The Armour Archive

Jason Grimes

No offense, but I was hoping for a more specific answer. Well I'm not a better armourer, but here is my 2 cents anyway. It is very difficult to write how you do this, it is much better if you had someone to show you. And in the end it is your own experience that will show you the way. Instead of wo...

Jason Grimes

Jason, I would have thought there would be plenty of groups doing foot combat? Not sure the IJA could really help you much in Alaska anyway. We don't have anybody up there. But I did train a fellow from Anchorage last year, come to think of it, but that was all mounted stuff. He and his group do gr...

Jason Grimes

Well, since the International Jousting Association is first and foremost about jousting , the tournaments focus on mounted activities. Strange that, eh? Essentially, as it stands now, if an IJA tournament organizer wants to include foot combat, it's up to him. Nothing preventing it. But so far, the...

Jason Grimes

Still looks a bit plump, IMHO. Of course it depends on your hand size, but looking at the painting I get the impression that the width:height ratio is way off in your gauntlet (when the "length"-direction is along the arm). Take a look at the guy in armour, with raised clenched fist. He seems to be...

Jason Grimes

Here is my first project in many years, a German gauntlet in the Kastenbrust style. I copied the gauntlet style from a panel of the Wurzach Altar painted by Hans Multscher in about 1437. You can see the panel here at: m Select the panel labled "Christ before Pilate" and look at the gaunlet laying on...

Jason Grimes

Depends on who you talk to. The artsy folks tend to look at armour for it's form, others from the technical point of view, or from a martial take on it. Technically, I think the height of armour was the first half of the 16th century, although like MDJouster said, very nice (technically speaking) ar...

Jason Grimes

Very nice horse Jeffery, you need to get a picture of him in all the trappings, etc. Do you still need to train him with the equipment? I was wondering if IJT will ever do foot combat tournament, either over a barrior or in a pen? I have always wanted to build myself a tonlet suit and do a tournamen...

Jason Grimes

Early 15th century german back plates are not fluted. Early 16th century german back plates are. Frederich Not entirely quite true. Early 15th century Kastenbrust armour had both fluted breastplates and backplates. The only surviving Kastenbrust cuirass in the Vienna City Museum has a fluted backpl...

Jason Grimes

Great work Cat! Looks very sturdy.

One of these days I will make an attempt.

Not to derail the thread but, Maeryk, did you ever finish a pair of those early 16th century shoes? If you have, any pictures?

Jason Grimes

Much of the armour was even thinner then 20 ga. Many of the gauntlets were 22 ga. to 24 ga. Most of the munition stuff was thin as well.

Jason Grimes

Thanks Chef, not being a very astute political person, I forget that aspect of things. I have a lot of respect for people who can portray a slave, etc. Personally I think I would find it very hard to portray the slave owner. I don't think I could do it.

Jason Grimes

I firmly believe it unethical to renact defining aspects of the Inquisition and the Donner Party. You could still simulate it. Seriously though, I don't have a problem with people re-enacting the worst parts of history. I think it would be very cool if someone got into makeup and portrayed a leper,...

Jason Grimes

Tetsu - that is a great way to show how to do it!! I like it! Thomas - The biggest difficulty with seams is making sure that all of the rows as laying the same direction on both pieces. I just shove both of them together to see how well they will fit together. Once you see them together, it will be ...

Jason Grimes

Very nice work!! Looks great!

Jason Grimes

I wear contacts and use Focus Dailies which come 90 to a box. Each box is about $35. Both of my eyes are the same, so I only have to buy one box and it lasts me 45 days. They are great, except it's sometimes hard to tell if the little suckers are inside out or not. You just put them in in the mornin...

Jason Grimes

Hi Cat, I just wanted to add my two cents in here as well. When you are first learning how to dish, keep checking the fit with rest of the helmet. It may seem tedious, but you can get a real good look at were you need to keep dishing or where you need to adjust something. And you can avoid over dish...

Jason Grimes

Yes, I agree those are very strange, very much like 16th century gauntlets?!? They are a little short on the finger lames compared to 16th century ones though. I have never seen borders on the cuffs like these, not even German gothic, except on post 1500 stuff. I would definetly like to see a better...

Jason Grimes

Alcyoneus, that is an awesome picture, I wish all authors did that. Unfortunatly it's of a closed helmet instead of an armet and about 60 years too late. Clang - I looked through my pictures and found a few that might help. I have one picture that shows the period polish that they found under the br...

Jason Grimes

Well, there it is. Looks good to me, at least if the gauntlets do belong to S18 then that pushes the suit into the 1420's. Daniel, do you have any attributes for those pictures, artist, etc? I would love to see the other pic you were forwarded. Here is the one of the BP gauntlets: m Glad you were ab...

Jason Grimes

thanks folks for your replies. yes the thumb scales kinda bothered me. we settled on this pattern after some discusion with the guy i was making these for. i couldn't find an extant example and this is the first constructive feed back i've gotten. Jason, the list of artist that you provided has giv...

Jason Grimes

Well, the chs18 is fitted with a pair of gauntlet that "work" roughly in the same way, ok, they look more hourglasses, but the wrist is allowed to move. I just need to know how. Hi Signo, I took another look at the pictures I have of S18 and you're right, they do look very similar. S18 is dated to ...

Jason Grimes

A question: How the wrist move? It's the cannon just caged into the metacarpal ?It's riveted? There is leather to let them move? I would like to understand how this kinf of gauntlet works because in the future i plan to make a CHS18 repro that has this kind of gauntlets. Could you post other pictur...

Jason Grimes

LHF - Great job on the gauntlets!! And I want to thank you for the picture of the origionals. These are not munition gauntlets, but the only other example of Kastenbrust armour that I have ever seen. The other is a cuirass in the Vienna city museum. Very rare style to find, I think Churburg castle m...

Jason Grimes

Given how sketchy the illustration is and the general lack of detail, I would hesitate to draw many conclutions from this. It is interesting, if the date is correct, that this might be an early representation of Kastenbrust armour. But again, I wouldn't use this to prove any kind of conjecture.

Jason Grimes

Cat, the article you really need to get your hands on is Herbert Westpfahl's, Die Zweihandschwerter und Ringpanzer der Hornschen Schlachtschwertierer, 1993. It's in German but he describes around 10 exsisting mail mantles, two mail brayettes, and a short sleeve mail shirt. He give average ring sizes...

Jason Grimes

That looks great Ralph, as usual.

I think the double occulars would work, at least, that is what you see mostly in both origionals and in artwork.

Jason Grimes

Yeah, this is a Windlass mass-produced piece I think. I have never liked it...it looks...wrong. Wrong shape...too shallow. Typical Indian result...decent craftsmanship and the right details, but the shape has been distorted or interpreted poorly, and the details are placed wrong. These craftsman sh...

Jason Grimes

Hi Cat,

It's the correct site. I have removed all of the images that I didn't have permission to use. I'm in the process but some of them I may never get permission. If you like I could send you the pics.

Jason Grimes

Hi David,

Well there were mail mittens starting from the 12th century?

And I remember seeing some scale mittens from about the early 13th. In Germany, the German parts of Switzerland, and Flemish areas I have artistic evidence that plate mitten gauntlets were used from about the late 1420's.

Jason Grimes

Yes, you need to wash the iron with vertigis first, which is basically a solution of copper. This allows the gold amalgam to stick to the iron like your electroplating example. The article you posted is very good except the part about gilding iron. What he calls "mechanical gilding" is actually dama...

Jason Grimes

Gilding iron is different then gilding a copper alloy. You have to do extra steps to get the gilding to adhere to the iron. I'm not sure, but I don't remember seeing many examples of gilded iron until the second half of the 15th century. I would guess that even if these examples above are gilded, th...

Jason Grimes

Yes, Thanks Tubal. Sorry I wasn't more clear on my comment that Paul was exaggerating. I ment that he might have been exaggerating about the number of farmers they fought. 15000 seems a little large. I just don't think that 1800 Landsknecht would have been able to last againced 15000. No matter how ...

Jason Grimes

I'm curious about the strapping in that last set of photos. - I notice you have sliding rivets down one side, and leather straps on the other side and the middle. Is there a reason for that? - Is that for the left arm or right arm? This was the standard method for the leathers/riveting both pauldro...

Jason Grimes

If you select the "Digital Collection" there is more armour goodness. Very cool. Now if they just sold a complete armour catalog.

Jason Grimes

Thanks Ingrid!! That is too cool!!

Current project - Kastenbrust gauntlet