The Armour Archive

wcallen

I am sure that some such thing will happen at some point in the future. I think that there is always a time where a lot of people will be preparing for, attending, or recovering from some big event. For example most of July/August is wiped out due to the war. Back to useful info for those attending....

wcallen

I think that the secret to getting the deep hammer marks without over-thinning is a combination of 2 things: Starting with what we would think of as insanely thick material and drawing it out to approximate the right thickness. Doing it all the time so that you just know how much you can hit somethi...

wcallen

plannishing/grinding makes a difference. how you raise makes a difference too - I have (more accidentally than on purpose) had areas of raising that keep the metal even, thicken it or thin it. Patrick was good at that (I assume he still is), Mac has played with it too. Do you want to do any pre-dish...

wcallen

Trying to verify the attendee list. It seems like there will be enough to have fun.

Steve - sorry you can't make it, but I do understand. A lot of driving. Ping me if you are planning to be near here sometime.

Wade

wcallen

I will try to remember to look over the previous threads for people with interest and I am happy to email.

For now.

EDIT -

If you need to contact me use email - wadealln@us.ibm.com

Wade

wcallen

I have done these lots of different ways. All of the recent greave-like objects have been done using eos2's method. Curl, raise in the middle and then even it all up. I like heat for the main work. Heat is good. I don't think it is strictly required, I have done them cold, but it greatly improves th...

wcallen

Yea, not just fiction - a mess too.

Make a nice T/Y shaped plate for the top center and a bunch of other brig plates in almost any shape you want and you will have something cool and it will almost certainly be better than what is on the back of that thing.

Wade

wcallen

I have a silly question - why do you want the picture? An interest in fiction? Pictures of the surviving rear plates in the case near it? That would be reasonable. They are fun. Pictures of the Prague St. George? Also reasonable. Other random images of things that illustrate things they actually did...

wcallen

Sure, drag them along. If no one else cares, I can see if I want any for me or for resale if the price looks right. I try not to make this a commercial thing, but I do have a few things for sale too. No pressure, but ask if you are interested. I mean, no one really needs to keep 3 copies of L'Arte.....

wcallen

OK, time to start working out real details. This may take some fiddling to get right with all involved. Direct e-mail will probably end up being best. If you will be there or think you might be there, drop me a note so I can be sure to have the right email addresses for everyone. I am wadealln@us.ib...

wcallen

Strangely enough, if we know where you live there are often people close to you who have libraries.

For instance, I know of 2 good armour libraries in North Carolina (my house and Tom's house). There are probably others.

Wade

wcallen

Someday Toby will do the update to Blair's book. Until then, it is still the basic text book to read in English. After you have read it, you will then want to get access to other books that have more pictures.

Wade

wcallen

There is normally a crease in the middle and some shape. And it serves little real purpose anyway and has cheek plates that almost entirely overlap it. If you need anything thicker than 14g stainless, you are throwing the helmet way too much when you pack up or take it off. If you want to use 12g ju...

wcallen

I have everything from 1/2" to 5" in normal stakes and an 8 or 10 inch one too. What I use depends on the piece of armour I am making. I like offset balls too. Most of mine happen to be straight so I do goofy things to get them to work sometimes. I tend to work in 1050, so I like to have h...

wcallen

Cool. Keep it up. I talked to Tom over the weekend. He is in too. Real armour, and two laurel armourers. As Tracy said, their place is near here and available for some portion of the get-together. We both have shops and (nearly infinite) opinions on various methods of construction. If we run out of ...

wcallen

One month to go.

Anyone else interested? Any changes to the list of items desired?

Wade

wcallen

The wife says sure, she wants one.

We already had one made for the kid. Matching hats would be a blast.

Sending a PM too.

Wade Allen

wcallen

are you just looking for short-ish swords, or do they have to be that early?

I could measure the only excavated sword I have - it is definitely short. But later - c. 1400.

Wade

wcallen

I haven't every succeeded in getting a decent fauld that didn't require various plates to be dished in various funny places. Mostly on the sides, but that is a detail. And usually the shape isn't a cone or tube, it is more of a completely asymmetric bell. So each plate has to be made individually an...

wcallen

For once, the kid's costume is on topic:

<img src="http://www.allenantiques.com/images/mini-Geoffrey-1340-overall.jpg">

Wade

wcallen

Post the picture. That will give people a real feel for what is going on.

Wade

wcallen

OK, I updated the list again. m I added a gorget to round out the concept of gorgets (Italian to go with the nice German and munions), an early-ish 2 gauntlets that are almost a pair and an assortment of elbows that show different styles from the first half of the 16th century. Overall we have basic...

wcallen

If you want semi-normal (low-medium quality) and 16h-17th c. I am your man. It is about all I can afford. Minor updates: m Added another morion - the one with the most different shape. Added 2 knees. They are about all I have of them. You would be amazed how hard leg armour is to get. It is almost i...

wcallen

Completely understandable. If you want to see an elbow or 2 and want to come up to Baltimore 3rd weekend in March, I would be happy to bring a few extra pieces to the Baltimore Arms Fair. Just e-mail me beforehand if you want me to drag something along. In the meantime take a look at the bits on my ...

wcallen

I usually toast funny things just at the wrong time.

I don't believe in the silly gauntlet/cage behind the shields, but I have been hit there. Just not often. I wasn't picking on anyone, just the rules.

Back to the real question.

Wade

wcallen

OK, so how much have you fought? How often has this happened? And how destructive was that bruise? We don't need no stinking armour there. Back to the real question - they wrap around all sorts of random amounts. Make almost anything that seems like fun and you will be copying one of the styles I ha...

wcallen

There are certainly wider angled cuffs on historical gauntlets. I would built mine a little wider...

That should be a trivial thing to change assuming they are welding the cuff on.

Wade

wcallen

Think carefully about the form of the fauld lame(s) and tassets. They are a bit peculiar on all armours, but they tend to be differently peculiar on late 16th c stuff. You want the center to remain close to your body, but you want the sides to poof out just like the stylish pants. This looks best if...

wcallen

Cool, come on by. I put the one 2 piece semi-normal burgonet I still own on the list I proposed in the previous post. It was sort of for you just in case... It is also a very interesting shape. 2 piece morions are built the same way, so we have one of those too. I do have a much lower quality 17th c...

wcallen

follow mac's directions and buy wire. It will end up being a lot cheaper and you will have a lot less waste.

small. 3/32 or some such seems reasonable. 1/8 is definitely the largest reasonably possible. I would stay smaller too.

Wade

wcallen

yea, we did that years ago too. but we did it with dished squares (less work).

It is kind of amazing how it shatters all over the shop.

Wade

wcallen

Which ones? I have 3 2 piece ones and 3 one piece ones. All of the 2 pieces ones are basically similar in shape and construction. The one piece ones are actually different in shape. Not very different from each other, but certainly different from the 2 piece ones. This one: m is the most distinctive...

wcallen

Sean, I think that happens a lot. Many modern people don't have that wonderful hourglass shape that the armour tries to emulate. I think adding a fauld and playing with the shape can cover a lot of that up. A good example. The Beauchamp armour Mac made. From the front, it looks good. m From the side...

wcallen

They are non-stainless and they don't really work right. My statement was based on articulations that work in the first place. If they don't work, sure they will jam up in horrible ways. If they do work, they don't gap. Since they don't gap, they have to bend with each other, so they generally keep ...

wcallen

Might be a few people. So let's build a list of items that will make everyone happy. Taking Clang's requests into account and throwing a few arbitrary things on that are interesting in their own right, I made up this list. It is just a starting point. Anyone interested in attending - what else/diffe...