The Armour Archive

raito

Greetings to this Good Company from Kitadate-denka, heir to the Griffin Throne. I would send to you the account of Baron Robert's deed done at that small striving known as Border Skirmish, where the forces of Northshield and the Middle meet in stout blows and fraternal comradeship. The Baron did go ...

raito

And weren't there a number of materials used, including steel? Anyway, one way to form that top into a cone would be to use a smallish piece of pipe as a stake (unless you have a horn or other, better thing to use). Put the edge of your circle on the pipe, with the center of the circle along the axi...

raito

"if the rules say it's legal, then to me, it's honorable." I disagree strongly. Ours is not a modern sport where the rules exist not to define the field of play, but exist to be used strategically. Unlike, say, basketball, there must be no intentional foul. The rules exist for safety, not...

raito

And there I am at 1:52 of the boat battle.

raito

Re-attach them, and add to that pointing them to the jupon. That'll keep them from sliding.

raito

Well, we had it. After the bridges and Champions stuff. We had a total of 6 persons there. Nissan and I headed up the red and white. I was pretty fried by that point in the week, and I seem to have deleted the email where 2 of the guys sent pictures, so I have no other names than Akira Minamoto, who...

raito

Murdock wrote:I shall have my lookouts soundly beaten.

Except that one guy. I get to beat him.

raito

First anvil is about 45 lb. Not really an anvil, but the front off a wall safe, given to me by Key-Connor in Bryn Gwlad. Built a stand for it, and I've done a lot of work on it. I mean, you don't need more surface than will fit the face of a hammer, right? Second one is one of those 165 lb. or so Pe...

raito

I guess nobody showed up Thurs. Murdock and Henry watched the Japanese thing, and they're camped close enough to view the fort from their camp. I had a couple things to do after the thing and when I got back they said that no one showed.

raito

Back home now... Thursday Aug 7th First Bridge battle - Hard fought on all sides, Middle lost the South bridge, but won the other 4. Was well done by all, and East and her allies fought well and hard. And it showed up more the last 2 bridge battles. 2nd Bridge Battle - Fought hard again, South bridg...

raito

Sean Powell wrote:B) Amonia is a great de-greaser but it also creates rust (it's an acid).

Ammonia is a weak base, not an acid.

raito

Stephen du Bois wrote:My metal gaunts aren't finished and I need a breast plate.

You can use my bp. It'll fit.

raito

If you wear the mild very often it will polish itself. I dont see to much advantage with stainless except for toughness, durability. Murdock told me stainless weighs more per cubic inch, but you can use thiner gauges. Most mild mail I've seen is pretty thin though, and could deform more easily, if ...

raito

Um... two handed swords are fine too, AFAIK. They may not be in Calontir because of the no-unpadded-polearm thing. It's not explicitly stated that you can grasp your own blade- it is simply not forbidden in the rewrite. It was my understanding the the "omission" of the grasping rule was i...

raito

Baron Alejandro wrote:I'll call the ball. Sundown. At the fort. On Thursday of war week. There, done.

And if you show up early enough, you'll get to see the samurai going at it.

raito

They work OK under Japanese. In fact, the thick collar pads the shoulder straps rather nicely, which is why my homemeade shitagi have 4 layers there. Under Eurpoean stuff, not so much.

raito

Remeber the year War Points were dropped? Boy, was there howling by both sides. Yet war points don't seem to matter at Gulf Wars or Lillies.... why is Pennsic different? The difference at Lilies is easy to describe. The Calontiri have to go home after it and live with each other until next year. Th...

raito

Oxidation. Your piece shed scale because it expands at a different rate than the metal.

raito

Konstantin the Red wrote:Heeeey -- Milwaukee's gonna get famous for something besides power tools and beer! Vivant! Vivant! Vivant!

Looks like someone's been out of the loop.

raito

It's also important to point out that, though you hold the loops horizontally, the braid builds up vertically. And, if you don't do a twist somewhere, you end up with 2 braids. It can be done on a dai, but you trade off constant tension, being able to walk away whenever you want, and making longer p...

raito

And since I'm in one of those moods

ISO is "I Seek Other", which would mean you're also a Master Newt

raito

Doesn't "Manufacture of Armour, etc. etc. etc." say that part of the reason for the rivets between the koshimaki and shikoro to be in pairs is that they tear away fairly easily (split rivets), and by having pairs it's easy to repair in the field with a bit of lace?

raito

No, the description of those is in the first post.

raito

http://www.antiquehardware.com/product/02261794/ It's sounds weird, but they appear to be part of Cabela's (the sporting people), or at least they share a bunch of web stuff. I ordered 2, and they came pretty quickly. half a buck a piece. Normally, for brass bits, I'll go to Fancifuls, but they did...

raito

It's extremely common to work the outside of a piece by putting pitch inside it.

raito

And to continue (to get past the 3 attachment maximum)... The first picture is what a drilled lame looks like when its ready to lace. This is one of my haramki's body lames. The second is a lame ready for drilling (I think it's a second from bottom piece for a kusazuri). It's taped to the table so t...

raito

Since I went and won Crown, and one of my guys said, "Hey boss, I need a bucket, and stuff", I won't have time to keep updating the method site for a while. Which is a shame, as the stuff I'm currently building would be perfect for that. Instead, here's some pictures. The first is the set ...

raito

Missouri is here:

http://maps.modot.mo.gov/travelerinformation/TravelerInformation.aspx

(You might have to play with it, my browser had some trouble with it)

It shows 3 flooded roads west of Lilies, but nothing around the site itself.

raito

Gofanko of Axed Root wrote: Troll opens in 24 1/2 hours.

Let's hope it dries out by then. The radar seems to show the storms going smack dab over the site (good thing it starts tomorrow).

raito

I was wondering what it would take to make this helmet SCA legal? For the price, more work that it's worth. It'd need a skirt all the way around, that scale just doesn't cut it. You're worried about your neck? I'm worried about your jaw, ears, and temples. Trust me, it won't be rigid enough. It loo...

raito

Black nylon surcoat black plastic armour black poly tunic black helm black sweat pants wonder what made him so hot? Um, Murdock, you've just about described me, except my surcoat is poly-cotton and not nylon, my shitagi is cotton, and I wear black pants that aren't sweat pants. But it's mostly blac...

raito

The best (and best proven) way to improve tolerance to heat is to be in fit physical condition.

raito

Actually, the worst they can do is not reply, which is what happens every time I try to go that route for anything Japanese. Japanese or English, the language doesn't seem to matter, there's never any reply.

raito

After constructing garments from Jidai Isho no Nuikata, I am now convinced more than ever that the Japanese had some sort of hallucinogenics that were so common they they didn't see the need to document them. It's some of the craziest stuff I've ever worked on. Spent all day Saturday, with help, att...

raito

If I was doing it, I'd have only 2 straps. One would go between the chin and the mouth to C, and the other would go between the chin and the throat to A. A would be at the temple, and C at the back of the jaw. The 2 straps would be sewn together where the cross in the 2 places to make the chin cup. ...

Re: Vids

Results of Classical Japanese Battle

Raito Method (w/pics)

Re: What would a marshal say?