The Armour Archive

Sean Powell

My only comment on Wades suit was I wanted to know the justification for the back plates. Then I had to pick up the pizza. I'm curious what other comments were made. Looking now I think the camail should be shortened and the piece that is removed added to the bottom of the faulds or attached to the ...

Sean Powell

Damn that came out nice! Wish I could see it in person. I know what it is so I won't ruin it by guessing out loud. Any idea how heavy it is loaded?

Sean

Sean Powell

I have some personal photos from a trip to the Met in August. You can't get a good front or back view because of the case but I got the best I could. Please forgive the glare on the glass. All I had was a cell-phone camera. You might also as Wade Allen if he has any. I know he built a repro at one p...

Sean Powell

Glad I could help. IIRC Blaire mentions that the long pointy pectoral is associated with barbotes worn with a brigandine... Interesting. Could be regionally or time period specific. I was looking at the Pastrana Tapestries (which admitidly are Portugese not Spanish) and the bevor/barbote are all sh...

Sean Powell

Sorry, can't help with the links, but as for the terminology: This style of bevor is often referred to as a "Barbote"- it's other peculiarity is the "pectoral" plate (the lower one that rests on your chest and shoulders) is usually very long and pointy, coming well down on your breastbone (sometime...

Sean Powell

Steerpike, Thanks for the language assist. That will give me a startpoint for further research. I found what I thought was the correct picture here http://home.armourarchive.org/members/alcyon/Calvert%20SpanishArmsArmour/CalvertC2Front.JPG from this thread: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/vie...

Sean Powell

If there is a armorer whose name is known only to a few scholars then it is not likely to be known here. We know the top of the line guys but anyone who was scarce at the time will be long forgotten by now. The time period you want is the late 15th or early 16th century and the effect you want is wh...

Sean Powell

Wow! That is quite the conversion! Sure it wouldn't have been easier to just start with a new piece of steel? Or am I confused. Is the brim with eye-slots leather and only painted to match the steel? If so it's a convincing job.

Sean

Sean Powell

Hello, Sorry to intrude but I've misplaced some links and I'm considering a future project. I'm looking for some pictures of kettle hats / chapel de fers / etc that were worn with brigandines in the 15th century in Spain. What is interesting is that the bevor / falling buff / etc went all the way to...

Sean Powell

You think it would fit a 60cm head? Also how much for shipping to USA? No, I am afraid not. It is for 56-57cm head, 16-16.5cm wide and 18.5-19cm long. So it is 1.5-2cm for liner left. this "egg" is an exact helmets inside Oh THANK YOU! So many armorers think a head is shaped like an american footba...

Sean Powell

Why would you make a mild steel "prototype"? Stainless doesn't work the same way that mild does, and I would presume that he has made helm's before. Reads to me like he got caught out doing it in mild and came up with an "explanation". Just my opinion. Ask Mac or Wade or Tom Justice that question. ...

Sean Powell

First tip: When John tells you to work steel cold find out if it is 1045 or higher first. If it is, switch to hot work as soon as it starts to work harden. Then tell him good technique is learned on soft metal (like copper) and cheap metal (like scrap steel) while muscle building comes from cold-wor...

Sean Powell

Potential fake? Aww that sucks. I liked what the hammer marks were telling me and was trying to learn something from them. I suppose I could learn how 19th cent forgeries were made instead. I'm hoping Randal can find other documentation on this or similar helms showing construction techniques as cle...

Sean Powell

I love the fact that you can see the direction of the hammer face in the shaping. There is a lengthwise stretching then a crosswise widening and then compressing with some lengthening from the outside. It's also interesting that there are no visible hammer marks inside or outside on the brim. I susp...

Sean Powell

Straps for internal leathers are at the bottom of the plates, not the top. Wade "Usually" at the bottom and especially when the faulds are narrow. Structurally they only need to be as far down from the preceding lame as the preceding lame is tall. Otherwise it has a lot more motion then the other l...

Sean Powell

I ordered mine online. Balistoil is occasionally carried at gun-stores and even WalMart but the best plan is to type your zip-code into the location search on the main page. http://www.ballistol.com/ for zipcode 77478 there are a few locations but the first 4 are in Houston. http://www.ballistol.com...

Sean Powell

Thanks all. It's free and working now. I cut some small scraps just to test it. Works great. Blades are in great condition. May look into freeing up the setscrews that adjust the blade but right now the gap is set well so I don't need to and I have other projects that come first. If you have other r...

Sean Powell

@Caius Ah. I am starting to see. The thing is, I really, really am doing a ninth century Anglo-Saxon persona. Wisby's are just one of the easier armors to hide. I'll just be an anglo dude in a tunic with some funky-looking gloves and an odd, metal hat. Wisbys are one of the period accurate armor th...

Sean Powell

I roll my edges after shaping and use a fairly light ball-peen for the first 180 degrees or so. Then to close up I switch to a square face and slide some thin cardboard between the roll edge and the face of the armor. This lets me creap up real close without damaging the show surface. I know that it...

Sean Powell

I dunno, I rarely worry about location, I worry about surface condition. I planish until it's done. It's done when it's as smooth as I want. If I wanted it smoother then it wouldn't be done until it was that smooth. It's kind of Zen but I don't count passes and it would be impossible to determine of...

Sean Powell

Work with wood. Ok smart ass. :) How you you fellas keep from tracking those little wood/ metal /plastic shavings from your shop in to your house? I work with all of the above. I get track plenty of wood sawdust in if I'm using a router and then duck inside to pee. It anoyes the wife quite a bit. H...

Sean Powell

I find that I track them in and back out again. I thought I had a rock in my shoe but couldn't find it inside the shoe or the sock but kept feeling it while walking and it got worse. Finally found an inch long curve of metal embeded in the sole of my sneaker. :( Painful The best plan I have is a che...

Sean Powell

Hi Sean I gotta say I'm jealous, especially since you're living in my neck of the woods now! I live about 15 minutes away from Bethany. Makes me wish I kept a better eye on Craigslist! Browin Auld, I drive through Seymour twice daily for work. I'm up in Bethany now and work in Shelton. When I get t...

Sean Powell

Regarding the belt-flags (tokens of favor) and rectangular tabards: Fighters are not necessarily in a position to decline such tokens from the queen, or the baroness, or the senior lady of the fighting household. These people in authority may also be the ones making or mandating the tabards. On thi...

Sean Powell

Well I've be spraying it and pushing it every time I walk past to grab another tool. Today I went to grab the spackle knife and found another clamp to secure it down... and it MOVED! A bunch more WD40 and some back and forth acting and it is self-cleaning with a little rust slurry and moving as smoo...

Sean Powell

Harry, Thanks for the advertisement. Actually Evaporust and a 5-gal pail may be just the right thing. I've sprayed the critical components with WD-40 twice and nothing magical happened but I can't get a good grip on the bottom without bolting it to a workbench for leverage. I don't expect that the b...

Sean Powell

My "Go to" anvil for brigs is about 1.5x1.5x6" of scrap barstock. It doesn't take a lot of rebound to pein a nail if the table is solid and I can slide the anvil under the brig, pein then slide it out to drive the next nail through the canvas. It's also my emergency field repair anvil for replacing ...

Sean Powell

It's fashion. How low can jeans be worn before they are no longer fashionable and showing too much underwear? How high for high-heels? How wide/narrow a tie and how thick should glasses frames be? Questions: How wealthy is your persona? How expensive (in period) is the fabric? How much are you willi...

Sean Powell

Roofing nails. Push through hole in plate from the inside and through fabric/leather to create hole. Pull out, move to front, push back through. Clip off about 1/8"-3/16" higher then plate and pien with a hammer. I've probably done THOUSANDS like this making brigs. Roofing nails are cheep, you don't...

Sean Powell

If you decide to sell it, let me know I am about an hour and half north of you. Thanks for the reminder. I just moved to Bethany CT so I'm more like 3 hours east of you. probably bump into you at Mudthaw and 100 Minutes War anyway. I need to figure out if I'm keeping or selling. It's a lot more too...

Sean Powell

:/ Period depictions of armor are really secondary sources, though, aren't they? It's a contemporary illustrator's thought of what a real person or a fictional character might have worn. I've always considered photographs of an extant item to be a secondary source, a manuscript to be a secondary so...

Sean Powell

Tom, My wife mentioned that I could recondition it and sell it at a better price to help fund the new shop. After I pull out the horse stable dividers and dig out some wood chips I need to pour a cement slab, wire, insulate, interior wall, light and heat the space. Depending on how easy it loosens u...

Sean Powell

Here's an index of all the manuscripts listed on manuscriptminiatures.com: http://manuscriptminiatures.com/list/ It includes shelfmark, title, holding institution, location, date, and links. 1200 sources right there :) If you have that as an Excell Spreadsheet rather then just text and are willing ...

Sean Powell

Hello, On a whim I decided to check the tools section of Craigslist since I'm in a new area and don't know what's around. There used to be a lot of machinist industry in Bridgeport/New Haven and every now and then you can get some good stuff cheap. I happen to see a listing for a "Metal Shear" for $...

Sean Powell

OK, Thanks Wade and everyone else. I suspected forge black and oiled was the most common method but you never know when there will be a line in Diverse Arts "Dip ye the warm metal in oil of pressed walnuts shells and heat again until the oil smokes but does not burn." Or maybe an inventory for the t...

Re: Advice for fighters looking to improve their armor

Re: Mac's new chest. More than meets the eye.

Re: Misplaced my links: Buff/bevor for kettle hat.

Re: Misplaced my links: Buff/bevor for kettle hat.

Re: Misplaced my links: Buff/bevor for kettle hat.

Re: Misplaced my links: Buff/bevor for kettle hat.

Re: Need help with historical fiction idea development

Re: Sow's ear to silk purse

Misplaced my links: Buff/bevor for kettle hat.

Re: Bascinet FS

Re: Man On Anvil Helmet Review -In Progress

Re: Surly apprentice

Re: Hermann Historica Helmet, Real or Fake?

Re: double or triple planishing...

Re: What are these rivets for?

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: Wisby Coat of Plates: Pop-Rivets, Hammer Rivets, or Sew

Re: Rolling Edges - before or after shaping?

Re: double or triple planishing...

Re: How do you keep from tracking metal bits in to YOUR hous

Re: How do you keep from tracking metal bits in to YOUR hous

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: Advice for fighters looking to improve their armor

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: Wisby Coat of Plates: Pop-Rivets, Hammer Rivets, or Sew

Re: Liripipe - How Long?

Re: Wisby Coat of Plates: Pop-Rivets, Hammer Rivets, or Sew

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: List of primary sources by period

Re: Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: List of primary sources by period

Latest score: B3 for $95, need rust removal advice.

Re: Blackening steel with an authentic process?