The Armour Archive

Kel Rekuta

EVA sheets bond well with most contact cements. Flexible waterproof versions like Barge All Purpose Cement are easy enough to come by. Construction contact cements tend to be inflexible once cured and so bonds have a greater tendency to delaminate under repeated hammering. The "crepe" ment...

Kel Rekuta

I'm pretty sure that's the stuff Jeremy O'Neill and his wife were wearing in our armoured tournament a couple weeks ago. It survived thrusts with rebated steel swords and daggers. Funny looking and much too light to suck up the energy of blows but it kept metal weapons out of their bodies. Can't kno...

Kel Rekuta

Seems like a lot of work when you can buy one of several sizes for $20-30. A top quality professional tool might be as much as $60. But hey, if making tools is a few minutes work with stuff you already have... neat!

Kel Rekuta

Having taken a cut faceside along a coif, I can vouch for this. Scary, but no harm done. Having had a blunt steel dagger rammed two handed into my throat; I agree to an extent. As my riveted mail was unlined at that time, I got one hell of a scrape across my throat and chin. Now, with a single laye...

Kel Rekuta

Jetrefilm wrote:Here is the last set of Grace Holley in the Shroud armor.

If any of you guys want backgrounds for your computers, let me know and I will paste them up here.

David Jetre
Writer & Director of Shroud
Jetrefilm

You need to ask?

Hell yeah!

Kel Rekuta

Kind of tangentally on topic. I'm interested in making some hardened leather armor and to get the desired shapes considering building woden lasts to hold the leather in shape while drying. The wood needs to be hard enough to be strong but soft enough to take lots of small nails without splitting. I...

Kel Rekuta

Russ Mitchell wrote:Can you do arrows? I have no affordable source for barreled and shouldered pine arrows.

Russ, no way those were turned, especially on a pole lathe. I suspect they would have been done with a simple spokeshave-like implement on blanks held in a jig.

Kel

Kel Rekuta

What on Earth is a "Fiore" visor? Do you mean the cone-like basket grill on some armoured figures in the Novati copy of Flos?

Kel Rekuta

I'm interested in the mail. I'm just down the road from you, so can pick it up, cash in hand. Let me know if its still available.

Kel

Kel Rekuta

Vlasta wrote:I don't know, but I think that makes it clear why they never used to campaign in the winter.

The Teutonic Order regularly campaigned in the winter. Much easier to cross the numerous bogs, streams and marshy ground that defended their targets. Read Christiansen's "Northern Crusades."

Kel Rekuta

Not to discourage your creative bent, but... This problem was dealt with maybe a hundred years ago by the leather industry. The latest versions of bench top presses will take setting and cutting dies for just about any operation imaginable in leather, fabric and other non metallic material. My prefe...

Kel Rekuta

Greg, Assuming you used spirit dye, what you are seeing is excess pigment resting on the leather surface. This is a very common problem. You could buff vigorously with some rags or just give it a couple wipes with a barely damp cloth. Either way wear gloves or your fingers will be blue for a week. W...

Kel Rekuta

They were really nice. He told me i wasn't allowed to take pictures, so i stopped. I felt bad because I was really abusing the rules. I had already gotten through two of the galleries. But then some woman tried to take pictures of her son with a suit, and he said he didn't care and left the room fo...

Kel Rekuta

Pay a shoe repairman $5 to stretch them on his shoe stretching machine. A wooden shoe tree and a bottle of rubbing alcohol will work too. Either way leave the shoes to be stretched overnight. Too many people think its a five minute job. Leather stretched slowly stays stretched. Stretching too fast t...

Kel Rekuta

Kaos,

That booklet is clever and instructive. Very nice touch. Thanks for explaining the gum arabic. I'd have thought sealing wax would be used for correspondence but gum suits too.

Kel Rekuta

Kaos,

Love the detail in your kit! Your effort is inspiring.

Please post a photo of the account book. Also why would a merchant carry a small parcel of gum arabic with his writing supplies? What is its purpose?

Thanks!

Kel Rekuta

Drew, A word of advice from somebody who know who everybody is, and who has some of your work in the studio. Make sure that Jess is happy. Even if you have to stay up all night working and annoy the neighbors to do it. It's worth it. f Kel - read that the other way around. I get your point, but con...

Kel Rekuta

Drew, A word of advice from somebody who know who everybody is, and who has some of your work in the studio. Make sure that Jess is happy. Even if you have to stay up all night working and annoy the neighbors to do it. It's worth it. f Sounds like a perfect reason not to take orders from this "...

Kel Rekuta

Love your work Eisenberg!

What is your reasoning to choose this visor shape? Did you model it after another armet visor, maybe an Eastern European one?

Kel Rekuta

Many images by the mid 14thC Italian painter Zevio Altichiero have at least one figure wearing the typical kettle hat with a down sloped brim. Lots of useful stuff in the Execution of St. John. There are better resolution images of this one elsewhere online. There used to be a good discussion of Sca...

Kel Rekuta

Wow. That could fit right in at the Armeria Real. Tres cool, Wade.

Kel Rekuta

I've used one of those for almost two years, mostly on 18 or 20ga 304SS. It cuts 16ga mild without trouble. It does not like 14ga mild but with patience can cut it. Pretty good value, that.

Kel Rekuta

The originals are first quarter 15thC. estimated 1411 (?)... Yes, the way many of us describe the years 1400 - 1425 C.E. is the first quarter of the fifteenth century. Its an English language thing that can be confusing, even to people that speak English as their mother tongue. Sorry for the hijack...

Kel Rekuta

The originals are first quarter 15thC.

Kel Rekuta

Hey Kel thanks for letting me know that. Hope its helpful. Are you talking about extending the leather under the thumb plates up into the metacarpal and riveting the extension to the thumb area of the metacarpal? I'm gonna work on the thumbs since it seems the general concensus. Just need to get as...

Kel Rekuta

I saw this pair in combat with light steel longswords this weekend. Nicely done articulation with pretty tight tolerance. I wasn't excited about the floating thumb but a small tab of strap leather or another connected lame would sort that. Most impressive Matt. I think that pattern is a winner.

Kel Rekuta

audax wrote:Prince Nigel. It has a nice ring.

King Nigel and Queen Arielle. Even better.

Hah...

But then Adrielle would be very annoyed. Not a good thing....

Kel Rekuta

What is the rated capacity of the shear? The thing that attracted me to this type of shear is that it can be a cheap way to cut very thick sheet. And I do mean thick. I don't know about that one but the 12" model will cut 3/8" mild bar stock. It cuts 14ga. stainless like cardboard. I rare...

Kel Rekuta

No disrespect to the vendors you are looking at... but did you know there is a mail vendor right here in Toronto? And he will deliver it to the AEMMA salle where the local SCAdians practice when the weather is poor? Contact Chris, I'm pretty sure he has stock on hand.

Kerr Armourers

http://www.kerrarmourers.com/Armour/Mai ... ducts.html

Kel Rekuta

My inclination would be to go with the upholstery velvet, because that sort of fabric is intended to take wear and tear. The only reservation I'd have about it is that the particular one you showed is striated rather than smooth. So then striated is bad for this purpose? Its a modern patterning for...

Kel Rekuta

I don't think laces tucked inside the cuisse would be that uncomfortable. My boots tend to have about nine inches of excess lace that gets tucked into the top of the boot, and it's not even noticeable unless I pull the laces really tight. I'm guessing these wold also be pointed? If so, they wouldn'...

Kel Rekuta

Maybe they do work like shoelaces. The laces are not (exaclty) a closure, and there are no buckles either. What if the leg was just slipped on, and then the laces would be tightened to take up the slack. Would work just like chausses, which they would be used to wearing anyway. No need for buckles,...

Kel Rekuta

Where were all these bright ideas when I was making these?

I had to assume the laces were for adjustment inside as no hinges are apparent on the outward face of the greaves. The client insisted I use these clunky buckles on the outside. He rides in them.

Next time.....

Kel Rekuta

Russ Mitchell wrote:That's REALLY weird.

Not really. Same thing happened to me two years ago. Mailed a cheque in September, it was deposited the last week of December. The journals ordered were mailed out shortly thereafter. It is a volunteer organization after all. We can't expect overnight service.

Kel Rekuta

The stuff I got is from Royalwood LTD and is Irish waxed linen thread. I thought that might be pretty good stuff, so maybe I just need to go up to 3 ply. It's a shame, as I like sewing with the thinner stuff, and I like how it looks on the finished product. The look and feel of the linen is SO much...

Re: Photos 11-18 (Last Set)

Re: Q: Best wood for leather forming lasts?

commercial "universal" presses