The Armour Archive

JJ Shred

Actually they need to rename the combat board the SCA squabbleboard. It seems to me that is all it is. If you post on something WMA you seem to always get some LARP who pops in to tell you that isn't "SCA legal". What the hell does a "madu" have to do with medieval anything? I wasn't aware of any kn...

JJ Shred

I've always read a hide in Saxon England was between 60 and 150 acres. I don't think given the agricultural and pastural requirements of a family 2 or even 6 acres would cut it. You have to have at least 1 acre of good pasture per horse or cow to subsist. You also need hay and rotation of land uses....

JJ Shred

I believe that the low life-expectancy rate was due, in part, to the high infant mortality rates. This is the same statistical lie politicians are using to take away 2 - 3 years of our social security in order to pay their political bills. We aren't living longer than our fathers - if my father is ...

JJ Shred

A stifle injury isn't visible when standing and usually isn't visibly noticable at a walk, although if you know your horse well enough you can feel it. At a trot they will favor it, and at a canter it really shows. Neither of us noticed anything till we got him into a trot, during a walk everything ...

JJ Shred

I think you are over most peoples' heads here. I've brain-tanned a few deer, and I'm sure Bob Hurley has as well, but not to many here have been willing to stick their hands or noses into it.

JJ Shred

That is/was our Duc in the Knights of St. Denys. He has since retired. He is wearing McKenzie-Smith sollettes, greaves, cuisses and arms over a butted mail haulberk. The surcoat/jupon he is wearing is a copy of the Black Prince's, and I believe it was made by the costumer (is that a word?) for the I...

JJ Shred

You Brits always seem to be horny....

JJ Shred

It depends on what your motives are. If you are doing a show for a paying client, then looks are definitely important. Working around the client's preconceived notions or perhaps an event that they need to celebrate/advertise, etc.... you may have to compromise in order to fill the contract. If you ...

JJ Shred

It is a nice harness! Who made that gorget?

JJ Shred

Alan's been a buzy bee here recently. I went down last week and watched him work on these. They are beautiful. He has a really nice shop now, and his output is up. I'll probably head down again later this week after I fail miserably at finding employment again this week, and watch him raise the grea...

JJ Shred

What's up with all of these cool photos, deValcerre? Is that all you Aussies do is ride around looking cool and having a blast? Some of us would like to be you when we grow up!

JJ Shred

How much is too much to spend on mail? A butted 16 gauge halberk runs about $200.00, and a 14 gauge $300.00, and a coif $50.00 - 75.00. I've got a long sleeved 14 G. knee-length halberk, coif and pair of maille (SCA non-legal) gauntlets I'd sell for $325.00 for the set. A flat top barrel helm and yo...

JJ Shred

And the Black Death has just killed off 25 million people (1347 - 1352) so there is low unemployment! Buyers' market for real estate as well!

JJ Shred

What are you calling the Migration? The Saxons after the fall of Rome, or the Viking and Magyar migrations? My sources show the raids beginning in the 8th C., Lindsfarne 793 AD, Jarrow 794 AD, Noirmourier France, 799 AD and raids on the south west of Ireland 812 AD. The text also mentions the first ...

JJ Shred

I've done them both ways. First, I did a round Viking shield out of 1/4 X 6" basswood, then a second layer glued perpendicular, the whole thing next covered in bullhide. I took strips of rawhide and stitched them to the shield, then stitched a second piece to the first, stitched it to the shield, et...

JJ Shred

I was just perusing Ewart Oakeshott's The Archaeology of Weapons , and on page 125, Fig. 51 there is a reconstruction of splinted armour found in Valsgarde grave #8 in a wooden box. There were 21 iron staves or splints which show signs of being joined in three groups, two long and one short by means...

JJ Shred

He could be kicked out of the SCA forever. Granted, that's not always that bad of a thing, but that is the organization he is in, and asking about. He's not acting about re-enactment, where we can portray any station we can afford to actually portray. The SCA works differently, as you know. No, act...

JJ Shred

I do understand that I cannot fancy myself a Knight as I do not belong to that accolade. Why not? Neither does anyone else, either on this board or who are American citizens. It's all just make-believe, some just take it more seriously then others. I am a re-en actor . I play what ever roll is nece...

JJ Shred

A wrap-shot to the back of a steel helmet would always kill, as the force generated from the "whip" of the wrist was enough to cut steel (see the Mispronouncski Bible Illustrations for examples).

JJ Shred

I agree, John should have left off any mention of SCA combat in a book dedicated to actual medieval swordsmanship. It undermines his credibility, just like Brian Price does by taking a legitimate idea - a book based on 14th C. armour - and diluting it with SCA armouring rules and photos of obviously...

JJ Shred

Anything used for combat besides a rattan chair leg wrapped in furnace tape????

JJ Shred

[img]http://www.armor.com/2000/catalog/images/089.jpg[/img]

This sword is still available. I sold out of rivited haulberks before we could get together for a trade. This is a beautiful sword, I only wish I had the cash to buy it out-right.

JJ Shred

Very nice. I have one of those from Alan Bauldri, and it sits up high over the ribs. I wear a maille halbergeon under it. Same comment on the bottom line - it looks a little uneven. Good work.

JJ Shred

I have very long hair, which I have found appropriate for William II's reign (the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th). Beards picked up then as well. Prior to that the Normans worn ugly cuts with little or no facial hair, and Saxons were the furry bunch. Vikings, I believe, only had "longish"...

JJ Shred

You guys (and ladies) look great! I wish I could get our 15th C. group to make half the attempt. It looks like everyone is very concerned with getting down all the "details" that make a more accurate portrayal.

JJ Shred

It goes quicker as you get better at it. I've added an expansion piece to two rivited halberks and attached a coif to one of them in the last two weeks. I'll have a third done in another week or so along with a 5/16" ID camail.

JJ Shred

I like the shape. One of those, perhaps a tad bit tighter, and worn under the maille coif instead of over, would give you that "Mispronounski Bible" wire hat look, to be worn under a flat top great helm. Yours looks a lot more "stylish" than my Albion Armour Indian version. Very nice.

JJ Shred

Let's see, I've had some serious bruises as well as fingernail scratch marks that have drawn blood on my back...oh wait, you mean in the SCA not in the sack! What Templar Bob said - and true, nothing says kill me! better than a dislocated knee!

JJ Shred

I have never handled an Albion sword and therefore know nothing about them. I have your measurements, and you are roughly the same size as me, so I am counting the links on a haulberk that fits me over a gambeson and using that quantity for sizing.

JJ Shred

We are planning a trip down this weekend if we can set up some showings with some real estate agents around Knoxville. I have a bit of work to do fitting the haulberk, but I'll let you know tomorrow what are arrangements are.

JJ Shred

I didn't know you played hockey.

JJ Shred

Historic Enterprises m is who I use for the "underwear, the braies are here: [img]http://www.historicenterprises.com/images_store/products_medium/product_90.jpg[/img] The hose are split leg and can be either wool or linen: [img]http://www.historicenterprises.com/images_store/products_medium/product_...

JJ Shred

There are several good sites that examine the armour & clothing of that approximate time period. Andy Goddard's 1265 is on the earlier side of it: m It's a little early for Edward I, but gives you an idea. Liebart's site is 1302 in Flanders but also has good information. m Interestingly, they both c...

JJ Shred

Jumping ahead to the gambeson question, here is a wool-stuffed linen gambeson made by a lady named Wendy who is affiliated with Steve Forth Castle's group. I don't remember the price or her information, but somebody else soon will. The gambeson design is from the Mispronouncski Bible illustrations (...

JJ Shred

So say the Englishe goddamns who send peasants armed with crooked sticks against the flower of our chivalry, while theirs' cower behind walls of stone and the vast distance of the sea.

13th C. Soft Kit