The Armour Archive

Maelgwyn

Good morning! Time to fess up. I didn't get to train hardly at all last week, due to combinations of bad weather and me not having a vehicle. ... So, time to get back on the wagon. Good morning your Excellency! I was also remiss last week. I did 1 aerobic session, no strength sessions, 1 fighter pr...

Maelgwyn

What is the latest documentation for a Norman conical helm of spanenhelm panel construction? This is not my normal area of study but I need some sources for a special project. I have seen suggestions that this persisted into the 13th century but I'd like some contemporary art, literature or other ev...

Maelgwyn

White Mountain Armoury wrote:...just poking around for a super deal somewhere.

I hear that Hobby Lobby occasionally puts all of their fabrics, including linens, on sale at deep discounts. Prices under $3/yard for linen have been reported. I don't know how widespread that chain is in other parts of the country.

Maelgwyn

In Welsh his name would be Owain Llawgoch, and looking under that spelling I found http://www.historyforumwales.org.uk/owainlg.html. Enjoy!

Maelgwyn

I plan to arrive about noon on the 30th. I'll bring the gauntlets disassembled so there will be lots of little pieces but none larger than the back-of-the-hand plate. See you then!

Maelgwyn

The plastic Baldar cup is closer in weight to the real guard I am simulating, and the flat black color is less intrusive than a shiny metal cup. Any hand safety for SCA sword fighting will involve compromises and this is the compromise that currently seems best to me.

Maelgwyn

[Opinion] Lose the foam. It only serves to trap heat and sweat against your body. Who wants that? Pad the bazubands with 1/4" wool felt, double layer in the elbows, or wear linen quilted sleves padded with tow, cotton or wool under them. Same for the greaves. Shoe goo works great for connecting padd...

Maelgwyn

Ronnin, have you posted pictures? I don't recall seeing them.

Water and rabbit glue works for me! My vambraces:

[img]http://www.cox-internet.com/kmarsh/images/DCP_1539.JPG[/img]

Maelgwyn

Wow, this is getting much better response than I expected. Thanks for all your suggestions, and keep em coming! I suppose I should have worded my request differently - I know there is nothing both good and cheap, but what I'm looking for is low price and good quality, as opposed to the very high qu...

Maelgwyn

I did little training to speak of last week, due to some family obligations but also the annual cedar pollen season. I changed allergy medications and I plan to be back in training this week. Got a 30-minute aerobic workout this morning (nordic track) so I am on target so far.

Maelgwyn

See http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... thor=Vitus

You can skip the short ones but read all of the long ones.

Then go to http://www.mandrakearmory.com/Merchant2 ... ry_Code=RR and order the complete set. And read them.

Then post back here when you are ready to request your bracelet.

Maelgwyn

Linen. Absolutely the best material for helm padding. I made mine with quilted linen stuffed with raw wool, but you can stuff the quilted linen with linen fibers (tow) or raw cotton or horsehair or rags.

Maelgwyn

Also see http://www.100welshheroes.com/en/biography/owainlawgoch
"He surfaces in the contemporary writings of Jean Froissart"
Your next source should probably be Froissart.

Maelgwyn

Thank you for drawing my attention to an interesting character and an interesting story. It almost makes me want to develop another portrayal, if only so I can be an ally to Jehan de Pelham! I wouldn't even need a new name to go with it. Jester, I'd like to see that roster too. Do you know where she...

Maelgwyn

...Thanks for the piece-I am looking forward to trying out some hardening techniques myself! Do you think a commercial heat gun would be a good option for a heat source? I have tried this...don't. Unless you have excellent control and infinite patience you will either underheat or scorch the leathe...

Maelgwyn

Thanks! I look forward to the pictures.

Maelgwyn

Magazine: History Today, June 2004 Section: MONTHS PAST Author: Richard Cavendish Owen Glendower's French Treaty June 14th, 1404 WELSH BARDS IN the fourteenth century wondered plaintively whether a princely champion would arise to free Wales from the English. The last native Prince of Wales recognis...

Maelgwyn

... I have "at last" gotten some more shop help and they love stamping scales, so my scale supply is getting bigger all the time. Could you provide a picture of the tool you use to stamp scales, and perhaps some info on how the tool was made? I have made over 100 scales with a strap cutter, utility...

Maelgwyn

On the right, wearing lamellar. Sir Gaston de Claremont has his back to the camera on the far right.

[img]http://www.purpleermine.com/gallery/albums/bgbmorning/BGB10066.sized.jpg[/img]

Maelgwyn

spent the day wondering why my legs hurt I know that feeling! Monday= 70 Hindu Squats, 20 Hindu Pushups Tuesday= spent the day wondering why my legs hurt. Evening fighter practice. Wed= spent the day wondering why my legs hurt. Thurs= spent the day wondering why my legs hurt. Friday= 30 minutes Nor...

Maelgwyn

I don't know Steve, a lot of the rapier community down this way have started using the later period helms for their fighting. They have been adding perf to fill in the gaps in the face to make them legal. A really simple fix for some to get a helm that looks much better than a fencing mask. Thanks ...

Maelgwyn

If you already have too many Celts, ask the Tuchux to fight as Sarmatian auxiliaries for Rome.

Maelgwyn

Was this all done with a stylus and a texture stamp, or did you carve in some of the lines?

Maelgwyn

I can pick up used street hockey grills from a used sporting goods store for about $5, so it is really hard to see the advantage of welding a custom grill for a youth combat helm. If the shape of the face opening on the morion is too peaked to be accomodated by trimming in the sides of an existing g...

Maelgwyn

From all of the research I have done, I have found that most armours made of cuir bouilli were soaked in water, formed over a last and then baked dry. The finished pieces was then coated in hide glue and gypsum, (gesso) the finished piece was then painted. In Joe Skeesick's previous post at m he de...

Maelgwyn

I can see that you have used leather strap articulation between the upper and lower neck rings. This is good. It looks as though the connection between the front and back plates and the lower neck ring may be metal riveted to metal. This would be...stiff. My impression from looking at 16th century g...

Maelgwyn

This is not the first archaeological evidence I've seen for women warriors among tribes from the steppes in eastern Europe at about this time, nor is it the first evidence for auxiliaries (not regular legion troops) from these areas serving in the Roman army in Britain. It does appear to be the firs...

Maelgwyn

List off what you did last week, what your short-term fighting goals are, and some long term ones. Last week I did no training of any kind, despite my best intentions to hit a Steppes/Elfsea mid-week practice. I got back on the wagon this morning with a good workout and the rest of the week seems p...

Maelgwyn

Well, I'm here in Cedar Hill but I seem to have come down with some sort of crud...looks like I won't be going to practice tonight either. I'll have to come back up some Sunday when I'm feeling better.

Maelgwyn

Maelgwyn

...The question was posed as to which virtue is the most important in a knight. I argued that, within the game we play, prowess would the most important virtue. For without it, knighthood within the SCA is unattainable. If you are sitting on a three-legged stool, which of the legs is most important...

Maelgwyn

Specifically, what is Prowess, and how is it made? Prowess, quite simply, is the ability to impose your will upon the outcome of combat despite the concerted effort of an opponent. If Prowess is like a great hall, then what is its foundation, and what is its walls, and what is the roof overhead? Wh...

Maelgwyn

Got a good workout at practice Tuesday, but otherwise it was a vacation week. Next week I'll try to catch two practices and then return to a daily routine the following week.

Maelgwyn

Since they are injection-molding these plates it is a shame they didn't make a leather lame first and use it for a model. A subtle leather surface texture and a slight curve would dramatically improve these plates. It seems to me that someone could mass-produce leather lames with rabbit-glue hardeni...

Maelgwyn

I've only made one pair of cops, one pair of vambrace splints and a nearly-finished pair of gauntlets from 4130. Others with more experince may have a better informed opinion. My estimation: 18g 4130 annealed = 18g mild 18g 4130 cold worked will harden some. Enough to make it hard to form in specifi...

Maelgwyn

The only maintenance I do on my plastic lamellar is to clean off duct-tape marks occasionally. To my eye the thickness of the plates makes the metal-look plates obviously plastic. Black, brown, and dark red plates look like dyed leather and are the right thickness for it. When I finish my hardened l...

Re: Monday Morning Train-in - Frustration sets in.

Norman conical spangenhelm...how late? How decorated?

Re: Monday Morning Train-In 1-10-2005

Re: First Monday Morning Train-In 2005 - Goals for New Year?

Re: The Elements and Making of Prowess