The Armour Archive

wcallen

I have been pretty happy with Zack White as well. But I can drive there and play with stuff. They are a real "leather" place with people who seem to know something about leather, not just minimum wage guys manning a desk. What you really want is a good, real buff leather, but you aren't going to get...

wcallen

I know Doug Strong has done it casually on some dug pieces he has. Or maybe John Cope will weigh in a little. He works in a museum. I tend to leave most of my stuff as alone as I can as long as it isn't really causing itself harm. And where are you? Maybe there is someone close who can help with som...

wcallen

Somewhere deep down in the remnants sale Joe G. bought one (not both, just one) of the 16th c. gauntlets we had made for the education department. I got it back at Baltimore. I have no idea what happened to the half suit, the other gauntlet, the 15th c. gauntlets or the other stuff we made for them....

wcallen

I do have some gauntlets, don't I?

The main gauntlets are fine. I think well worth including in a general discussion of all of the ones out there.

The thumbs are pretty questionable.... as are the fingers on the finger gauntlets.

Wade

wcallen

A really silly question about the thumb fit. How similar is your hand to your august patron? It really doesn't matter how it fits you, if it fits him. How similar is the sword/lance simulator to whatever the august patron plans to be grabbing? That can make a real difference too. I have often found ...

wcallen

That was one of many sales, by several different auction houses, among all of the sales they didn't sell the really good stuff. That is still at the WAM, and (I hope) on display or will be at some point. There was even some stuff left when they sold everything and the kitchen sink directly from the ...

wcallen

I seem to be in the minority here. I hang my greaves by the post and back staple from the poleyn. It helps to have the cuisses hang from a doublet that sort of works right. I don't know this for sure, but I expect yours fit well enough that you are supporting at least some of the weight on the calf...

wcallen

That's the kind I mean -- the German-originated kind used with munions. Come to think of it, is there a more accepted term, or are we the armouring community still using a descriptive phrase? Generally I use a date, some descriptive terms, and better yet a picture. Minions appear to have been used ...

wcallen

Hello all Question on 14th Century greaves and cuisses. Was it the norm at this time to have a pin from the front of the greave through a slot on the cuisse to help unify the parts, or were "floating greaves," worn separately, more common? Any insights as to the benefits of each? I'm having a probl...

wcallen

The beginners do need hammer know-how and forewarning of hammer pitfalls. Very nearly as much if not more than they need patterns, bearing in mind what Wade did with hammering a hexagonal blank into a breast. I imagine that works without cutouts if it's a sixteenth-century lo-rise. The breastplate ...

wcallen

Cutting the corners off of these types of plates is important and probably under-considered. Due to the way the hand-finger join works, you need to do it there, and due to the way the knuckles are attached you have to do it on those corners too. It is a detail that is very hard to find from original...

wcallen

Josh W wrote:
20882_10204278632629490_4789310179568147941_n.jpg
Recent pics.

If I am looking at the picture correctly, your family has three harnesses, all of which include greaves (as they should). Very nice. There are some obvious expeditious details here and there, but overall a nice look.

Wade

wcallen

Hmm. Indianapolis, Indiana. I don't know if/when there will be a next good opportunity for me to come up to the KY area and give a presentation, but maybe watch out for it. I did one with Days of Knights last year, and a "private" one the year before. Or, if you just like driving a lot, I am sure th...

wcallen

These are images of a very simple cuisse and knee: http://www.allenantiques.com/A-169.html They include some images of the knee fully (or almost) bent. Stare at them for a while. There are a lot of subtle differences between it and what you are playing with. Then not so subtle differences. This one ...

wcallen

Make the lames work. Move in and out correctly and move the amount you need. They didn't worry at all about lames crossing in the middle. It happens many times on real armour. These cross nicely (as one example): http://www.allenantiques.com/images/A-27-inside-elbow-lames.jpg On this arm: http://www...

wcallen

Showing my age here. Patterns are on paper/tagboard/thin aluminum. They are transferred by tracing. :) Seriously, I don't think I have actually tried to use an online pattern. When I have shared online it has been a picture of the patterns. When I was nice, they were on an inch grid. I sit in front ...

wcallen

I have several items which have lines on the inside from (I have assumed) people banging details they didn't like out. I have a Max breastplate that was "updated" in various ways including mashing the flutes in, and a burgonet that has lost its recessed bands on the side and a burgonet that has lost...

wcallen

One thing to think about is that the shape isn't symmetric. It is pretty shallow in the bottom half. This isn't a shape that was unknown, but it has some interesting consequences to your plans. If you cut some off of the bottom and move the flair up, you will keep a lot of the shape. If you cut the ...

wcallen

I suppose too that the pattern will change depending on construction technique. A welded helmet will have a much different pattern than a pattern for a raised helmet. Other things will be different as well, like the starting thickness of the plate, etc. Well, of course. That is just one part of the...

wcallen

Why are some lames I've seen on different arms straight at the cop side while others are "scalloped"? Generally I think the variation is due to various levels of laziness. The "perfect" articulation would have very carefully formed "scallops." The arc over the center of the lame allows the underlap...

wcallen

First ramble on the more general topic. When Aaron and I made armour for a living in the 80's we had two types of work that we did. The first was really "production" work. We would come up with a pattern that worked in a reliable way and use it. We tended to make a lot of pieces that were pretty muc...

wcallen

No matter what you decide to do, think carefully first. As you can see from the inside pictures of the real ones, you probably don't have enough waste material to really do a two piece one really correctly. You could probably get one where the upper breastplate is too cut up in the center to be righ...

wcallen

And for those of you who haven't heard of this, yes. The pattern I have used for my kid's breastplate gussets (all with relatively large rolls) is a rectangle. Think that through. My best bet would be to bend the rectangle into some "L" shape, roll it and then flare it into submission, the roll wil...

wcallen

Yes, we all have the good and the bad in our lives. We must accept our failures along with our successes. I like the gusset "pattern" - if nothing else I think it helps pull people out of thinking 2 dimensionally. That is something that patterns often don't reinforce. The ones that tend to be publi...

wcallen

I read the article. It did go through some odd things to in the end not be sold. Normally the system is that everyone bids (in many cases, including the national museum). If the museum wins, great. If it doesn't it can block export and if that is upheld it gets to raise the money to buy it out (at f...

wcallen

If we are pulling measurements from Goll, do we know where the measurement was taken? It is easiest to measure the bottom of the helmet. It is really more useful to measure the wide part, but that requires a different (and less common) tool. I don't remember whether he said what he measured.

Wade

wcallen

I have long had the impression that the side straps are a feature of Italian export pieces. I have seen a fair number of German breasts that have only the central rivet, as absurd as that may seem. Agreed. And even more perversely, I have seen (more than I would expect from thinking about it ) Germ...

wcallen

Or consider Wade's template for a breast plate arm hole gusset, which is basically a pudgy rectangle. :twisted: Let's not forget about those spaulders. Yes, those. They are his fault you know. :twisted: Yes, we all have the good and the bad in our lives. We must accept our failures along with our s...

wcallen

That one sold at DelMar. I wasn't up to bidding.
There was one that was a little later in an earlier sale that went for a lot less. I kind of wish I had tried for it.

Wade

wcallen

Peter,

That is a beautiful piece of work. Absolutely amazing.

Wade

wcallen

The rolls on my upper breastplate really are grand. The lance rest is really pretty too. I woudn't trust the rest of the thing as far as I can throw it (not that I plan to do that). Dean and his guys could do some pretty amazing things marrying one decent piece to other stuff. Being an optimist, I t...

wcallen

I've been hoping someone would raise this topic. ..... I have to say it: usually, templates for armour do not and will not ever produce armour that looks particularly historically accurate. This is not the fault of the concept of templates, but of those that dare to publish things such as “14thC sp...

wcallen

I have a question- you guys are talking about taking a cast of your bare legs- but don't you wear some kind of 'under armor' clothing? How does that change the dimensions for you, for the piece? Mostly, no. A lot of people wear padding where they don't need to. For the legs a teensy bit of somethin...

wcallen

Turned out over air. Yup. And with that odd sweep in what I would normally think of as the "face" of the roll. It is something that I have been noticing on this cool late 15th c. German armour. Normally around the breastplate arms and neck. This just seems to be a really aggressive version of the sa...

wcallen

You might be a lot happier with a little "room" in the back. This shows what I mean. This shirt is a tube in the front, but the back has expansions/contractions (depending on the way you think about things) that allow for extra room over the shoulder blades. This means that the shirt can fit, but yo...

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