The Armour Archive

James Arlen Gillaspie

Well, pooh.

I can't do it on such short notice. It would've been fun!

James Arlen Gillaspie

The thing you always have to remember about cracks is that they are ALWAYS longer than what you can see!

James Arlen Gillaspie

Mac, the interesting thing about that second image from the bottom is that the king who is getting smacked in the visor with a falchion-like weapon and the fellow doing the smacking are both wearing sabs, but most of the fellows behind them are in shoe leather. Years ago, I got in an argument with s...

James Arlen Gillaspie

AMEN!!

James Arlen Gillaspie

I have played around with salt quenches, and obtained good results. The things you want to do the most, though, the big stuff that is most likely to warp, require a mighty big bath of the stuff, and as for taking it up to hardening heat, well, you better leave that to the pros. I just did some test ...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hello, Steve,

I am relieved to hear what you intend to use them for. Did you oil quench? That would certainly help; a drastic quench would be bad, bad, bad.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Typical modern Chinese junk, sorry to say.

James Arlen Gillaspie

All the 'gothic' sabatons made by Lorenz Helmshmid had no heels. Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien 1/2 ('gothic' in style) has no heels. The Thun Sketchbook shows early 16th c. designs with no heels.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Steve, you messed up by using 1075. That is just WAAAY too much carbon for armour! Go have a look at Craig Nadler's thread on the best materials to use. If I were the official in charge, you would not be allowed to use them, unless the 1075 was in a pearlitic state, in which case it actually does pr...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Whenever I didn't have hearing protection with me and needed it, wet toilet paper has worked extremely well. Sometimes too well when I was listening to loud music, and I would have to fiddle with it to attenuate its efficiency.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hey, I'm a history buff.

James Arlen Gillaspie

The "counter revolution" is long overdue.

The 'counter revolution' will NOT be televised! Or get its own thread.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Carpaccio is indeed too late, but does illustrate the Venice - Holy Roman Empire connection when it comes to armour styles. The Klappvisors in the Pisanello sketches are interesting too. I would look at as much Venetian art from 1430 to 70 as I could find to get an idea of what they were doing. It m...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Dave has the right of it. Properly proportioned, the elbow moves back into the cop. I wish I had pictures; it was a rush job so they could use it at some school function.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Years ago I made a pair of Chartres arms for an eight year old girl, James Peck's (Sir Richard Blackmoore) daughter. The diameter of the cop in proportion to the upper and lower cannons has to be right; then you can just lace 'em right up and they work great.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Yes, I just use Rubens because scholars have so much fun trying to figure out what he DID paint.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Mac said; "Indeed, he should have put on a gorget before putting on the cuirasse." Sometimes artists don't know the details of what they are looking at, but sometimes they do. Consider the 'Story of David and Goliath' by Francesco Pesellino in the National Gallery (UK). Look at David in the process ...

James Arlen Gillaspie

A-36 sure is a beautifully sculptured piece, and unusual for its time. In my experience, the 16th c. pieces rarely have that much form, and they just get flatter the later you go. That beautiful anticlastic form you get on the 'inner' side of Italian mid - 15th c. arms goes to a mildly convex form i...

James Arlen Gillaspie

It seems to me that you are slightly exaggerating the convex curves on the 'outside' (point of the elbow side) of the arm. It also seems to me that the arms I have handled (quite a few at this point) of the typical 16th c. type with turning collars are very roomy, and depend on the doublet beneath h...

James Arlen Gillaspie

If Vittore Carpaccio and other Venetian artists are to be believed, the Venetians had developed a very interesting take on 'Gothic' armour which was based on Italian engineering combined with a rather German sensibility and often with blackened finishes. Very cool stuff.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Looking at image # 30, I have to wonder what good his spurs are.

James Arlen Gillaspie

She's wearing a surprising amount of clothing, too. I wonder if there is anything to the fact that our 'Mars' is wearing a cuirass but no gorget? Sometimes such paintings carry subtle messages, for those who can read them.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Mac said, "This is a portrait; probably of the guy who paid for the painting." Yep! And I would go further; I think the artist is having fun with his patron, who probably didn't get the joke.

James Arlen Gillaspie

It looks Flemish and very much of the school of Peter Paul Rubens to me. I'm not sure I'd put it all that late.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Mac, I think one could have a discussion on its own as to how faithful the B.P.'s effigy is to reality; how much do we know about its making? Regardless, after having looked at every bacinet on public display in most of the major armour collections in Europe (had the Wallace example in my hands one ...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Mac, your overhead shot of your bacinet reminds me once again of why I want a point-on shot of the Black Prince's. Or to find mine.

Then the difference would be apparent.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Whether or not 'they would have done it that way', you can't argue with the beauty of the result!

James Arlen Gillaspie

Thanks, Graham. We're getting closer, but we're not there yet. Regarding the thread about English helm and gorget arrangements in the early 15th c., the 'Black Prince's effigy shows nicely a typical shape, which is not dead round but very close, as opposed to my helm, which has a subtle lenticular f...

James Arlen Gillaspie

It's not easy, but it has been done. If only I could track that thing down...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Thanks for responding. The thing is, though, I'm looking for something that shows the actual cross section of the helm as viewed looking almost straight at the point. We don't see enough of such views, which are essential to understanding the three dimensional shapes of helms and helmets. Years ago,...

James Arlen Gillaspie

It's true the Renaults are the equivalent of freon cans, whereas the Maus's (Mice?) can handle nuclear rattan, or, well, just plain nuclear. Back when we were looking at explosive forming, we were looking at flat plate, whereas if you are using a spun form that is already fairly close, the amount of...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Thomas Powers said;
"Me, I just use tank bottoms and boy flipping those Panzer Maus ii's over is a real pain!"

You should try smaller tanks!

James Arlen Gillaspie

This is the effigy of Ralph Greene at Lowick, which is a major inspiration for my setup.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hello, all, I cannot find my photo of the top of the helm of effigy of the Black Prince, looking straight down (well, horizontally, actually, as HE'S horizontal, not standing up) at the point. For some reason, most people don't take that angle. :wink: To make clear what I'm talking about, here is a ...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Hello, Mac, I'd like to stand that on its head; can anyone out there find an edge rolled to the outside that meets that profile that is really clean? And German? I have offered people substantial discounts if they don't want armour that is better than the real thing. I have warned them what to expec...

Re: Trip to the Met, Sunday June 22nd

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: what do we know about late 14th and early 15th c. Sabato

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: Any Authentic Chinese / Japanese Sword Experts Here?

Re: what do we know about late 14th and early 15th c. Sabato

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: Historical blacksmith's ear protection

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Armor from Republic Of Venice to match this Barbute?

Re: Planning 16th century arms

Re: Planning 16th century arms

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Planning 16th century arms

Re: Planning 16th century arms

Re: Armor from Republic Of Venice to match this Barbute?

Re: Thun Sketchbook Image #44 discussion

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Bascinet prototype and "can" or "house" construction

Re: Bascinet prototype and "can" or "house" construction

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: Brit needed to take photo!

Re: Brit needed to take photo!

Re: Brit needed to take photo!

Re: Spun tops as helmet blanks?

Re: Spun tops as helmet blanks?

Re: 1st half of 15th Century Gorget

Brit needed to take photo!

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs