The Armour Archive

Mad Matt

POD make ring maille with it. Make about 1" rings and then squash em. Sew them onto some kind of backing (no overlap) and you've got some nice fantasy ringmaille. On the other hand it may also lend itself to japanese 4-1 fairly well. Use the 10ga for the flat lying rings and use say a 1" diameter. t...

Mad Matt

DEFINITLY post asking people about Illusion. I think they've had problems with late delivery. I've never dealt with them personally so I can't really say. But ask this is very important.

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

Mad Matt

Well I've heard lots of people who've worn maille etc. through. Some who wear their helmet or have it as a carry on. Notice I said go really early. You'd probably have to strip it all of while going through security. Besides the airport has no right to regulate your fashion sence. http://www.armoura...

Mad Matt

Well Fredric you've got a misconception. First it definitly depends on when and were for what specific types of metal were used. In the 14th century wrought iron was very commonly used. Modern steels are Much better then medieval steels. One of the major improvements is the lack of slag and other im...

Mad Matt

Ok well you'll need to give a little more information. It might be easy and it might not. Is the width of the face opening the same at the bottom as it is at the top? Did you use any expansion in the area about 1.5" below the jawline and down? If you have some expansion and it ended up just not bein...

Mad Matt

Oh and if you don't already have Brian Price's book "Techniques of medieval armour reproduction for the 14th century" then you really want to get it. I think that Barns and Noble still has it in stock. Basically though this book has all the information and instructions you need to build your whole h...

Mad Matt

I'm about an hour and 15 mins north of Toronto. So yep it's fairly far away. But you've got an open invitation to come up and you're welcome to use my shop for making armour. It's nice to have company and I generally learn something new when someone comes over. This invitation is BYOMBF though (brin...

Mad Matt

Well what are you looking for in a pair of gauntlets. There are many things to consider. Are you planning to fight in them and if so with which group. Ie. the name of a specific tournament company, the sca or the haca or stage combat. Are you looking for something that is fairly historically accurat...

Mad Matt

Ok so I'll see if coke can be had. But what the heck is a clinker. Maunikar: I think it's actually beneficial to post and have these questions answered here. That way the archive search feature works on these questions. Also now that I see how easy and accessable a forge is to build I can see other ...

Mad Matt

Sorry gaston you posted while I was typing. The whareham forge is at http://www.pipcom.com/wareham_forge/index.html The tape is $25 CDN including postage and is an introduction to blacksmithing. There is also another tape that focuses on making blades and things for the same price. Or you can have t...

Mad Matt

More dumb questions. Well I've got a brake drum. My parrents have 2 sitting around dooing nothing in the garage. They're about 14". Issat big enough? And for the question. For the tyre can it just be a piece of metal with holes drilled in it. It's been a long time since I've used a torch and althoug...

Mad Matt

Ok well my parrents live on a farm near a small old-fashioned town with nearby mononites. I asked my dad where I could get coal and he said the feed mill. Anyway he's gonna ask for it. He said he'd ask for forge coal. The question is what kind of coal should I be using for a forge? Brandr mentioned ...

Mad Matt

Ok well I think I'm gonna go for a coal burning forge for now. Partly because it's easier and cheaper to make and partly because it'll make my wife a little less nervous. So on to the next question. What's a good range for the cfm's the blower motor should put out in order to get a hot enough fire f...

Mad Matt

Where are you located. I'm in Stayner which is right by Wasaga beach. From what's in Brian price's book I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to figure out the actual patterns. I'd be happy to help you out with the construction if you like. ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German Transitio...

Mad Matt

If he wears a harness on the plane there's no extra baggage charges. He'd have to go the airport really early though for the metal detector stuff.

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

Mad Matt

Jake: I actually labeled all the pieces. The toe says toe and the lames are all numbered. It just so happens that I shaped the toe with the label on the outside. Good one though. Sasuke: These sabatons are going with cuirboulli greaves. So I think the flare should work fine. My anvils are crappy cas...

Mad Matt

Ok now lets assume I'm stupid and the plans for the gas forge on anvilfire went right over my head. Basically this means Matt doesn't build a gas forge. How much smoke does a coal forge put out. I live in a small town and don't want the fire department showing up. Also what kind of coal can be used ...

Mad Matt

Ok well I've got a super low budget as usual but I'm just itching to do some hot work as well as be able to reshape and modify hammers and stakes and things. So the question is what's the lowest dollar value possible for making a forge suitable for this kind of stuff assuming I buy and scrounge comp...

Mad Matt

Nice work. I'm actually in the process of making Gaston's (formerly known as Thorgrim) sabatons. Another Olaf's member. They've got more lames then those ones but are fairly similar. [img]http://www.CowdenWoods.on.ca/stuff/thors003.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.CowdenWoods.on.ca/stuff/thors004.jpg[/img]...

Mad Matt

I'm the high bidder

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

Mad Matt

5 pieces isn't accurate for the 14th c.

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

Mad Matt

Your navigation bar annoyingly moves around all over the place. I'd suggest putting it either at the top of the page somewhere that it will be in the same place on the screen all the time. Or the side. Or the top and bottom. You definitly need to get some pics up but you already knew that. Nice prop...

Mad Matt

Just a note on the sugarloaf thing. Generally a sugarloaf was not worn by itself. Generally a sugarloaf and all other greathelms were worn over a demi-bascinet or one of the other varieties of underhelms (just made up a word there). That means that if you're wearing a sugarloaf it depends on what ki...

Mad Matt

The book came in today. Now I've just gotta drive over to my parrents house and pick it up. Ordered it last week from Barns And Noble. And they shipped it out that fast to Canada. I went for the expensive shipping option. ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy. Mad M...

Mad Matt

Well I've heard the same numbers. I think the weight is basically for a mid-thigh elbow length. BTW 5/16 16ga is a little lighter. My hauberk weighs 20# it's short sleeved and nearly knee length. I'm 6' and 160# ------------------ The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy. Mad Matt's Armo...

Mad Matt

Did anyone save the instructions that blankenshield had? I know the armour looked like crap but the photo essay on rolling edges was pretty good. I thought I'd saved it but didn't. Also does Brian's book have edge rolling instructions that are easy to follow? It's hopefully gonna arive this week. --...

Mad Matt

Ok well up till now I've been an idiot. There's a perfectly good pattern for a globosse breastplate in the pattern archive. Take that pattern Slice it up and add some width to each of the pieces. Voila segmented globosse pattern. Man sometimes I can be really slow. BTW armour patterns aren't too har...

Mad Matt

Shotputs generally have a threaded plug in them. This is so that lead or other metal shot can be added to the ball to make the weight exact. What I did was take the plug out and have a bolt made up that fit into the threaded hole. You could probably find a premade bolt from a fastener company. I had...

Mad Matt

You can only take a bad cheque to the police if you have not already tried to get the person to make good on the cheque.

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

Mad Matt

Actually none of the gauges work that way. 16ga is the only one that holds up to the 1/16" thick thing. And then it doesn't hold true with all types of gauges. Best way to buy steel. Ask for either a milimeter or decimal inch or fractional inch. That way you know what you're getting. On a side note ...

Mad Matt

A lot of LARP groups require minimum 16ga to get full armour points. Your only choice for rivits that is non-copper or brass is stainless steel. Don't put ferrous metal rivits through leather. 3/16" shaft diameter and 1/2" length rivits work great. I recommend using belt head rivits. That way the on...

Mad Matt

Ok well here's what I've got. A piece of metal dowel about 12" long and 2-1/2" diameter. A piece of hardwood with a groove cut into it. The groove is about a 3" diameter radius and runs the length of the hardwood. The wood is basically a rough cut oak 4X4 taken from a skid. The groove is about 1-1/2...

Mad Matt

Well there's a bunch of things to consider here. 1. From repetedly spreading the blades on your snips they're probably sprung by now so go buy a new pair. 2. Using aviation snips it is necessary to prestretch your coils. Optimum is 1.5Xwire diameter ie. 16ga=3/32 between coils. 3. You need to keep y...

Mad Matt

I personally like and am in the process of making one (slowly) with a diagonal front opening. See Norman's site for an excellent drawing and lots more information on scale armour.

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

Mad Matt

Well My solution was the long COP with plates over the hips. See the german transitional section of my site for pics. Now on another note the splinted legs which were generally just splinted greaves are mainly a german fashion. Other areas had cuir-boulli popular or nothing or just jumped straight f...

What kind of coal do I need.

Making a forge. How cheap and where are instructions? Armadi