The Armour Archive

Mad Matt

Okiedoke Sounds like a plan to me. Just pretend to wombat that you payed $300 for the arms so I get em reaaaal nice. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/biggrin.gif Not like stuff from Steve wouldn't be real nice anyway. ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy. Mad Matt'...

Mad Matt

Thanks Tim it's actually quite an honor to have caught the interest of someone who has such good taste in armour. (I really liked all that stuff you sold off. I didn't have money eiter) And just to cheer you up. The longer you wait to get a pair of sabatons from me the nicer they'll be. Everything I...

Mad Matt

From what I've seen this direction of articulation actually started later in the 14th century. You're right though the step articulation was more common for the 14th. But it has the same problem as this type of articulation but I think to a higher degree. With step articulation the lames actually pu...

Mad Matt

I'd be happy to give you some towards Julie's maille or something elce.

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

Mad Matt

Ok well I've got another pair of sabatons to make that are like the ones I just posted about. It's been about 6 months since I've made any armour for myself. So I think I'll make 2 pairs at once. I wanna try my hand at adding brass trim. Right now the obvious places for it seems to be the bottom edg...

Mad Matt

That's a great price? Should I charge more? You do realize the total as shown is $125 right? Thanks for the compliment though. There should be another set up in a couple of weeks that'll have a centerline crease in em and the straps and hinges attached. ------------------ The budding mid 14th centur...

Mad Matt

A grinder a grinder a grinder. Unless you can use someone elces. Without a grinder you will have to modify your hammers with a file. And making the 3# sledge into a dishing hammer would only take about 5 years. Bench or disk grinder is fine either way. Disk grinders tend to be more expensive but the...

Mad Matt

Thanks for the compliment. Strapping. The heel plate attaches to the front of the sabaton with a hinge be it leather or steel or brass etc. Then a strap and buckle go on the other side that doesn't have a hinge on it. Then you put some holes along the bottom edge of the sabaton. Lace through some le...

Mad Matt

A historically accurate 15th c gothic harness would cost in the neighbourhood of 20K not including clothes. Accurate gothic armour is not what most armourers who do gothic stuff do. There are a lot of subtleties that cost money. Not sure if that would be mild or hc steel. ------------------ The budd...

Mad Matt

Well the title pretty much says it all. I finally got Gaston's sabatons finished. Go see them here: http://www.crosswinds.net/~mad666matt/sabatonsth.html Lemme know what you think. Gaston is playing a 14th century frenchie. He wanted to put his own hinges as well as strapping on since he's got some ...

Mad Matt

Nope you feel the hits more in a cop then in a globosse cuirass. Trust me I did the pick the biggest guy with a stick at fighter practice. Hold my arms up in the air and tell him to wack me all over the place starting soft and getting harder. ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German Tr...

Mad Matt

Actually a difference of 1/16 is a big difference. Both in strength and in the number of rings. Think about it. 1/16 X 400 rows of rings. Makes a big price difference. Also 3/8 16ga doesn't stand up to combat too well. Now for something like this that's custom made I would generally charge around 50...

Mad Matt

Well an aventail is quite easy to make. You can buy the rings for quite cheap and then make it you'll need a pair of needle nose pliers. Or you can make your own rings and you'll need a little more tools. Lemme know if you want construction help. Or you can order one from me but there's a hauberk, m...

Mad Matt

Oh the churbourg #13 was an exception as an armour type. More common was the plain old globosse cuirass. But a COP would be a lot cooler with the leather stuff. As sexy as the steel is. I've got a globosse cuirass that I useta wear with my splinted stuff. I like the CoP a lot better. It just seems t...

Mad Matt

Ok inconsistancies. 15th century 5 piece articulations. Leather with steel cops should be just a one piece cop and either laced into place or just attached directly to the upper and lower leather pieces. This will actually give you better articulation in most cases. What would be really cool would b...

Mad Matt

Another issue is grammar. When selling online it is important to have a professional appearance. Your website is designed quite professionally but then it looses it's effect when the poor grammar comes into play. Most better word processing software has a grammar checker as well as a spell checker. ...

Mad Matt

Silly wombat. Today is the 27th.

Didja see my post on your forum. If not go read it.

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

Mad Matt

Lochlan the only repousse I've been sucessfull with was a womans body neck to ankles done in a flat piece of 16ga about 6" tall. I did it by basically hammering into small depressions that were beaten into the endgrain or parts of a hardwood skid. I used different ball piens and some punches and stu...

Mad Matt

Ok just went and looked at your auctions there's more stuff on there that's not on your site. Scale maille is simply called scale. But the "scale maille jacket" is great. Although you should call it a scale byrine. Also I should note that collectors when referring to armour speaks generally of peopl...

Mad Matt

That was me that made that offer. Little tips and suggestions are no problem. I was proposing something much more in-depth. So here's a few little comments. Remove the word helmet from the names of all the helmets. They are in the helmets section and it sounds kind of silly in some places. The norma...

Mad Matt

I bet it's possible to get oval rings made from a spring manufacturer.

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

Mad Matt

Actually most armourers make almost all of their own tools. Reason being that everyone likes to use a differnt technique and different tools. Also armouring is a very specialized form of metalworking so regular blacksmithing tools usually don't cut it. Here's a good place to start. Buy an assortment...

Mad Matt

Ok so I want a lead block for dooin things like finger gauntlet parts and a better way to screw up trying to do repousse. Where the heck do I buy lead? What kind of dust mask is sufficient for keeping lead dust out of your lungs. Hey how about a mercury hammer? I bet it wouldn't leave any hammer mar...

Mad Matt

To put what gundo wisely said into simpler terms. Find a good armourer. Have them make armour that fits you. Don't buy stuff off the rack it will almost definitly not fit women or men properly. OTOH go to Norman's research site and learn all about warrior women and see armour they would have worn. A...

Mad Matt

Oh hey. Steve would it be possible for you to do a comparison pic for me. I love 16ga 5/16 maille. It's what I almost always use (butted of course). Would it be possible for you to post a comparison pic between your 3/8" 18ga rivited and a little patch of 5/16 16ga butted with the round cross sectio...

Mad Matt

Ok looks like I'm gonna have to experiment on my own first then. Yup I'd definitly try and get em pre-annealed. Actually Steve as Clay (formertly but never was POD) has discovered through his extensive research. Rings were cut pre-overlapped and then run over by trains to flatten them which gives th...

Mad Matt

You should also include the ring inner diameter and the type of cut on the rings.

The cut isn't as important but the ring size is. Tell me this and I'll let you know on prices.

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

Mad Matt

Well truth be told Arland I was fairly late. I don't actually remember when they were originally supposed to be done but I think they're at least 2 months late. And I feel terrible about it. But things happen I just hope that Gaston will like his sabatons and I'll hopefully get around to making him ...

Mad Matt

Look at the sellers other auctions there's about 15 all together that are blacksmithing tools.

Damn he only ships to the US.

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

Mad Matt

Just a little addendum to the review. The most important part of a good customer. Money. I allowed Gaston to pay with a personal cheque since he had sent me the cheque with enough time for it to clear before the sabatons were supposed to be finished. Anyway the cheque arrived exactly when he said it...

Mad Matt

Hey looks like Wombat's about ready to start on those arms. Remember them? Anyway he needs to know what's goin on with them. Although not necessary since the book part wasn't necessary in the first place. I'd be very happy to take the arms instead of the M.O. Anyway if you wanna let me and Wombat kn...

Mad Matt

Ok well one of my customers has a friend who owns a spring company. So I've proposed trading for some preoverlapped rings for rivited maille to hopefully save my customer some cash and to get me some overlapped rings. So the question is what are the specifics again. Also I'd kinda like to go with 18...

Mad Matt

Well I just wanted to post this since Gaston has been an absolutly amazing customer. So to all armourers who are lucky enough to have the pleasure of having Gaston order armour from you I recommend giving him any discounts you have available. Sadly this wonderful customer's order from me is quite la...

Mad Matt

Also how much does 1/4 mile weigh.

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

Mad Matt

Does that include free reshipping to Canada too?

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

Brass trim and flared edges question.

Gaston's sabatons yet another new style. Whadya think?

Accdntprone look here.

BEG rivited maille question Steve (SOFC) especially.

Review of armour customer. Gaston