The Armour Archive

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You think that just saying "shit happens" is enough? How can you accept so easily that people get seriously injured? And if tomorrow someone die? What would happen then? I practice and teach steel fighting in my small group, i'm surely not a big expert of many aspect of combat, we practice unarmored...

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Your armourer should wear ear protection and at least one glove.

I would like to have a shop like that!

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That is usually how they are done, the leather strips where the finger lames are attached, are riveted to the hand plate.
Otherwise you can find them sewn to the back of the glove.

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There are many ways to breath, having something thigh near the waist line (little over the belly) simply force you to expand your ribcage. I think that only expert martialists under stress breath with the abdomen. this just to say that to me is not a big problem if the waist line is a bit on the sma...

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While the first pair show a "understanding" of the "philosophy" of the wisby gauntlets but for many reasons it can't be definited a reproduction, the second pair show a very good reconstruction based on the Wisby excavations. The main incongruence is that real Wisby gauntlets show that most part of ...

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Sorry; Chef If that is true, then you must toss aside the Montova, and throw Lionello Boccia and everything he wrote about Italian armour out the window, because the man was not an armourer, and never made a 15th century Italian armour - Tell me if you do, i will be under your window catching all s...

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At first i thinked the same, but if you look the picture , and take into account that the owner is quite tall, then the shape of the body is the best possible. This armour, is a bit flatter than other counterpart of the period, maybe for the same reason: the owner was maybe thin and tall. I think it...

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Well, i wondered that a general consideration could fit the question, i hope you find better answers from better armourers.

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Thank you you are so kind, i will add them to my collection.

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Thank you, have you the chance to post some pictures of the originals? Too often we refer only to the armour of "madonna delle grazie" but surely there are other italian harnesses around that deserve our attention.

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Q: Have you followed some kind of example, or you have made it following your idea? I ask this because the pansiere rise very high over the breastplate, suggesting me a late XV th century harness more than a early one, and at the same time i see a stop rib under the neck. I just want to understand i...

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In many bookstore you can find small books with stencil designs, i've seen some of them on the various topics : from oriental designs, to greek, medieval, renaissance etc. You just need to find what suits you.
Inside you will find a lot of example of designs and motifs.

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Ehi Ralph, saying that from time to time you take a piece of barstock and adapt it to your needings ,is not the same to say that you need various stakes shapes? (don't take it too seriously) I agree with you that the amount of tools could be quite small, but in the end you need something to hammer ...

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Specialty tools, and the skill to use them properly are the base, you can't do much with all the stakes if you don't know what you want to do and how, and on the other side, you can do something, but not so much without tools.

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Very good job Ralph,you are always a reference point, the only thing i don't like too much are the eyeslots, i like them more pronounced and flared (i don't know if it's the appropriate term ) or more like a funnel.

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My opinion: Le left gauntlet, as in many other examples is made of very thick metal, it's bigger and sturdier, those are for sure tournament gauntlets, the reason to have the right gauntlet more crisp and with sharper lines, is that is made of thinner metal so it's easier to detail it such way. They...

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In the last picture i notice that there is not a rest on this armour, is this required by modern jousting rules? (to avoit a too brutal thrust) or is just me that don't see it?

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Some years ago i've seen a picture on the web of a guy in a black harness similar to this fighting with a poleaxe and beating his opponent, i wonder if it's the same armour or just another black one (the picture was not so big to see details). I'm happy to see that there are armourer that really hav...

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My 2 cents:
Try to double the prize, take some picture (high resolution, high quality) of the parts of your body you want to be tattooed.
Who is the armourer that can project an armour whitout knowing who will wear it?

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To make it useful to others, i think you should go deeper and deeper on each step you made, and add as many information on your kit, and real counterpart as possible.

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I think that in later bascinets, when lower edge was flared, they are not supposed to be fitted with an aventail. Maybe a coif or some other thing was supposed to protect the neck.

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It's not a good reason to leave us in a bed of nails!
Ehehhe just joking

damn! summer is arrived? now i understand why is so hot!

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YOU MISS US SO MUCH.. WE ARE SO SAD WITHOUT YOUR POSTS!

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Someone told me that jailers used to wear particular armours because a jail was not a good place to stay, they were fewer than the people there, so the danger to be overcomed was high. This ugly bascinet have verveilles, so i think something like an aventail was supposed to be used with it. So i thi...

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I think yes if you shape it correctly. But soon you will discover that you want to dish deeper and deeper so you will need a longer and longer hammer head to go dishing there. At that point you can weld a uniball or some other kind of hard steel sphere over another common- cheap hammer (you may just...

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Those are the gauntlet that complete the CHS18 harness, the fingers are made of leather with small strips of metal riveted inside. The finger "may" be just sewn to the linen glove, or there are flush rivets on the metacarpal plate. The cuff and the metacarpal "maybe" are just caged one into the othe...

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Thank you all for your advice, while i'm the first to say "safety first" receiving recommendation is always a good idea. Ok, my tongs have a good grip on sheet metal, i will curl the handle like scissors so i can easily open and close them ,and not only close them. I hope to be able to show you the ...

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Well, playing with hot metal is funny but i find a bit difficult to handle the metal. So, are tongs the only solution? (i've made a pair, but i need to learn how to use them at best) . Someone of you use firegloves? (There are kind that resist a lot of heat, but they are very expensive (maybe 40$ ) ...

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Well, the chs18 is fitted with a pair of gauntlet that "work" roughly in the same way, ok, they look more hourglasses, but the wrist is allowed to move. I just need to know how.

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While an anvil is not so necessary to make armour related stuffs (but it very useful to make stakes and other ironworking), a cutting tool is as necessary as hammers. A jigsaw is a good starting point, very good blades can give you a satisfactory cut, straight, curved and not so slow. Then when you ...

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A question: How the wrist move? It's the cannon just caged into the metacarpal ?It's riveted? There is leather to let them move? I would like to understand how this kinf of gauntlet works because in the future i plan to make a CHS18 repro that has this kind of gauntlets. Could you post other picture...

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2mm? Uhm are you able to estimate the thickness of this piece in various area? And the blank you used, how large was?

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Are you sure you want to clear every single small tiny scratch and hammer mark? Why? What you are doing is supposed to be made by hand, not machined, very small imperfection are present even in the best real pieces of the world. Many people want perfect looking armour, yes, they can be achieved, man...

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I think you should express in a better way, just to avoid some misunderstanding. This topic has been discussed between ARS members so (like me) now we know that copper and copper alloy were in use in some area and timeframe. But this is not to be intended like a sort of secret we try to keep for us!

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They look similar to some french bascinet with pivoting bevor and visor.. the fathers of great bascinets maybe.
Just my 1/2 cent.

handling hot metal