The Armour Archive

Maelgwyn

I can go to an SCA event or a practice or a guild meeting nearly 365 days a year if I choose without ever driving more than a couple hours from my house. If I only have time for a couple of events per year then I can find them on whatever weekend fits my scedule. At those meetings I can learn and/or...

Maelgwyn

... Heat-treated spring steel is the obvious period option, but it is so prohibitively expensive (and usually takes so long to get) that it puts it out of the reach of many. While freezing the less financially endowed out from getting quality armor is really period, it sure cuts down on the number ...

Maelgwyn

Maelgwyn - It's Tuesday - how was your week? Mine was spotty - did okay Tuesday and Wednesday: 6/6 Tuesday Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 75 situps, 30 easy push ups, elbow rehab, 30 min aerobic heavyhands/footwork, 10 burpees 6/7 Wednesday Ã¢â‚¬â€œ50 situps, 20 V-ups, 30 easy push ups, elbow rehab, some random stuff an...

Maelgwyn

I didn't get many pictures but folks here might enjoy these of the helm show and one from the mounted crest combat. [img]http://members.cox.net/kcmarsh/Lysts/Lysts%20005.jpg[/img] [img]http://members.cox.net/kcmarsh/Lysts/Lysts%20007.jpg[/img] [img]http://members.cox.net/kcmarsh/Lysts/Lysts%20008.jp...

Maelgwyn

Proposed SCA rules rewrite: "The thighs, which are presumed to be covered by wax hardened leather over padding and covered overall by the skirt of a mail hauberk are proof against strikes or thrusts with one handed edged weapons. Telling blows from mass weapons, pole arms, and nine foot spears wiel...

Maelgwyn

For the soft bits like strapping and articulation I like roughly 6-8oz latigo or oil-tanned leather. For the hard bits like gauntlets, vambraces, curie, gorget, etc. I like 10 oz veg. tanned leather hardened with rabbit glue and low-temperature baking. I find this rigid enough to make splinting most...

Maelgwyn

I personally prefer a half-circle cape roughly 30" from collar to hem, modeled after 1590s English examples. For combat I have used trigger-cloth most frequently but wool lined with linen should do very nicely. I think each combatant should try to use a cape or cloak that works as a fashion accessor...

Maelgwyn

Well. I'm back on the exercise band-wagon. I've made it to practice and armoured up for two weeks in a row. In addition I have suffered through the first week of an exercise routine, which should be the hardest part. I made the typical mistake of pushing too hard in my first session (too many hindu ...

Maelgwyn

I figured somebody had to have done this before...it's just too obvious and effective. I've been using the computer-printed transparencies for years...to give presentations. I never thought of using them for leather tooling patterns until this week.

Maelgwyn

Almost there, just have to source some horse hair. The Tandy store keeps horsehair in stock if you have one nearby, or you can order it online at www.tandyleather.com. Nice helm! [humor] Belmtho, If you find it buried in the ground it is an Ostrogoth helm. If you see somebody wearing one it is a Vi...

Maelgwyn

So, you can both print and trace on this stuff? Yes! How exactly do you transfer the image? As Losthelm said, use a stylus to trace the image onto the leather through the film, just like you typically would with tracing paper or tracing film. Since it is plastic the damp leather can't make it get s...

Maelgwyn

Matthew Amt wrote:... You can actually buy bags of uncleaned random Roman coins for about 25 bucks, along with some brushes for cleaning and an identification booklet.

Where?

Maelgwyn

...or at least it is new to me. Instead of using tracing paper or tracing film I bought some fairly inexpensive ink-jet transparency film in the office supply section at Wal-Mart. I can digitally create/import/tweak images and then print them onto the film for transfer onto the leather. The film wor...

Maelgwyn

double post

Maelgwyn

Why leave off the maille? It was nearly ubiquitous as part of "upper end" composite harness during the 14th century, AFAIK. While I agree with your impression of the ubiquitousness of mail, I see several reasons to omit it here. Maybe even enough for a top-ten list. 1. As I understand it, 14th cent...

Maelgwyn

I ordered a helm from Sir Thomas ... If you can post a picture or link to a site with your helm, some of us would be glad to advise you on historically compatible gear for the rest of your armour. I think that you can armour effectively for nearly any time and place and social role but some require...

Maelgwyn

Thanks Audax. The chain shirt was hypothetical because I don't own one. I do own the lamellar, which you would know if you had been at practice tonight. (Sir Lionel was there.) Dan's work is inspiring but I like to do my own hardened leather armour...I use more rabbit glue. I'd be glad to show you s...

Maelgwyn

7 to 10 pounds is a typical range of weights for SCA helms. It looks great and your neck will get used to it quickly if you spend enough hours in the helm each week.

Maelgwyn

Very nice! I like your approach to making the ridge work in leather...I may make one like that sometime.

Can you explain why you felt the occulars needed the metal reinforcement? It seems to me that the leather should have been sufficient.

Maelgwyn

...I've already started a new helm for the tourney, so count us in! Know any booming voiced heralds for hire? Booming compared to whom? I also plan to be at the Lysts on June 10th, hopefully with some new hardened leather gear. I look forward to seeing you there! I plan to day-trip the armour-in on...

Maelgwyn

Ok, so I have to admit that my 6th century kit just isn't right for a Pas de Armes. I'm starting on a kit for a hypothetical 1350 Welsh gentleman at a blunt-weapons tourney. As such I will be leaving off my equally hypothetical chain shirt and wearing hardened leather armour pieces based on effigies...

Maelgwyn

Ok, I'm jealous. I'd volunteer to help with any supplementary background research but you already have your own in-house reference librarian. Is this a collection of materials from the Coptic community in Egypt or a collection of coptic-influenced textiles from a broader area (like the entire Roman ...

Maelgwyn

Soak in water, shape with hammer, soak in rabbit glue, bake dry at 180 degrees. Search the forums for "leather rabbit glue" for details.

Maelgwyn

...That upper nasal area is starting to get pretty thick. I hope my rivets are long enough.... Looking very nice Cat! Your work is getting me motivated to get out to the shop and finish some projects. As for the rivets, if they are not long enough you can use copper roofing nails from McMaster Carr...

Maelgwyn

For leather to leather or leather to steel I prefer peened copper rivets. Much stronger than speed rivets and much softer than steel for easier peening.

Maelgwyn

If you use hard thin lames (stainless, mild steel, aluminum) then it is critical that the holes be smooth. For leather or plastic lames this is a bit less critical because the cord will smooth them out over time. Paracord, macrame cord, hemp cord, leather cord, silk ribbon, or faux silk (polyester) ...

Maelgwyn

I think you may need to be a bit more specific about your intended process and your hide glue. The water-based rabbit hide glue that I use will not be even close to dry after "about an hour" at room temperatures.

Maelgwyn

...So, If ya have one or made one, feel free to post them here and describe how they wear. Linen doublets can be frightening. After many years of fighting in a poly-cotton triggercloth doublet, my linen doublet fails to give me that safe, wrapped-in-plastic feeling of being insulated from the world...

Maelgwyn

See http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... ar+culture

14g steel would be extremely heavy. I would suggest something more like 18g mild steel or 20g stainless or 22g heat-treated steel (1050 or 4130). Or 10oz. hardened leather.

Maelgwyn

22g 4130, with each splint curved, hardened and tempered.

Maelgwyn

With 10 oz veg-tan leather, why bother with plates? Seriously, not all essays here are equally authoritative. Most advice I have seen, both here and elsewhere, calls for a lighter and more supple layer. 6 oz. oil-tanned leather or latigo should be fine, or a couple layers of heavy canvas or linen. Y...

Maelgwyn

Thanks for the inspiration; I pulled a copy via Inter-Library Loan last night. They were surprised (and downright pleased) that there was an available copy in the system. I love librarians. And we love you too. OCLC record 49386331 says: Title: The knight and the blast furnace : a history of the me...

Maelgwyn

I love it...wish I could be there. You might consider collecting and web-hosting pictures and documentation from remote entrants who cannot be at Pennsic as well.

PS [url=http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=291572Ã±â€¡â€¹Â´]I'm glad you found a way to make this idea work![/url]

Maelgwyn

You might enjoy this article I found using Gale's Student Resource Center: Title: The rhetoric of riddling in late-medieval England: the 'Oxford' riddles, the 'Secretum philosophorum,' and the riddles in 'Piers Plowman.' Journal: Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, Jan 1995, v70, n1, p68(38) Au...

Maelgwyn

Those look good to me, and look like nomadic examples that go with lamellar armour. Magyar perhaps?

Monday morning Train-in 6-12-06

Monday Morning Train-in! 6-5-06

Re: finished ostrogothic helm - pics

New technique for tracing patterns onto leather

14th cent. Mafia wins again