The Armour Archive

Mykaru

Ron, The knots (rawhide)hold it together. I'll know more about the construction after I pull the lining this weekend. The lining APPEARS to be washi with 1 layer of laquer. I haven't compared laced vs. rivited but lacing IS easier to remove for repair/replacement. The deterioration of the kohaze is ...

Mykaru

Ok pics at

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... ufront.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... ouback.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/mykaru/Doutop.JPG

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... damage.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... erDou1.JPG

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... erDou2.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... erDou3.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/m ... erDou4.JPG

Eff, Yes I've seen pieces. No it's not finished yet.

Mykaru

During the 1500's you begin to see the Tosei Gusoku (modern armours ) coming into thier own. Armours of hon kozane become increasingly rare. Of course, some powerful Samurai did have a preference for older or just plain wierd styles (Uesugi Kenshin for example). I'll have to check my books but if I ...

Mykaru

A couple of points. 1) There MAY have been entire suits of Hon-kozane where all the plates were metal. I've never seen one. Yamagishi-sensei's books often break down the exact number of rawhide vs. iron scales in many suits. The BEST suits tend to be about 50 % so halve the scale weight calculations...

Mykaru

As for "Is plastic cheating?", no, not for japanese armour as in most cases the weight will be equivalent. Are people wearing 1050 spring steel harnesses cheating? How is it it cheating to wear a harness of appropriate period weight? As an armourer, I have fought long and hard against the pickle bar...

Mykaru

The Edo period Nuinobe dou I bought yesterday weighs about 6 kilos.

Mykaru

Bill, You want pics? Someday I've GOT to buy a decent digital camera. It's supposedly early Edo. Maybe, I'm reserving judgement. It's certainly big for one that early (If the wakaita were a bit longer it would fit me perfectly). It's VERY similar to the dou on the cover of AAotS except the kusazuri ...

Mykaru

Bill, I hate to see you do this. OTOH it ensures when you DO go to events, you'll be wearing MY work. Something that might take a little of the sting out of your decision. In an effort to increase the accuracy of form on the up-coming Dou(s), I am buying an early Edo Nuinobe Dou this week for repair...

Mykaru

Corrius, Did you try to e-mail him from the address on his webpage? To be honest Tony NORMALLY gets 100's of e-mails from folks a week. I suspect recently that has increased.

If it's armour related I might be able to help, AND I'm much closer.

Mykaru

Very nice looks like it was based on the same wood cut as mine was. I suppose I'll have to post pics sometime.

Mykaru

I HATE to rain on anyone's parade and I do appreciate enthusiasm, but if you are a novice I would advise against it. Recently, Patrick Thaden (Armour Bob) showed a step by step of one he made. Run a search, look at it and understand what you are letting yourself in for. A piece of crap that you put ...

Mykaru

There's the response from E-M. Theo? Would 1.5 work for you?

Mykaru

I HAVE located high carbon. Unfortunately, it is 1.5 mm (17 guage + a hair). For the folks who were interested in a dou the question is " is this too heavy for you?" The original plan was, of course, 1 mm. Please let me know as I have to decide whether to continue with this plan or shift to a kabuto...

Mykaru

I HATE going back and forth on commitments. This post is primarily aimed at those who are contemplating a kabuto order. At this point I HAVE located 1.5mm high carbon (17 guage + a hair). I need to know from people who were interested in a dou if this is too heavy for them (this is mainly directed a...

Mykaru

Well, it looks like Eff is going to take that first slot so......
1 possible kabuto slot.

Mykaru

Peter, Yes. Your solutions for removable menpo is identical to what I currently do on kabuto (T lock and lugs locking the sides). In the past my shita-jikoro (underplates) have been solid, but I too plan to use the slatted form in the future. Your questions on the zunari shape were a bit confusing b...

Mykaru

Aaron,

I don't have a shop here yet. I'll be going home to Bangkok for 5 weeks and will be working out of my shop there. I MAY make it to the Avalon fight practice Sunday. Will you be there?

Mykaru

Note this is not set in stone. My search for steel IS ongoing. At this point I have been unable to verify a source for 1mm high carbon at home (Bangkok). Because of this, it is very possible that I will not be making any Dou this summer. IF I am unable to make any Dou this summer I MAY commit to 2 K...

Mykaru

By my understanding they are in the "beta" testing stage now. I think they'd hate to sell alot then discover a problem. AFAIK Eff is the only one doing the beta test.

Mykaru

Please forgive spelling errors. Some (ok MANY) of these I know by reputation only. East- Duke Ronald Wilmot, Duke Andreas, Sirs Balin and Kels Atlantia- Duke Anton, Duke Logan Trimaris- Duke Baldar (He taught me that foreign knights may not be sh#t but foreign dukes ARE ) and Duke Bitor Meridies- Du...

Mykaru

Find someone who is good sword and board. Learn to work as 2 parts of the same machine. Learn to fight, not to kill but to create openings for your partner (both of you).

Move into target rich environments and enjoy.

Mykaru

Hopefully Eric has learned a lesson from this. Noting his phone is in another name (most likely his parents) this implies he is young. If Eric is monitoring this. Do a few things. 1) take care of your customer commitment. 2) Read the essay on running an armoury 3) show ONLY pics of YOUR work (NOT st...

Mykaru

Alan, Thanks for not just deciding to change but explaining why for the benefit of others. Most of those of us who have been doing this over 10 years, learned by copying bad (historically) SCA armour. NOW to point out to all the young and aspiring armourers that it is incorrect will help us once mor...

Mykaru

Duke Anton to one of Duke Kein's squires.

"PATHETIC!" (immediately followed by smack,smack smack).
MUCH better than "weak".

Mykaru

Born and raised an Okie. Fortunately, only 4 years in a small town (Henryetta). Atoka is pretty typical of ANY small oklahoma town. The stupid armour questions are only slightly less frequent in a *cough* educated town (Norman) *cough*.

Mykaru

Folks he's in Atoka. Hobby means you drink beer while fishing. Professional means no beer (during tournaments) and a $60,000 bass boat.

Ignore them. It's about all you can do.

Mykaru

I have to second Eff on this one. AFAIK Toyoda-san is the only fluent armourer (and it's a hobby/obsession for him). The only reason I haven't joined the preservation society is quite frankly my speaking and listening skills just aren't up to speed (and that's in an area where I DO have the field re...

Mykaru

Good close fitting vambs and elbows. The same on the knees. That stuff should be hidden. After that save for a helm and an ashi-garu level dou. The rest of a beginners kit can be done soft (cloth).

Mykaru

Actually I know very little about katana compared to many others here on the board. I think the main idea here is "What is the quality of a hanwei blade?". As I've never handled one of their products I'm not qualified to say. There should be a few iadoka here on the board with some input.

Mykaru

Aaron,

I'm in Kanto but I have very little free time (read that NONE these days). I will try to free up some time end of June and make an appointment to take you by Matsushita-san`s shop. I'm due for a visit anyway

Mykaru

Bamboo..... Eff usually won`t explain the problem, but I`ll give it a shot. There are pieces of Japanese armour that LOOK like bamboo LEAVES. The kanji is for a type of bamboo. Some splints (shino) look like bamboo and the kanji IS for that type of bamboo ,but the name was given because that`s what ...

Mykaru

In kyudo there are various draws (different schools). In our school (heki-ryu insai-ha) The uchi-okoshi (raising the bow) is overhead. Part two (sanban no ni) is about the level of the fukigaeshi (helmet foldbacks). Tsumeai brings the arrow to the cheek before hanare (release). The bow is tilted whe...

Mykaru

Keltoth,

No worries Eff and I highly recommend plastic for JAPANESE armour. It STILL has to be done RIGHT though.

Mykaru

Yes, it's a PDF. Loaded fine for me about 30 minutes ago.

Mykaru

I suggest reading this article:

http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/pub ... df/586.pdf

Note: I discovered this while doing some research today. My previous statements were after conversations with Mori Sensei and reading "Yumi no Kokoro" (The Spirit of the Bow).

Dou information

Possible Kabuto queue .