The Armour Archive

wcallen

Some real mail sleeves (what I have most easy access to, and where I seem to have taken better measurements) are pretty fine. This one: http://www.allenantiques.com/M-16.html seems to turn into 4mm ID mail. I have some of the fine butcher's sleeves and they look more like real mail sleeves than most...

wcallen

Good luck. I think that maybe something should be clarified. When people say "it is a lot faster to raise hot" they really mean it. A lot really doesn't tell you what they really mean. A lot means A LOT. I haven't raised cold in so long I can't provide a valid time difference, but for something like...

wcallen

I haven't had to buy that particular thing, but these guys have been very good for all general leather needs around here:

http://www.zackwhite.com/Leather-Hides-Skins_c_263.html

Zack White Leather

Wade

wcallen

I am currently renewing my passport. I don't know that I can (emotionally) pay $1400 to ship things that will fit in free luggage on a flight.

Assuming I do book a ticket, sure. I am happy to look at things.

Wade

wcallen

I will have all of the new stuff. I really will. At the moment, I don't know quite how... The estimate for shipping came in at just over $1400. For shipping. If I agree to be part of a consolidated shipment to save on costs.

Really?

$1400 for shipping?

Wade

wcallen

The book appears to be L'Arte Dell Armatura in Italia. A fine book full of nice images.

I don't have it here with me, so I can't read the caption.

Wade

wcallen

Making something like mail or lamellar does allow you to adapt the armour as the children grow. Now, is that a positive or negative feature? Personally, One of the best thing I have gotten out of making the armours for my kid was having them around afterward. This is a very old picture, but it gives...

wcallen

Looking back at the very pretty example hammers, those long necked faces are the types of hammers I tend to use when working from the inside of the piece. We see similarly shaped hammers in pictures of 16th c armourers as well. From the hammer marks I see inside real pieces I think that a reasonable...

wcallen

I am generally doing more spot raising or pushing in points or rims. And I have more recently been working in lighter materials - .075-.060 in. or even lighter. I generally use a rounded/square/hex faced hammer, and I generally like 12-24 ounce. When I am wailing away from the inside on thick materi...

wcallen

I have just finished the last of the big things for us this summer, and I have paid for the latest pieces of armour. I have no idea when they will actually be shipped, much less arrive, but the process that will lead to them arriving has started. Once I dig myself out of some normal work things, and...

wcallen

I started it Thursday night, worked on it Friday night (I went to work during the day), worked all day Saturday and then had them come over to measure his head because of the previously mentioned problem with head sizes. I delivered the parts that he wore on Monday. You do realize how inadequateyou...

wcallen

I did my first child's armour decades ago. A person I was working with at the time knew that I had armour books and he asked to borrow one so that he could get ideas to make something out of cardboard and aluminum foil. I lent him the book, but I also said "no promises, but let me see what I can do ...

wcallen

Really, it is a pretty simple method. Can and house forms are really just different ways to pattern the same idea. One uses a line that you push in, the other uses points. But the main design feature is common. Things that may not be immediately obvious... - The pattern makes a piece with the right ...

wcallen

Almost any style can be made to work. The only real issues will be if you pick a style of helmet that goes all the way down onto the body (great bascinet is a good example). This is because young peoples' heads are very large compared to the body and the interaction can be a little tricky. Here are ...

wcallen

Whether the rivets line up vertically is of little importance, really. I usually put the ones on the medial side in a nice vertical line, and make the ones on the lateral side be where they have to be so that I can get the anvil up under them to set 'em. Take care about the amount of material you h...

wcallen

From what I have seen, working in broad strokes from my A-114-a to understand how the parts fit together is reasonable when you are making the helmet you are making. But details of form should be quite different. The same parts exist. The same basic fit needs to happen. But the angles and details of...

wcallen

This is probably a little late, and the lighting isn't very good, but if you (or anyone else) wants to see a couple of late 16th c. helmet skull shapes from all around, I did a couple of videos of two of my very different burgonets rotating. Pause will be in order to really "see" things. The first o...

wcallen

Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good. If you can get 5 people together in a living room or cramped shop (at least with the right people) they will remember it for the rest of their lives. The hammer-in was atypical. I expect anyone has more room to play in their shop than Tom, but we hav...

wcallen

AlvarGuerrero wrote:That is a beautiful piece! If I didn't already have four of them this would be way more tempting!

Only four? I have more than that. Mostly somewhat different shapes.

Wade

wcallen

Classifications 3-6 are pretty highly represented in the pieces that people will normally see. And you didn't include in the matrix a dimension for "parts that are of a consistent size" and "parts are not of a consistent size" you can get a pretty odd looking armour when the parts were made for peop...

wcallen

You probably do have better angles of the third one (I took them) but unfortunately the skull shapes are very different on that helmet from the one you are copying. Some of the differences are pretty obvious from the pictures, others have to be interpreted. There is no way I can afford a similar hel...

wcallen

before you get to much farther along, take that picture of the real helmet and blow it up to full size and compare the shape (of both the comb and the skull to what you have. I think you will find that you want to play with the shape some to get the typical, somewhat odd form those helmets have. Try...

wcallen

I will keep wandering on about dates and study items. Labor day seems kind of busy for lots of people. It is also the date for: http://www.northshield.org/EVENTS/EventAd.aspx?ID=1033 That should be a fine thing for people who are close. And probably others too. I haven't seen the actual list of sess...

wcallen

I expect the elbow I posted was just at the level of stuff someone with money would buy for his followers. I think that the level of decoration, weights for the parts and the thicknesses on the Mantova stuff indicate that it wasn't the highest end stuff either. I don't know how nice the morion James...

wcallen

There are some published pictures of some of the portions of armet skulls when they removed the reinforce. They are described as "mirror polished" but I haven't personally seen close enough to understand how polished that really is. There are paintings of late 15th c. Italian armour that show the ba...

wcallen

Hint for next time you make hinges: I try not to work that hard when I make my hinges. I cut a strip app. the right width, roll about the right amount over and form it over a wire of the right diamter. Then I can cut my notches in the barrel of the hinge on an edge where I can use things like saws, ...

wcallen

Uh.... Scott.. I think I just saw Jeff post something that should motivate you to pick an appropriate date. If he is actually willing to say hi, take him up on it. He does some very nice work.

Wade

wcallen

and my wife has suggested I go to the study day and wear cargo pants :-) A great place to store your camera, microscope, pad, pencil and measuring tapes. Leave with all the information you want, but I prefer for the actual stuff to end up back where it started. We do make a real mess of the place p...

wcallen

Mark Griffin wrote:Ha! Now i know where the Delmar stuff I missed went

People need to stop bidding against me. I would have a nicer collection to share with people if I could just get those pesky "other bidders" out of the way.

I did get a few low end things from the sale. Now I deal with shipping......

Wade

wcallen

Keep commenting. I am not in front of the computer this week so my notes will be more limited than usual.

Wade

wcallen

Assuming I am still alive? I have been watching and playing in the armour world since the late 70's. Not quite 30 years so far, but almost. 15 more years, doesn't seem like any major problem. Some of the recent closeups of vervelles showed that the ones in question were iron with a copper alloy over...

wcallen

Scott, Someday I would love to do a trip out to the northwest. This July is pretty much of a mess for us. We are booked for a couple of Archery tournaments for the kid (and we are playing along) and we seem to be supporting the local archery club including keeping practices running. Between those, t...

wcallen

Was this the first munion I have found? Nope. I seem to have a major portion of 6 sets (some are missing some plates, one is composed) and some parts of 3 more (a gorget and one shoulder, and two different separate shoulders). They make is easy to build a "half suit" - a breastplate and a helmet and...

wcallen

See "bench leg vise" or "woodworking bench vise" and you will probably find some that work by pressing a bar with your foot, as well as many that seem to blend into the bench leg to which they are mounted and on which they depend for their mechanism to work. You would quite be able to come up with ...

wcallen

Edited ..... This year the study session will be a little later. October 24, 2015. We can also take the time to pick the right items for the focus this year. This is not in any way intended to be the list for the session, we always include a combination of old and new items, but this is a page that ...

Re: Anyone using machine made micro mail for voiders?

Re: Dishing / Raising Question

Re: alternative product to Tandy's heavy saddle skirting?

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Bellows-visored Sallet question

Re: Kids armour

Re: Weight of the 'go-to' general purpose raising hammer

Re: Weight of the 'go-to' general purpose raising hammer

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Kids armour

Re: Kids armour

Re: Tips or trick on the can bascinet construction method?

Re: Kids armour

Re: A vision of a dream - help me perfect my kit

Re: Helmet- Prince-Elector Chistian

Re: Helmet- Prince-Elector Chistian

Re: Calgary Armour meetup?

Re: Sales Morion

Re: The idea of a "composite armour"

Re: Helmet- Prince-Elector Chistian

Re: Helmet- Prince-Elector Chistian

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Original finish on armour

Re: Original finish on armour

Re: Milanese harness in progress, continued

Re: Calgary Armour meetup?

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Vervelles, how they were made?

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Vervelles, how they were made?

Study Session 2015