The Armour Archive

wcallen

Ibi wrote:Wade,

Could you also bring the rusty pieces of Middle Eastern armor. Last year I took a lot of pictures but silly me didn't take any measurements.

Ibi

I can drag them out, sure.

Wade

wcallen

If the opportunity arises, I'd be curious to see a group photo. I've been hanging out here for years with no idea what any of this lot looks like. I'm envious of those on the east coast during this event. What a great opportunity. -Adair There have been some group photos in the past. Posted to some...

wcallen

I had one kidney stone, once.

I really don't want to do that again, and I definitely wouldn't want to be in a car for 5 hours with one.

Good luck, pass as painlessly as possible, and hope for no re-occurrences. There will be another chance.

Wade

wcallen

Since I now have a power hammer (but no good heat source to use with it for plate), I have been playing with what you can do. Even cold you can do some fun things with an initial pass with a fullering die followed by more careful work with a round faced hammer on a flat anvil. Like my hexagon as a p...

wcallen

I am the brute of the group and really don't like going much under .050 for the starting thickness of much of anything. I do have some .. probably about .042 lying around. I forget the gauge, whatever was being sold as 20g ish from Admiral at the time. And I have used it, but I don't enjoy it a lot....

wcallen

You won't have time to read the whole thing while you are here... but Jeremy G. you can take a look at "The Knight and the Blast Furnace" at my house or Tom's this weekend. I know I have a copy, and I think I remember correctly that he does too.

Wade

wcallen

Yes though bought plate. It seems to have been a normal way of doing business. But we know nothing about how thick it was or how uniform it was in either thickness or metallurgy. I have no reason to suspect that it wasn't reasonably consistent in thickness. It is amazing how well people can do thing...

wcallen

That is one image from Ker Weisskunig (the white king)

If wikipedia is to be believed, the wood cuts are 1514-16:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weisskunig

Wade

wcallen

Everyone is going to have a different answer to all of these questions. Personally, I tend to work in 12-20g 1050). Most of the stuff is probably 16-20g. Much armour work (definitely not all) is getting subtle shape into things. When the work isn't subtle, I tend to go for heat. Heat is your friend....

wcallen

Tom has made boat loads of various forms of stake sockets. Note that on the list of things to talk about when you are down here. Just wandering around in his shop (and mine to a much lesser extent) will demonstrate that there are many ways to do it.

Not long now.

Wade

wcallen

KtR - http://digital.wlb-stuttgart.de/filegroups/treiweis_35103336X/max/00000192.jpg Always an inspiration. They ascribe to the same "messy desk policy" I seem to end up with any time I work. I find that when I am working on any particular thing I usually focus on about 3-5 hammers and 1-4 stakes. ...

wcallen

I believe that the style of helmet is refered to as a 'Frog Helm". Nope. This is what we commonly call a Frog mouth helm: http://spqr.se/web_eng/pictures/products/helmets/med_h53_4.jpg The close helmet is a normal helmet used in warfare (which may have add-ons or replacement parts for jousting) and...

wcallen

I am really a broken record here... Aaron has lots of them. At least he did the last time I looked. I expect Murdock has some too. Here are a few bad images of a few of mine: http://www.allenantiques.com/images/shop-inside-hammer-box.jpg http://www.allenantiques.com/images/shop-inside-stake-rack.jpg...

wcallen

Wade, I am not entirely sure that is true over all. In fact I think most likely most had much more of a space between their rivets. I think for the knights closer is likely the way to go. If you look at many of the wisby pair of plates the holes are often quite spread out. I sort of think there is ...

wcallen

Sean was very right to bring up spacing of rivets. Modern armourers tend to space their rivets farther apart than many of our ancestors did. This is seen to be easier. But it does add stress to each of the attachment points. I did this coat of plates (it is child sized) using dute little brass pins ...

wcallen

I have updated the list of items to include a few more of my new items, and some old faithfuls. http://www.allenantiques.com/2015StudySession.html We have a couple of new people who are interested in earlier breastplates (we are probably all interested in them, I only have a little to offer there) s...

wcallen

Wow. It sometimes takes a lot of work to get to the "actual" work. . . ;) Since I expect most people would think taking a flat piece of metal and making something that is the right shape from it is the "actual" work, yes. That is very little of the time most people spend making a piece of armour. W...

wcallen

Probably tracks better that way because the belt has a longer distance to travel - after it deforms around the piece - before it reaches a wheel. So, the belt isn't hitting the wheel with so hard of a twist on it, like it does when you're working the slack right-side up and the wheel is directly be...

wcallen

I can't wait to try this myself. I can't wrap my head about the idea that patronage of armourers is out of fashion. It's a sin that we must work instead of making armours. :D Patronage seems to be out of fashion in many areas. I guess the people with really big money are doing different things with...

wcallen

Option one, buy one. Grizzly is a top of the line name, and it's currently on sale! http://www.grizzly.com/products/Knife-Belt-Sander-Buffer/G1015 Grizzly? Top of the line? You're kidding, right? They are one or two steps above Harbor Freight. All made in China these days and often in the same fact...

wcallen

And because I feel like saying the same thing again,

Claude Blair does a really nice job of explaining this in his book.

Wade

wcallen

Usually called a close helmet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_helmet an example from lots of angles can be seen here and with various parts open and closed: http://www.allenantiques.com/A-114a.html This seems to have come from the more general concept of a "helmet that is closed" - ie. covers t...

wcallen

This is aimed at the people at Delmar and the postal services....

Chant with me:

We want our book
We want our book
We want our book
etc.

It would be really nice if it were here by next weekend. Then several people could have access to my copy, which might sell a few more copies.

Wade

wcallen

I'm really excited to be able to make it. I will probably be one of the least experienced guys there but I will try to absorb everything I can. I've never seen real armor bits that wasn't behind glass. I am bringing a couple of breastplates I made and the cuirass I am working on to get some pointer...

wcallen

Other alternatives some people would have used: Or just cut the top off and left it alone. Or (if you had the right shop) dug a hole and lowered the bottom until the top was at the right height and called it done. That works really well with a dirt floor. Or... not harden or temper the armour at all...

wcallen

Personal opinion here.... Since I mostly want to build armour, not modern tools I went with the Grizzly. I have used it for years of casual use without problems. when I do use it, I am not terribly nice to it and it just takes what I throw at it. Tom has used his a lot more extensively in his busine...

wcallen

Just over a week to go. Current list: Wade Ibrahim A-Hakim Zanetto Grettir Tom Justus John Cope Jeremy.G Iain (John's Squire) Vermillion Gruber Clang Myron Tom B. Possible local - Brett King (the person who brought the Max helmet a few years ago) - probably not Jeremy Jennings (local)? - probably no...

wcallen

Honestly $60 for a book isn't "expensive" when we are talking about armour books or even (worse yet) text books for school. If I were aiming for more expensive I would say that you should get the Wallace catalogue with the USB stick (which would help you a lot) or Carlo's books. Those can reasonably...

wcallen

I always used gas welding. Part of that is .... I don't own a mig set up. The other is you really don't want a big tall bead here. "Blending" - or a wider, lower bead is really a nice thing here. And you can definitely push things out as well as pushing them in with a "house" or "can" construction. ...

wcallen

The Russians have placed it in pdf. http://www.13c.ru/texts/blair.pdf I only get the first part of the book in that pdf. Do they have a part II? Most people probably want at least the next chapter or two. Even if there isn't any more out there, reading that part while waiting to get the book seems ...

wcallen

I don't know that we have said this to you. To get a good solid basis for discussion, read the book "European Armour" by Claude Blair. This search found me a few copies: http://www.alibris.com/European-Armour-c-1660-c-1700-Claude-Blair/book/13242827?matches=4 This was the amazon result for the same ...

wcallen

Well,first you will have to pick a period to ask about because the answer is different at different times. Then (just to be more annoying) there are different answers at the same time for different types of jousts. Many of the higher end modern jousters are jousting in late 15th c. armour. Many of t...

wcallen

Posted additional details on the original topic post. Keep providing me with information that will help make this as useful and entertaining as it can be. Items can be added (or removed, but that isn't as normal), food choices are still subject to change, and additional post-session topics can be ar...

wcallen

Good going Tom. And the other stuff in those pictures isn't bad either. In general the people who show up for the combat demos at the Days of Knights event put on a pretty good show. At least the "general level" of kit was a lot nicer than is generally the norm at an SCA event. I had fun looking and...

wcallen

That sketch gives a good idea of the goal. The metal is placed as near to the desired final shape as is reasonably possible. Mac picked a shape that fits pretty closely, but the same thing works with a lot of other shapes. Some of how you set it up depends on the shape you really want and how you li...

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Forging plate from solid stock

Re: Rivet Hole Reinforcement for Thin Plate

Re: Hammers and tools and things

Re: Hammers and tools and things

Re: Hammers and tools and things

Re: Hammers and tools and things

Re: Making a Stake Socket

Re: Hammers and tools and things

Re: What's that armour piece?

Re: Hammers and tools and things

Re: CoP help

Re: CoP help

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Sources on belt grinders-

Re: Jeremy's harness build.

Re: Sources on belt grinders-

Re: What's that armour piece?

Re: What's that armour piece?

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

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Sources on belt grinders-

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: Plate armour- Battle Vs. Tournament/jousting

Re: Jeremy's harness build.

Re: Plate armour- Battle Vs. Tournament/jousting

Re: Plate armour- Battle Vs. Tournament/jousting

Re: Plate armour- Battle Vs. Tournament/jousting

Re: Study Session 2015

Re: 2015 Show us your kits!

Re: Jeremy's harness build.