The Armour Archive

lorenzo2

Cheff said; "You can show someone any technique a thousand or more times over. If they don't have the eye for it, and a feel for historical armours, having handled and seen them firsthand, they will never be great replicators of historical armours." While I don't disagree when you are talking about ...

lorenzo2

Zanetto, thanks for sharing!

lorenzo2

The traditional jew hat in medieval painting is usually pointed.

lorenzo2

A very nice sallet with the slices taken out of the top of the two halfs before welding them together was put up by Sasuke? a while back. I have seen a couple of helms by old timer Jay Bliss that very successfully used this technique. Taking the slices out after the two sides of the helm are welded ...

lorenzo2

Brian, I think you are on the mark with this one. I taped Ugo raising an italian elbow cop a few years ago at an armor in. I learned a lot from the tape but only by watching, trying the techniques out then watching again and again. It really is surprising how much you don't see the first time out.

lorenzo2

To my knowledge there is no historical analog for the picture. Based on this and the improbable appearance I would say it is intended to show heavenly fantasy armor. The closest thing is a cloth covered brest plate with plackard. Some of those had nail patterns that somewhat resemble a brigandine. F...

lorenzo2

IIRC there are some notes on the Chalcis armor in Studies of European Armor, a book containing articles about the armor in the Art Museum in Philadelphia. Of course you may already have that book. As to the vambrace, no clue but the brass borders on the one piece looked fishy to me.

lorenzo2

Boccia states that the helmet on the composed suit is not from Chalcis. As far as I know you have the rest right. Also, there are some doubles of the arm and torso armor that are not in display according to some older cataloges.

lorenzo2

Nice work! I love those welds. Speaking of which, do you do any\sort of cleanup to the inside of those welds before you hammer on the piece from the outside?

lorenzo2

Coming along quite nicely! Will there be some fluting on the Tassets? Also,tell us more about how you did the triangular rolls if you would as those seem to be one of the elements that distinguish better breast plates.

lorenzo2

Do some searches this topic has been discussed before. Someone, Peder? put up several dozen 15th cent pics of colored braies, mostly black, a few blue or tan. As was pointed, out the colored braie pics seem to be mostly german or swiss.

lorenzo2

That center ridge on the visor is going to be very sweet. Is there going to be some kind of decoration on the ridge like brass or paint? Is there a surviving example to go from or only art work?

lorenzo2

I am not sure if retrofitting the waisted look to the cop will improve the articulation, though it might make it look nicer. You see, having the waist in the pattern makes the two articulation points closer together, not just nearer to the edge. I also just thought of one more thing you can try with...

lorenzo2

Good pics! Here is my assessment (please take this with a grain of salt as I am no armoring god, just an SCA hack): The cop is deep enough, no problems there. One problem is the ends of the cop where the attachements should go are not steeply "waisted" enough thich makes it more difficult to attach ...

lorenzo2

I for one would like to see the pattern. The darts thing sounds interesting.

lorenzo2

Interesting pics there. I think the project is coming along. However, the articulation holes on the cop look rather far from the edge to me. I think some of the problems would go away if they were farther out in the direction of the lames. I also wonder if you could post a pic from the side with the...

lorenzo2

Fascinating work! It shows how important it is to check assumptions about what we "know".

lorenzo2

The book has good pictures and text including a limited number of 15th century italian pieces. I am working on an arm harness based on one shown. How useful it is for making armor depends on what you know already. If you know a lot then the book would be a good reference for several interesting piec...

lorenzo2

Those look like they offer good protection. I have one question, you said "Each one articulates on a leather strap on the back side and slotted rivets on the front". Is this correct or is the arrangement actually reversed?

lorenzo2

It is important to note that the MSDS is for the pure crystaline solid. Hence they are talking about higher concentrations than you have and they are talking about dust exposure. In your case the diluted form will be safer and it is unlikely that you will have any exposure to inhalation of droplets....

lorenzo2

Pieces from the Wallace collection? Count me in!

lorenzo2

The amazing thing about Japanese weapons is the artistic content and the mystique some people attach to them. Seen as implements, they are just a good way of using the inferior materials available to Japanese smiths. Its funny, but I am having a moment of deja vu with a previous thread on cutting ma...

lorenzo2

Nice pics Mr. Davis! One thing, what is causing the two tones of color on the back of the barbute? Did it appear that it was originally painted or tinned?

lorenzo2

So the layers are going to be arming cap, mail, inner helmet and outer helmet. You are going to have one well protected and stylish melon!

lorenzo2

Very nice indeed! Couple of questions, is the maile attached to the helm and what is that very even black finish on it?

lorenzo2

Thats great detective work! Please post if you get any more info on the Hever doublet.

lorenzo2

You forged the brim out of barstock? You deserve a medal! Also, can we see an inside pic?

lorenzo2

I don't have a pic but my default hammer is a cut down brick hammer. I cut down the square side and the pick side to gently rounded rectangular crossections suitable for raising (something like the faces of Price's hammer in TOMAR). The base hammer was a very high qualtity hammer and I did the cutti...

lorenzo2

To answer your question more specifically the time period is likely 1990s to 2000s, location USA. I am sorry if you were hoping that there was a medieval time/place when body bracelets were worn but I think you will have a hard time finding anything very close. The armor your piece is to be worn wit...

lorenzo2

Looks like a good resource, thanks.

lorenzo2

I see nothing odd about the garment. Its very similar to what is pictured in Memlings St. ursula shrine, Martyrdom scene 5, upper left corner. Its a padded jack for use over mail. Note the fringy bits on the arm hole. Too bad you can't see the bottom of the garment. I don't know how to directly link...

lorenzo2

I rechecked Blairs book and I was mistaken. That one has ear slits, not pressed out ears. Still, the pressed out ears are similar in shape though not depth to the Chalcis example.

lorenzo2

Continuous flute pattern from front to side tassets? That is going to look great.

lorenzo2

Here is one on display in Athens from teh Chalcis horde;

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/l ... CT0132.JPG

lorenzo2

Thanks, the diagram is very clear. I have one more question. What would be the upper end of the timeline for the use of purses of this type? Mid 15th cent?