The Armour Archive

Kel Rekuta

Since this is basically an upholstery process, use straight round point needles of appropriate length. m Lots of places sell these in kits too. The "three-square" bayonet points tend to cut linen fibres. The round point pushes them aside like an awl does. Use a sewing palm to drive the nee...

Kel Rekuta

Let me get this straight...I will have to shape these twice if I dry them in the oven? I wouldn't think so. Just moisten them a bit with a spray bottle, not so much as they might soften. Bake them at ~160-170F and check frequently that they aren't curling or burning. Shouldn't take long, probably u...

Kel Rekuta

Kel, I don't know the term "sammed". Could you explain ? Thanks. Sorry, its the similar to the American term "casing" in leatherwork. Cold soaking, then several hours covered until moisture is very even throughout the piece. I learned leather work from old British publications i...

Kel Rekuta

Ugh. Ouch. I feel your pain.

OTOH, I like that trellis tool, gotta try that.

Kel Rekuta

My drinking jacks are subjected to a 20-30 second dip in very warm water (160-170F) Are these on the form or off? How much, if any, shrinking do you experience? With thanks in advance... AoC The jack bodies are 8-9 oz veg - stitched, sammed and tightly lasted. They go in wet, at room temperature. T...

Kel Rekuta

Vitus von Atzinger wrote:After reading all this I still don't know which method to use.
hahahahah!

Whichever one you have facilities to use. They both seem to work. Just forget that hot wax process!

Kel Rekuta

Indeed, barring the discovery of some guild book of secrets, so to speak, that gives all the specifics of how they made their leather armour in 13th century Florence, we're going to be reverse engineering and guessing based on way too limited evidence and far too uncertain knowledge. Yeah. The comp...

Kel Rekuta

Oh yeah.

Nice shape on those vambraces Vitus! Well done!

Kel Rekuta

In addition to the information Dan presented, there's another aspect of water hardening versus bake hardening that shouldn't be ignored. When you water harden, you have to heat a volume of water to the appropriate temperature - about 180 F. Boiling is recognizable, but 180 versus 150 versus 200 ? S...

Kel Rekuta

Man, this is silly. I handled the Merc Tailor Wisby set at WMAW 2004 and took Les over to the table to see them. See, both of us were working on Wisby patterned gauntlets ourselves at the time. Alan generously discussed his take on the pattern, the whys and hows of it compared to ours'. The researc...

Kel Rekuta

Chuck Davis wrote:Just scanned some old docs

Have fun

Thanks for sharing those, very generous of you.

Kel Rekuta

Most upholstery leather is heavily coated for soil and scuff resistance. This is generally termed "corrected grain" by leather wholesalers. Unfortunately leather trade terminology definitions vary wildly depending on the retailer and the craftsman you might meet. I've seen coat weight garm...

Kel Rekuta

Dear All, Its all in my book. Which will come out in 2011, I hope. Sorry about the wait. I hope it will be worth it. TC After reading part of your thesis, I am confident it will be a significant and influential resource for students of armour. If I could impose on your time a bit more; were the dec...

Kel Rekuta

Kel, I think the verveille covers are probably more decorative then functional. After all, the usual arrangement is sort of ugly. As to helping to seat a great helm; these basinets are all way too tall and pointy to ever have a helm over them. Mac Thanks for that. I thought that one must be too lat...

Kel Rekuta

Mac, Doug... Is this brow decoration peculiar to English effigies? Is the "verveille cover" perhaps a stuffed band to help seat the great helm? Is it likely that the decorative theme on the bascinet would be present elsewhere on the harness, such as on the breastplate? So many new clues in...

Kel Rekuta

Sir Mihangel wrote:Thought so.
so do you know if he works in springsteel?

No. Mild and stainless, to this point.

Kel Rekuta

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Englis ... &id=329496

Kel Rekuta

[quote="Durasteel Corporation"]Oh, one other thing. Two actually. I have some stretched rawhide somewhere. Its been in 90%+ humidity and still remained harder and tougher than my sole leather that is twice as thick....truly, its the high carbon steel of animal skins. To a great extent, I a...

Kel Rekuta

The same way I treat my other armour...I stay out of the rain and large bodies of water. And its dyed, painted etc. Seriously, it doesnt get soft and mushy. Your dogs chew toy might get mushy after an hour of his wet mouth knawing on it....but so too will leather. (Does your leather mallet get soft...

Kel Rekuta

Gooood question. I have dyed it....painted it.....heat treated it (brazed with torch)....spanked it....disciplined it.....and told it to 'sit, stay and lay down' ....pretty much all of the above. Im not a master of it, so my recommendation is to give it a shot Kel....seriously, if you wear gloves a...

Kel Rekuta

Jeez, I wish it was mine. Some guy was selling it on MyArmoury, on the second page of the classifieds section. I believe it was made by Stanislav Prozek. Anyhow, it was such a good example of a corrazina, that I had to save the pictures. I think it's still for sale. Edit: Here- http://www.myarmoury...

Kel Rekuta

I have had no issues with my rawhide. I live near DC and it can be extremely humid spring through mid fall. I applied various dyes to it, pigments etc. No real problems. In the rain, yes....but its virtually the same with leather...which is already soft by comparison. (even iron hates moisture ) Ho...

Kel Rekuta

Try Siegel's of California. They carry the 4-6 oz, but they also carry "natural heavyweight". Give them a call and find out what that means Then let the rest of us know. m That would be interesting. An educated guess would be unsplit, unleveled steer sides. Probably not scraped either. As...

Kel Rekuta

But Milos, why bother tanning/half tanning if its not really doing that much. That is to say, rawhide armour is, by nature, hard and still flexible. Its perfect in its natural state. Try it. I have to ask Drew... why has it taken you until now to come out with this opinion ? We've been having discu...

Kel Rekuta

Kilkenny, Apparently they use just plain cooking salt. IDK if that small portion of iodide makes any difference. ...So this would be something between half-tanned and rawhide. Hmmm... I'll have to ask for more details. No. Not without tannic acids of some sort. This is basically rawhide, I think wh...

Kel Rekuta

What would the interest be in the following: Mail made with 6mm rings, four riveted rings in one solid ring. The advantage is supposed to be strength and significant lighter weight. We may be offering this product if we have enough interest. Feedback, please...... At least a standard and voiders. M...

Kel Rekuta

Oh... that'll be some complicated stitchery.

What a rare project and such a conversation piece when its done! Awesome.

Kel Rekuta

That and the local airsoft community uses propane powered replicas. No batteries that I'm aware of but its not really my thing, so I'm not certain. Maybe someone here can help you off-load it.

http://ttac3.factoronto.com/about.htm

Kel Rekuta

Cat, you're truly amazing. Yet another great piece. Maeryk, good advice with the hog bristle... I bet one could substitute a piece of monofilament nylon fishing line in the event hog bristles were unavailable. Please comment on how that works out, if you get a chance. Prepared natural hog bristles ...

Kel Rekuta

Chris, By your enthusiasm for this topic, you seem to consider leather an appropriate covering for a reproduction of the Hohenklingen lentner. Have I misunderstood your objection to my opinion that it isn't because leather doesn't breathe? Among the multitudes of remarkable and ingenious things you'...

Kel Rekuta

I guess wearing "leathers" on bikes would be a problem with this conclusion? Moto GP guys do it, hot yes, but very workable. I have a leather coat, deer skin exterior, pig skin interior, I wear under my mail for Viking age and it works well. I wore it at some Viking events in Denmark and ...

Kel Rekuta

I have always thought that the Hohenklingen (sp?) jupon, or at least the coif, had the look of a leather garment. g- I witnessed John Lucas (Master James Blanchart?) production of a "glove weight" horsehide covered lentner based on that effigy. Although the cotton batting was only a coupl...

Kel Rekuta

Used Whitney Roper #7's & #8's seem to pop up on Ebay every few days for $125-$199. If you are going to punch holes with any frequency, buying one is a good investment for you or your local group. Don't waste your time with a #5jr unless you rarely need holes punched in armour.

Kel Rekuta

Hi! Thanks for that offer, but I'm afraid both Peterborough and the DARC company are a little far away for me to travel to. When I say southern Ontario, I mean really southern Ontario. Like, on the shores of the lovely lake Erie, that of the dead fish beaches. I will probably be moving to Toronto f...

Kel Rekuta

Sanitized for your protection....

Re: an old Journal of the Arms and Armour Society

Re: Vervelle Covers

Museum of London 14thC buckler

Re: 6 mm riveted mail with a solid ring- interest?