The Armour Archive

Gaston de Clermont

Thanks of the tips and links, folks. I particularly like your page, Karen.
Peder- I play with the Bryn Gwlad Music Guild.

Gaston de Clermont

This was put together for war gaming, but it's nicely done, and the devices I recognized were correct.

http://www.krigsspil.dk/download/download_3.html

Gaston de Clermont

Is this easier to view?
http://picasaweb.google.com/clermont134 ... 2150866898

Thanks for the tip, Thomas. I'll have to track that book down.

Gaston de Clermont

We have a great music group, but we all use modern music stands. I'd like to use something a 14th century musician would have employed, but I'm not have a whole lot of luck figuring out what that would look like. I haven't yet found a musician depicted with music. Any advice on where to look would b...

Gaston de Clermont

Yeah, if you're patient you should be able to get the steel red hot with a MAPP torch. Try bending it cold first. It's probably easier than you're thinking it would be.

Gaston de Clermont

I'm with Robert. I use roofing nails for a lot of stuff. They're cheap, tough, light, easy to get (at least here) and the final result looks remarkably like most 14th century armour.

Gaston de Clermont

I'm going, though not for quite as long as I'd like. I guess I'll just have to play harder while I'm there.

Gaston de Clermont

I had to enter a bridge battle at Pennsic unarmed once. (I was half way though inspection when they declared inspection point closed, so my armour was OK'd but my weapons weren't. I was pissed.) I'm a huge fan of stealing weapons. It's harder to do than just kill someone, and really sends a message....

Gaston de Clermont

This style of helm was one of my earlier projects, and I felt that getting that edge turned right was one of the hardest things to do. Even with more equipment and knowlege I'd be sure to schedule a large block of time to it.

Gaston de Clermont

When you're rolling the arm pit edges, file the metal first. Little nicks can quickly turn into cracks, since you're stretching the metal a lot there. Annealing the whole piece helps, particularly if you're working in metal which work hardens a lot, like stainless, though it's not strictly necessary...

Gaston de Clermont

Sorry to hear about your house, Josh. That sucks.
I've been dabbling with WD40 and Turtle wax lately. They seem to work OK if you're dilligent about either one, and expect an era of rusting when the piece is new.

Gaston de Clermont

My own experience has been that the closer I get the armour design to the original, the better the range of motion gets. For example if you make a Churburg #13 or #14, but make it flat, instead of more deeply dished, it hits the muscle between your chest and your shoulder when you try to move your a...

Gaston de Clermont

There's a nice picture of a 15th century Burgundian harness captured at the battle of Grandson in Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight by Edge and Paddock.

Gaston de Clermont

If you're looking for something quick, why not just buy 1/2 inch birch plywood?
Aedon- As Barnet said, there are a number of shields laying around my shop. You're welcome to use them.

Gaston de Clermont

This is a little different, but might give some good visuals of a different approach:
http://www.ageofarmour.com/education/wing.html

Gaston de Clermont

I have a hammer a lot like that which I use a fair bit. You might consider sanding some of the sharper corners down a bit in case you miss and whack something by mistake. Mine had a very crisp back face which put some unfortunate creases in a project once before I realized I had the head turned arou...

Gaston de Clermont

Lay the cop on the edge of the anvil with the corner running along one of the lines of the triangle. Tilt the cop up just a bit off the anvil face, and pound some of it down with a raising hammer. You get a crease, and the indentation for the triangle begins. Do the same on the other side. Eventuall...

Gaston de Clermont

Those are spiffy, RoaK!

Gaston de Clermont

Soupcan knees are pretty quick to pound out. It's what Ty's wearning now. Uther did a lot of the work on them in an evening. We could scale the pattern to fit you. A greave which covers the knee is certainly possible. We could modify the greave pattern I've been playing with lately to add a knee. Ba...

Gaston de Clermont

What are you trying to make? You can make a bowl which matches your target curve pretty closely, or you could make a doughnut, which just supports the piece around the outside, letting you hammer as deeply as you want. When you're just starting out I'd recommend making a bowl which matches your curv...

Gaston de Clermont

I've been playing with 4130 for about a year and a half. It's pretty forgiving in most respects. It doesn't work harden or crack as easily as stainless, though annealing really does help. As an example I've been working on some greaves lately. Since I'm new to greaves I've been pounding on them a bi...

Gaston de Clermont

Hugh, In the elbow cut to der Winden, it seems that you're using your sword to deflect hers as you step in even when you have a leverage disadvantage. Since your foible is on her fort, she should be able to keep her point on line as you step. Are you really counter winding there, or is there somethi...

Gaston de Clermont

Nice! What was your impression of working with PMC? I'm considering it for a project in the future. How did you fire it?

Gaston de Clermont

Why not do the whole thing out of one piece of thick rattan? That's what I've been playing with doing rondel daggers. I'm just waiting on some really thick rattan to arrive to do it right.

Gaston de Clermont

Sure, you can rivet from the outside. Inside a helm it can be a bit tricky to support the rivet head on the inside. I like a dog leg stake for that, since the offset lets you set the helm at a more natural angle. To make the rivet look pretty you can hammer carefully, or make yourself a rivet set. G...

Gaston de Clermont

Really thick stock would be cool for the King Renee style maces. It might take some creative taping to get them to look right, but they'd be fun to play with. For a falchion, it might work to do a split rattan approach. Drill a hole part way down, and split the rattan from there to the tip end of th...

Gaston de Clermont

It doesn't look like you do need a gorget under an avantail now:
http://www.sca.org/officers/marshal/com ... pdates.pdf
Apparently there was enough push back on the issue that the rule was reverted to the old version.
The shields sound good though, particularly for a new fighter or someone pressed for time.

Gaston de Clermont

Ok, I poked around, and it looks like the sources of thick rattan are drying up. The Caning Shop carries 1-3/4 as their max. Frank's Cane and Rush doesn't cary anything larger than 1-1/2 regularly any more. HH Perkins suprised me a bit. They have 2 inch rattan (at least that's what's listed on their...

Gaston de Clermont

I just picked up some Cova paints a few days ago from Tandy. They soak in fairly well, but they're still a paint, so you can paint over dyed leather. They're also flexible, so it might give a more durable finish on your shield edge. It might be kind of an expensive way to go for a whole shield, sinc...

Gaston de Clermont

Unchivalrous? That sounds like a bogus reason to me. My only concern is that we do need to hear holds called. If you don't get in the way of that, I don't see a reason not to make a little noise.

Gaston de Clermont

I'll make a few calls and see what they can get me. I really want the thicker stuff for two possible uses. The first is for daggers. I can turn a pretty dagger on my lathe with the rondel and cross guard in one piece, but the initial stock needs to be thick for it to look right. I'd also like someth...

Gaston de Clermont

I'm looking for a good source for really thick rattan. Pretty much the thicker the better. Has anyone seen any over 2.5 inches diameter?

Gaston de Clermont

I'd check onlinemetals.com periodically for prices. You can compare different shapes, sizes and kinds of metal prices. If your local supplier can't beat their price (inlcuding shipping), you can always go with them. I've found you can sometimes bargin with metal suppliers, if you're polite and hones...

Gaston de Clermont

I had a fight a few weeks ago with a local duke. I was fighting pole arm, and hit him with the haft in the face. I called haft and apologized, but he insisted on taking it as a good blow, and said many others do the same.
Do you take a haft as a good blow ever?

Gaston de Clermont

Holmgangs got banned there? Why?

Neat Hundred Years War heraldry site

Music stands, and a furniture reference

Source for thick rattan?

Is haft to the face lethal for you?