The Armour Archive

Gaston de Clermont

A lot of folks are over-thinking this. For anything with this low a melting temp Losthelm's approach of a soup can will work fine. I use a cheap steel camping cup. A little pot from Good Will would be cost effective. Ventilation's not a bad idea, but special respirators? Really? People have been cas...

Gaston de Clermont

A few things. I'd pick up a copy of Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction by Brian Price. Folks here call it TOMAR. There's a good section on articulation in it. Most folks here call them "lames," rather than "lanes." Some prefer "shims." The nomenclature is really...

Gaston de Clermont

Chuck- is your gauntlet resting right against the wood of the shield? Isn't your wrist cocked back?

Gaston de Clermont

Just bumping as an advertisement.

Gaston de Clermont

Yeah, I'm bummed that I'd committed to this class before I knew about Dr. Rogers being in town. He's awesome.

Gaston de Clermont

Master Peter and I will be teaching a class on armour repair this Saturday at 11AM at Bryn Gwlad's 30th anniversary event. m It's a beautiful site down by the river, with a castle and theater. Feel free to bring broken gear and we'll use it as a lesson- I can't promise it will get fixed with tools o...

Gaston de Clermont

I'd hunt around for all the pictures you can find of the original pieces you're trying to recreate. If you can find a depiction of a Celt wearing what you propose it might give you the solution too. It's quite possible that it wasn't done due to the same challenges you're having with the design. Res...

Gaston de Clermont

Instead of a wood chisel I use a much wider, blunter chisel. The thick steel kind you can get at harbor freight work fine. You'll have to grind or sand the tip until it's a little narrower than the edge of a fork, and blunt down the corners a bit so they don't bite.

Gaston de Clermont

I fought in a pair of his boots for years and really liked them. I moved to a place that has practice on a hard tennis court and they got shredded. Of course they were also about 7 years old at the time too.

Gaston de Clermont

Focus on the fit. Your kit is looking baggy in a few places. Are you sure you want to do a globose with faulds with the rest of that kit? If you wear a surcoat over it and pretend it's a corrazina you're pretty close, but it's not perfectly consistent with splinted limbs or leather greaves. It would...

Gaston de Clermont

A good leather drinking vessel- I'm thinking something like a small keg. You see them in Gaston Pheobus' hunting book, though it's impossible to tell for sure what they're made of. If they were leather they'd be ideal for taking out carousing- good volume and you're not going to break it if it's dro...

Gaston de Clermont

If you get extra tokens as you go you might end up with a pile of them at the end. It's nice to get a reward for being on the filed, but your lives at that point would be cheap, defeating some of the purpose. I love ransoms and what they might add to this kind of scenario. They might create an inter...

Gaston de Clermont

Fabian. While I do admire folks who hone a single style to perfection you could toss him a tooth pick and he'd find a way to kill you with it. Plus he makes some great armour. Lucan. I love watching him fight, and love fighting against him. The way he moves is remarkable. He also has weapon depth, a...

Gaston de Clermont

I like the idea. My major concern is that you want to be sure folks get enough fighting in to slake their thirst. It's not a ton of fun to be standing around in a reserve unit for a whole battle, even if it's a tactically sound decision. Using Paul's idea- maybe a side can get some number of tokens ...

Gaston de Clermont

So by that logic you're responsible for the actions of all other Texans, reenactors, and UPS employees, right? You could choose to leave those groups.

Gaston de Clermont

I agree with the idea behind this, but I'm not confident the approach will create the change you want. Is the hope that so many people will allow changes that the college of heralds will make that the default? With such a large percentage of registered names belonging to non-active folks I don't thi...

Gaston de Clermont

2 years? In a great weapon happy place like the Outlands? Glad it's squared away now. A great cuff/bell can be made from leather. I never felt the need for much thicker than 8oz, but it depends on what your vambrace is like.

Gaston de Clermont

So put an arch support insole in your turn shoes.

Gaston de Clermont

Turn shoes provide decent traction as they are in my experience. I played Ogre Ball in mine at Jaegermeister last weekend with no problems. I wear them under my sabatons. My home practice (Bryn Gwlad) is on a tennis court, which tears up the leather pretty fast. I picked up some very low profile, bl...

Gaston de Clermont

I like this idea. I couldn't do it at Pennsic, but could at Gulf War. I just have to build some gear for my Roman squire.

Gaston de Clermont

Isabella does nice work. She can make you a good banner for a good price.

Gaston de Clermont

Nice! I like the color choices. Mind if I steal the pic?

Gaston de Clermont

It's certainly possible that some of the bag hats were stuffed, but if you use a fairly heavy wool they seem to hold their shape without too much work. I got mine from Revival, and did some tailoring on it. The one they sell is too long for what I wanted to depict, but it's a pretty versatile base.

Gaston de Clermont

Steve- these are slightly later than what you're looking for, probably having been created between 1404 and 1419, but they depict a high class bag hat:
http://burgundianhours.blogspot.com/200 ... s-hat.html
You'll see similar hats in Gaston Phoebus' book of the Hunt, which was also illuminated in the very early 15th century.

Gaston de Clermont

There are some pics and description of my linen liner in my bascinet here:
http://burgundianhours.blogspot.com/search/label/liner
I love it, and wouldn't go back to smurf foam.

Gaston de Clermont

The pre-and post heat shouldn't be a problem- I can toss it in the forge. The link Kerry found lends some hope to my approach. I just need to find some appropriate rod.
I'm using 410 for armour since it's hardenable and stainless.

Gaston de Clermont

Check this out:
http://talbotsfineaccessories.com/armou ... figies.htm

Look around for gorgets- you might not find one. It looks like maile was used to protect the throat at this time. You might look for a way to have other defenses under that maile.

Gaston de Clermont

Does anyone here weld 410 steel? Can it be done with an oxy-acetylene ring?

Gaston de Clermont

It's pretty hard to prove what they really used for hanging legs. There's no where near the kind of volume of evidence that we have for, say, how they padded their helms, and even that is limited. William- I like the look you've achieved. Nice tailoring! Steve- LOVE the maile chausses. I'm working o...

Gaston de Clermont

I have some gauntlets which are blued and have withstood many years of punishment. They're mild, but essentially don't rust because of the bluing. So if it's done well, bluing can reduce your maintenance. I can't say for certain that I've seen any 14th century armour (like the Churburg #13 the above...

Gaston de Clermont

It's worth revisiting Dr. Strong's analysis of German effigies here: m Looks like it's some sort of globose body harness for you. OK, so you've got a bit of a belly- most of us do. If you can play with a globose you might find that if it fits right it can make your upper body look bigger and minimiz...

Gaston de Clermont

4130 is readily available in large sheets, it's easy to weld and straight forward to heat treat. 410 is more expensive, but it requires less clean up because it creates less forge scale. The heat treating is nearly identical to 4130 otherwise, and I do it myself.

Gaston de Clermont

Love the class list, love the composite picture.

Gaston de Clermont

I'm using oxy-acetylene now.

Gaston de Clermont

Something like this from Paradise Fibers, Gaston? Yes, that should work just fine. I know Robert of Woodsende, who posts here, has used horse hair in his liner and it works great for him. I'm not sure if there's a substantial difference in function between that and flax fibers unless you're allergi...

Armour class in Austin Oct 24th

Welding 410?