The Armour Archive

Gaston de Clermont

It's hard to make a generalization about how long bouts really take. Very cautious fighters with large shields and good defenses can go for quite a while. An approach I've been part of was to set up a barrier, and divide the fighters into two teams. Both teams form lines leading to the barrier where...

Gaston de Clermont

I got my regulator and guage separately on Ebay. It might take some patience, but you might get a lower price than buying from a regular retailer.

Gaston de Clermont

A few things lead me to suspect that the helms in Renee's tournaments weren't extremely custom. I'm thinking of them more like off the rack, with some custom tailoring afterward. 1. Padding up to three fingers thick is suggested on the shoulders. There's a lot of give there, so it wouldn't have to b...

Gaston de Clermont

onlinemetals.com also occasionally has a good deal. If you want a full kick plate it looks like Brian's steering you to a better deal, but for a variety pack of thicknesses, onlinemetals has a reasonable price.

Gaston de Clermont

Sean- if we both get our acts together, you're certainly on for a deed of arms. Despite the distance I make it to Pennsic from time to time. The big wide blades they show in Renee's book look like fun to play with. The battons do too, and particularly if the helms really were solidly attached to the...

Gaston de Clermont

I'm looking to make or buy a great bascinet in the style seen in King Renee's tournament book. Does anyone out there make them, or a have a pattern for one? I'm really suprised they're not a common thing on our tourney fields, since they seem to have good visibility, air circulation, and the rest of...

Gaston de Clermont

I'm seeing the same prices you are, Mord. On Ebay #5 punches are going for $26-40 depending on condition, and with full sets of bits. McMaster-Carr's 3461A22 is going for $67.72 with a set of bits. So a tougher question- has anyone seen a good source for the square or rectangular punches and dies? R...

Gaston de Clermont

I've got a stake shaped a bit like that which Ironmonger made for me. It's been very useful on greaves.

Gaston de Clermont

I ended up snagging a Jr #5 on Ebay that went fairly cheap. It looks that McMaster's punches and dies might be the cheapest way to go if you just want those. It's $9.95, as opposed to the $35 I paid on Ebay, or the insane rates Roper Whitney charges if you buy from them directly. They're asking $5 e...

Gaston de Clermont

I've got a few different Whitney punches, but some of the punches were damaged by an abusive relationship with a drunken sheet of 14 guage stainless. I'm looking for a new set of punches and dies for it. If you go to m and enter "hand punch" in their search window it pops up the 3461A22 which looks ...

Gaston de Clermont

Yeah, he's got wings and he's killing a multiheaded hydra thingie. It's weird that he has St. George's cross on his buckler though. Digging through pictures at Master Peter's yesterday we found this one in a book on the Met in NYC. I don't remember ever seeing it there. It might be in the Cloiseters...

Gaston de Clermont

The pit strap really helps keep your joint covered. Particularly with the smaller fans you typically see on 14th century gear it's a really good call. One of mine broke at practice last week, and I just kept on fighting, but it's just not the same fit, and the harness doesn't articulate as well sinc...

Gaston de Clermont

So it sounds like three big wood screws might work as feet, and let me level the top. Plus they might be adjustable. What do you guys use for feet? Mike- your gorilla glue solution sounds lazy and cheap in the most glorious way. Really, I like the idea. How do you get the gorilla glue off your floor...

Gaston de Clermont

I begged around my barony and the generosity of our populace yielded a few nice heavy stumps. Two are pretty green, but they're about 100 pounds each and hardwood, and the third is well aged, and also quite heavy. My issue is getting them completely smooth on one end so they don't wobble, and ideall...

Gaston de Clermont

Oooh! That's pretty, Chuck. Where's it from?
Gaston

Gaston de Clermont

Thanks guys, that's the one! That's a particularly nice image Klaus. Is the original gilt, like it appears to be in Maelgwyn's pic? I guess that mess under his feet really is supposed to be a dragon after all. Knoch- I'm just really continuing my long standing struggle to improve my kit, and this is...

Gaston de Clermont

I wouldn't be quite so hard on the Chalcis armour. Sure, it's not the pinnacle of the art, but there's a lot that can be learned from the less well executed pieces. That quality level may have been more common than Missaglia level work. I probably be tougher on some of the pieces in the Graz in Aust...

Gaston de Clermont

I like the idea. There's a lot of room for improvement in what we typically see on the field.

Gaston de Clermont

I've been looking at the same pictures. There were undoubtedly flaws in the originals, but I wonder how many of the flaws we see are really exposed from centuries of corrosion and polishing. Metal which was a little thin then might be a crack now. A dent, a scrape or scuff may have happened during u...

Gaston de Clermont

They're fascinating. Thanks JP!
Gaston de Clermont

Gaston de Clermont

Ddella,
There are some talented armourers in your area. I've learned techniques from Jeff Wasson every time I've talked with him. Here's his web site:
http://www.wassonartistry.com/
Jeff Brunner is also fairly near you and does quite spiffy work:
http://www.gkarmoury.com/about.php

Gaston de Clermont

I'm looking for a pretty high resolution image of a specific sculpture of a late 14th/early 15th century knight. He has a pig face helm, and he's lifting the visor. The cross on his chest is faded, and there's no dragon, but I think he's supposed to be St. George. Does anyone have a link to a pictur...

Gaston de Clermont

It depends what I'm dishing. I use a weighted rawhide mallet for gentle curves, and a 2lb cross pein with the other face rounded, kind of like what Halberds and Maelgwyn both described, for deeper stuff.
Kase- how exactly do you use the bowling ball? Did you mount a handle on it?

Gaston de Clermont

I'd pretty much been ignoring this thread since I started it since the topic usually covers the same ground repeatedly. It was surreal to find someone who is effectively a rock star of the subject weigh in on it. It was also a little horrifying for it to happen during a classic squabble about a subj...

Gaston de Clermont

If you don't have the time or the skills, you might have to cajole, convince or pay someone to do it for you. Posting a request to the classifieds/Want ads portion of this site might work.

Gaston de Clermont

OK, so I'm going to toss out a theory on why this works, partly because the best way to generate discussion around here is to say something that's just wrong. Theory: The SuperQuench works to harden lower carbon steels because it cools them more quickly than other solutions. This allows what few car...

Gaston de Clermont

The gauntlets I'm working on are 4130, so they don't need the special quench. It reinforces what Cet said about the availability of higher carbon steels. I was thinking of using it on some cheapo Chinese hammers. I'm not sure exactly what the carbon content is, but they're pretty soft, so either the...

Gaston de Clermont

A fellow in my barony mentioned this "Super Quench" for mild steel. Here's a little background on it: m m It seems that most of the ingredients are intended to speed up the cooling rate- salt does, and the soap and surfactants break the surface tension so more of the cold water touches the hot steel...

Gaston de Clermont

This feels like it's partly a commercial for the products used, but it's an interesting test.
http://www.revivalclothing.com/frame.ph ... swords.htm

Gaston de Clermont

For all that stuff it's a good price.

Gaston de Clermont

I'm sure there are a number of ways you could do this, but I'd probably do a split rattan design. Take some fairly thick, maybe inch and a half rattan, and drill a hole near where the handle meets the blade. Split the rattan down to that point by following the grain with a knife blade. Soak the spli...

Gaston de Clermont

Kydex is fairly tough stuff. If you can get the rivets out with end nippers that's the least damaging approach. You could also drill or grind them out. Try not to heat up the plastic too much while doing so, as it can deform the rivet hole. Just go slowly. As for the proper way to attach the fauld, ...

Gaston de Clermont

You can get heaps of lead for free from most places that balance tires. Big outfits like Walmart might not give their old weights away, but smaller shops are happy to give the stuff away rather than pay a disposal fee.

Gaston de Clermont

I used a copper pipe handle on my last buckler. I didn't like it so much because it added substantial weight and it was so smooth it was hard to keep the buckler from rotating. Those might be addressable issues if you use a thinner walled pipe, and either rough it up with a file or add grip tape. I ...

Gaston de Clermont

What are you guys using to make the large curves so smooth? What exactly are you forming and planishing with and how?

Great bascinet a la king Renee?

Source for Whitney #5 punches?

Tricks to de-wobbling a stump?

Sculpture of a 14th century knight

Super quench?

Maile and gambeson vs. arrow and sword