The Armour Archive

Sean Powell

Sean, Wikipedia sayeth.. Zinc protects iron electrolytically, that is, the zinc will oxidise and turn to a white powder to preserve the iron, whereas tin will only protect the iron if the tin-surface remains unbroken, as it electrolytically cannibalises unprotected iron to preserve itself. http://e...

Sean Powell

It should be fairly easy to stake down with stakes and rope. As for building something for a more cabin shape build it like a bridge. ask.metafilter.com/38289/ Hey that's neat! There was supposedly a bridge built like that in China about 1000AD. Nova did an episode on it. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/no...

Sean Powell

The thing that seems most vexing about making a brigandine is the part where the columns of plates taper. You can't just snip them to shape and rivet them in like you can with galvanized steel. Unless I am mistaken, tinning only works well if the edges are tinned too. This creates a logistic proble...

Sean Powell

You mean like this? http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/sabrinacannalina/bauble%20halla_zpsrk1u0f6i.jpg AFAIK absolutely no evidence for it, but it is very practical as a mead hall tent for SCA. Gotta be someplace dry. Half the events I camp at would turn that roof into a swimming pool. How do yo...

Sean Powell

Hello, It recently came to my attention that the local SCA Baron & Baroness do not have thrones from which to administer court. I was thinking that a properly scaled up "Oesberg Chair" (with the laced seat) would be an appropriate choice. Before I pitch a project to the local group and request funds...

Sean Powell

It's not really my time period of focus but given the cost of fabric during the viking period you aren't likely to find anything of the sort. They were hardier than us and there was always a barn someplace to shelter in or just tough it out in the weather. You need to go to the sagas for verbal desc...

Sean Powell

A properly tailored corazinna (or anything with a globose breast) that has the waist at the correct level and not at the jeans waist can make even a pear-shaped body look like it has upper chest muscles and strength. The trick is sizing a corazinna for a fat man and not merely a large man. Few peopl...

Sean Powell

I shapeways printing you a wax for lost-wax casting or do you have a magic parting line that will separate for the buttons? I'm not a metal casting expert but the default for plastic molding is thick parts near the sprue and thin parts farther away so the plastic doesn't cool on the thin parts and f...

Sean Powell

A cheap file is exactly that. You get what you pay for. Theirs are 50 euros on up (wish I could afford a full set). At first I thought you were calling these cheap. :) Hand-cut is the most expensive file you can own and many high-end woodworkers prefer them because of their slightly irregular patte...

Sean Powell

I was going to use 1xsomethings for the ends, Johann. Probably in poplar since they will be visible. My rails can be pine since the bedsheets or curtains keep em covered. And I can't see them as I lay there...I can see the ends....lol. This is exactly what I did on the bed I made. The side rails ar...

Sean Powell

Cian, Thanks for the clarification. That picture is duplicated in the Osprey book as well. Seems that there might be some chronological, regional or social class variation in the style between the conical version and the straight version. If I were to guess, the straight version might be cheaper to ...

Sean Powell

The online images I do find for "Mary Rose Arrow Spacer" don't show any perimiter holes but it seems to be common for reenactors to do. I wonder if this is one of those 'we KNOW they must have done it this way' when evidence doesn't support... of course it could just as easily be sewn through the a...

Sean Powell

BTW Re: the two video links that I posted The cuir boulli method he used is incorrect 1. Dye the leather before hardening (you can't dye hardened leather) 2. Soak the leather in water until thoroughly wetted 3. Place in oven over a form in the desired position & shape (in this case, flat) 4. Bake i...

Sean Powell

Yay lunch break and Google. I think I found the Osprey picture but can't tell many details of it. http://www.natgeocreative.com/comp/02/676/296201.jpg I also found this: artists rendering from English Longbowman, 1330-1515 by Clive Bartlett.: http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j128/sharpe1815/medieva...

Sean Powell

I don't think anyone is making those bags correctly. If you look at the bags shown in the 2nd video at time 00:13 seconds, these are not flimsy cloth bags. Seems to me that these arrow bags had a hooped frame that would have allowed the bags to be stood up and free standing. Thanks for the video. I...

Sean Powell

My bedlegs are fir 4x4 and a little large but not hideously so. I would start by looking at commercial beds and medieval beds. I'm 99% certain I can find beds in Ikea that taper to less than 1.5x1.5 but the legs are short and made from hardwood. The height can make a big difference. Let me ask a dif...

Sean Powell

How would I build it: I'd find a pliable wood, split it, soak it and weave it. H. H. Perkins probably has more info then you would think on basket weaving something like that but the widest 'reed' I can find there is 5/8" http://hhperkins.com/index.php/cPath/14_68_102/sort/2a/page/2 How would I buil...

Sean Powell

Sean, Perhaps I am just going dotty faster than I think. :shock: Mac I only remembered because it was one of the last threads I commented on before my life got sucked up by work. When I came back I checked some of my old posts so it was fresh in my mind. I STILL have to draw up what I was thinking ...

Sean Powell

Yes, let make perfect the enemy of better.... Depends which way perfect cuts. People without a medieval eye want perfect symmetry and mirror polish that really are only achieved with modern processes. A well-trained medieval eye looks for the hand-made 'flaws' as indication of truer construction me...

Sean Powell

This is a curious thing indeed! I missed the discussion the last time. Mac Read further down. You replied to it on August 29th. I'm with Sean on this. It looks like we are meant to understand that there are two layers of visor on the same hinge. Although it is unprecedented in the corpus of extant ...

Sean Powell

Sean, I'm cutting the scale blanks so that the 3/8th thickness, becomes the width of the Nock brace which is wide enough for my arrows. Since the 3/8th thickness is wide enough, each scale can be cut into 15-30 brace slivers, as opposed to using a thinner scale and keeping the thickness of the scal...

Sean Powell

PhoenixCreations The horn from Texas knife is 3/8" thick. Are you re-sawing them in half to get down to 1/8" thick? Otherwise thats 1.5" x 5" x 2 scales for $8.95 vs 1" x 3" x 5 scales for $5.48. It seems cost prohibitive unless you are getting 2 layers out of each knife scale. I agree with Cian and...

Sean Powell

I have had good luck with 4-fletch in the past but generally kept the fletches short to compensate for the added drag. Seems to me that 3 feathers at 6" should be the same drag as 4 at 4.5". Only reason i wouldn't is I can't document it. Flip side I'm casually thinking about leaving the horn very sl...

Sean Powell

Hello, I have been fighting a lot less because of my elbow but finding I really do enjoy archery. I have gotten myself a traditional English Longbow and shoot regularly when there isn't snow on the ground. I have been told by local archers that my current arrows are 'Feathered Bricks' and I will get...

Sean Powell

IMHO (from someone who doesn't risk their own noggin in ACL combat) people are tempering armor at too low a temperature. That leaves them very springy and dent resistant by having a high yield strength but really doesn't do anything for the ultimate strength. When the piece does fail there is too mu...

Sean Powell

I have previously used 2 2x4's and a loop of chain to make a 8' long nutcracker and squeeze round helmets more oval. it works ok and I think will be fine if that helm isn't welded to reinforce the rivets.

Sean

Sean Powell

I'm guessing that is a picture of the man who lifted 6270 lbs but not in the act of lifting 6270 lbs. It's a publicity shot and he's not straining. He's smiling for the camera and not in motion. At over 3 tons he'd be huffing like a steam engine and dropping it after a 3-count. If a photo exists of ...

Sean Powell

January 24th. Might still be available. Good price for a B2 if in working order. Bit too far for me to go get. Thought someone else here might jump on it.

http://longisland.craigslist.org/tls/4830900501.html

Sean

Sean Powell

Someone fill me in Why would anyone need or want a $500 torso model? Because $500 is a lot less expensive than paying for the divorce after bringing my wifes dress dummy into the shop. :) Honestly if I were going to do this I wouldn't stop at the body. I'd do the body AND head. That is something yo...

Sean Powell

I have some photos from a pair in Solothurn but unfortunately no interior shots. http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239/Eliz-Rivenstar/Seans%20Shop/Photo0202.jpg http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239/Eliz-Rivenstar/Seans%20Shop/Photo0203.jpg http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239/Eliz-Rivenstar/...

Sean Powell

Aluminum hardens by 'aging'. It's called precipitation hardening and is done by holding at a sub-critical temperature for an extended period of time. While certain stainless steels like 17-4PH and 17-7PH do the same, I don't know of any carbon steels that have the same effect.

Sean

Sean Powell

That would be no-me-Sean. If I had them I'd have shard in the beginning.

Perhaps Sean Manning?

Sean (aka the other Sean)

Sean Powell

Thanks for all the welcomes! Well cost won't be a problem as i'm going to make it myself. Brian Price, of Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction fame, says that compression articulation is easier to implement then shell. Well that is Brian Price's opinion and should only be taken with about the...

Sean Powell

Indigo Blue should be a fairly common and affordable color. Onion skin yellow should have been very common but isn't very bright. Madder red would be a good choice as well. It's not 'cochineal' red of the british redcoats until comfortably after columbus but it's a good red. There is a european dome...

Sean Powell

If I recall correctly, the inside of the but looks nothing like the outside. It's actually TWO layers of compression articulation and the inside is for side-to-side expansion. That is significantly more complex than just a knee or elbow. I'll give another reason. The majority of armor made is for re...

Re: Article on THE BRIGANDINE FROM THE POLISH ARMY MUSEUM

Re: Dining hall tents

Re: Article on THE BRIGANDINE FROM THE POLISH ARMY MUSEUM

Re: Dining hall tents

Looking for best resources for Oesberg Chair

Re: Dining hall tents

Re: Fat guys in Corrazina (or other armour)

Re: Making 14th Century Things with 21st Century Tools

Re: File making at Auriou

Re: Question for Those of You Who Have Made Beds.....

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Question for Those of You Who Have Made Beds.....

Re: Wicker shield

Re: Bascinet from an Italian Manuscript.

Re: Making 14th Century Things with 21st Century Tools

Re: Bascinet from an Italian Manuscript.

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Price Check Spring Stainless Bascinet

Re: Reshapeing a helmet

Re: The strongest Viking

Not mine: B2 shear on Craigslist Nassau county NY

Re: Custom foam torso

Re: Phillip II's bifurcated gauntlets. How do the fingers wo

Re: Repeated heating of heat treated steel

Re: Compression Articulation Crotch Area

Re: Compression Articulation Crotch Area

Re: Cloth Color Questions

Re: Compression Articulation Crotch Area