The Armour Archive

Kel Rekuta

http://effigiesandbrasses.com/monuments/saint_george_dijon/image/5825/medium/ Anyone know where one can find this effigy? Is it in a church? If so where? It resides in Le Musee des Beaux-arts de Dijon formerly the palaces of the Dukes of Burgundy. While renovations are in progress the retable, incl...

Kel Rekuta

Certainly qualifies for the "cute" helmet someone was looking for in the Want Ads.

Kel Rekuta

Good stuff Kel, and of course this doesn't deal with the locations where wine-drinking predominated for most classes of people. They drank their wines 'new' - much newer than is normal for the last few hundred years. Thanks Bob, I agree. The modern festivity surrounding the release of Beaujolais No...

Kel Rekuta

Thanks Brewer, I'm sure you've read most of the same stuff I have but it would be entertaining to compare notes someday. Last night I killed of the last of a keg of raspberry wheat ale pouring over my brewing library, scanning books and accumulating this collection of excerpts. My apologies to JT fo...

Kel Rekuta

Hi, I am looking for a period source (fechtbuch, preferably) that shows slashing being done at close quarters with a long sword - does anyone know of a good source for that? I am reviewing a book where the author states that slashing requires more space than stabbing, and so slashing swords are nec...

Kel Rekuta

You are thinking of the difference between lager and ale , not beer and ale . My point is that medievally the terms were used essentially interchangeably. The clear hard line of "beer has hops, ale doesn't" is a modern one. You haven't read Bennett. She presents documentary evidence to the contrary...

Kel Rekuta

Yeah oak, hickory, etc was off the list to start with. Maple or beech was what I was leaning towards, perhaps some linden. I was just wondering what would be good with the water/lemonade/tea contact. I don't want it to split on me with repeated swelling and contraction, yet it still need to turn we...

Kel Rekuta

In case anyone cares, I was told by Envirotex that their product is not rated food safe for this sort of contact. Their description is for indirect food contact - counters and the like. LePrevo in England used to sell a food safe black pitch of which I still have a bit left. They tell me their supp...

Kel Rekuta

Jon wrote:That's just some confused leather - doesn't know what it wants to be
Jon

What the tanner wanted it to be - done faster but still look like vegetable tanned.

Kel Rekuta

People are confusing beer and ale. Any difference between those terms is a modern affectation. -Derian. You have it backwards. There is no difference in modern beer and ale production except the choice of yeast: mega-swill is equally bad regardless of what one might call it. They are both fermented...

Kel Rekuta

And if they are from China, saturated in formaldehyde or ammonia as a preservative. The expectation is those compounds will gas off significantly during transport. Ick.

Kel Rekuta

Same gag, different clown.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/110 ... w-ufc?bn=1

Kel Rekuta

Thanks.

Kel Rekuta

That's one of the tricks of the trade. Lightly glue your seams to steady them for the awl; absolutely critical for production machine sewing. Trying to steady a seam line between your fingers while an awl and needle cycle through with enough force to sew through a finger is a recipe for disaster. Ev...

Kel Rekuta

Okay, thanks. I had a look around the Pierpont Morgan image site but that particular image might not be online. In which book did you find this?

Kel Rekuta

Ariella Elema might have more to add to this but I wouldn't be surprised to learn the fellows in the lists are commoners settling a dispute by trial. I would like to know what MS this came from if more reference detail is available. Or a clearer image if possible?

Kel Rekuta

Sure, for a "one-of." Pretty time consuming to match the sides and keep the edges from wrinkling, though.

Kel Rekuta

Sand is a fairly common choice, but there's a reason many of us try to avoid it - tends to stick to damp leather and be a pain to get out of all the crevices at the seams. Some thoughts on how it was really done in period run toward wooden blocks assembled as 3d puzzles inside the leather. It's an ...

Kel Rekuta

1 Numerous people in the HEMA community have build and experimented at length with dueling shields. No one died nor were any injured as they were used with control and not the reckless abandon one might expect. 2 Commoners dueled with clubs in some regions and with longswords in others as required b...

Kel Rekuta

Oh, I agree. Like cobbler's coode, I expect every shop had their own particular blend of rosin, wax, et cetera by preference or by availability of suitable supplies. I don't expect we will ever find out what Oliver Baker learned but wouldn't share and that's just over a century ago. I'm okay with th...

Kel Rekuta

It cost about half the value of the book to have it airmailed from Germany. The majority of the book is brief chapters detailing surviving 12th-14thC shields with photos, line drawings and theoretical strap placement of each piece. The final chapter or two details a modern plywood reconstruction of ...

Kel Rekuta

Gavin, I've got an early 20thC text on wax chemistry that includes an "old" recipe for brewers pitch as well as its previous method of application. It is definitely a post industrial age blend because it includes montan wax, which is a naturally occurring bituminous wax found in brown or l...

Kel Rekuta

Seriously? No one in your area grows winter rye to resist soil erosion and add mulch in the spring? Fairly common practice in southern Canada. Not so much in medieval France though. I suspect the Agincourt winter corn was barley, as it can be cut for fodder at the first frost and still do well in th...

Kel Rekuta

Ah, excellent book. However knowledgeable Mr. Flexner is as woodworker, he is no historian. The comment he made on pg 59, which you quoted is not footnoted from any historical source. It is supposition, specifically the "cheap" part. Aside from that, this book is a must read for modern woo...

Kel Rekuta

I intend this in a most complimentary manner.... that is insanely excessive effort but damned cool.

Kel Rekuta

Well, giving up on a problem leather piece is one solution, especially if fixing the problem costs more than the item, especially in wasted time. However, understanding the source of the problem is often time well spent, even if only to avoid it in the future. Armourer Eric made no mention of what t...

Kel Rekuta

Maeryk, Although I agree with you on those points, does it help Griffon decide which finish to choose? We can speculate at what they used then, we know what is available now, be it safe or potentially a little unsafe; does your suggestion meet the needs of the average SCAdian client? What do people ...

Kel Rekuta

I have need to create a series of horse hair tughs (Mongolian standard) as well as decorating a few spears with horse hair tassels. I have determined that purchasing said quantities of horse hair may become cost prohibitive. Does anyone have any good horse hair replacements that look good but cost ...

Kel Rekuta

Yes please do Gavin. It may be a book on finishing that I haven't read yet. Wax was a serious trade commodity, valuable enough for western nations to import from the Baltic in massive quantities even though every western nation had some apiary industry. Liturgical use demanded huge quantities of fin...

Kel Rekuta

I wear 50" men's suit jacket and an 18" shirt collar. I kinda doubt it will fit but thanks for the offer.

And thanks for the correction on the pattern makers. Mea culpa.

Kel Rekuta

Avoid the Cold Steel H&H. Its a Sword Like Object of unnecessary weight and clumsiness. Unless you only intend to chop up cardboard tubes and cinder blocks, maybe the occasional phone book. Buy the sword on sale at Therion Arms! Hal is a great guy and he's practically giving it away. No affiliat...

Kel Rekuta

Kel, I have started taking commissions, but so far just for other people in LBC who are pretty local to me. I'm not the expert in arming garments by far, but just willing to sew. Now, if you could talk Miz Tailoress into creating another pattern... Tried, listened to the crickets chirp for a couple...

Kel Rekuta

Like Chef, I don't trust modern linseed oil finishes as they are loaded with very soluable and toxic metallic drying agents. Its not the oil, its the junk added. Kel, Do you happen to know what they are using for dryers in "boiled" linseed these days? My understanding is that they no long...

Kel Rekuta

Robin Wood uses walnut oil on his, which is what I use. m I don't care what a company says about linseed oil, I am not putting any on anything I will use to eat or drink out of, and I generally use linseed oil for a finish, or no finish at all on my 'furniture'. Yes.. flax seed oil is HIGHLY toxic....

Kel Rekuta

I recall reading that turned items like bowls and cups were generally polished on the lathe with just beexwax. Not quite sure where I read that I have heard that as well from reliable sources. But it seems beexwax was a common finish because it was cheap, avaliable and easy to fix rather than being...

Re: Saint George effigy, France 1399 question

Re: Helm of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc La Pucelle d'Orleans)

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: sources for slashing at close quarters

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: Traditional wood for spigots

Re: How do you make a Leather Jack (mug)?

Re: Boot dyeing

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: Rawhide question.

Re: Full Metal Jousting

Re: S&S combat, c1480

Re: Leather workers

Re: S&S combat, c1480

Re: S&S combat, c1480

Re: Leather workers

Re: Leather workers

Re: Which wood for a sheild?

Re: How do you make a Leather Jack (mug)?

Re: where to buy Der mittelalterliche Reiterschild?

Re: How do you make a Leather Jack (mug)?

Re: Fall weather conditions in France Angincourt timeframe

Re: Preferred Wood Finish?

Re: St George - Hradcany Square - Body armour - Update!

Re: Bleeding Leather

Re: Preferred Wood Finish?

Re: Horse Hair....Substitute

Re: Preferred Wood Finish?

Re: Hypothetical question about an arming doublet

Re: A Question of Swords

Re: Hypothetical question about an arming doublet

Re: Preferred Wood Finish?

Re: Preferred Wood Finish?

Re: Preferred Wood Finish?