The Armour Archive

Norman

Very true Norman, and that's why I'm postulating an *un*armoured combat system, and I'm afraid schlagger blades only have a place within the existing 'fencing' system. SHRUG I don't think the slight increase in armour would qualify it as armoured fighting. (ie: pretty much an added 4 ounce leather ...

Norman

Forget us, if I'm not misremembering the type of helmet, the most accurate thing you can do on this is a Bronze spun top. If you have a large enough quantity you're looking to do, look at metal fabrication shops -- The spins come off the machine with a sort of brim -- you cut away about 2/3 of it an...

Norman

Dweezle -- Training is always implied. However, based on my experience as a Saber fencer outside the SCA, I do not personally believe that a Saber-type cut with a Schlager blade is safe at present SCA-fencing armour grade. The other implicit issue to prevent ratcheting of power is unhesitating punis...

Norman

<I>I'm still wondering where I can find "CG Stone's Glossary". At a library? A book store? On line?</I> Go to the Book Recomendation page on my "Armour of the Silk Road" site (URL at sig) and follow a direct link to buy it. <I>"Duuh... wars and tournaments are in the job description. People who coul...

Norman

BAH - Fiberglass ...Rattan - same thing - You're not Fighting with a Steel Weapon The only difficulty IMHO with the current SCA-fencing system (I'm talking East Kingdom rules - which seems to be broader than most)is the lack of "chopping" cuts. I believe only a slight increase in armour is needed to...

Norman

Take a look at the links page of the Red Kaganate site (URL at my sig) under the subheading "Weapons" for a batch of online suppliers ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.c...

Norman

Norman, I'm not Blond. Brown hair all round. Same deal -- I meant to evoke the kinda "this must be a northern European" responce -- and say that there are Central Asians (and even possibly East Asians) that looked like that. So I think early Easten Europe is the place. Good place! http://www.armour...

Norman

Depending on money and inclination, there's all sorts of ways (bandsaw, jigsaw, Beverly shear...), but those shears I show at the article are actually intended for metal work (and I coincidentally found them nice for leather). They are pretty easy going for up to 18 guage mild steel and take a wee b...

Norman

Take a look at my "Jewish Warriors" website (URL at my sig) for some examples (you'll have to read the articles to find them) - mostly of positive relationships (I tried to focus on describing the positive because there is so much discussion of the negative) As I understand it, there is no Qranic ba...

Norman

Sorry. That don't look one bit like me! http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/biggrin.gif ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad Jewish Warriors - http://www.geociti...

Norman

Look through the Red Kaganate site (URL at my sig) then go through the links section there. ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad Jewish Warriors - http://www....

Norman

"Actually, along with Attila's Hunnic troops his "barbarian hordes" included Goths, a Germanic people." Well, true enough, ...and Turks, and Uighurs, and all sorts of Sarmatians. Migration Era tribal groupings get that way ... still a Hun is not a Goth neither is he a Khazar or an Avar or a Magyar ...

Norman

If a guy is ignoring your shots he's a jerk. Take it up with him and then with others. However, if you hit excessive, any responsible Marshal should pull you out of the lists. ...I think there may possibly be a rule that excessive blows don't count (I don't know, I just went through the rules for li...

Norman

Your current kit -- the Great helm pretty much type casts you as 13th cent Western European no matter what you do with the rest of the kit. Any sort of "lamed" joints are at least a hundred or so years off -- so you can't have both a Great helm AND five -piece knees and be "authentically (whatever t...

Norman

I think it was Accidentprone who done it, and the dies remain -- get the contact info from him and you'll get the benefit of our previous order. ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www...

Norman

I don't remember which town it was (but you could probably get your hands on the Terry Jones "Crusades" book and miniseries A&E/BBC and look it up) -- It was, I believe, in the First Crusade that in one incident the Crusaders (being low on provisions) butchered and ate the population of a Middle Eas...

Norman

Hmn, ... The notion that there was a type of lamellar where horizontal bands of lamellar plates were interconnected vertically by the use of leather bands is (I believe) quite generally accepted. It is certainly an assertion by Gorelik, undisputed (I believe) by his peers and betters in Soviet and R...

Norman

I have heard that since the time of Christ on, the Jews kept trade with the East through the Silk Road. Norm? I spose the Jewish relation to financing is one of those myths of the middle ages akin to knights being hoisted onto horseback -- but more pernitious. Jews in world trade (and especially th...

Norman

Philipe,
Thank you.
I apreciate your sensitivity.

Norman

I brought two pairs of gauntlets with me, and I still threw my hockey gloves in the bag. And on the last day of fighting, I was wearing hockey gloves. The gaunts were'nt safe at that point, I wanted to fight, and if I had the time, I'd have been fixing gauntlets, not covering gloves. Some may argue...

Norman

The one I'm thinking as the earliest reference is a chunk of a shield from (I believe) the castle of Mug. Nicolle has a photo of this thing in pretty much every one of his books on Eastern stuff. (I'm sorry I can't give you the page numbers -- the easiest quick-refs for what you're looking for would...

Norman

Another option may be to alternate steel rows with leather rows. I wouldn't do it diagonally though. Only horizontally. ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad J...

Norman

Just as a sort of aside (yes, I bet some of you saw it coming http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/wink.gif ) using the term NAZI in this context may offend a number of people (including me). - we can talk about why either by e-mail or if you really want to start a topic on the Off-Topic board (or you c...

Norman

When it comes to scale, I think you have to purposefully be trying hard NOT to make it basically period. Alternating colors were used, in metal iron-based alternating with copper-based, in leather (or rawhide) red scales alternating with black ones. Or you had this thing where they wrapped a row of ...

Norman

Being somewhat prone to vanity, I'm disapointed that you didn't go and read my article. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/frown.gif Pretty close to what sarnac said -- the earliest images are around the 8th century. Except that the earliest actual finds I know of are Golden Horde incursion period (th...

Norman

The threads of the past week about rhinoing have lead me to ask -- Can you create a definition for the minimal standard of a Good Blow that will not simply amout to "I know em when I see em"? ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/...

Norman

For the armour I wear ( http://www.geocities.com/normlaw/myarmour.html ), I used 16 guage plates (you could call the main body a sort of inside-out Coat of PLates). I think that for SCA abuse -- for the surface area this is the apropriate thickness and the 18 would be too prone to denting. I'm guess...

Norman

Found a reference -- (albeit secondary and not at all in Western Europe) in "Life along the Silk Road", Susan Whitfield mentions that the 8th century Tibetans used to tatoo their prisoners -- literate prisoners would be tatooed on the arm (they would be valued for their skills), illiterate ones on t...

Norman

I thought Chinese gangsters tend to use Kung Fu, guns, and Meat Cleavers? What do you mean by "triad"?? ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad Jewish Warriors -...

Norman

Some sort of separate "Lamellar and Scales" category maybe? ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad Jewish Warriors - http://www.geocities.com/jewishwarriors The...

Norman

Always hard to determine whether the reconstruction is wrong or it came this way without information on what the actual find looked like (did they find a batch of scattered scales, or a warrior buried in the stuff with each scale in its place or ... something else). The plates are very standard 7 ho...

Norman

Del Tin has their own site. (I believe I have a link to it at The Red Kaganate links page) Contact them and ask. ------------------ Norman J. Finkelshteyn Armour of the Silk Road - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3505 The Silk Road Designs Armoury - http://www.enteract.com/~silkroad Jewish W...

Norman

I agree with Gundo -- Have the list of codes at the top - so the folks looking at the armouries know what the heck those letters are about. I'm not sure the codes are quite right -- I like GUndo's idea for an "Oriental" code. Except -- is that in the British sense of pretty close to everything non-E...

Norman

He probably just doesn't know any better. ...either that, or its all cast offs The legs are like late, late, white-armour type stuff, the helmet is some sort of generi-Viking, the tabard look (without knowing euro armour specifics) I'd put at early transitional period (somewhere substantially earlie...

Norman

Do some test pieces with water. When I was starting in on this sort of thing, I spoke with the guy I buy leather from about my interests. When I mentioned wax hardening he cringed. He said it ruins the leather. With no "periodness" interests he pushed quite strongly for warm-water hardening. ...and ...

Defining a "Good Blow"bin "heavy combat"