The Armour Archive

Mad Matt

HEHE. Lemme clarify. The suit of armour to commemorate her turning 1 year old. I'm going to make her a new suit for her every year on her birthday. It'll be really neat to have em all lined up chronologically on stands in my weapons and armour display room. ------------------ The budding mid 14th ce...

Mad Matt

Hmmm my daughter just turned 6 months. And the weekend before last I made 13 shield bosses and did some other armour stuff. Since she was born I also made a few pairs of sabatons and some other things that I don't remember since I'm pretty absentminded. Oh yeah and by the time she was 2 weeks old I'...

Mad Matt

That's about right you only hit an area that pretty small. A bigger area then that allows for a little more fudging and you need to be able to hit both on and off of the stake for bougeing so that needs a little more space. People want huge ball stakes for a couple reasons. 1. They're really heavy. ...

Mad Matt

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1256490936 The throat is tall too which makes putting holes in things with complex curves easier too. This would be an incredible armouring tool. I can't afford it though since I'm broke. No it's not my auction. ------------------ The budding m...

Mad Matt

Well you've got most of the stuff you need. You may have just not mentioned some of the things you have since you mighta thought they weren't necessary. A half round mill file. For deburring the edges. A grinder of some sort for altering the hammers. Sandpaper for polishing the hammers. (I like to s...

Mad Matt

You can easily find 1-1/2" to 2-5/8" balls for making stakes from. They're called trailer ball hitches. They'll cost you about 3-5 bux depending on where you get em and wether they're on sale or not. They've got a flat spot on top though so here's what you do. You can do either of these for differen...

Mad Matt

I made my first pair of splinted arms while sitting on my living room couch in my underwear does that count?

I've got pictures too. Don't make me post em.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Nope they're definitly not chausses. Yup definitly very weak and fall aparty. Those rings look to be about 7/16" id. 5/16" is acceptable for 14ga aluminum. Jake: It would be easier to start from scratch and make chausses then it would be to take those apart. Chausses have lots of strategically place...

Mad Matt

So chef what you're saying is that when making a brig type armour you should use rivits and not nails because they didn't have nails in medieval times. Right. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/biggrin.gif How about pointy rivits. ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy...

Mad Matt

It's in the sig.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Fergus: Yup I know you still want em. I haven't had a confirmation from any of the others though.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Ok well the shipping is the same within Canada. But it's faster I think. So if you get a US$ money order from the post office it should be in the amount of $30 USD per shield boss. That translates to roughly $45 CDN. So the other alternative is to send CDN funds totaling $45. This is limited to Cana...

Mad Matt

Yup mine's an industrial strength Makita 1/2" hammer drill that doesn't hammer anymore.

3500 rpm and there's not much (including a thumb) that will slow it down.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Looks good. For the length of the hauberk it's really easy to fix. Basically just take a pair of bolt cutters and start sniping. You're probably wanting it to end just below where the split begins right? Anyway Dags on the bottom edge of the hauberk are very appropriate. All the colors look great. G...

Mad Matt

I used to wind a half mile of wire in less then 2 hours. Course I broke my thumb dooing it but it was fast.

I've got a really big drill.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Ok well here's the pics. Seems I just can't take good pictures anymore. The bosses do look a bit better in real life. Maybe I shoulda degreased it before I took the pics. Anyway I did alter the brightness a little but no other alterations. The brightness alteration was to make the picture look more ...

Mad Matt

Took pics with the digicam I'm not used to and the pics came out horrible. Anyway the other one is back now but the net access is gonna shut down in minutes. So I'll get the pics tomorrow.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Tallosh: I'm Canadian. If you want I'll do the conversion on Monday so you can pay in CDN$. Or you can get a US$ money order from the Post office. I'll check on the shipping it'll probably be a little less then to the US. It'll be Canada Post. Surface is the cheapest. I'll have to check and see how ...

Mad Matt

I'll have some shield bosses in-stock Monday. They're new but the price is $25 each. Anyway they're mild steel 14 gauge 8" overall diameter 1" flange 6" diameter of dished area and approx. 2" deep. If you want the in-stock ones put your name on the thread in the want ads board about the in-stock shi...

Mad Matt

Well I'm hoping to have about 8 or 9 ready by monday. Price is $25 plus shipping each and you get a price break if you buy 6 or more they're $20 each. Plus shipping. They're 14 gauge mild steel. Satin finish. 8" overall diameter 1" flange 6" dia. dished area 2" deep. Basically it's first come first ...

Mad Matt

Don't forget there is mine on the last weekend of July. Now it's a little further north then you probably meant but everyone is invited. For details go see my site. Click the Ontario Armourers gathering link when you get there. Oh Ontario isn't all that western though. Guess you guys would be closer...

Mad Matt

Brown is just fine. So is inbleached. Go to the german transitional section of my site and look at the CoP in there. Protects hips and butt as well as the back and the rest of the torso. Relatively easy to make and moves like a dream. Let me know if you've got any construction questions. Look at the...

Mad Matt

Yup I'm pretty happy about it. I did armour a fair bit before the extra day. But that was just because I'm willing to sacrifice sleep in the name of making armour. Plus I rarely watch TV or go out or do anything much at all besides make armour. ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German ...

Mad Matt

Most armouries will do it for you.

Aviation snips cost 10-20 bux. A small cheap vice can range from $5-$50 depending on quality and wether it's new or not. You might find one at a flea market.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Leather can be cut easily with aviation snips. You can also cut 16 gauge aluminum with aviation snips. It's tough to do but possible. If you've got a vice put one handle of the snips in the vice and put a cheater bar on the other handle to make it easier. ------------------ The budding mid 14th cent...

Mad Matt

There's a b2 on e-bay right now that would qualify for this. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1615058586 It's currently at $212.50 and it seems that Andy Ward of www.gauntlets.com is the current high bidder. The fact that it doesn't have a handle doesn't bother me. ------------...

Mad Matt

Well I just got a raise at work (sorta) same salary but a 4 day work week instead of 5. So now in addition to all the hours I spend armouring on evenings and weekends I'm armouring a full day on Fridays. This'll basically amount to 40+ hours a week. So I'll be producing more and having faster turnar...

Mad Matt

Well I just got a raise at work (sorta) same salary but a 4 day work week instead of 5. So now in addition to all the hours I spend armouring on evenings and weekends I'm armouring a full day on Fridays. This'll basically amount to 40+ hours a week. So I'll be producing more and having faster turnar...

Mad Matt

Big fat belt pretty much says it all.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Actually for inside corners if you under cut (the piece is still attached but you haven't touched the metal past the line.) then you can just grab the unwanted part and easily twist it off with a pair of vice grips pliers or your hands. Then you just need to do a slight touch up grind or file or cut...

Mad Matt

Drake the nipple removal problem comes from wearing a CoP that doesn't have overlapping plates (a gap between them) and nothing but a t-shirt underneath. Basically this means overlapping plates and a gambeson or heavy sweatshirt are a non nipple removal solution. Malaki. A CoP is simple because ever...

Mad Matt

Wow 3 more then me. Course I am waiting on another one to be finished and arrive and I've got 2 tops waiting to be made into sugarloafs.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Mad Matt

Here's how to do it. If you're broke make it BYO everything. Set out what you want to achieve with the event. Write it all down and post it up. Post about it everywhere you can possibly think of. Don't be upset when not a whole lot of people show up. Last year I had 4 people. I still learned a lot t...

Mad Matt

One other thing. The shield bosses I use this technique on are 14ga and very work hardened by the time I flatten out the flange. If you're using 16ga it's probably better to use a bit of a lighter hammer. Probably something in the 2-3 pound range will work just fine. ------------------ The budding m...

Mad Matt

I've never actually done it before so take this advice for what it is. Dish out your breast plate. Once that's done you'll need a sharpish edge on a stump and a shiny good sized metal hammer. Turn the breast upside down and hang the part you want to fold over over top of your stump. Keep the angle b...

Really cool whitney punch on e-bay. Deep throat.

In-Stock Shield bosses.

Mad Matt's Armory full time. Great beverly shear deal.

Mad Matt's Armory goes full time (sorta).