he is going to the Other Place, so maybe he isn't the best one to ask. https://bookandsword.files.wordpress.com/2017/07...

Sean M

Facing of the body is assembled and the gussets and upper arms are basted together. Next comes basting the lower arms and inserting the gussets into the upper arms, then finishing making up the lining of the body and basting it in place. I will also iron the seams open. https://bookandsword.files.wo...

Sean M

One of the guardians of the tomb of Cansignorio della Scala in Verona has this label on his pedestal: https://bookandsword.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/p1010763_third_guardian_with_label_cropped-e1499594259713.jpg What do you think it says? .S. ALUIXIUS REX ? HLUIXIUS REX ? The Veronese script is har...

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: Some books online on medieval armor

Re: Some books online on medieval armor

Re: Some books online on medieval armor

Re: pourpoints for hosen / chausses in the 14th cent

Re: Hardened leather SCA fighting

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: The Palazzo Ducale bascinet.

Re: Eating and Drinking Wares

Re: Eating and Drinking Wares

Re: Eating and Drinking Wares

Re: Eating and Drinking Wares

Re: Sets of Knives in the Fourteenth Century

Re: Eating and Drinking Wares

Re: Fourteenth-Century Shoes

Eating and Drinking Wares

Re: Fourteenth-Century Shoes

Re: "A poor man’s armour?..."

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: What Does this Say?

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: 1580's Augsburg Cuirass

Re: 1580's Augsburg Cuirass

Re: What Does this Say?

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

Re: A doublet of white linen

What Does this Say?