The Armour Archive

Kilkenny

The more I watch the 21-21 melees, the more I think "why bring swords to a wrestling match?"

Kilkenny

Why do you think there would be a change from 21 vs. 21 to 5 vs. 5? Aaron, with 5 on 5 if you don't know where every player is on both sides at pretty much all times, you don't belong on the field. 21 on 21 it's much harder to keep track. So the whole blindsiding thing should not work nearly as wel...

Kilkenny

hmm. Looks like our guys were not quite prepared for the blindside tackle style...

Kilkenny

It's great to see, but hard to follow. I don't have sound on as I'm watching at work, and I don't know all of our guys by their harness to recognize who is fighting. And I have no clue from what I have seen so far as to who has won which bouts. Something to say in favor of the SCA "Fall down when de...

Kilkenny

Are you saving the oak for a stitching pony? Actually, I have a stitching pony. Might consider making a stitching horse, but I've got space limitations and already have an industrial leather sewing machine, so ;) I cleared out a bunch of the small stuff around the three big oaks, and it's kind of s...

Kilkenny

GvR wrote:lol, I thought this was gonna be a veterinary question and, yes, I have shaved a horse; to give it stitches after a dog got after it.

chuckle.. yeah. Not that kind

Kilkenny

So, I split a maple log today to make the bench part of my shaving horse. Drilled holes for three legs. Tomorrow I'll work on getting legs fitted and then work out the length. Get the "bed" formed and mounted. Piece out the frame for the pivot clamp. Going with the "English" pattern instead of the C...

Kilkenny

Considering the state of our game, I am uncertain what point there is to a discussion of this subject I'd say it's relevant to some Kingdoms with asinine rules about thrusts to the side of the head and other Kingdoms with even more asinine rules about arrows to same. Some one pee in your cheerios, ...

Kilkenny

I can agree with that Gavin but I have seen no real evidence of the term helm meaning something larger or more protective than a helmet. I do also wonder how some would come to the conclusion that the standard would mean something other than the normal conical with a nasal when the entire standard ...

Kilkenny

It can be worth remembering that dictionary definitions are an attempt to capture the meaning that common usage has given to a word, rather than an ex cathedra statement as to what a word means. Which means that a discussion among people who are probably more informed than the average person about j...

Kilkenny

As Johnathan states, I also have always understood the "standard" to refer to a conical top with nasal and no other protection lower than the brim. I've also always understood that the term "open face" only has meaning if there is more to the hat than a beanie cap and nasal ;) And, in my fighting ca...

Kilkenny

Oh good a face thrust thread! I don't have a problem with most of these things, but the turning your head so the thrust lands off the face - I think that is about as cheap as it gets. My opinion, but since we count thrusts that hit squarely on other fully armoured parts of the body, I don't get why...

Kilkenny

I would be appreciative of a few of the stakes - hc or mild, either work for my current purposes. And thank you.

Kilkenny

What are the oldest still running tourneys in the SCA? I want to get together a ten oldest list. My barony (Barony of Tir Ysgithr) might have 2 of them. The Great Helm tourney started in Nov 1975, and Gawd Awful Grail might have started in 73(still researching for confirmation, supposedly started b...

Kilkenny

Never had anyone lift their leg to cheese their way out of a blow like that. Chances are I'd keep throwing at one inch above the knee... check their shin armor for them with the next shot and continue checking it for them until the leg stayed down. Oops, sorry my lord, I keep throwing at where your...

Kilkenny

Casing is entirely different from dampenig the leather before dying. Casing is preparing the leather for tooling. What II is talking about is taking a damp cloth - wrung out, not dripping - and wiping the leather with it before you dye. This does help reduce streaking, evens out the absorption and d...

Kilkenny

huh? so if someone is throwing a thrust at you you should not try to avoid it and be called "cheap"? wow, i might start thrusting if this idea goes viral. i just start a thrust and my opponent freezes. cool....... :shock: regards logan Your reading comprehension is better than that. No one suggeste...

Kilkenny

To clarify I am not lifting my leg to block the shot with a illegal target area. I have modified a kickboxing sweep defense to heavy fighting. There are some angles that still hit with quite a bit of force. Its like hitting water, water will move but will not break. And as Blaine de Navarre said, h...

Kilkenny

Deglazer. Learn something new every day. :) Splints are curved a bit. Got to or they'll come out of the heat treat looking like pretzels. Probably looks faceted because they're not on a person, I'm thinking. I'll post more pictures later on. No copper belt rivets used. All brass round head with a b...

Kilkenny

Did you use deglazer before you dyed? Sometimes there's crap on the surface of the leather that will give you an inconsistent dye absorption. Looks just like what you described. Thanks, Albrecht Beat me to it ;) One thing, it looks like your splints are flat. Curving them a bit can remove the "face...

Kilkenny

There is ignoring what the crowd thinks and there is ignoring what the crowd thinks. Some times, the crowd is mouthing off with aI've witnessen amazingly offensive level of ignorance- I've witnessed people on the sidelines saying terrible things about one fighter in a bout that were simply untrue on...

Kilkenny

Forearm is a legal target. The blow is light. Seems pretty straight forward - as long as you aren't pressing into his weapon (trapping). . It seems straightfoward to me in the opposite direction -- the rule states you can't deliberately use a limb to block a blow, which is exactly what Sigismund is...

Kilkenny

I will second Tite-Bond III. One thing you want to avoid using for this purpose is any kind of expanding glue. Gorilla Glue, for example, is an expanding glue. You want the glue to bond the pieces of wood together, not create space between them.

Kilkenny

Wasting good horse manure for fire starting ? That stuff goes into plaster, man!!

Kilkenny

You're going to find that the strap there holding the elbow to the vambrace (you haven't really made bazubands because the elbow is not integral to the vambrace) will have pretty serious wear problems if it has been hardened. It will crack and eventually fail outright because it is going to flex mor...

Kilkenny

I'm with the clamp down a straight edge and cut with either a razor knife/utility knife or a rotary cutter. Strap cutters can work, but they really are finicky and I can get more consistent results with much less frustration using other tools - that also have more uses...

Kilkenny

I would probably go with concrete. I think the advantages of armoring on concrete totally outweigh the advantages of smithing on earth. Primarily, I just can't fathom doing a lot of B2 cutting and having to try to get a hundred 1/4" caltrops out of an earth floor. I also can't fathom spilling a pou...

Kilkenny

Matthew: "narrow belts" and "creased and shrunken garments" argues fairly directly against the "they put on green hides" thesis, I think. I think the blood/gore/whatever of the hides indicates that the courtiers were truly out hunting, and far enough away from "support staff" that they were doing t...

Kilkenny

I think the reason they were wearing the untanned skins was because the only clothing they took with them into the bush were the nice garments they happened to be wearing at the feast. They killed critters on the hunt and because they were cold and wet, they just draped the untanned skins over them...

Kilkenny

I am going to be a contrarian here. Do a packed earth floor, but don't just build your frame and then walk on the dirt a lot ;) Do a little research into them. They are resilient, so easier on your feet than concrete, yet ultimately stable/solid (no bounce). They will ding more easily than concrete,...

Kilkenny

There may be more evidence in the historical record for center grip kites than for strapped ones. You should not worry that a center grip kite is ahistoric ;) Of course, it would be inappropriate for a Mongol, and I don't think it would still be in use by the 14th century, so... But for the times an...

Kilkenny

I don't know if that supports your premise about Carolingian tanning, Russ. They have just come from Pavia where the Venetians have brought.... and they are wearing Pheasant skins and Peacocks, and ermine. Ermine, ok, native European and all, might well be local product. But pheasant and peacock? We...

Kilkenny

... one of my fundamental rules is you never, ever throw both swords to the same side at the same time... More like a guideline, really. 8) yeah ;) but it really is one of the things I try to pound into people's heads (yes, sometimes literally) about two sword. You want them to be doing two differe...

Kilkenny

I teach "never do the same thing three times in a row". If it didn't work the first time, and it didn't work the second time, you shouldn't expect that it will on the third time - and by the third time, any competent opponent will recognize what you are doing and hammer you for it ;) Interestingly,...

Kilkenny

Heh - very true. I throw what a couple locals have called "Diglach is a Rat-Bastard" combo - I throw offside head shots - 1 and 2 and 1 and 2... disengage.... then 1 and 2 and 1 AAAAAAAAAAND 2 (POW!) On the last shot, I let the blade return just a little bit further.... throws the timing off, blade...

Re: Follow the Battle of Nations Team

Re: Follow the Battle of Nations Team

Re: Follow the Battle of Nations Team

Re: Follow the Battle of Nations Team

Re: Shaving horses

Re: Shaving horses

Shaving horses

Re: Helm or Helmet?

Re: Helm or Helmet?

Re: Helm or Helmet?

Re: Helm or Helmet?

Re: A question about impeding blows.

Re: railroad stuff

Re: Oldest tourneys in the SCA

Re: A question about impeding blows.

Re: Leather work

Re: A question about impeding blows.

Re: A question about impeding blows.

Re: New legs - soupcans, splints, Pitbull C belt

Re: New legs - soupcans, splints, Pitbull C belt

Re: A question about impeding blows.

Re: A question about impeding blows.

Re: Best wood for shield

Re: Horse Manure Tinder

Re: New Bazubans

Re: Can't find my leather strap cutter

Re: Floor for armour shop

Re: An argument against Carolingian leather armor.

Re: An argument against Carolingian leather armor.

Re: Floor for armour shop

Re: Shield question...

Re: An argument against Carolingian leather armor.

Re: Hitting the same spot mutliple times

Re: Hitting the same spot mutliple times

Re: Hitting the same spot mutliple times