The Armour Archive

James B.

Josh Wilson wrote:The holes seem to have a "keyhole" shape. Is that from being under water, and tearing as the leather dried and shrank, or was it made that way on purpose?

They are cut that way, likely to pass a broad head though the hole.

James B.

Tod; yes that is the one you want for the information Karen posted.

James B.

Wow that is awesome

James B.

Sometimes you get a chrome over veggie dyeing, looks like veggie but acts like chrome. In this case it was a reduced calf hide from Seigel's before they shut down. Cannot complain about the quality of the leather or the price

James B.

I don't know how historical black dyes (vinegar and steel wool concoctions) will work on chrome tanned. My guess is that it wouldn't. Jon The iron oxide reacts with the tannins in the leather, so where tannins are not present, no reaction and no color change. I know this for a fact, I got leather t...

James B.

What Gwen said. Embroidery is less common than silk edging or tablet weaving the the examples she mentioned are don differently.

Also there are no short sleeved tunics in extant finds.

James B.

There is a reason there are so many wells/fountains in medieval towns and why poor people lived closer to the rivers in many places, people drank the water and the rivers were polluted while wells and fountains provided good drinking water. Also there was small beer which has a really low alcohol co...

James B.

I understand there are plans for a second demo but have not seen a public announcement yet. I have free tickets to go back and look I will be using sometime soon too.

James B.

Mac is the man. He and I talked about this last year and since then I have seen several examples just like he shows.

James B.

I left chew toy strips and a hide in my tub for a couple of days in the past.

James B.

Vikings NA. Also do combat from time to time with living history settings. Winterfell and I did a pass with longswords and grappling at MTT last year.

James B.

Cool thanks!

James B.

Mac wrote:The vambraces in the chest are another (earlier) find. In our excitement about the Estonian find, everyone has forgotten about them...

I didn't; I stored the information on both together

James B.

1. Is there a difference between a haubergeon and a Mail Shirt? There are many terms used to describe maille armor this is just one of them. 2. Was 15th century mail riveted? Yes, there only rare ceremonial armors with butted links. 3. Were the rings flattened? Maybe. Both the flat wedge riveted ri...

James B.

So a number of sources on Viking era clothing report that there was a silk tape edging the hem, cuffs, and neck of several Viking era tunic finds but I have never seen any source showing a image of how large the edging is or nor have I seen any measurements. Anyone have a good resource on this?

James B.

I just picked my order up from a combined order yesterday. I now have all of Mr. Paggiarino’s books and they are amazing. The new two volume set has details on 16th century armor I have never seen before and the images of the earlier great helms have such amazing details.

James B.

What I mean is that I wondered the same things about the straps, the elbow, ect

James B.

Okay looking at this page: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=139169648112 looks like the Hedeby harbor cross over caftan was made the way you mentioned. Neat.

James B.

You and I are looking at the same details.

James B.

I'm fairly well decided right now on some herringbone wool, edged in silk, with some tablet weaving around the perimeter too. Bling! Just FYI other than the Birka kaftan I have never seen a garment that uses silk edging and tablet weaving together. Normally a garment only has one form of decoration...

James B.

I made one years ago that I felt was not correct. I used the ring to make a flap; I don't feel that was a proper interpretation anymore. The back should be cut into the desired shape and the front can be like a large bag gathered onto the ring and left open or it can have the drawstring like the exa...

James B.

If you look at the linked PDF the photo is larger and you can blow it up in a PDF.

James B.

Not sure how they make flokati rugs but I would guess it is close to the same idea as what Vikings were doing.

James B.

One question that I don't find an answer to in either the photos (not quite enough detail) or the text (can't read the language) is whether they might have been alternating the splints, so that each row of rivets had its own splint, but some were on the outside of the leather and some on the inside...

James B.

I have never seen any evidence for Europeans wearing felted footwear in the middle ages. I have seen evidence of fur boots but that is rare.

James B.

Several graves have indication of a fake fur like one of the kaftan finds in Birka. Basically wool tufts are passed through the material and brushed back into a hair like form creating a nap. The Birka example has a blue and red pile as long as an adults thumb. I have been thinking of doing this wit...

James B.

I know some Viking tunics use a silk tape (not bias cut) to finish the edges at the cuffs, hem, and neck.

James B.

The other part of that is the metal strips are on every other row of rivets.

James B.

Looks like they are having a one day 30% off sale today on that site.

James B.

Look at the thread Tasha posted; most images of that sort of garment are early 15th century. The tight fitting jupon over the body only seems to be the main style of the late 14th century but at the turn of the century there is a big change in fashion.

James B.

Most of Bohemond's shoes seem to be made with chrome tanned leather; not sure they will take another color over the current color.

James B.

That could be, every other row of studs had metal.

James B.

I see it is in the text but I don't see how they would attach and I do not see impressions in the leather.

James B.

Gregoire de Lyon wrote:I don't see the detail that many of you seem to be seeing which indicates that the metal strips were between the rows of rivets.

I don't see that either; look more like the rivets held on the metal strips to me.

James B.

Interesting, did anyone else notice there is either another leather strip or metal one on the elbow edge?

It looks to be the same shape as the leather object in Purses in Pieces.

Re: Arrow Bag Construction

Re: Leather tunics and/or arming caps. No such thing?

Re: "The Wallace Collection" and "The Churburg Armoury"

Re: Boot dyeing

Re: Boot dyeing

Re: embroidered bands on viking tunics?

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: SCA Demo at Anglo-Saxon Gold Hoard Exhibit DC Dec 18

Re: bifurcated gloves for a gauntlet

Re: Rawhide question.

Re: Survey of sorts----who here does rebated steel combat?

Re: Silk edging on Viking era tunics; how big?

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: 15th Century Chainmail - is it a Haubergeon or Shirt?

Silk edging on Viking era tunics; how big?

Re: Carlo Paggiarino's work; a review

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Viking Cloak

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Viking Cloak

Re: Instructions for Frame/Bar Purse

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Viking Cloak

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Valenki boots

Re: Viking Cloak

Re: Viking Cloak

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Flannel for a Cloak

Re: Questions about a kind of surcoat

Re: Boot dyeing

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!

Re: Leather vambraces found in Estonia AND Lithuania!