The Armour Archive

Klaus the Red

Ach! If only I had the time to exploit all this good customer karma... lousy nine-to-five job...

Klaus the Red

I use the word pourpoint in its most generic sense- it's for points, it holds stuff up, eg, a pourpoint. Cet, I agree that foundation garment is the most accurate technical term, but pourpoint rolls off the tongue better. It's also an arming coat, but so is a jupon, and so is a lentner, and so is an...

Klaus the Red

Yeah, it took a real act of willpower to let it out my clutches, even though it doesn't fit me... I just liked having it hanging around the house and being decorative. But then I remembered that I need money more than I need wearable art.

Klaus the Red

Carbon steel is not going to move once it's hardened. I've not made any myself, but from the armorers I know who do, I'm fairly sure your greaves have to be exactly the size of the client's legs before you heat-treat. I don't know about schynbalds, but I suspect good cased greaves are pretty much im...

Klaus the Red

I got a PM from Drachus that Murdock was still having computer issues, so be patient with him. (I know, we are anyway.

)

Klaus

Klaus the Red

Klaus, this is outstanding looking work. I think if you bring one to Crossroads in Time in late May/early June 2007 you'll probably come away with at least three orders. Many thanks, and I hope to. I'm trying to conceive of a way of making these in off-the-rack sizes while leaving the critical seam...

Klaus the Red

You haven't seen her nipple-hat. (No, it's a knitted cap shaped like a... oh, never mind.)

Klaus the Red

Sure, so long as you appreciate that my version ain't the be-all and end-all of pourpoints. This is simply my particular interpretation and I'm still learning too, maybe at a slightly faster curve than most. I don't have all the answers, but I figure between myself, Tasha, Gwen and a few others, we ...

Klaus the Red

The buttons are made of the same linen as the garment shell and stuffed with scraps of the cotton batting I used in the interlining, nothing else. The buttons are not stuffed to rigidity but are semi-squishy (think of a slightly firm hacky sack) and it's actually quite the opposite effect of what yo...

Klaus the Red

That's 'cause Zil is vaguely sorta Murdock-shaped. Can you imagine how goofy that long gown would look on her?

Klaus the Red

These days I'm charging $500 US, which assumes I am able to fit the client in person. I greatly prefer that to long-distance fitting, which is time consuming and involves digital photography, a certain amount of guesswork, and sending mockups back and forth through the mail until we get it right. (I...

Klaus the Red

Detail shot of the front.

Klaus the Red

I thought I'd beat Murdock to the punch and post some pics of his new coat before he gets his hands on it (yes, this is the second one in a row he's just ordered from me, the crazy bastard)... Please note that my wife is not included in the purchase price. The dags are a new thing for me. Anyone rem...

Klaus the Red

Sod the ship, I want to see the cargo.

Klaus

Klaus the Red

Indeed. I don't, as a rule, do sport armor as a matter of principle- buy what works for you, but it's not the sort of game I want to play, or make equipment for. But then, I wear wool hose in 90-degree weather. Come to think of it, using heat-treated lightweight steel for a lot of applications is ta...

Klaus the Red

That's as may be, but strapping high-end, heat-treated spaulders with nylon would be like taking your expensive wedding photo album and captioning it by hand in crayon...

K

Klaus the Red

I'm finishing up a prototype pair of splinted arms (in mild), and maybe thinking about gauntlets... but let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?

Klaus

Klaus the Red

Following this thread- http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=57017 - I now believe I understand the reasoning behind putting leather in the front and sliding rivets in the back, and I agree that it's probably the right way to go. I plan to make my mk. II prototype along these lines ...

Klaus the Red

Enlightenment! (Cue giant lightbulb over head and heavenly choir...) Thank you so much for clearing that up for me.

Klaus the Red

What you want on the sliding rivets side (the back) is for the lames to be fully compressed when the arm is straight down. And then fully expanded when the arm has moved forward. I think I see what you're getting at- so the fully extended span of the leather strap should actually be equal to the sp...

Klaus the Red

Thusly...

Klaus the Red

What I'm observing is more or less like a Venetian blind when you're tugging on one string more than the other- one side collapses upward faster than the other and produces an asymmetrical result. On my spaulders, the leather side is the strong side and provides a little bit of resistance, whereas t...

Klaus the Red

I'm very slowly launching a line of heat-treated spaulders in collaboration with Max Engel (see separate thread in classifieds), articulating on sliding rivets on the wearer's front side- ie, toward the armpits- and leather straps on the back. I've also received a certain number of challenges to tha...

Klaus the Red

If you're strapped for cash, you can wait on paying me for the new coat until after Gulf Wars. I might be able to finish it in time to ship to you before you leave if you still want an extra pourpoint in the field. I made an executive decision and did my best estimate for the position of your arm po...

Klaus the Red

Well, I got a glimpse of it before the photos went away, long enough to know I'm definitely looking forward to moving to the San Jose area this year and fighting in White Shield again if the prizes are going to be that nice...

Klaus, once and future Westie

Klaus the Red

I haven't seen the insides of enough (OK, any) actual bascinets in person to know the authentic answer to that. However, based on common armoring sense, there'd be no reason to add a washer for reinforcement for a shank peened over against a metal surface, unless the hole was mistakenly made so larg...

Klaus the Red

Because then you would have to be double-jointed and have eyes in the back of your head to buckle them on yourself. The buckle ends of the straps are very short to make them easy to reach if they're in front.

Klaus the Red

I debated that for a bit and settled on slots in front- the sliding rivets do collapse more easily than the leather straps (trust me) and compress inward as the arm flexes. That's my design and I'm stickin' to it. If you're convinced this is backwards, you can always pop off the buckles and straps a...

Klaus the Red

Ok, with a dozen potential buyers in the pot, here's question #2. Who would be interested in a blued finish versus a high polish? (Thanks to Tristram for this idea.) I may be able to produce some of both depending on interest and cost. I don't think I'll mess around with offering a munitions finish ...

Klaus the Red

Outstanding, thanks- that's exactly what I was looking for. The RA's a little far for me to go at the moment, but perhaps the Higgins has a copy of the von Kienbusch catalog. What's the date on this letter? It's useful to get an idea of the "as-of-when" that the doublet hasn't been formally examined...

Klaus the Red

Yeah, right... not in the face of an impending move. My wife doesn't indulge me that much. Anyway, I shudder to think what his reserve must be.

Klaus the Red

What's the average price in $USD that this set is going for nowadays?

Klaus the Red

I'm ashamed I hadn't been to his site before. Mmm, sneck hooks...

Klaus the Red

So long as David's presentation includes the slide content- not much point to watching it otherwise- I'm game.

Nick

Klaus the Red

Our plan is not to take specific orders, so as to avoid getting stuck on individual timetables and having to hold anyone's money- we're both very much part time armorers- but to simply do a general batch and sell them on a first-come, first-serve basis when they're ready. At the rate we're going, we...

My latest pourpoint

Opinions on spaulder sliding rivets