The Armour Archive

Thomas Powers

Ah probably confusing it with Pirotechnia---a problem when you are an ocean and half a continent away form your library! Can you have 1 bellows and it's "twin" a picture on the wall? Hmm seems like with a light and some red cloth streamers you could come up with a "fire" that glows and grows when yo...

Thomas Powers

I'm sorry you haven't been able to access many textile finds in museums; I'm away from my research library right now but I was able to visit the exhibit on Byzantium at the State Archeology Museum in Munich DE last weekend where I was able to see examples of textiles much finer than anything I was w...

Thomas Powers

The MOB is the Mid Ohio Blacksmiths; it's a blacksmithing club not a sales orginazation. Things to members who participate are usually at cost or free as we scrounge and trade stuff around.

If you want to build stuff Don is a weldor and is usually quite helpfull.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Look at the Hausbuchs for pictures of folks using scrapers and various wood and sand set ups for finishing armour.

Thomas---didn't we have this discussion just a couple of weeks ago?

Thomas Powers

Should take you only 1 Saturday afternoon to build one with modern tools. They really are simple to make. To get the leathers shape I always put the wood parts together than set it up on it's side and space the top where I believ it should be then put brown paper on it and mark the wood edges on it ...

Thomas Powers

ffoulkes book is from the early 1900's and is full of bad data, methods and conclusions. The sort of thing that gives "Victorian research" it reputation.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

I have seen postings for research positions on the Archeological Metallurgy mailing list.

Usually in Englan, low stipend and you only need a Master's degree for some of them!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Since horse hair was used to pad furniture within the last 100 years I guess someone know how to do it. The horse hair stuffing I have seen looks like the hair had be steamed and twisted to give it some bounce. I'd suggest find someone who restores olf furniture and look at the real stuff. Or you ca...

Thomas Powers

Saw your doorknob last night in Munich, Large ornate Brass, unfortunately already in use---not as a turning knob but as a place to push/pull the heavy door.

Drats

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Hmm, the book is only 25 euros at the museum, hardback, all colour photos and weighs a tonn---I have two in my luggage. I don't have a scanner; but I can try after I get home and after Estrella... One of the exhibits was a chandelier from a cathedral IIRC they had it beautifully suspended in a light...

Thomas Powers

Keep in mind that all those beautiful pictures in De Re Metallica are high renaissance.---it's enough to make an "early medieval smith" re-enactor cry... If you get the M. Chest display try to get a nice viking age anvil like the one on display at L'anse aux meadows---see their web pages and perhaps...

Thomas Powers

One other mental mindset thing is the expense of cloth production in the era of drop spindles and upright looms, not to mention sowing, growing, pulling, rippling, retting, breaking, scutching and hackling flax before you can spin it---wool is much easier to work with....you gotta have a sail or two...

Thomas Powers

I was cutting the bottoms off of free gas bottles down at Don's during MOB meetings, he has a large band saw out back of the shop----these were full sized O2 bottles! He had a source too---we filled two pick up trucks with them at the hydrotester's last time we did a run. The MOB can tell you where ...

Thomas Powers

Ah a smith of that time period would not be smelting their own ore---anyone who told you that is already getting it wrong. Also a smith would forge the blade. He would then send it out to another craft's person for the grinding/polishing, it would go to another shop for the hilt. Sorry to tell you t...

Thomas Powers

What the Captian Said; not even close to medieval but a nice anvil for the fur trade era! Lots of folks have done mastermyr stuff; almost all using modern equipment; but the output will look OK so start getting the pictures! "Cathedral Forge and Waterwheel has several. I just picked up a pic of a br...

Thomas Powers

[Editor's note: I realized that I'd inadvertently hijacked Tim's thread, which is a very interesting topic and should stand on it's on. So, I've split the posts concerning tents/encampments to their own thread. Thanks for your indulgence! GK] Tents: my tent is a rectangular piece of heavy canvas th...

Thomas Powers

in Burnt Njal's Saga he asks his wife to braid him a bowstring of her hair for emergence use.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Was just looking at strips of stainless steel in the university recycling bin; sigh they would never fit in the suitcase for the trip home...

Thomas---visiting Max Planck in Garching DE

Thomas Powers

How big is the ball bearing---they can be forged into knives you know and "back story" = $$ in the custom world.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Great! Just remember that *MOST* modern smiths have no real knowledge of medieval smithing---not trying to be snarky but their background is more towards 19th century smithing. I am or have been a member of several ABANA chapters and so have worked with the general folk---at blacksmithing conference...

Thomas Powers

To stir the pot, I saw a very nice bit of knowwork on an 11th century? piece of carved marble at the Byzantine exhibit in Munich yesterday---not graphiti it was the main carving---even had a nice mistake in symetry.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Tim, have you tried the end grain of various types of wood?---as we all know MDF is just so *renaissance*!

nice hat!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Just saw a ton of hanging oil lamps both small brass/bronze ones, clay ones and a lot of pierced metal plates with coneshapped glass oil lamps that dropped into regularlly space round holes in the piercing---the BYZANZ exhibit at the State Archeology Museum in Munich... Not enough time to get some m...

Thomas Powers

May I suggest that the director saying they were trying for authenticity is generally in the same line as the phrase from near the same era about bombing for peace?

I know of at least 1 pretty spot on authentic item from the 13th warrior BTW, the cooking tripod from the farm house!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

it was written in 1909; just over the border from the Victorian Period that we blame so much for many of the inaccuracies generated and spread about medieval times.

If the pics are good though it may include info on stuff that did not make it through WW i and WW II.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Notice how *none* of those anvils look like any one used in the last couple of hundred years.

I would suggest you go with having one made---donation from a VoTech machining program?---and then have it "aged".

Thomas

Thomas Powers

I suggest you ask over at the swordforum site.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

There's over 20 copies of it for sale at abebooks cheaper starting at $20 for the reprint and $30 for the original

Why do folks think e-bay is cheap????

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Well that last site is a bit off on the "Contrary to popular belief armour was worked cold part" Guess he didn't notice all the folks using tongs not gloves and has never worked with real wrought iron---but the picture collection is nice though. (also the metallographic examination of armour shows t...

Thomas Powers

What are your feelings about choral groups singing the various masses done by famous composers? Or is it just the impersonation of a priest that bothers you?

(though perhaps not P.D.Q.Bach's famous "Mass in the Allah Mode")

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Hmm just though of a real interactive type thing. Make a tilt hammer powered off a manwheel---like a hamster wheel but put kids in it, the originals were water powered but manwheels were used a lot for construction lifting... Thomas---thanks Atli for post ing the stave church pics, I hate to store s...

Thomas Powers

I have seen quite a lot of reference to armour makers working cold. This of course is very common in modern armouries using mild steel. Mild steel came into commercial use in the late 19th century perhaps 500 years after you are interested in. Medieval and renaissance armour was made from real wroug...

Thomas Powers

If you can attend Quad-State Blacksmiths Round-up held in late September in Troy Ohio---western edge just above Dayton. You will find many ton's of blacksmith stuff for sale---it's the largest annual blacksmithing event in the US if not the World. www.sofasounds.com will have info on it closer to wh...

Thomas Powers

I'm a big bader fan too---the crazy things you can do slack belt grinding on one---not safe but very effective...You can get contact wheels ranging from 12" to 1/2" making grinding fullers a lot easier. What I love about screw presses is they are *quiet* and fast when you want to tweak things around...

Thomas Powers

Galvanized is a zinc coating over mild steel (usually) the thickness of the coating can vary depending on if it's electroplated or hot dipped (the heavier).

Thomas

Tents in medieval LH (split from 'Viking reenactor beliefs')