The Armour Archive

Uilleag

Greetings all! This musculata had some engineering difficulties. First the waist measurement was 1" larger than the chest measurement. The next challenge was that the gross measurements were 24" across x 26" long. This was a very large piece of leather to shape using a dishing form! The other challe...

Uilleag

Andrus, Unfortuantely, most white leather dyes are not very effecitive. If you purchase white leather from the dealer, chances are it is cured and not vegetable tanned leather. The difference being, that cured leather, (either with grey matter, oils, urine, etc), do not harden very well, whereas veg...

Uilleag

i have just sarted making one of these but a steel version, with out hijacking the thread is there anyway that wearing it under my breastplate won't dig in? or is it just lots of padding? tom This style of gorget is designed for wear over a padded gambeson, but under the cuirass and back plate. The...

Uilleag

I've been a professional armourer for about 4 years. I've run House of the Wolf Leather for about 2, with being completely on my own for about 6 months. Those first 3 months running the business on my own were very scary. I didn't make enough money to pay my rent or any of my bills, and very quickly...

Uilleag

in form of shaping tools i got hammers(clawed,peening,rubber) an old stump(not preped for dishing yet.....) a cheap 10lb anvil my mind... and almost anything i can rig together with 10 min of work It sounds like you have everything you need to get started. As you progress and experiment you will un...

Uilleag

What concerns me about this ruling is the abominations we will start seeing to comply with the rule. Ratty leather, unhardened and un-finished. Blue smerf foam, hockey gloves with added padding, etc. Yeck! In most cases I hate additional rules. There are quite enough for "rules lawyers" to find loop...

Uilleag

What shaping tools do you have? I shape all of my leather by casing it in water and then dishing it like steel armour. I then harden it by baking it dry in the oven. Use very low heat and check on it frequently.

Uilleag

Ulleiag: Is there a price change for the redesigned gaunts? They look a lot like what I'm shooting for. The thumb looks like a huge improvement! Thanks for the information, everyone! Earlier this year, the prices on my gauntlets went from $100.00 to $115.00. I am planning on leaving the price at $1...

Uilleag

I have yet to be granted booth space at Pennsic, but, if I can find someone with room, I will be selling there.

House of the Wolf Leather specializes in cuir bouilli armours, look at our new historically inspired pieces.

My web URL is in my sig line.

Uilleag

I revised my pattern for a client's needs. After looking at the final project, I think I like the look of this design better than my last one. Let me know what y'all think. The forearm has been lengthened and the elbow strap has been removed. The fore arm should reach to just the bend in the elbow a...

Uilleag

This is a variation of my old articulated gorget. The modifications were inspired by inspecting the 16 cent garniture that was on display at the MAG meeting. <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/fngorget1.jpg"> <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/fngorget2.jpg"> <IMG src="http://houseofthew...

Uilleag

As promised, here is a picture of my latest gauntlet pattern. This first picture shows the deeper thumb, with a slot fivet for better thumb movement. <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/dtgauntlet.jpg"> This second picture shows how full around the gauntlet articulates. I have attached leather ...

Uilleag

Ever since my first prototype for leather gauntlets, I have gotten away from wax hardening. The reason for this, is because if you continue to pound them, like gauntlets get, the wax softens in a hurry. I use 12 - 14 oz water treated heat hardened leather for my gauntlets. I have never injured my ha...

Uilleag

Grigori, You will want to find some way to heat up the leather, before applying the melted wax. If you can put the piece in a car window on a sunny day, this will work. Or you can use a hair drier. If you use a hair drier you will have to do the piece in sections. Melt your wax, if you have anyway t...

Uilleag

Monday was the only night I got any training in last week. I had a really great practice and felt good after. Then I hit the shop trying to get the rest of January's commissions finished. I'm 1 day behind on that schedule as it is. Left out of town to go to the MAG gathering Thursday night so I miss...

Uilleag

My only complaint was following that beautiful garniture in the presentation sequence! That was one tough act to follow! What an exquisite piece! I had a blast! It was great to finally get to meet folks and I really enjoyed being able to share what knowledge I have on leather armouring. I was very h...

Uilleag

Well, as promised, I am posting some pics of the cuirass, now that it is strapped, but I wanted to share pictures of the entire harness. <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/tscommission1.jpg"> Cuirass with attached articulating pauldrons. <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/tscommission2.j...

Uilleag

All of the pictures I have seen of this style cuirass has been artist renditions showing what the author described. There are a few effigies, but I don't have them handy to post, and they are much more elaborately tooled. Of course effigies make us speculate on what the armour material really was, c...

Uilleag

Uilleag, that _is_ nice but won't the boot polish rub off onto other clothing? To be honest Meaddrinker, I've never noticed. I suppose it might, but my fighting clothes get so nasty with sweat, etc. a little shoe polish will go unnotticed. I buff out the polish really well, so there isn't much to r...

Uilleag

I like it. Enough to try and copy it myself. I've been thinking of making a cuir boille breastplate, to wear either under or over a maille hauberk (it gets hot in my brigandine here in Turkey), so could you answer a few questions about the process you used? How did you harden this piece? Water, hea...

Uilleag

This is based loosely on a 12 - 13 century cuir bouilli cuirass. The artwork is decidedly modern. <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/progresspics/tscuirass2.jpg"> <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/progresspics/tscuirass1.jpg"> <IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/progresspics/tscuirass3.jpg"> I wi...

Uilleag

Dire, First off, I'm not offended I get asked about my prices all the time, so I will explain it here publicly. Making armour is what I do for a living, paying customers is what pays my rent, groceries, etc. This is not a hobby, it's my livelyhood. I charge $10.00/hr for labor, add in materials and ...

Uilleag

The crack dealers in my neighborhood carry guns and a white boy with a stick is not a good idea. Looking for indoor ideas for now.... I do slow work in the house without a pell, but it doesn't build presicion of aim, ya know?

Uilleag

You know, I haven't been following this thread, but something drew me to it. Ever since I retired from the military structured exersize just hasn't been my bag. I attend 2 practices a week, Monday and Thursday evenings. I'm a full time armourer, so my right arms gets a steady workout from dishing an...

Uilleag

Can you burnish the edges AFTER you have dyed the piece? (He asked, thinking that he skipped a step...that's what you get for working on something into the wee hours...) I have found that you can burnish the edges after dyeing the piece, but not after painting. I do my preliminary edge finished whi...

Uilleag

To be honest, I'm not sure that I like the egg tempura paints for the leather work. The paint seems to dry just fine, the problem is getting it to apply smoothly, so that it doesn't clump and crack when the leather is flexed. I am using egg tempura paints from Dick Blick's, so I didn't mix it myself...

Uilleag

The full circle slicker has a hole in the center of the tool. What I did was wedges a dowel into the hole, so it fits very tightly, then put the entire construct into a hand drill. Or you can just use a dowel in the hole without the drill. The main idea, whatever technique that is used is that burni...

Uilleag

T-Bob, You're not gonna fight in these, right? I mean it'd be a shame to have 'em marked up... They should be put somewhere special! Uillieag, GREAT job Bro. Haldan I certainly hope he fights in these, that's what I made them for! He mentioned that they would be for special pas de armes and such, s...

Uilleag

Very well said, Jehan!

Uilleag

On the gesso projects I have worked on, I have applied a total of 3 coats, allowing the coats to dry and be sanded with fine grit sand paper in between layers. The final coating being sanded w/ 550 grit. I then allow the entire piece to dry then I paint.

Uilleag

Hm, I haven't seen any of the later period examples, I have only seen earlier period versions....13 - 1400's....If you have pics that would be great! I always like to increase my knowledge base!

Uilleag

Ekkill, All of the extant versions of this type of armour do not show evidence of an arming point. The vanbrace portion of the bauzuband is held in place with simple straps holding the hinged portion of the vanbrace closed. To secure it a little better, many armourers, including myself have added a ...

Uilleag

I would love to add to this conversation, but all of the techniques mentioned is what I would have suggested.

Uilleag

Uilleag can probably give the best advice regarding the durability of painted gesso finishes on leather vs SCA batons. For what it's worth, tempra finishes are fairly durable and if you keep the design fairly simple touch -ups between tourney's might not be too time consuming. Perhaps rather than c...

Uilleag

Ok, I managed to fix the hide glue fiasco and finished the project.

<IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/rcailettes1.jpg">

<IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/rcailettes2.jpg">

<IMG src="http://houseofthewolf.com/pics/rcailettes3.jpg">

Cuir Bouilli Musculata, (Leather Roman Breast plate)

Revised bauzuband pattern

Revised articulated gorget

New leather cuirass (pics of whole harness)