The Armour Archive

Gaston de Clermont

I've been able to draw satisfactory tempers at temperatures around 450 degrees. The lower temp you can use is one of the nice things about 4130. A little experimenting and watching the color will help you get the results you want. The total outlay for parts for my forge was probably around $120. I g...

Gaston de Clermont

adamstjohn wrote:Here's the test.

Put the helm on the floor. Stand with your back to it.

Carrying an armoured friend in your arms, drop yourself onto it, butt-first, from a standing position.

Too pointy? Redesign and repeat.

It's not too pointy, you just need more training. Anal training.

Gaston de Clermont

The resiliency of aluminum can vary greatly. 1/8th inch T6 can last for decades. The scrap they usually make street signs out of might not last a single practice- though it's scrap, so sometimes it's OK stuff.

Gaston de Clermont

I have 3 in 3 different kingdoms: The Crapaud Tourney in the West- They're a week night tournament held every month kind of in the middle of no where. When the lists are deep, they're DEEP. I learned a lot at those. Uncle Uther's Postage Stamp of Pain- It was a one off week night tourney, run as a s...

Gaston de Clermont

I think I'll be seeing Terafan in December. I'd like him to move back to our barony, though he's welcome to move to yours if he takes me and my family with him. I can certainly let him know he's sorely missed.

Gaston de Clermont

The pieces have to be quite small for a torch to really work, and then it's extremely difficult to get the piece to a uniform temp. So you'll have some hard parts, and some soft parts. Some of the comercial heat treaters have tricks to prevent warping. You might talk to the outfit you found to figur...

Gaston de Clermont

Duke Rolf the Relentless in the West does a great job with a cross hilted sword. One of the keys is to really examine how your gauntlet flexes near the end of your swing. My gauntlets work great for pole arm, but lever the sword out of my hand with a single sword. There are three main ways to fix th...

Gaston de Clermont

Your bellows are great! Talbot- I really liked looking through your Muckley pages too.

Gaston de Clermont

Are we still talking bicycle helmets here? You know the bike helmets with the charcoal grey foam and the plastic shell over them, with the ventilation holes? I'm thinking if you kept the foam, and replaced the plastic with steel it could look pretty cool without adding quite so much weight. It would...

Gaston de Clermont

If it's made of 12ga properly tempered spring steel any impact that's going to really dent that would probably kill you anyway.

Gaston de Clermont

Yeah, that's Terafan. He fought along side the Bryn Gwlad War Company. The Mongolians had a good turn out (largely the Company of St. Mark) and they carried the day. It was good fighting all around, a great site, and great weather.

Gaston de Clermont

A number of folks use transmission fluid, since it's self extinguishing. Oil works too, and so does water, which is what I use. There can be some issues there with warping because the quench is pretty fast, but if you're careful about how you insert the piece and brace it the warping can be controll...

Gaston de Clermont

Where'd you get your laser thermometer? I haven't found one with a temperature range that would quite work.
Thanks for sharing your class notes. You included some great pictures.

Gaston de Clermont

I do it in my garage. You'd have to build a forge, but it's not insanely difficult.

Gaston de Clermont

Not a typo. The avantail is riveted stainless 16ga and extends past the points of my shoulders. At most 1/3 of the weight is avantail. The helm is a clapvisor bascinet.

Gaston de Clermont

Including the avantail my helm weighs 17.5lbs. Mass is good.

Gaston de Clermont

Frederich, I fired a pair of your greaves a few months ago as a favor to Master Peter (hopefully they didn't warp too badly) and was impressed by your work. Do you have any handouts or specific lecture slides prepare that you might be able to share? If folks are on the fence about checking out these...

Gaston de Clermont

This is very cool. He did a bunch of work on I33. It would be well worth $15 to pick this guy's brain.

Gaston de Clermont

Sorry, I don't know Ugo. I don't know Patrick Thaden, and I've met Gaston only briefly, much to my dismay. Mord. Which dismayed you, the brevity, or the meeting itself? (you meant the new Magnus/Gaston right?) Mad Matt- Where'd you find a dust proof stereo? I go through the damn things like crazy.

Gaston de Clermont

I'm not so sure why this is news. There are two okapis at the San Antonio zoo.

I saw a five horned goat once. With a little work that critter could easily be sculpted into a unicorn.

Gaston de Clermont

There's a great picture of the inside of these arms in TOMAR. It will answer some of the articulation questions you're bound to have. The Chatres pieces are a bit weird- they're well worth studying, but they're more unique than they might seem at first blush. The hinge built from the vambrace itself...

Gaston de Clermont

Sean,
You've gotten some good ideas here, but you might try asking the question in Duke Paul's forum. He's fond of training women, and surely has some specifics for her power generation issues.

Gaston de Clermont

Fynon Gath does indeed have some great folks. We had about 20 armoured fighters last night including a duke and three knights. As J.P. said, it's a happinin' spot.

Gaston de Clermont

Tonight's melee practice in our fine barony. I'd be happy to take some time to be sure your friend is treated well, though honestly the usual treatment here is pretty hospitable. Feel free to pass on my contact info if your buddy's shy or needs a hand with anything.

Gaston de Clermont

Here are the three images I can offer on short notice of men with short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts: Paris, Bibl. Sainte-GeneviÃ¨ve, ms. 0777, f. 205.1370-72. Fellow coming out of a besieged city, paying tribute to Hannibal, barelegged but wearing a long linen shirt with elbow-length sleeves. (Fou...

Gaston de Clermont

D-Farrell- if you can find some specifics on the pictures you saw or better yet find the pictures themselves I'd be grateful. I was suprised in my own search how rare bare arms are, particularly since we tend to wear T shirts these days so much. It's becoming my personal bias to think anyone with no...

Gaston de Clermont

I only mentioned Jesus because I don't want to reenact being Him, and the way he's depicted is so anomolous and potentially distracting to the main question. I've done the agro peasant thing myself, and it is pretty cool temperature wise at least. I've started to get a bit uncomfortable with the ide...

Gaston de Clermont

I've been looking at a lot of illuminations lately trying to figure out ways to encourage folks to match what few general aesthetic trends the Middle Ages had and come up with a couple little theories I'd like to test here. Are there any examples of nobles with their arms exposed above the elbow? I ...

Gaston de Clermont

Chef may be right. To anneal them you'd have to get them very hot and quench quickly- it's backwards to how you'd anneal steel. I'd recommend a very light cross pein hammer. If you're snapping off the shank the force of your blows may be travelling farther than you really want it to- you just want t...

Gaston de Clermont

Alejandro- what exactly are you trying to accomplish here? Is it maile you're working with?

Gaston de Clermont

St. George in an altar commissioned by Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy:

Gaston de Clermont

You're going to have to strip off the galvinisation first to get any thing else to stick. You can strip that off with acid- vinegar should work if you're patient enough. If you've got good ventilation you can toss it in a charcoal fire or propane forge to remove the zinc, but the stuff is pretty tox...

Gaston de Clermont

I like all the maile, the hourglass gaunts and the COP is cool. What's he going to wear on the inside of his forearm? Most of the original greaves taper down more near the ankle. It's a look that's only possible with a small shoe, like a turn shoe. Even the bulk of the padding around the opening of ...

Gaston de Clermont

I think Maelgwyn touched on the core of this. Give them something to belong to. What makes modern soldiers fight? Some sense of duty, or looking for adventure may have gotten them started, but I think most guys keep going to support their friends, and for the joy and prestiege of being part of a gre...

Gaston de Clermont

I heard a rumor you were moving. Good to see you're still in the kingdom.
What did you use to russet the helm? It looks really good!

Exposed arm skin and undies?