The Armour Archive

wcallen

Since you are doing a comic book, there may not need to be any reason to actually be historical. Unless it is supposed to be historical... If it is supposed to be historical, then you should pick a period and ask questions about that specific period. Three are a lot of differences between the shape ...

wcallen

Lucky for you, I use a Victor too. I have what they called (back in the 70's) a SuperRange which was a medium duty outfit. We had a Harris and something else back in the day, and the tip numbering systems didn't seem to correlate very well. I have several tips. The largest 2 welding tips are the 2-W...

wcallen

Bigger tanks will be cheaper. Really, they can make a big difference. I use a big welding tip, not a rosebud. But I have generally been raising somewhat small things. A big welding tip can do a lot. Have a gas saver? They make all the difference in the world. Others have tried oxy propane or some od...

wcallen

Woah. You really think those are hollow formed pieces? I would have sworn up and down they were simply solid bar, punched and drifted. :o My first impression was "of course they are bars" too. But we looked closely at the pictures. They indicate otherwise. And John's comparison of the weight of the...

wcallen

What's the point of letting them droop? It is cool. They could do it, so likely a really 'good looking' one will do it. Many of us don't wear modern shoes with sabatons... In fact, generally you won't get really good looking sabatons if you try to fit them over modern shoes, because they don't have ...

wcallen

I have no skin in this game either way. I am a live and let live kind of guy, and I am no longer active in the SCA. That said.... Non same sex couples have entered, fought, and at times won for years. At least in the Middle. Examples of actual winners include: Nathan/Kirsten Valerius/Fern I assume t...

wcallen

I did read it, Wade. But the comment about filing and chiseling in the above post is without context or reference to the radial lines on the krug. So it never occurred to me that it was related to the markings on the armor, indicating they were not fluting. :) You are right, I was extremely non-spe...

wcallen

Very nice. I've been thinking about making one, but I don't want to do all that fluting! :D -Badger- Read part of the previous post very closely. When we were sending pictures back and forth of my rotted bits, I was asked how thick things were. As part of that, I discovered that (on at least one of...

wcallen

A very nice result. I am guessing that is why you were asking for pictures of my rotted bits. I hope they managed to add something to the more complete knowledge gained from more complete pieces in larger collections. I I was of any help, I am glad. If not, that is the way of things. We all need to ...

wcallen

There is a similarly abused breastplate described in an article about armour in the American war between the states. I don't think that it is really reasonable to blame either of these failures.... In both cases the person wasn't shot with anything that was really intended to be a single-person weap...

wcallen

There can be some movement between the lame next to the cop and the "turner" lame, but you aren't going to get much of any movement out of a lame that has a rivet in the middle that needs to slide sideways. Sure, it may woggle by a degree or so, but it won't move much the way lames normally move. It...

wcallen

Late 14th century elbows that didn't have turner lames probably had to bend more right? How much should the arm be able to bend? More than is physically possible? Nope. In general, the more you make things move, the nastier the gaps get. Making them move more than necessary definitely aggravates th...

wcallen

I think he meant the backplate of the cuirass, not the back of the arm. I have plenty of theories on that, many of which start out with the style of clothing worn at the time, and some of which follow on to do an analysis of how modern belts (that hold up pants) tend to lie on an actual human body, ...

wcallen

The "pucker" or "S" curve into the center of the knee is common or even more in German stuff from the late 15th c. James has played with more than I have, so he is in a better position to be more positive. I have seem a similar sweep in some (but definitely not all) late 15th c. Italian pieces, and ...

wcallen

Someone worked really hard on that last stand. More woodwork than I have wanted to put into one.

Now... how about steam bent slats? That would make a really cool stand.

Wade

wcallen

Buy and take apart? I buy lots of elbows, but I don't tend to take them apart..... Of course, mine are old. I have pulled patterns from things without pulling them apart. More normally I will take a piece I like out to the shop and have it to compare with all of the time I am working. That tends to ...

wcallen

I don't prefer stands like the folding one posted. It really is just my personal preference, but I prefer ones like the one that I make and that started this off because: - I like there to be something leg-like that is roughly centered on where the wearer's leg would be. Sometimes this is really hum...

wcallen

These are probably later (one a lot later) but the idea is nice: http://s128.photobucket.com/user/JColdIron/media/Floating%20Elbow/20140706_155512_zpsb1ee3169.jpg.html That is a buckle John copied from one of my originals along with the original. I am more used to seeing those on 16th c. pieces, but...

wcallen

My first reaction was "Very nice" and on a second look I still think that.

Nice hat. It looks well within the range, and a shape I like more than some of the less elegant real ones.

Wade

wcallen

So then how exactly do you get an elbow that never gaps? From what I have seen, that is a question they didn't ask themselves. You could dish the lames just the right amount. But the result would normally be Michelin-man-like. Normally an elbow cop is more pointed than a knee, so enough dish would ...

wcallen

I know that it is hard to believe that armour (in many senses) doesn't "fit" the wearer many people would think. When I am starting to get the idea across, I will describe armour as something that should : - flatter the user to make him look as good as possible - protect the user - be comfortable In...

wcallen

How do you guys go about with creating elbow articulations? More or less that same way that you are doing, I think. I like to fidget with cardboard and work things out that way. Wade is more inclined to start with something that sort of fits and do his fidgeting in the steel. (I am betting that Wad...

wcallen

One of the really cool parts of John's elbows is directly applicable to your elbows:
http://s128.photobucket.com/user/JColdI ... 9.jpg.html

The buckles. He did a nice job.

Wade

wcallen

Wander around on my arms page: http://www.allenantiques.com/Armour-Arms-Collection.html Most of them are later, but there are a few that sort of sneak into the time period you are looking for. What you will find is that in general there is both some way to secure the cop to something else (laces to ...

wcallen

Also, (unlike knees) they just don't seem to have cared if there was some mid-bend gap in elbows. There really isn't a need to solve a problem that they didn't see as a problem. They usually kept the gap within reason, but not always.

Wade

wcallen

This is what can happen if you have a narrow lame and you basically don't get any movement from the lame to main plate joint (the lames do woggle just the teensiest bit, but not much): http://www.allenantiques.com/A-27.html If you look at the pictures of the arm straight, it doesn't sit very nicely....

wcallen

Different arms at different periods have different geometries, which tend to suffer from different versions of gaposis. This is as close to a 14th c. arm as I get, and it suffers from very few problems (other than the trimmed wing, replaced plates and confusing cuff): http://www.allenantiques.com/A-...

wcallen

I like 1 1/2" solid oak planks. If you got them, use them for what you want. I expect some people could find some higher end uses for them...... but they would be fun. The slouch may be subtle enough to work out. You will see after you get the whole harness on it and have to stare at it for a couple...

wcallen

I am not generally going for the "human inside" look, more for the "armour stands up and looks like all of the parts go together" look, so I only pad when there is a reason for it. For example, I made a stand for my kid's 1250 harness. Since it was mostly mail, I needed a real body in there. I think...

wcallen

The idea looked better in my head too. That is why I did it a couple of times. It might turn out better in your attempt than it did in mine, feel free to try. I am just providing my experience with my examples. I have done ... I think a couple more like this (and many other ways). It is a pretty sim...

wcallen

I have done a few stands using a similar idea. Here is one of them: http://www.allenantiques.com/images/Geoffrey1540Stand.jpg If the armour is more complete, you can get away with less shape in the stand. Less complete, more "body" seems to help. I have made several stands which basically mimic a pe...

wcallen

I have several other pieces that show the bevel on the edges. Often this gets "softened" over the years of cleaning. Many pieces which haven't been overly cleaned show a pretty rough set of tool marks on the bevels, and even when they are cleaned there is usually some sign of these marks. I don't se...

wcallen

If you can get the pictures anywhere on the web, then linking works. I put them on my web site and link over. But I have my own site..... These are my bits of mail: http://www.allenantiques.com/Armour-Mail-Collection.html I have done very little to each piece since I purchased them. Mac was nice eno...

wcallen

I am not as picky as museum people (thanks John), but I definitely err on the side of "do no harm" too. Many, many things have been basically ruined by a well-meant, but ill-informed attempt to "clean" them. So, what do pictures show us about the thing? Maybe we will know something about what it rea...

wcallen

Strap width depends on how you are doing things. Often these things are secured by pairs of rivets. This means that the strap would be wider. I really like buff - if it is good. Mac appears to have had a good batch and a bad batch. The bad stuff was pretty bad... If you get the good stuff, it is rea...

Re: Various plate armour questions

Re: Torch recommendation for hot raising?

Re: Torch recommendation for hot raising?

Re: Wallace Buckler A318 Progress and musings

Re: regarding 14th century sabatons

Re: "Inspirational Equality" returns

Re: A Krug for a fellow archiver

Re: A Krug for a fellow archiver

Re: A Krug for a fellow archiver

Re: Shot proof Cuirass

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: Jeremy's harness build.

Re: Designing a knee, trying to get it right

Re: Armor Stand

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: Armor Stand

Re: New sallet

Re: New sallet

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: Designing a knee, trying to get it right

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: Pictures of 3 piece arms with floating elbows - late 15t

Re: Pictures of 3 piece arms with floating elbows - late 15t

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: Jeremy's harness build.

Re: how does elbow articulation work?

Re: Armor Stand

Re: Armor Stand

Re: Armor Stand

Re: Armor Stand

Re: Deburr / Finish edges?

Re: Cleaning an antique maille shirt of it's rust

Re: Cleaning an antique maille shirt of it's rust

Re: Articulation leathers...