The Armour Archive

wcallen

knowing what is really right can be really, really hard. Most armour has been re-worked, some more extensively than others. A story will help us..... Tom Justus and I both had the opportunity, at different times, to go talk to the people in the back shop at the Royal Armouries when it was really sti...

wcallen

The rivets on this gauntlet (at least some of them) have a decent chance of being original: http://www.allenantiques.com/A-197.html They vary in size. Some that I can reach seem to have heads that are app. .270 in diameter. This is a measurement of the head including the cap. You can see rivets both...

wcallen

Do you have any references for where that gauntlet is? It is definitely atypical. I can't see anything that proves that is is wrong (except for its oddity, but we find those all the time). It is also not the strongest. If you made it from tempered spring, it would probably hold up OK. In mild I expe...

wcallen

Good question! I have not put energy into defining the different versions available. That would however be interesting. Most thumbs from this period seem to consist of three or more plates overlapping in the same direction, more or less decorated, articulated on leather. No matter how cute it may b...

wcallen

The base of thumb to other metacarpal plates interaction looks dodgy. I expect you should decide where you want to go with the back of hand pretty quickly so you can get something that will in the end make you happy. I only have 2 things that might be able to help with the back of hand/thumb area. O...

wcallen

I have an additional question regarding rivet sizes since I am about to start making my own rivets. I use 3mm rivets but the head size on the commercially available rivets here are very small compared to what I see on pictures of extant armour. 1/8" shank for most articulation rivets but what is th...

wcallen

Toby's book is good read. Afterward, a re-read of Blair (if you can ignore the fact that Blair really doesn't say anything that relates to Toby's book at all) is a good rounding out and should help set the knowledge better. I haven't read Blair in a while, but I read it many times all the way throug...

wcallen

that is a good haul. The last good book I got was Toby's. Take the opportunity to read/re-read Blair. I don't know the previous owner, but I think it is definitely a nice copy to have. A re-read of that is always worthwhile. Nothing in that pile isn't worth having. I will have to take picture of wha...

wcallen

Perhaps... But then there are lines like this, https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aAKQbsoNbRc/UqorRcBevLI/AAAAAAAAGlM/03TU_dyehB4/s800-Ic42/CIMG6684.JPG It's difficult to see these lines as being anything other than the result of working too fast. Mac That breastpate has 3 areas like this, one in t...

wcallen

These gauntlets were on a suit that came up for sale. The suit was evidently broken up (it was a pretty aggressive composition) and the gauntlets came up for sale separately. I picked them up: http://www.allenantiques.com/A-104.html The gauntlets themselves are pretty similar, but not quite a pair. ...

wcallen

I have been wandering around the collection trying to find good pieces with clean lines on flat surfaces so that we can get some good measurements. I tried a few, but this was the cleanest one: http://www.allenantiques.com/images/mini-A-238.jpg http://www.allenantiques.com/A-238.html putting a thin ...

wcallen

Fingers and thumbs are often messed with over time. I expect at least one of those is either a restoration, or it came off of a different gauntlet originally. There are plenty of examples of asymmetric gauntlets, the more extreme ones definitely include asymmetric thumbs. I am not sure I have ever s...

wcallen

to put things in the same place: http://www.allenantiques.com/images/mini-A-236-Together.jpg And details of these pieces: http://www.allenantiques.com/A-236.html And a link to pictures of Rob's gadlings: http://www.allenantiques.com/images/RobFingerParts.jpg Wade. I expect if you ignore the Black Pr...

wcallen

I have not used propane for heat much. Tom moved over to propane for a lot of things. It isn't as hot as O/A, but it can be hot enough for lots of hot work. Many people seem to like it because it is cheaper. Esp. if you can get an aspirated torch to work. Then you can use cheaper propane, and get ri...

wcallen

For spot raising there is a really easy way to get a smaller heat than your "smallest" rosebud will produce. Use a big welding tip. I have a rosebud, but haven't used it in years. I find that I use a lot less gas by going with a really huge welding tip instead. I am sure it gives a somewhat smaller ...

wcallen

Why not use a graver? The original idea was to try to determine how they may have done this. The errors made with a graver, and the character of the lines is wrong. Also, too slow. Using a graver for the 100's of feet of lines on a cheap armour just doesn't make any sense. So, the current discussion...

wcallen

if we really are going to focus on SCA armour... I used to make the stuff. 12g (.109) mild works for bascinets. I prefer no thinner (as a starting material) than 14g (roughly in the .07 range) for breastplates. They don't get hit much, but they get worked a good deal and ground a good deal during th...

wcallen

The answer to the original question is "it depends" like everything else. Bascinets (there aren't all that many that survive in reasonable condition) tend to be pretty thick, esp. up at the top. Arms/legs tend to be pretty thin. The only breastplate measurements I have seen are a little later, but t...

wcallen

I don't like photographing polished things either. I have even tried using a lightbox with a front cover and s a slit for the camera. I think I would need a much larger set up so that I could shoot from farther away so that the whole is relatively smaller. Shooting pictures up close just gets to muc...

wcallen

Since there are 2 different sections from the top, I will add my opinion with more detail The top 3 plates and top part of the 4th plate (including the rondel) do stick out to sit over the breastplate. This is more like "A". The bottom portion of the 4th plate and the rest of the lower plates follow...

wcallen

I had this discussion last year.

I was asked about mine (in terrible shape) and I took a gauge to (at least) one of them. In that case (I will not generalize) the "flutes" are ground in. The metal definitely gets thicker and thinner, the inside shows no sign of the flutes.

Wade

wcallen

That was my guess too.

Wade

wcallen

That seems very promising. Assuming they had appropriately hard steel for the wheel (they did make saws and files, so that seems reasonable) - this seems simple enough to be possible. Anyone else want to play with the idea? I seem to be occupied with other things at the moment and don't get out to m...

wcallen

If we could lay hands of this one for a few minutes we could figure out how much curvature the cutting tool had by that "bridge" between the end of the cut and the overcut on the step. You could just cut a piece of acetate sheet until it matched up, and make a guess from that. https://lh3.googleuse...

wcallen

Wouldn't it be fun if we could have a study of what articulations have slots and which don't?
I generally get to play with later legs (and that not very often), which don't seem to have slots. They are generally a lot shorter.

Wade

wcallen

You will want to be more specific. The They are suggestion munions. That is a perfectly reasonable type of armour that was worn at the time. You might have intended a gorget with either pauldrons or spaulders. No matter what you choose, have a plan for where you want to go as a final solution. Most ...

wcallen

Look on the web for "Eric Thing forge". You will see various people who have built them. It is a propane fired thing designed for metal work. It will work a lot better than a stand alone propane torch. At some point you will likely want to be able to weld and heat metal. The only thing that does bot...

wcallen

My copy finally arrived today. Now I need to get Mac's copy back to him. Mine showed up in a normal folded up cardboard book mailing thing. Nothing special. But they did use the cardboard packaging instead of the plastic envelope they used to send me my next auction catalogue. Both arrived in fine c...

wcallen

I think that their descriptions are a little funny, but I use several of those hammers normally. That isn't the cheapest way to get hammers, but it is an easy way to get ones that should last a lifetime if you are reasonable. I bought my first 2 of them in .... 1982, and I have used them off and on ...

wcallen

CLANG just had some listed on Ebay (note was in classifieds, I just looked and the sales have ended).

And most things really can be done with re-ground normal hammers. Starting there makes a lot of sense.

Wade

wcallen

1050 isn't nearly as hard on the person or tools as stainless. It generally comes in an annealed state and you can do a lot with it cold. Once you heat it, it gets harder than it was when it was annealed but still very workable. I have done a lot of work in 1050, and enough work in 3xx series stainl...

wcallen

Why do I say that? Good example. Here is a piece Aaron, Cad and I made with Paul's help back in the mid 80's. It was pretty good. http://www.allenantiques.com/R-14.html I dragged it out at my study session last year and let people pick on it. I have grown over the years, and I know that there are ma...

wcallen

Unfortunately, for most people, looking at a lot of SCA armour (like at the war) really doesn't help you learn a lot about actual armour. You have a have a good background in real armour before you can easily pick out something that is showing you something "useful" and something that is just some o...

wcallen

Kel Rekuta wrote:A friend here in Toronto received his copy this week.

It appears Canada and the U.S. are completely separate concepts for these shippers.
Our assumption was that there is something special about shipping within the Commonwealth.

There is a lot of guessing blindly going on here.

Wade

wcallen

Learning by copying copies will always introduce a second set of errors. Whatever the first copier got wrong, you then get to start from there. Mac is a big proponent of not copying modern work... he includes his pieces in there. I say the same. I have some "reasonable" copies of things, but there a...

Re: rivets

Re: rivets

Re: Making a pattern for a 16th century gauntlet

Re: Schloss Ambras Detail: Asymmetric Thumb Construction

Re: Making a pattern for a 16th century gauntlet

Re: rivets

Re: A Merry Christmas!

Re: A Merry Christmas!

Re: engraved / chiseled lines sidewise flutings

Re: Schloss Ambras Detail: Asymmetric Thumb Construction

Re: engraved / chiseled lines sidewise flutings

Re: Schloss Ambras Detail: Asymmetric Thumb Construction

Re: 14th Century Gauntlet Knuckle plate find

Re: Jeremy's harness build.

Re: Jeremy's harness build.

Re: engraved / chiseled lines sidewise flutings

Re: Thickness for 14th century harness

Re: Thickness for 14th century harness

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Can anyone help date/id this for me?

Re: Question about ridges on Ottoman mirror armour

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: engraved / chiseled lines sidewise flutings

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Elizabethan Shoulders

Re: Torch for Raising

Re: Armour of the English Knight 1400-50: PRE-ORDER IS OPEN!

Re: Buying a raising hammer/armouring hammers

Re: Buying a raising hammer/armouring hammers

Re: M2 Steel for Armour, cold worked?

Re: Buying armor to learn

Re: Buying armor to learn

Re: Armour of the English Knight 1400-50: PRE-ORDER IS OPEN!

Re: Buying armor to learn