The Armour Archive

James Arlen Gillaspie

Wonderful work! Except that anyone who's ever actually seen Cthulhu knows 'he'(it?)' doesn't have eyes...oops... going back to work now.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hello, Marcella,

Love your miniatures!!

I have made armour for children, so I am quite sure I can handle you. The cheapest thing I make is mid 15th c. Italian armour.

Cheers,

James

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hmmm... In my experience of modern steels, a medium carbon steel with the right pearlitic microstructure has a much enhanced resistance to penetration when compared to a modern mild steel. I have occasionally suggested it as an economy option to reenactors. It is definitely worth doing, particularly...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Parts are often frozen in place (including those later gussets with sliders) by idjits who want things to stay in place. Gothic breastplates are narrower across the top and taller, so when the gussets pivot, they pretty much adhere to the same geometry as the sliding type.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Gussets on German 'gothic' breastplates typically have no sliding rivets. They just rock inward when pressure is put on them. It took awhile to come up with the sliding rivet design.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I spent some time looking at this one when I was at the Stadtmuseum. It is listed as Kat. Nr. 10, made in Augsburg, very roughly c. 1485. Length is given as 48 cm., width 32 cm. Maker's mark is indistinct. It is very much of the Helmschmid school, though, and I think likely made by someone in the fa...

James Arlen Gillaspie

I can make them so they do not overlap, but the overlap has never caused problems. I can make them in stainless.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I've made several sets of these for jousters.

James Arlen Gillaspie

It depends on how much is 'breaking the bank'. Illusion's sallet has a better shape than most. But that might be because I helped Scott develop it...

James Arlen Gillaspie

I'm with Wade on this one. My experience is that mild rusts worse than my 1050 stuff. Fluid Film is best applied before and after use, just a quick wipe down, don't need to leave any visible residue. That does a great job of preventing rust.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Fluid Film, Fluid Film, FLUID FILM!!! I was turned on to it by some folks from Florida who dealt in fencing gear and light armour, and swore by it. It is a corrosion inhibitor used often on offshore oil rigs. It will even inhibit bimetallic corrosion.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Dibs on the wasters if the deal falls through.

James Arlen Gillaspie

What is the alloy? 95%Cu - 5%Sn, something else?

James Arlen Gillaspie

Years ago, there was someone in Caid that was making high strength armour out of some sort of yellow coloured alloy. It seemed to hold up pretty well. I could not find out what it was, though.

James Arlen Gillaspie

$100K sounds like a good base price. I could have made several pairs of unetched gauntlets like the pair on my website in the time it took me to do the etching.

James Arlen Gillaspie

You did go down to the bottom of the page and click on 1 -50, right? The helm goes with the rest of the old bits (not the brigandine).

James Arlen Gillaspie

Grumblegrumblemuttermutter HOW SOON THEY FORGET...

http://tinyurl.com/2bksuk4

James Arlen Gillaspie

Not quite. On real leg harness (as opposed to SCAdian stuff) the poleyn supports the greave by means of the pin and the strap around the back of the lowest lame of the poleyn and holds them up off the instep.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Wade, the biggest lames on those pauldrons look like they've been trimmed. Looks to me like the original form was more conventionally 'Continental'. What do you think?

James Arlen Gillaspie

I'm told the carbon needs a little time to find its optimal placement in the structure. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but whatever, the steel takes time to 'set up'. The neat thing is that you have a 15 minute to half an hour window to take care of warpage.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Burnt bone contains a potassium compound that acts as a catalyst for case hardening. I used to get decent results using a mix of different case hardening compounds, and heating the helmet to an orange heat and shaking the stuff onto the surface and keeping it good and bubbly for several minutes, the...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Medium carbon ('spring') steels are fine. Dr. Alan Williams did metallography on some lorica bits (hmm, did he test more thatn one?) found in Germany that were about 0.6% carbon. More serious armour for a more serious theater of war, perhaps?

James Arlen Gillaspie

I haven't been there since '93, but there was more than that there, including an equestrian harness and an odd Klappvisor bascinet that Dr. Williams analyzed. There was also a Vic'y gothic in the Helmschmid style that was better than any Schmidt stuff I've seen, if memory serves.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I've been looking for new punches for mine for years, with no luck. They have more punching power than a #5, which is why I liked mine so much.

James Arlen Gillaspie

What about the armour in the city museum? Chris would get a kick out of all the pauldrons on backwards.

If they are still displayed that way.

James Arlen Gillaspie

The Art of Power by Alvaro Soler del Campo is very good, but it'll run you about a c-spot if you can find it (try artbooks.com).

James Arlen Gillaspie

Try Flickr.com.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Congratulations! You have created the foundation of a practical dog harness. Quite unlike that thing in the Higgins, which would be far too rigid to ever work!

James Arlen Gillaspie

Doug, I'm probably functionally blind, but how much is the shipping?

Thanks,

James

James Arlen Gillaspie

Well, dang. I'll take whatever 'Lorica' (probably not 'Loricae, looks like Klaus beat me out) is left.

James Arlen Gillaspie

John Carlson, the best mail smith you never heard of, treats his with boiled linseed oil. It works great! He sent me a sample that was rust free for over a decade, till this last year, when it was handled by scores of school kids. Actually, it had already been handled by scads of kids over the years...

James Arlen Gillaspie

You can wipe off the underside of the mail before you put it on and the FF will still work pretty well. It only needs to be a few molecules thick. Just spray it lightly on the underside after you use it.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Thanks, Sean! I'm glad your wife's enjoying it!

I hope you get a better look before you head off to Switzerland, so you can compare notes better!

James Arlen Gillaspie

That new book is of a recent exhibition in Basel, Switzerland, featuring the same dresses, but different armour, some from Vienna, some from Graz (it looks like the Hans Maystetter 'Max' from Graz on the cover). Different authors. I don't think there was any of Vienna's 'gothic' stuff in it. I doubt...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Well, it looks like Sean is the winner!

My Paypal addy is

jamesarlen@verizon.net

So be sure you send your mailing info in with the payment, yes?

Thanks,

James