The Armour Archive

Jason Grimes

Hi Andrew, I like your points, just had a couple of problems with some of them. Although the gauntlets, like you point out, have short cuffs, the rest of them yell out Kastenbrust. Just from the fact that they are one piece and no finger protection (at least from what I can see). You just do not see...

Jason Grimes

RandallMoffett wrote:I'd be interested in any info on these before 1400 if anyone has it.

RPM

Hey Randall, I have a couple of pictures I will post. It will have to wait until I get home though.

Jason Grimes

That's coming along very nicely Ralph. It will be fun to see the finished helmet.

Jason Grimes

Andrew - I would say that the sculpture in your first photo was most likely miss-dated. I really haven't seen Kastenbrust armour in it's fully developed style like that is until around 1420. There are hints of the style dating back to about 1390, maybe earlier. Tony - Thanks for the pictures and the...

Jason Grimes

That is a very cool helmet, Badvoc did do a good job. I can see from the pictures what you mean by how shallow the helmet is. The proportions look ok, so I wonder if it just needed to be larger? You should cover it with cloth like many of the originals were, with fancy braiding around the edges, etc...

Jason Grimes

I think there were two reasons for putting compression articulation on an arm harness. One, it was more protective, you wouldn't need to wear mail gussets underneath the armour. This was very much the function of the arm harness on Henry VIII's foot combat armour. The other reason was used mostly in...

Jason Grimes

Oh, and Jason? All I did was transcribe the note that went with the illustration, on that staves bit. Anything in italics (except for smilies) is something you can take up with the authors . No problem. It looks like there are more staves leaning up against the barrier, maybe quick replacements for...

Jason Grimes

Thanks Gordon,

I learn something new every day.

Jason Grimes

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/3147757313_9b8d9359ac.jpg"> Foot combat at barriers with <B>staves</B>. This drawing which accompanies the 1554 challenge of Lord Strange and various Spanish noblemen , illustrates one means of constructing a barrier and its approximate height in relati...

Jason Grimes

I have found some more pictures of Almain Rivets: http://www.frostyfoot.com/images/cat60.jpg I would love some more picts of this one, especially of the splints. http://www.frostyfoot.com/images/61606.jpg http://www.frostyfoot.com/images/61606_b.jpg The last picture is a close up of the decoration, ...

Jason Grimes

I wish they were my photos. It looks like they were taken by the National Austrian University. The second suit is in the Graz, I'm not sure where the first suit lives. I'm assuming that the straps hold up the pauldrons/spalders and that the vambrace is still going to be pointed to an arming doublet....

Jason Grimes

Sorry about that, I have changed the URLs to point to another domain. Try the links now. Now I need to find out what is wrong with the other domain. *sigh*

Jason Grimes

I found another example of metal straps with slots for the pauldron/spaulder attachment straps. http://www.frostyfoot.com/images/strap1.jpg http://www.frostyfoot.com/images/strap2.jpg These metal straps attach to the breastplate with pegs and pins. I'm not sure about the picture you posted Gordon, l...

Jason Grimes

That's really cool, you need to post pictures when it's done. Have him do some research on these types of armour because I'm not too sure the parts they reconstructed (the black plates) is a very good reproduction. Also this armour, unless it has moved, is in the Winchester City Museum not the Wall...

Jason Grimes

Besagews - They can be very simple (just a round flat plate with a rivet in the middle) to works of art with raised points and etching/fluting/roping. You could easily pick a version that you would be comfortable with to construct. Although they are not too useful with out the rest of the armour to ...

Jason Grimes

from the wallace collection. John gruber is making one of these for me in "fat" size. Landsknechts wore em. That's really cool, you need to post pictures when it's done. Have him do some research on these types of armour because I'm not too sure the parts they reconstructed (the black pla...

Jason Grimes

That's a very interesting painting Gordon, I can see where it does look like the points are threaded through the breast/back plate straps. One thing to keep in mind is that some straps were made of iron/steel and hinged to the back plate with sneck hook closures on the breast (or some other method)....

Jason Grimes

What Wade said. Your son has grown up so much since the last pictures I saw of him. They grow up so fast. I wanted to add some information about the early part of the century and armour with out gorgets. Small disclaimer: This info is mostly my own conjecture and relates to the Landsknecht of the HR...

Jason Grimes

That waistcoat cuirass is excellent and looks to be early too, maybe 1540's? I would love to see how they handled the fauld lames on that one. The cuirass with the scales looks familiar to me, although it is not a waistcoat cuirass, it's called a anime cuirass. Anime cuirass are made up of many lame...

Jason Grimes

to play devils advocate: they are cheaper and hella lot better looking than biker boots. I deffinitely think they're a step (hah ha!!) in the right direction. Thanks Mattmaus, that was my intension. I agree with you completely, if fact I'm still thinking of getting a pair. Without the heel and the ...

Jason Grimes

Very nice Eric, excellent work on the rolls.

Jason Grimes

Well I'm disappointed. I was hoping that they would look more period or in my case early 16th century (1510 - 1540). Please don't take this criticism as anything but my wish for a living history level shoe. The quality of workmanship and finish looks to be excellent and definitely worth the price. I...

Jason Grimes

Thanks David,

I'm thinking French...I'm thinking French.

PM sent.

Jason Grimes

In Germany they were called "plateners".

Jason Grimes

Thanks guys,

I will look more at continental examples, maybe there is some good French artwork from the period.

Jason Grimes

By the way, what diameter is the pin that goes through that hinge, and how long and wide do I make the slots in order to fit that diameter? I usually use a piece of 16 gauge wire for mine, although it depends on how large or small the hinge is. And how strong you need it to be. You don't need to wo...

Jason Grimes

Just as an aside, I'm not sure I would want to do the neck lame hinge like this with the barrel of the hinge pointing to the inside and against the neck. Like Wade said usually the hinge is separate and the barrel points to the outside. In that case, the neck lames are cut away to give room for the ...

Jason Grimes

Hi Cat, Wade,

Here is a really quick, and a very bad picture I drew up that might help illustrate what Wade is describing.

http://phobos.gina.alaska.edu/gorget_hinge.jpg

Edited: Oops everyone posted before I finished the picture.

No problem Cat, glad I was helpful, doesn't Wade have cool toys?

Jason Grimes

Thanks Steve for the information, but I was hoping for a more Scottish context. Maybe there isn't any information on this out there.

Jason Grimes

I'm going to be joining David Teague's group HRG this summer for an event and I'm finishing up some armour for it. Is there evidence for blackened armour in Scotland in the late 14th century? I have seen many examples in artwork for blackened armour in the 15th century on the European main land, but...

Jason Grimes

Another possibility is that the hole was put in to use the helmet as a funerary piece and was done long after the helmet was in use.

Jason Grimes

Hi Cat, I'm not familiar enough with pauldrons to visualize how those pins would connect to them, though. Would there be a hole somewhere on the pauldrons that these pins would go up through? How would the spring pin work in this situation? Exactly, there is a corresponding hole on the pauldron or s...

Jason Grimes

Jason, I don't know we had a few gorgets where I worked that were very close to this same gorget. All were fairly nice but infantry suits nonetheless. This one may indeed not be part of a suit like a almain rivet but I have seen ones very similar as part of a suit. RPM No problem. Did the ones you ...

Jason Grimes

Jason, Thanks so much! I knew I had gotten info from someone on this before, so I apologize for you having to go to the trouble again. I will email Wade if you don't think he'd mind, and maybe he wouldn't mind getting me some pics of the inside and back. (cause I'm still confused, but that's not su...

Jason Grimes

Hi Randall, This is much too nice to be an almain rivet with it's nicely roped rolls and the spring pins. Cat, That is the picture I annotated for you. A is the pivot rivet where the main plates of the gorget rotate to open it. B is the keyhole catch to close the gorget. C is another keyed catch tha...

Blackend armour in the late 14th century Scotland