The Armour Archive

Gaston de Clermont

A quote from Theophilus on making a chalice, "Now when the silver has been made so thin that it can be bent by hand, drap [concentric] circles with the compasses, from the center to halfway out on the inside, and on the outside from halfway out to the rim. Then, following the circles, hammer on...

Gaston de Clermont

Modernly we pretty much all use patterns, bits of folders or cardboard etc. to start off our armour creations. What do we know of what they did back in the day? Does anyone have any information, pictures, missives, or extant examples of what they used?

Gaston de Clermont

Man, find me before the field battle starts and I'll point you toward the first likely point of impact. We're doing three open fields so with a loose interpretation of your boast you have three shots at hitting the enemy line first.

Gaston de Clermont

I'd like to hear a textile expert's take on it. I suspect they could make those colors, but the dramatic contrast between them seems like it would be tough to maintain through a few washings with period dyes and mordants. All of the pieces I've seen are more subdued, though many have been buried for...

Gaston de Clermont

Pretty sure you mean to spell it "didymium," Swamp. Like these: m I have a pair with side shields, which I highly recommend when pounding on steel which could spit off some hot forge scale. As Swamp said, they're designed for folks who work with hot glass, though the glass blowing guy I've...

Gaston de Clermont

I don't have the book in front of me, but isn't there some plaid fabric in "Woven Into the Earth?"

Gaston de Clermont

The kind of torch Louis used in the mini-kiln thread uses a high pressure regulator and a venturi apparatus which lets it suck in more oxygen to burn more efficiently. The effect is that it spits out far more heat than the design you have. The insboard he uses is specifically designed to reflect hea...

Gaston de Clermont

What a cool story! So glad I asked.

Gaston de Clermont

I can barely order a meal in German, so the English notes there are invaluable. I have a basic question I can't tease out of the web site- what's the idea behind the Hausbuecher? It's certainly valuable in my search here, but it kind of feels like a Richard Scary book to tell kids what various jobs ...

Gaston de Clermont

Yeah, I meant the 14th century guy on the right. It's sort of a strange way to depict maile, but I'll buy that it's what they're trying to show. I'm a little surprised we're not seeing a plate cuisse there. It's lighter and more protective than maile, and based on the breastplate they had the techno...

Gaston de Clermont

The breastplate even has the rib stop the Churburg #13 has. The whole piece seems a bit longer than the #13. What's up with his thighs?

Gaston de Clermont

If you're looking for a surviving complete English harness from this era, I'm afraid there isn't one. The closest we have is the Churburg #13 which is from roughly this era, but it's Italian, and it's arguably not entirely typical of time. You'll find individual pieces that will help guide your choi...

Gaston de Clermont

Your anvil is too low... Thomas So is Tubal Cain's in the picture. Has anyone here used these sanding sticks? It's reasonable explanation that's what they are. Is it a leather strip impregnated with grit as Keegan postulates? Is there some kind of bonding agent, like a wax or glue to keep it from r...

Gaston de Clermont

I know I'm asking a tough question on this, but if anyone can read this script I'd love to know what it says:
http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/75-Amb-2-317-7-v
The source is German, and it's a difficult hand.
Oh- and what's the little tee-pee looking thing on his floor?

Gaston de Clermont

Thanks for that great link, Len!
Ok, I'm convinced it's a file. Spurs sound like a good guess too.

Atli- There's a date on the Tubal Cain pic. Do you know where the picture is from? I'm trying to understand it in context and cite it properly. Great stuff!

Gaston de Clermont

Sean- there is an appealing consistency to your logic there. But then how do you play that out? Knee fighting, or gimping around with one arm in this endeavor would be less appealing. If an unarmoured limb gets struck are you just done for the day? Practically speaking most of the combatants wear st...

Gaston de Clermont

Gregoire de Lyon wrote:Looks like he is filing something.

Possibly. The thing in his right hand looks very much like one of my files which has a black plastic handle. What's in his left hand? Is that a little stand on his bench, like a wood worker's vice or something?

Gaston de Clermont

Forgive me for picking these apart a little at a time, but a couple clicks into the list Karen (blessed is she among researchers) posted I found this:
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg848/0757
It's a nice shot of the armourer. What's the little guy in the bottom left doing?

Gaston de Clermont

Good thought, Thomas! It didn't take much digging to find a free on line version of De Re Metalica:
http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/agrico ... a/page_001
And it's fascinating. I had no idea it was translated by Herbert Hoover.

Gaston de Clermont

If you play Assassin's Creed 2 to the end you can wander around the Sistine Chapel and kill someone in it. The images are astoundingly crisp for a game.

Gaston de Clermont

Thanks for the pictures guys, keep them coming!
My main focus is on armourers, but there's clearly a lot we can learn from blacksmiths, smelters, and yes, even coin makers.

Gaston de Clermont

Keegan- you deserve some public praise here. Your first swing at making garb puts most veterans to shame. Frankly, you looked better than I did, and you're already inspiring me to be better. Keep up the amazing work! Bug me at Candlemas and I'll try to introduce you around. A number of good archive ...

Gaston de Clermont

It's possible that the wearer rotted way, but I'd be curious about what could preserve the fabric while flesh, hair and bone decayed. Certain soils destroy iron but leave brass in place and some do the opposite, so we may see some odd things in a dig. I would expect though that the garter and their ...

Gaston de Clermont

I'm trying to collect more pictures of armourers toiling along. Here's the thread to put them in:
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... p?t=128633

Gaston de Clermont

JP- I may have convinced Fiacha to play too if he can tweak his gear a bit. This is going to be fun!

Gaston de Clermont

Archive folks- help me pull together all the images we can of medieval metal workers toiling away. I want to see their tools and techniques in as much detail as possible, and I'd ideally like to have the source of the image cited. This would leave us with a great page for our collective documentatio...

Gaston de Clermont

Wow, Karen. I didn't know you had quite such a mean streak!

Gaston de Clermont

I'm in.

Gaston de Clermont

Keegan- I have an open shop usually a couple times a month. I'm having one tonight in fact. You're not insanely far away. Swing by if you want to see some of this stuff in action. Of course you can check out my blog in the link in my sig. If you're going to crown tomorrow, track me down. I'm bald, w...

Gaston de Clermont

Most folks use a high pressure regulator on these, so they'll suck down propane faster than a barbecue. But even firing large pieces and doing hot work weekly I only have to get a fresh tank every 2-3 months. I'm talking the size tank you'd use for a barbecue- the ones you can swap out at most stores.

Gaston de Clermont

It's weird that they were found tied, isn't it? I wear mine above the bulge in the calf, just under the knee. it would take something pretty painful happening to get the garter off without undoing it. Maybe they wore them differently?

Gaston de Clermont

I've found garters with a bit of stretch are more comfortable than thicker leather ones. After a while those without much stretch make my legs ache.

Gaston de Clermont

Nice work, Louis! What did you use to cut the insboard?

Gaston de Clermont

Saints be praised! Tacuinum Sanitatis is something I hadn't really explored much. There's a ton of awesome stuff in there! Thanks so much!

Gaston de Clermont

I recently was forced to consider something I had just taken taken for granted. I didn't want to question it because it's just so nice, but here it is- did women typically show cleavage in the late 14th century in western Europe? How about the 15th?

Medieval armour patterning?

XPost- Images of metal workers

Images of metal workers at work

14th century and cleavage