The Armour Archive

Maelgwyn

My specific suggestion for FitzOsbern: If you have a long-term arrangement with a site owner, build a reconstruction of an 11th century Saxon barn and store some hay in it before an event. If the weather is good you have a supply of hay for bedding. If the weather turns bad you can "capture" the bar...

Maelgwyn

James B. wrote:Got the package at work today and man are these arms light!

Did the expected but still surprising lightness cause audible spontaneous laughter? (I'm doing a survey.)

Got a postal scale at work? Weigh those puppies and tell us the result!

Maelgwyn

I would go with 2.8cm wide & 5cm high oblong plates like those found in Somerset. I did not see enough detail to discern a hole pattern for these in the one picture I have seen published. How far is this from the "archive" pattern sold by GAA? I'm thinking about making a steel "Carlisle collar" to g...

Maelgwyn

Yes the metal staples are visible, each of a length about 3x the distance between the holes. That image includes pixel counts and inches for measurements of height, bottom width and widest point (near top) width. I estimated 40 lames in each of 3 rows for a complete collar. The outer rows use wider ...

Maelgwyn

I don't know any more than what was on their Web site, but I have examined the x-ray image closely. I took the higher resolution image that they use as a background and tweaked the contrast to bring out detail, the traced individual lames, counted rows in 1/4 of a full circle, and scaled the image f...

Maelgwyn

How about a nice historical suggestion: Get a gilder from the gilder's guild to do your gilding for you! (Ok, probably from the Atlantian scribes guild, but I couldn't pass up the chance to use "gilder's guild" in a sentence.) Even if you want to do your own, an experienced gilder could probably tea...

Maelgwyn

I think that part of my attitude about following the rules comes from all the grief that rapier fighters used to get about being out of period. Working with personnae, costumes, weapons and manuals explicitly documented prior to 1600 was one of the defenses that the rapier community developed agains...

Maelgwyn

I do not fight from the ground in practice or tournament, I acknowledge the leg blow as a telling blow and yield the bout because I know of no historical evidence for anyone ever fighting from the ground in such contexts. In war or in a simulated duel I will fight from the ground because it is the o...

Maelgwyn

See http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=41864

Maelgwyn

I think I can come up with "a good armour setup for fast fighting" for any century and culture from 410 to 1600 AD in Europe. If you really don't care then 14th century transitional plate is one of the easiest to do well. Otherwise, please name a time and place.

Maelgwyn

On soaking in glue: I also tried soaking the leather in rabbit glue earlier this week. For smaller pieces (lamellar lames) I agree that it works great, even better than painting it on. Soaking leather in glue causes it to bubble or "boil" which may be another clue about this technique. On gesso: I ...

Maelgwyn

It might also be worth noting which cultures adopted them first. Saxons and Danes may have had different shields at Stamford Bridge.

Maelgwyn

Here are my thoughts, and I think Glen and I are on the same page here....Many quibble about the idea of sleeping out without a tent for a weekend. We portray people who often did it for months at a time. We are arguing about the necessity of tents, when often the people we portray were arguing ove...

Maelgwyn

The SCA has the loosest rules and the broadest inclusivity of any historical-dress-up group I have heard about. "pre-17th century European Middle Ages and Renaissance" covers a lot of historical and cultural territory. Given your previous posts I don't think you will have trouble finding a time "pre...

Maelgwyn

Based on Chris Dobson's article, the more common historical method is to saturate with rabbit glue while baking at low temperature. With this approach you add gesso and paint. See m If you want the most authentic 13th-14th century leather armour possible (and I suspect you do) then my advice is to r...

Maelgwyn

silk, leather, or rawhide. I've been experimenting, andwith thick laces an deburred, it doesn't seem to be an insuperable problem. Any clues at to whether the silk would be ribbon, braided cord, fabric strips, or some other construction? I would guess braided cord but that would just be a guess. I ...

Maelgwyn

...700 + lames of lamella in Birka is evidence enough to support me wearing lamellae armour in Pictland, much less two blocks over from the actual dig... It's a piece of lamella armour in a known Viking town. Vikings raided and settled in Pictland, and I'm portraying a Pict, so I'm wearing lamellar...

Maelgwyn

Giano, I would very much like to see it. With Alans and other Sarmatians as well as Huns invading throughout the region in the 5th and 6th centuries it would be difficult to establish an artifact as "Alamannic" in origin, but I am eager to learn more about it in any case. Tim, what do you think of t...

Maelgwyn

See http://www.deepeeka.com/store/comersus_ ... =3836&pbg=

You will need to find a Deepeeka dealer to place the order for you, I expect.

Maelgwyn

This book: Author: Klindt-Jensen, Ole. Publisher: Cornell University Press Ithaca, N.Y., [1966] Language: eng Topic: Art, Art, Medieval., Vikings. Notes: Bibliography: p. 162-166. Notes: Translation of Vikingetidens kunst by Ole Klindt-Jensen and David M. Wilson. Phys. format: 173 p., illus., plates...

Maelgwyn

I recall a report about the skeletons of some Saxon housecarls...full-time soldiers. Possibly from York? While not supermen, they did have the bone spurs/anchor points for some impressive musculature. Comparable to a modern steelworker or other laborer who does demanding strenuous labor every day.

Maelgwyn

I think it is the thickness and not the color that make the "metal" plastic lames look...plastic. The black, brown or burgundy colors look good to me, as a smulation of leather lames. I'm wearing my black newcastle lames until I finish a coat of hardened leather lamellar. Tim, if you're not in a big...

Maelgwyn

I'm not sure whether lamellar armour originated with Scythians/Sarmatians/proto-Iranian language peoples on the central Asian steppes and spread to China from there, or possibly began in China and spread to the various Steppes tribes. Sarmatian steppes tribes bring it to both the eastern and western...

Maelgwyn

Russ mentioned in another thread: ... Kept tooling the shoulder straps for a short lamellar cuirass (archer's getup). That seems like a great idea...I'd like to do that too...but what decorative style would a 5th century member of the Cuneus Sarmatae at Bremetenacum (Ribchester) have on their should...

Maelgwyn

I've been sick most of this week, but felt well enough on Friday to do 30 hindu pushups, 50 crunches, and two bridges of about 10 seconds each. I have not weighed myself recently but I seem to be staying in the 195-200 range.

Maelgwyn

Have those who know him informed him of the high regard in which he is held here? Have they offered to help with any research, advice or consultation he might want for improving his appearance on the field? Many on this forum, myself included, stand ready to advise and assist any courteous fighter w...

Maelgwyn

This work gets me thinking about the "curie" body armour seen peeking out from under a surcoat on a 13th century effigy. Wouldn't it be cool to pick one effigy and reconstruct all of the leather pieces (curie, ailettes, vambraces, cuises and shynbalds) to go with a mail draped conical helm, soupcan ...

Maelgwyn

One of the first references to rabbit glue on this forum was m which cites the article by Chris Dobson: "As Tough as Old Boots? A Study of Hardened Leather Armour. Part One: Techniques of Manufacture" in ART AND ARMS. FLORENCE, CITY OF THE MEDICI, ISBN 0-9541633-1-1. I'll try to post more detail lat...

Maelgwyn

Mine is linen, machine sewn, stuffed with wool. Very resilient, breathes well, been through the wash a couple of times with no problems. My wool was never combed or washed in hot water so there is likely a bit of lanolin left on it...which might be why it resists felting. Rollo, don't knock it 'till...

Maelgwyn

I don't think your question is answerable yet. Getting to a specific decade and country would help. Naming a specific type of sword and armour would also help. I don't have any information on this topic, but unless you get more specific I don't think anyone could answer your question.

Maelgwyn

Cold and rain and sick kids at home prevented any practice this week. Strength training (70 HS in 2 sets of 35, 30 HP in 2 sets of 15) Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Aerobic/Cardio (30 min. nrdic track) Tuesday but missed Thursday's session. I could claim that staying home with a sick kid disrupted m...

Maelgwyn

I'm going to guess that you meant the 3rd or 4th century AD. In the 4th century AD you would find people with at least some remnants of celtic language, culture and ancestry in the (modern) countries of Turkey, Spain, France, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. In some of these countries you would...

Maelgwyn

This guy's stuff is amazing! I was looking through google for ideas for leather scale armor when I stumbled across this page: m Thanks for the pointer! His work is definitely worth looking at. Does anybody have any advice that I could use? Any info would really help, and I thank you all in advance ...

Maelgwyn

Rawhide is not the same as tanned leather. Uilleag has given instructions for vegetable tanned leather. For rawhide I would cut it out extra large by at least 1", soak it thoroughly overnight, and then nail it to a wooden form and let it dry. Pry it off and trim to the desired shape. No heat is need...

Maelgwyn

Veg. tanned leather? Super sheen usually works fine. What other steps did you take with your leather before applying super sheen?

Re: Got my armour order from Historic Enterprises

5th cent. Sarmato-Romano-British art style?

Re: Amazing leather armor (and my first post here! ^-^) ! (E