The Armour Archive

Bob H

I can't document it that far back, but what I did for my "tent" (actually just a tarp) is to paint it with a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and turpentine. Takes a week or so in warm weather to dry, but it works great. Like any pre-chemical-age treatment, take care with fire.

Bob H

You might try something on the style of the Roman segmented manica, although I don't know how well it would be suited. Of course, you could adapt a later impression. "Sherman, set the Wayback machine to 19th September 1346, at the French city of Poitiers" http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif

Bob H

Rev,

Did you mean clinched?

Bob H

Everyone knows there can be only one.

Bob H

My first Japanese MA teacher learned in Okinawa, and in that school each foreign student was paired with a partner. He told us about his partner later, when he was back in the US and had started his own school - "He didn't really have a lot of techniques - backfist, side kick. He was, however, very,...

Bob H

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by CountAlaric: Drake, You guys are the only ones who don't allow it. Caid did not allow movement after you had been HIPPED, but we changed that law last year. In my opinion, w...

Bob H

Beeswax in the coffeemaker? Hahahahaha, you have just done a "guy thing". http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/biggrin.gif If it's plain beeswax, then plain very hot water (boiling if possible) and a bit of persistance will flush it out of nonporous materials. Parafin is a lot harder to remove.

Bob H

Roswell, indeed. He was just trying to match his horse's kit...

Thanks for the pictures.

Bob H

I've used iron filings dissolved in strong vinegar, keep adding and shaking over a week or two until no more iron will dissolve, then strain. Rub generously into the leather, let sit a while, and rinse the leather thoroughly in clean water. It's documentable to about the 17thC, I don't know about ea...

Bob H

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Egfroth: Good pun . . . <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> ... and, like the jitterbug, it plumb evaded me. Thanks for the wake-up nudge.

Bob H

Hahaha. I was in mid-western VA talking to a game warden, and when he found out I was from coal country he said "you hillbillies are all alike - if I stop you you'll have every kind of hunting/trapping/fishing license, damage stamp, National Forest stamp, and county stamps that can be imagined, even...

Bob H

One of the biggest problems is that the majority of modern Americans don't HAVE a medieval history in their country of residence. If you'll visit a living history group here focused on 1500 forward, you'll likely find a level of accuracy that's acceptable. Many of the members of the mid 18thC group ...

Bob H

Great news! (and, welcome to the world of loaner cra...err, armour).

Just remember, as the footspeed declines, so increases the treachery. "Come a little closer, sonny, I can't hear what you're saying".

I started at 43.

Bob H

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Owen: I met a guy who did that once, dropped out of a tree with a big knife. Got the boar...and 174 stitches. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Poor fellow, he must have been hol...

Bob H

The only helmet I could find anywhere was a Mandrake spuntop bargrill (and I was tickled to get that, too). 4-lame coulters and spaulders from BlueSky, the rest cuirbollei - upper and lower cannons, breast and back, legharness, cup/codpiece. Flat plywood heater, baskethilt, and surcoat. It was still...

Bob H

Yes, I've used enarmes on a heater. Mine positioned the shield across my forearm, with crossed short straps for the hand and a single strap below the elbow joint. You've lost me on the "center grip" idea - I usually think of that as a term for a shield with a central boss and integral grip. Enarmes ...

Bob H

I'm not going to get in the middle of this, if you want to go you should call or email Larry Harley (there's really nothing I could do but muddy the water, and he's only going to hold a place for those who make a deposit anyway). I've only killed one boar (using a longbow), but the place I hunted us...

Bob H

I've only met him a couple of times, we're in the same forge group. He had one of his bowies with him today, very nice work.

Bob H

I finally had an opportunity to talk to Larry Harley about his boar hunts. His standard package is a custom Bowie (he's also a knifemaker), and a hunt to kill a boar with that knife. He said he'd be receptive to medieval hunters, although he recommended they use a knife instead of a spear - "a lot m...

Bob H

For Smoke and Fire, try http://www.smoke-fire.com/

They're nice folks and very businesslike but still friendly, I think you'll like dealing with them.

Bob H

Jentien, This may not be of interest, but I'm most active in the Overmountain Men, a group representing early settlers west of the Blue Ridge/Appalachian mountains. We live at a reconstructed fortified frontier station all weekend, and portray several historic events during the month in which they a...

Bob H

Lovely plumage, the North American opossum...

This one appears to be a bit vexed, did you mistreat him?

Bob H

Postscript: I must note that a Bearnaise is entirely too delicate for such a dish, and would recommend a heavily cloved tomatoe catsup or an etoufee sous made from a heavy cornstarch roux and the brine from aged redpepper KimChi. Serve after several 151 Bacardi apertifs with a gallon each of Ed's Or...

Bob H

E's 'ooked, yer Honor, just keep yer rod tip up and the line taught and soon we'll slip a net under him fer yer supper! The "weasel", is obviously an opossum, please observe the plainly depicted fold at mid-thorax which is a primitive's interpretation of the marsupial pouch. As for the red "vapours"...

Bob H

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> :Originally posted by Jeff J: Sometimes you see a fellow like Mac Thrasher Right, with a skirt on his braies. That skirt is the material that's been untucked from under the roll and let down. [Thi...

Bob H

Chef,

That brings to mind a question I was going to ask elsewhere about carrying goods - would a common soldier carry some type of bag or knapsack, or would all of his things save weaponry be in the baggage wagons?

Bob H

I think one "trick" is in the arrangement of the bunching/pleats. Tie it loosely, then slide the material around until it fits and feels better, then suck in the gut and tie a better knot. Be sure and push plenty of material to the back so they're baggy in the caboose and they won't bind when you be...

Bob H

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Thaddeus: Noe, if you lose on all other fronts and get the account but have to use big loopy slow fighting styles, sneak in one character who uses fiore/wma and go for brutally...

Bob H

I'm also a friend of Galon's, and I talk to he and Shelley occasionally. He always calls me - I won't ask for his phone number so neither of us has our friendship exploited by those who would expect me to intercede in something that is plainly none of my business.

Bob H

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Captain Jamie: If they are not correct, they are not correct. Are you wearing them to assuage the sensibilities of others or slipping the time line a bit so that you can we...

Bob H

Robert, I have two pair of reenactment glasses (I can't read or do close work without them), one for 14thC and a pair for 18thC. What I did was to buy my frames from a reenactment supplier, then take them to my oculist to have lenses installed. A couple of them said they couldn't do it, but at least...

Bob H

Thanks, JT, you just made me realize a weakness I had in my system. I logged in as root, and munged the SMTP and POP addresses in Mozilla so that it can't automatically download anything if I use the mail client while logged in as root.

Bob H

Well, baloney. You win.

Bob H

Do not.

Bob H

But we don't eat hamster chitlin's like the Arky's do...

Anyone up for a wild boar hunt?