The Armour Archive

Konstantin the Red

He does rather have the look of some peatbog-man, recently excavated, doesn't he? Marvelous work.

Konstantin the Red

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by CS-Erasmus: Ummm, is 'periodness' even a word? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, "periodicity" isn't even the right concept, so I think we are justified in this coining.

Konstantin the Red

This specific term is new to me -- was it ever used in English? -- but it seems very plausible as the sort of term a medieval man would come up with to describe a harness with its "pieces of advantage" attached.

Good one!

Konstantin the Red

What IdÃ«val is describing is Warm&Natural brand needled-cotton quilters' batting. It looks like muslin-colored flannel but is nearer a felt, and comes in 90-inch widths (flippin' huge) at about $8.00/yd, at most kinds of fabric places like Jo-Ann Fabrics or any other national retailer.

Konstantin the Red

I would go with the broader of the two interpretations as being "period." One may envision a continuum, least to most authentic, the likes of "inspired by --> largely in the manner of --> blend of details/features of two or more historic contemporaneous pieces --> meticulous replica of a particular ...

Konstantin the Red

And Cosmo, what did you do to find them at Ryan-Herco? I nosed around their webcatalogue, but no joy yet.

Konstantin the Red

Owen, from what I read Neoteric has only got the body tube/barrel done. My mantle-top features a rather shorter body barrel than what I remember my barrel-&-straps shirts having. By the time I was done with my mantle section it completely covered my pecs, although of course it rode a bit higher in t...

Konstantin the Red

Rat barding. Oookay. Hee hee. I guess good pics of well designed rat barding would be "armourcupcake."

There's horse barding that looks like a dragon... I can imagine rat barding designed like -- an armadillo!

[This message has been edited by Konstantin the Red (edited 05-29-2003).]

Konstantin the Red

Now as a decorative element within a garment the bulk of which is e4n1, e8n1 surely rocks. Makes a lovely edge treatment in contrasting metal, giving an effect quite like the edge binding of an embroidered patch. Armourcake-ish camails, anyone? ------------------ "The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone...

Konstantin the Red

Mega-schweeeet. That's armourcake. Some gun parts catalogs sell brass-black. The gun people would use it for things like distinctively marking certain batches of reloaded cartridges -- say, the extra-hot, high-pressure loadings that you don't want to shoot out of anything but a Ruger No. 1, or the T...

Konstantin the Red

Y'know, beyond a certain small size, round caps atop spangen-construction hats always make me think they should have a 2.5cfm biscuit fan installed in there for ventilation, exhausting the air through discreet louvers. This would call for padding the hat with vertically disposed pipe insulation, thu...

Konstantin the Red

Which is a good deal. New medium-sized Tennsmith sliprollers have a habit of costing about eight hundred bux U.S.

Konstantin the Red

Go with making it kinda big anyway; camails get a bit of ring compression at the strap. The main thing that will need to be fitted with the bascinet in question being present is the triangles of mail that rise from the camail's inner margin to the neighborhood of the wearer's temples, especially if ...

Konstantin the Red

If that's vegetable tanned leather, which is likely, and you aren't quite satisfied with the detail you get, why not tool some of the modeling in? Hey, they did that with cuirbouilli knees...

Konstantin the Red

It's a thousand rings for 48 bucks, but look here at Forth Armouries, about halfway down, for ready to rivet brass rings: http://www.forth-armoury.com/Product_Catalog/doityourself_supplies.htm Guess you'll have to find something to do with those other nine hundred rings -- got an interested buddy to...

Konstantin the Red

With those forming ribs I talk about so often, you don't need to borrow a tree.

Konstantin the Red

Sounds like he means building the shirt's shoulders like a smallish bishop's-mantle. This makes a round neckhole, and the linkrows are curved, going around the neck in complete circles, with expansions in as necessary. I call such shirts mantle-tops, or round-tops, even.

Konstantin the Red

1: A milling machine is a sort of sawing and drilling machine for metal. You can put a piece of high-carbon bar stock in there and literally carve out a part for a gun, like a slide, or a receiver. It's an expensive way to fabricate metal objects, though, requiring a skilled machinist to operate it,...

Konstantin the Red

Backspace, the answer to your fundamental questions has already been published in book form: Brian Price's Techniques Of Medieval Armor Reproduction: the 14th Century. Fifty-three bucks from Amazon.com. Spending that sum and as much as twice that much in swap-meet hammers (1 big, 1 or 2 little), fil...

Konstantin the Red

Thicker metal's part of the secret when you are dishing -- 16 gauge at least, or even 14. Also, mild steel is easier to dish.

Konstantin the Red

Don't make the solid, rigid portion of any body defense go any lower than your natural waist, which is above the hip bones. Globose and seg breastplates don't usually go lower than the ribcage before starting the articulating hoops of the taces. In any breast, go for quite a large arm cutout, especi...

Konstantin the Red

I believe that's also the view of the SCA: don't try brazing a helm together. If you can't do welding for whatever reason, spend the 65 bucks it'll take to get you a No.5 Jr Roper-Whitney punch, make your 3/16" holes with it, and rivet it together. ------------------ "The Minstrel Boy to the war is ...

Konstantin the Red

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Egfroth: Xander, I've never heard of mail skirts separate from a hauberk. Fixing them in place so they didn't slide down might be difficult. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Oh ...

Konstantin the Red

I meant the whole scabbard and sword flopping about because of the soft belt. It's especially likely with the earlier sort of belt that didn't even boast a buckle but was tied closed that at least some of the belt would be cloth-soft. Still, would not the sword and its scabbard be better corralled a...

Konstantin the Red

Schweeeeet. That's less than a penny on the dollar. That'll be the best four bits you ever spent.

Konstantin the Red

Nah. Don't soak anything, just use thin enough plywood. Most people use two layers of quarter-inch. Somebody with some eighth-inch luan plywood might be moved to use that. Some arty people use two layers of 1/4" plus a third layer that's been cut out in the center, making a half inch shield with a 3...

Konstantin the Red

Deerskin is wonderful for gloves and mitts. It also found great favor for High Middle Ages sword belts, the kind with the streamers going around the scabbard in various clever patterns and the tag-ends tying together, owing to the deerskin's flexibility. How this very flexible leather kept a sword f...

Konstantin the Red

That the cuff, rather than being made as a straight-sided cone, bulged outward, becoming somewhat rounded of outline.

Konstantin the Red

Some 14th-c. flared cuffs were conical, others had convex curvature. Medieval examples that have come down to us have solid wrists, SCA examples usually have articulation there to accommodate our fondness for bending the wrist in our swordwork. A bit of convexity in the cuff will probably eliminate ...

Konstantin the Red

Interior hingeing will give you a smoother line, as less of the hinge sticks up. The only part of the hinge emplacement that takes more work is that you need to put a notch in the plate edge to accommodate the hinge barrel. Some plate hinges, such as are on greaves, might be served best by one inter...

Konstantin the Red

I've cable-&-turnbuckle bent one plywood shield, in air, no forming ribs. It yielded a curve that was more parabolic than circular, as the bend was most acute down the centerline, owing to the centerline of the shield having the most lever arm working on it. So I definitely recommend that one use ri...

Konstantin the Red

Really, Xander! Polearms are not swords. C'mon; don't embarrass yourself like that. Somebody neatly summed it up elsewhere to the effect of: there are groups that do real fighting (force levels, anyway) with pretend-weapons, and there are groups that do pretend-fighting (light, carefully controlled ...

Konstantin the Red

Telephone book, yellow pages, under "Steel" "Steel Fabricators" "Welding & Welding Supplies". These people make things of steel, mostly by welding, shearing, and bending, and they will sell steel more cheaply than Lowe's. They get it a bunch cheaper. ------------------ "The Minstrel Boy to the war i...

Konstantin the Red

If your question is how to construct the arc for the shield to be curved around you, use a pencil, tack, and string to make a circular curve. You'll need about five inches' depth of chord to make a shield of three to four inches' depth of curvature, as the wood will rebound somewhat. If your questio...

Konstantin the Red

The Latin on the armor's latten border strips is famous for its shaky spelling -- but shaky spelling was period! Marcus's cite pretty much nails it -- my KJV rendering of Mark 4:30 differs only in having no commas. It's an excellent bit of Biblical sassiness in this context. There are plenty of othe...