The Armour Archive

James Arlen Gillaspie

I wonder how many modern buyers would downright ridicule these helms that were good enough for the Hospitalers on Malta.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I would say that momentum is conserved, but kinetic energy is not. Kinetic energy from the hammer's impact is transformed into thermal energy. Also, the detonation of a fission bomb has NOTHING to do with heat caused by compression!

James Arlen Gillaspie

There should be a strip across the top (the strip is also used to point the legs on) which the top of the liner is sewn to, and the first pic' I posted shows the rivets that held a stip that the bottom edge of the liner was sewn to. Then there is a side strip on the inseam side of the leg that is at...

James Arlen Gillaspie

There are two armours thought to have belonged to the Chevalier Bayard; I'm sure you've already seen this one, dated c. 1520, but England's Royal Armouries has another that is more like what you are describing, and is certainly French, if not perhaps the Bayard's.

James Arlen Gillaspie

What's wrong whitchoo'all? Nobody thought to put THIS one up?

James Arlen Gillaspie

Here's a photo showing the lack of the same nails in the CH53 (old number) legs with the really LOOONG lowest lame shown above.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I forgot to add, the pic' Enrico put up doesn't have them, just as Brian said. I've always thought the CH53's (old number) an odd pair as leg defences go.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hmm, did I goof up here? I don't have Scalini, so I'm not sure of the accession number of CH 54 in his system. If the harness of Friedrich the Victorious is typical, it too has the liner rivets that CH 54 has.

James Arlen Gillaspie

There is another big problem with DS's diagram; the liner extends below the poleyn cop. This picture of CH54 (EDIT; NOT CH S12, apparently) shows some of the flathead armour nails (and what looks like an empty hole) for securing the lining of the leg at the bottom, at the top of the lowest lame of t...

James Arlen Gillaspie

This is another in my collection of images of salades being worn with mail bevor/gorgets. The look of the legs could be (relatively) easily accomplished by russeting the legs and using a little gold paint.

James Arlen Gillaspie

There was a fire that gutted the castle in 1882; I don't know what they lost, but they brought in a bunch of stuff by Winkelmeyer of Vienna. A bit of the late 16th c. stuff is real, too.

James Arlen Gillaspie

There's a separate thread about 'period' helm suspension systems. Bottom line; the blue closed cell foam so popular in the SCA is CRAP compared to the protection you get from a PROPERLY made linen and tow liner. It's why REAL helmets for use on foot are nothing like the weight favored by many in the...

James Arlen Gillaspie

The bottom line is that different makers get different results from their methods. The range of products is nearly as inconsistent as those seen when armour was used. I have serious concerns about the possibility of catastrophic failure of some of the less metalurgically savvy makers, who think the ...

James Arlen Gillaspie

I don't recall seeing anyone make something out of carpet appearing outwardly to be a linothorax, which seems to me to be quite the natural thing to do.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I could spend a week at the Musee de l'Armee, and still want more. There's another, smaller museum in Paris that has some interesting pieces, and a great deal of later stuff (16th & 17th c.), but I don't know its name.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I'm coming back to this pretty late, but here's a picture that shows the A 79 foot combat helm's construction. This particular example is in the Musee de l'Armee in Paris, and is similar to some pictured in the Thun Skizzenbuch.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Barnett, where did you get your flax tow? I've been looking for a cheap source for quite a while.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Sean's right. They make lame matching a lot easier.

James Arlen Gillaspie

??!!That man's feet are naked! What does that mean, I wonder?

James Arlen Gillaspie

Ahh, didn't think of the Dremel and a small stone tool.

James Arlen Gillaspie

If it's like the old U.S. army pots, it'll kill cobalt. Does a magnet find it easy to stick to? The stuff is difficult to properly anneal, too, and does not heat treat like an ordinary steel. I think I remember it being in a permanently austenitic condition, hence the magnet doesn't like it. When I ...

James Arlen Gillaspie

One could take off the bottom strip, and with a bit of sheet steel turn it into one of those hideous Chalkis helms.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Try the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Best overall armour collection in the country. Don't know about pre 1100, though. That's going to be a bit rare.

James Arlen Gillaspie

You have asked a critical question that I haven't seen properly addressed. We won't know anything for sure about 'blunt impact trauma' in period plate until this is studied. One thing I know for sure, a system like that in one of the 15th c. black sallets in the U.K.'s Royal Armouries works FAR bett...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Thanks! That explains a lot. Lucky for our Canadian friends, unlucky for U.S. I wouldn't have to go so far to see it if it had stayed put. Boy, that is one ugly piece of Schmidt that they've featured.

James Arlen Gillaspie

This is one of my favorite sallet shaped helms; A 79 KMW early 1490's. It's not really a sallet, though.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I recently came across a reference dating from the early 70's to the Schuller Museum of Arms and Armor in Laconia, New Hampshire. I'd never heard of the place. Anyone know if it actually existed?

James Arlen Gillaspie

The mechanically advantaged ones are nice, particularly when it comes to portability. I like my long handled deep throated ones precisely for cutting nails, as I can take the excess off many nails with one bite.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Looks too small to me. Small nails would be about it. Mine are 14" long.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Umm... that isn't an original Klapvisor. That's a 'Billy Radford'.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Can't make this one. Say 'hello' to David for me!

James Arlen Gillaspie

Note the location of the circle of breath holes on the upper bevor (lower visor, for those not clued in to the terminology). Looks to me like the helm, skull made in two halves and with neck lames VERY 17th c., has had the upper bevor cut down (might have been damaged already), and a new visor of ve...

James Arlen Gillaspie

If I felt flush that day, maybe $10.

James Arlen Gillaspie

The Arms and Armour Collection of Cesta Castle is a very frustrating volume, from my point of view. The collection apparently contains a number of interesting and rare pieces... which are not shown in this volume. The country put out some stamps that, for instance, showed a nice pair of 'german got...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Luke, I think it's an armet. The sketch has an unfinished look to it, and it could be one of those shown in the Thun Skizzenbuch that has the cheekplates like so;

Schuller Museum of Arms & Armor

Book review; Republic of San Marino