The Armour Archive

Adriano

I don't have any tips except for practice. Spend some time doing nothing but blocking; have somebody relentlessly attack you until you're blocking full-speed blows without thinking about it. Good luck!

Adriano

Thanks, Clermont -- that place looks amazing.

Adriano

Looks great! Man, I love the variety of armour you see in the SCA.

Adriano

Archers nitpick: Don't use the term "fire" with respect to bows. Bows are only "fired" when they break and you toss them in one. "Fire", of course, is a term that comes in with firearms. That was one of the little things that bugged me in the LOTR battle scenes. Unlike some of the others here, I'm ...

Adriano

If y'all have a Winter War up in Canada, you must be hearty souls!

Congratulations, Kasimir! Be thou a good knight.

Adriano

Excellent! A girl never forgets her first authorization card. Nice leather, too.

Adriano

I'm pretty sure it's authentic to just have a rectangle of leather sewn on the outside of the padded chausse. Personally, I've found the padding sufficient, in combination with a long gambeson.

Adriano

$110?! If you want to make some simple COP-type protection for SCA that will be hidden, it can be done very cheaply if you have a source for plastic or metal plates (or even pieces of thick leather). If you have access to a basic sewing machine, you can run up a basic vest in no time. Also, it feel...

Adriano

I use the basic strapping tape/duct tape combo detailed above; just wanted to add that I use friction tape to wrap the grip.

I've seen adds for "100 mph tape" in military surplus catalogues. Has anybody used that?

Adriano

From the eBay entry:

These helmets have no liners-but were never made with any-because they were designed to slip tightly over both leather cap a-pie and coif

I wonder what he thinks "cap a-pie" means.

Adriano

Funny story. I've got admire the guy's honesty; I bet we've all had some kind of misadventure like that (reminds me of my disgusting experience with a drinking horn). They're not bad-looking boots, and I bet they could still be softened up. Maybe I'll make a bid when I get home.

Adriano

I wear a wide kidney belt over the mail, under the surcoat; provides all the protection I need for lower rigs, kidneys and solar plexus, and also does a better job than a regular belt of taking some of the weight of the mail off my shoulders. Good thick leather will last for years with care (about 1...

Adriano

It kind of puzzles me how many guys apparently fought in medieval battles without what the SCA would consider minimum hand protection. I wonder if there were a lot of broken thumbs and chopped-off fingers.

Adriano

The Chanson de Roland was popular in French, which an English nobleman would probably know. I think there were French translations of both Dante and Brunetto available, and collections of Provencal poetry. Petrarch wrote most of his stuff in Latin. There were Latin and French translations of the anc...

Adriano

One thing I've always heard about leather scale is that you've got to do a good job of waterproofing the scales, or else they eventually curl up and you look like a pine cone. I guess they can be lacquered. As for buckling in the back -- I know that's authentic for an early coat of plates, so maybe ...

Adriano

Man, after 24 years in the SCA, whenever I read the phrase "the Dream" I feel like a cat with a hairball...

Adriano

T-Bob, it occurs to me that you must know Sir Pieter van Doorn -- or Earl Pieter, I suppose it would be now. Does he still fight in a hauberk and mail leggings? He actually got me interested in knitting mail, back in the 1980's.

Adriano

For those fighting in maille, what do you use for shoulder armor?

I wear a gambeson of quilted cotton batting; just doubled the thickness on the shoulders, and that seems to work. Might lace some leather to the gambeson.

Adriano

I fight in a standard SCA 14 gauge, 3/8" ID butted hauberk. (It's the only kind of armour I know how to make.) Weighs about 28 pounds. The weight isn't too bad if you have good padding on your shoulders, and belt it at the waist to distrubute the weight (my kidney belt works well for that). And it d...

Adriano

Noe -- sounds cool. You might have to explain it to marshalls occasionally.

Owen -- I've got to ask: have you ever come up against another shovel-man? Did you both do a double-take?

Adriano

My hat size is 7 3/4. Okay, let me get a tape... 23 1/2" around.

Adriano

CA is part of the game; have fun.

Adriano

Makes me glad I'm an ambidextrous fighter. What evidence do we have about leftie knights in medieval Europe? (I'm pretty sure this has been covered here before, but it's always fun.)

Adriano

Postscript -- the gentleman I gave my spear to (Karl Marx -- seriously -- of Dragon's Den Comics and Games in Boone, NC) said he'd think of something to send me in exchange, although I told him it wasn't necessary. Sure enough, I got a package with some very nice leather pieces, suitable for a hands...

Adriano

I have the impression thrusting's more common here in Meridies than it used to be. I'm definitely seeing more thrusting tips since the low-profile design became legal.

Adriano

Mine is pullover, with no defined "inside" or "outside". I don't feel it worth worrying about the remote chance that somebody will have to remove it from my unconscious body.

(Fortunately, The Thirteenth Warrior was 100% dead-on accurate in every respect.)

Adriano

Even if the above conditions were met, purists would still argue the test is fallible because the metallurgy may not be consistent after so many centuries with what it was "back in the day"...metal fatigue and oxidation among other things would certainly throw a few other variables into a test. I g...

Adriano

At the recent Castle Wars II event, I decided I really didn't need my spear. I bought it at Pennsic in 2001, because it seemed like the best way to serve my "side" in those battles where two lines seem stuck a spear-length apart (since I don't use a shield). And I was pretty good with it, but never ...

Adriano

Gorgeous.

Adriano

I had sleeves down past the elbow, but shortened them because the mail tended to bunch up inside the elbow when I bent my arm. I'd say it varies depending on both body type and the type of mail; somebody with more slender arms and/or lighter weight mail might have no problem. (Sir Richard of Raefen ...

Adriano

Thanks, Animal. Wow -- 125 pounds! Hope you added years to your life. I'm taking a lot of walks, taking the stairs up from the MARTA train station in the morning (doesn't sound like much, but it's 130 steps), and using weights.

Adriano

Thanks, guys! You've helped me be more determined than ever to get back in shape.

Adriano

Like a lot of SCA fighters, I'm a tad overweight. Okay, a tad in this case is 50 pounds. I'm currently about 245, and losing weight, but it's a slow process. My armour is mostly a gambeson and a hauberk of yer standard SCA butted 14 gauge galvanized mail. For purposes of SCA armour regulations, the ...

Adriano

Fun! Knoch was there in great-looking kit, a rivetted hauberk with a Cherbourg breastplate (I think that's the right term), and a bascinet with a klapvisor. He fought very well in the tourney, only falling prey to the old walking-off-the-imaginary-cliff problem. Sir Harald Bodvarsson won the tourney...

Adriano

Knoch -- great! I'm staying with a friend in Knoxville, daytripping to the event. I'll be the husky guy with a beard. Hope that helps.

Hey, I really don't need that spear!

Losing Armour Weight vs. Losing Body Weight