The Armour Archive

knitebee

The comb isn't nearly as wavy as the lighting made it look, it varies less than 1/16in. This helm is loosly based of one of Henery VIII helm with some concesions that the customer wants. Heres progress as of today, visor is still rough and needs some fidling with the fit and shaping. http://members....

knitebee

absolutely BEAUTIFUL Aaron. I love the lines on that knife, great coice to reproduce.

Brian

knitebee

I'll second for the reddish fabrics

brian

knitebee

I just thought of the same thing yeasterday to help my son hit the right spot on the forms. Haven't tried it yet, so hows its working for you?

Brian

knitebee

I just padded mine last weekend with layers of fulled wool nearly 1/4in thick between the gauntlet leather and the gloves. Took a shot to the fingers at practice and they held up even better than I expected.

Brian

knitebee

I reshaped the back a bit, took cutting out a small section because of the comb and welding in a new piece, but it helped, still looks off for some reason. the chin still needs brought out a bit more too. heres some more views http://members.armourarchive.org/knitebee/closehelm2.JPG http://members.a...

knitebee

I'm working on a closed helm and while its coming allong something just doesn't feel right with the shaping. I do realize the back of the neck should come in further (hard to do with the keel going that far down).

brian

knitebee

Looking in the new Churburg book the bascinet #13 has the mail butted against the bottom of the leather and whip stitched on with stitches spaced the same as the links (ie one stitch per link), I would question if these stitches are original or some earlier restoration. #18 in the same book has simu...

knitebee

I've done both wool and cotton filled linen liners and found the wool padding more resilient and cooler to wear than the cotton filled liner (note I haven't done an all linen liner). Wool socks are popular as tehy do an excelent job of wicking away presperation, they do the same thing inside padding...

knitebee

if you can come up with a large form like a section of 4in diameter heavy walled pipe, then I'd leave the rivets in and cut it with a chisel then clean it up with a rotary sanding bit in the drill or with files.

Brian

knitebee

There is the outer layer of whatever uphostery fabric is made of, a layer of felted wool in places it needs padding, then two layers of cotton fabric for the body liner and two layers of linen for the arms. You had better move north as quickly as you can cause it may very well kill you down here fo...

knitebee

my sheet metal gauge has gauges on one side and metric on the other. Its worth buying one, more than once I've had the steel outlets have a sheet or two that got put away in the wrong slot, which I cought by having my gauge with me.

Brian

knitebee

First casting off the master, hours of sanding to remove finger prints that where in the clay. Many details reshaped sublty, and yet more details to still be taken care of.

[img]http://members.armourarchive.org/knitebee/wax%20tablet/wax%20tablet4.JPG[/img]

brian

knitebee

I've the same project setting here, I picked up some of scalamandre silk velvet off Ebay, its thick, tough and supper strong. I tried useing some affordable velvet from the local fabric store and started ripping out at the rivets before i even had 1/4 of them in. because of that when the silk velvet...

knitebee

Hal, I'm moving this week (new place has a 25x40ft shop ) first things once moved is to give them a try and see what needs done about the keyways, should just be able to not work on that side and be fine. sha-ul, I wasn't there when he did the finish pass but for all the other passes I watched he ju...

knitebee

got the mold done and cast my first piece off it, now LOTS of work to improve details and fix flaws. Seems I may have to build a vacume chamber to, to keep from getting airbubles in the details of the castings. I'l have more pictures tomarow.

Brian

knitebee

I got bored this last week and decided i wanted to make a snazzy coin purse. I cast the metal work from some silver solder I had laying around into a plaster mold I made. The S initial is for my daughter Shantelle who will most likely wear this the most. The velvet is some 100%silk from Scalamandre ...

knitebee

My dad got me a section of 6 1/4in diameter drive shaft from a hydro-electric generator. I took it to a friend who recently opened his own machine shop and he sliced it up and has lathed out 6 dishing from for me. They go from 1/4" deep to 2" deep. Pictured is only 4 of the 6 as the last t...

knitebee

here mine so far (about to add some more). The black and yellow one was made by and owned by my good friend Kye, I sewwed the blue, green and tan pavilions. The tan one is our camp kitchen, the blue one is mine and the green one is used by my kids. The white wedges making our gate way are Tent smith...

knitebee

Karens site has been a god send more times than not. It also seems to be the site no mater what topic is being researched that i take people to first and we find what we where looking for.

A great heartfelt thanks to you for all your work Karen. hats off to you

Brian

knitebee

That is AWSOME, I'm working on a faux ivory wax tablet http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=75216 Once I get it done we are going to have to talk about a case for it

Keep up the great work

brian

knitebee

I spent a number of hours doing some supper fine clean up work then I did a wash of thinned black paint to bring out the details some more. I think another few hours of work and i'll be ready to make a mold of this then I'll start reworking a casting from that mold to improve detail more. http://mem...

knitebee

Very cool, Brian! Looking forward to seeing the tablet as it progresses! Will you be carving your heraldry into the shield (or are you going to just stick with St. George's cross)? I hadn't planned on do anything on the shield but now that you mentioned it I'll definately have to do St. Georges cro...

knitebee

Ever since first seeing them on Karens website(m) I really want one of those fancy carved ivory wax tablet. So finally I've gotten my butt in gear and trying my hand at making a faux ivory one. Heres the rough start of the master. It will be used to make a mold then I can cast them in ivory colored ...

knitebee

be carefull with gloves, fabric type gloves can actually make such oops worse as the fibers get caught and suck your hand in. Even with leather gloves consider what you are doing some times you are actually safer without them than with them (in this case I do think leather gloves would have been a g...

knitebee

Why should those of us on the outskirts of the SCA who are not invested in the SCA system invest in it. Why should we take time away from our personal pursuits to help better the SCA when many in the SCA aren't willing to invest in it themselves. Convince us that it is worth the investment, or you ...

knitebee

That answered my question... My other issue with brigandine was the gap between the plates. If I were in a real pitched battle I wouldn't want armor with gaps no matter how small or hard to strike... Thanks. All historical brigadines I know of have overlapping plates. The biggest differance I see b...

knitebee

My banner arrived in the mail today.

AWSOME

Isabella was such a pleasure to work with, full of great ideas and plenty of tallent that shows up on the finished piece.

Weather permiting I'll get a photo for everyone to drool over.

Thanks bunches

Brian

knitebee

I wish I was near you, I'm quite sure there is a LOT I could learn from you on how to go about research.

Brian

knitebee

bondo is used on metal in body shops all the time.

For the rivet holes counter sink it a little on the outside. Put a rivet in from the back and pien it down and file down even, its pretty easy way to fix it

Brian

knitebee

http://www.ladyorensmedievalshoes.com/Shoes.html
Not quite as nice as some of the others but they fit and look great at a lesser price

Brian

knitebee

But to the original topic: If these plates are going to be hidden, you might consider tinning them which would be 100% period. Craig Naider did some wonderful experiments on a brigandine where he hot plated his parts with Tin and the hot-plating was the temper. You could even cold galvanizing (I th...

knitebee

My wife has been out of town recently and didn't ship in a timely manner to those who ordered from the 27th to present. She apologizes and has sent out a little bonus by way of that apology. Thanks much for your business and your product is en route--enjoy! Good thing I ordered earlier this week! d...

knitebee

I'll take all three

PM sent

Brian

knitebee

My bigger question would be why powder coat? Bluing might be a prettier option. Because the plates in question will be mounted under a layer of leather and silk velvet, the powder coating is just for a long lasting durable corrosion resistance, I figure it would hold up better on the articualted pi...

frustration with closed helm lines (looking good finally)

my new purse

my new dishing forms

Re: trying my hand at a wax tablet

trying my hand at a wax tablet (pics of finished piece)

Re: Why invest in the SCA?

Re: Note to The Compaignye Store Customers