The Armour Archive

lorenzo2

Thanks for sharing! The helmet with the picadills was particularly interesting.

lorenzo2

Thanks for posting those pics. On the sabatons, it looks like there is a solid toe plate to which the tie down is attached. Is this correct? Any sign of other tie points on the other parts of the sabaton that are not visible in the pics?

lorenzo2

Sign, I have been reading Osprey's Medieval Italian Armies 1300-1500 and there is a fresco showing a Sienese (SP?) victory over some mercenaries where the foot soldiers and a few of the calvary are wearing splinted arms that look very like what you made. The fresco is cerca 1360's. Is that the perio...

lorenzo2

Thomas; Mine took about a month to arrive.

lorenzo2

I purchased the Midwest Armour Guild 2004 video and I would like to give a short review. The video consists of three segments; The first segment is on raising an hour glass gauntlet. There are some good views of torch equipment, tooling, hammers, etc. The raising of the wrist flair is covered in gre...

lorenzo2

The beehive hat appears in other works as well. Usually it is shown in construction scenes. Most likely it is made of straw or wicker. It has been suggested that it is a medieval equivalent of a hard hat or padding for some other kind of hat/helmet.

lorenzo2

To Mr. Rainey's assessemnt I would like to add that there are some photos of rare pieces that you are unlikely to find in other sources. Also, there is a nice appendix on scientific testing of the effectiveness of arrows vs. plate armor. Essential reading if one wishes to discuss the subject. I obta...

lorenzo2

I think the drawing looks quite nice. One question though, will the metacarpal and cuffs on the gauntlets be one piece as seems to be drawn?

lorenzo2

Heat up a piece of metal that is the right shape such as a RR bolt or a shot put in your forge and apply it to the wood. This works fast and after only a couple of trys will produce a depression exactly shaped like the object. Be prepared to spray a little water on the wood to extinguish the flames....

lorenzo2

Dan, after reviewing some more photos, some of the statues such as the couple I looked at up close have round fastenters on the torso that look like large rivets but some others clearly are elongated like laces between two close set holes on the torso! The leader statue that I was talking about seem...

lorenzo2

Dan, perhaps my post was unclear. I have seen a couple of the actual statues from a distance of only a few feet, not photos. As part of a VIP tour we had greater access than is normally given. Up close it appeared to be one hole on the torso armor connections on these statues. It is of course possib...

lorenzo2

I have been to the museum in Xian. The staff person said that armor of this type was for burial and display only. The type of stone was thought to have some magical properties and of course was very expensive/rare. The stone suite also differs somewhat from the suites shown on statuary in that it is...

lorenzo2

Nice article on the COP. Will you be showing the complete kit including helmet?

lorenzo2

Very nice presentations! The pic with Mr. Fuller barely blocking a blow near his face and his visor open is a bit disturbing however. I hope the fight was not at full speed/force.

lorenzo2

In progress pics would be most appreciated!

lorenzo2

Mike, sounds like the linen you are using is too light weight for under lamelar. You may need to move up a few ounces. The only other thing I can think of is make sure the edges of all the plates are well rounded and polished. One of the problems with linen is that snags on metal edges can become ho...

lorenzo2

Mike B. can you explain your problem more clearly? Are you having a seam problem, tears, wear through, or what? Also, what is a fighting tunic? A garment worn under armour, over armour, or as armour? If you can go into more detail I'm sure there are persons with experience who can help out.

lorenzo2

Mr. Richardson of the RA sent me a pic of a brig fragment from the 15th cent that has those same pin stripes. In that example the pin stripe is definitely just an artifact of 500 years of wear. The covering is worn out velvet over heavy linen. Since the two brig's fabric wear looks so similar I agre...

lorenzo2

One more thing, according to Gobitz, the authority in such matters, tere are surviving exmples of shoes and calf length shoes with fold type of closure. Based on these examples lacing would be another documented type of closure for the boots. If you really want to make yourown you should get a copy ...

lorenzo2

I'm not sure the extra piece used in this way is a period solution but there are surviving examples with as many as 21 little inserted pieces to make the final shape. The only caveat I can think of is that you may want to skive the edges of the insert so it doesn't rub too much on the side of your f...

lorenzo2

If you mean that the stiches are holding but there are gaps between the stiches then you need to re-stich with very closely spaced stiches. The medieval ones are always quite close on stressed seams. If you mean that 1/4 inch of the thread is showing then either you did not tighten the stitch enough...

lorenzo2

Aaron, the few 16th century tonlet foot combat armors are some of the most amazing armors ever made. With this said, you are shooting for the moon. Making a good repro of armor of this quality is something few armorers can do, so don't feel bad about it. First you wiggle on your back, then you crawl...

lorenzo2

Brian, I'd rather not name names . However, I have seen "armor" for sale that does not resemble anything ever worn in period, is poorly made, looks bad even for fantasy, doesn't offer reasonable protection, and has only one selling point, its cheap. Tell me you have not seen some spun domes like thi...

lorenzo2

There is indeed something wrong, probably with the server. Right click on the X and go to properties. Copy the url there and paste to your browser address line. I was able to the helm by doing this.

lorenzo2

Mr. Peters, I think Mr. Rainey has already given us his opinions about the gnomes. Were you refering to something else? Seriously though, my engineering clients work with the same contractors over and over because they like the customer service they are getting. Within a reasonable range price is us...

lorenzo2

I rather like the globy look. It says medievalesque robot or 50s alien invader. It also reminds me of the grilled tournament helms in Rene de Anjou.

lorenzo2

Ashi; many pieces of early italian armor are depicted in art with the mail sleeves over the rearbrace. This enabled the arm harness to be pointed to the arming doublet. The sleeves will have to be sized larger to make this work of course. One more thing, in the common modern usage a gambeson is a pi...

lorenzo2

Thomas suggestions are good ones but let me add something simpler. I was at a ren faire and a smith had a wooden box with a layer of clay about 4 or 5 inches thick lining the bottom and sides. On this he put an iron bowl, something like your brake drum. The clay insultation stopped the wood from bur...

lorenzo2

lets see if this works. I have a coffee table sized book with this pic in it and it is very clear that this type of hose can be worn without a doublet. However, these are people hard at work. It may be that persons in polite society would never wear their clothes in this fasion.
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/b/bruegel ... rveste.jpg

lorenzo2

Take a look at Pieter Bruegel the Elders work. One painting, called something like the harvesters or the grain harvesters clearly shows several peasants at work with high sided hose and no doublets. I believe that the combination of high sides and a tie across the top of the cod piece makes them sta...

lorenzo2

AAOMK= Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight, a recent book, now saddly out of print. However, most librarys have it.

lorenzo2

An actual example and some helmet strapping is shown in the back of AAOMK. The example shown was, if memory serves stuffed with horsehair and straw.

lorenzo2

Do a google search on archemedies (sp?) screw. These pumps are still in use today for irrigating fields in the Middle east. The real question is what application are you looking for? Irrigation, draining a ships hold or what? That will determine the type of answers you get.

lorenzo2

I have done a fair bit of research into barbutes and have never seen an example of a T-face with an sort of visor. Frankly I think it is either a fantasy piece or an interpretation/ misinterpretation of something seen in art.

lorenzo2

Those came out quite nice. What sort of suite will they go with?

MAG 2004 video review