The Armour Archive

raito

I'm not saw toothing it, i may add a spring catch. I will add an aventail. Kate doesn't know i have it, i paid for it over time....and whats sad is i have so many hats that she probly won't even notice another one. You're a bad influence that way. Poor Josh, near-broke college student, and he's onl...

raito

I also find dangerous the notion that there can be no cheaters, because I cannot know how a blow strikes another. It is true that I cannot know how every blow I see thrown strikes, but I can know many. Indeed, if I assume to be able to teach others the center, I must not only know what it is, but kn...

raito

Only the horn? You weren't trying as hard as we were a month later then...

raito

Your Grace, I agree in general with what you say. Preparing for a specific event is tuning, not changing everything. Looking at people who are athletic for a loving, I see that, in addition to their regular training, which is designed to make them as effective as possible at their chosen sport, they...

raito

(edited because I meant to preview, not submit) Ok, I've made a wall hanger knife, and now I want to make a good useable knife. What kind of steel should I buy? Do they all need to be heat treated, or can I buy a certain kind of steel that will allow me to skip that? I don't have a clue how to heat ...

raito

Durasteel Corporation wrote:
it probably won't be cost effective. Best to get a nice beverly shear

that was an oxymoron of sorts eh?!?!
.

Not really. I got both my beverlys together for half of what I spent on my plasma cutter.

But I don't use them for the same purposes.

raito

You'll note that my advice is canted towards making a serious attempt to win Crown. If you're not serious about wresting it away from everyone else who shows up, don't go. Given where you are, the most important thing is to travel. They guys who are placing well in Northshield Crown aren't out at yo...

raito

Dante,

It almost sounds as if it wuld pass as as a gorget on its own.

But congratulations, you've found an interesting gray spot in the new rules (that being that, if I am wearing an aventail, does padding around my throat count as padding the aventail).

raito

Aaron, I know you've already got your ammunition, bit I'll paraphrase the problems with the logic anyway... 1. "Historical fighter" is on a different axis with "Chiv, Marshall, and Royalty". Being one, or not being one, has little affect on whether or not you are the other. 2. Most "regular SCA figh...

raito

Mmm, flogged dead horse...

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this:

http://home.comcast.net/~matheusbane/page2.html

(the archery testing)

raito

Richard, That's all fine, except that Brannos, Palymar, Dag, Edmund, and Bardolph started within a year or 2 of each other (all early 80s). Eliahu was a little before, and comparatively, Felix is a young'un. So for the Mid, you seem to be a bit off. I sure wouldn't put Paul in the same gneration as ...

raito

(*edit*) I took out my long winded rant. I don't want to change the subject of Winterfell's post. To sum up there are things expected of our current peers not in the minimal requirements and I think the attitude of sticking with a modern fencing mask flies in the face of those expectation in both t...

raito

Not compared to where I'm coming from

raito

I'll be going. Gee, I just can't wait to get shot in the Big Damn Ditch again this year. Seriously, I go for the food... Don't know who Northshield is declaring for, but we usually side against Ansteorra, at least on the rapier side. Only because it tends to balance things out, not because we don't ...

raito

Well, there's that titanium set that Gaston made for rebated steel a while back (too lazy to look up the thread).

raito

Crap! That's just across the lake from here...

raito

The last time I saw a micrometer at an event was when Ihashi went to Pennsic. He was a machinist by trade. He was wondering why so many people were getting failed on their inspections. So he pulled out his mic, and found out that all the gauges were considerably undersized. Murdock, you should know ...

raito

I believe that Sir Kieran (posts here as Leo Medii) did it for the first 30. Not sure if he used the chained weapons, though, as it was mostly a poleaxe affair.

I did it for my Coronation, but didn't fight that way. I did draw and swing the weapons around, though. It could have worked.

raito

Anyone else seeing why the rapier community is not getting peer level respect from theses kind of arguments against helms? Heavy fighters talk all day long about how to make things better for their game and not just fighting wise. So do the rapier fighters. They're just a couple of decades behind. ...

raito

Yeah, but you gotta love that humpback shape (harkens back to the saex, probably).

raito

I'll also add that for SCA combat, it's usually best to make the menpo extend somewhat farther back than the originals. Mine just about covers my ears. I also wear my kabuto in that rakish sort of tipped-back style. This means that my shikoro is mostly decorative. If the front edge of it lifts, the ...

raito

Hi, I'm Raito, and I've been a menpo wearer for 20+ years. I've never been injured through a menpo (even that time when the first one rusted through, and the whole nose section busted loose.) (And unlike Nissan, I wear mine on my face) All this is my opinion gained through wearing menpo. My current ...

raito

He'll probably reply himself, but nope, he's up there these days. Not sure about his shop situation, it seems to fluctuate.

raito

I'd suggest obtaining or borrowing the Knives and Scabbards book: m (It's around. I think it's even been reprinted. Should be the same one as Jamie suggested. I own it. It's a great book. Someone around your area will have it, I'm sure.) The above reference has examples of the types of cutlery you'l...

raito

Sure dominic. It sounds trite, but get some sheet, a hammer, a stake, and have at it. When you've had enough, melt down the pewter, pound it out into a sheet again (unless you have a rolling mill), and go at it again. It really is as simple as that for the process. Durasteel, there's one thing I thi...

raito

Well, it didn't bother you that much yesterday, now did it? (Murdock now has a Northshield auth card. And a Pyxis.)

raito

One tip I have, which aggregates most of the advice here, is to select patterns that involve having the pieces only curve in one direction. HDPE doesn't dish well at all. This means don't use it for elbows and knees. Really, just don't. They'll be too big and bulky and that will interfere with movem...

raito

Gads, so many comments to go here. Dominic, when you say about dishing that you're trying to make the metal conform to the bowl, you're somewhat incorrect. Think now, if that were true, you'd need a different bowl for every shape. The bowl performs the same function in dishing as the stake does in r...

raito

Well, I've obviously been exposed to the wrong helve hammers. The examples show that we're basically taking about the same thing, though. It's just that the ones I've seen previously weren't nearly as nice.

raito

those helve hammers give me the creeps. Mind extrapolating as to why? Been considering building one for planish work. I very seriously doubt they'd be good for much else though. Similarly, I don't think a treadle has a lot of use for armoring either. But... having never used one, I don't know for s...

raito

Not if it's a spin shot.

raito

Well, for that I'd just make a good treadle hammer, and forget about power. The pullmax is more than you say you'll need, and those helve hammers give me the creeps. Cheapest answer yet.

raito

Karl of Germany (who has a certain low knack for self promotion) in the past has said that there are only 2 armourers in the US -- and the other isn't The Mac (aaah!). From a certain warped perspective he may be right, although certainly misleading. He did spend s couple months in Germany learning s...

raito

My tourney table says, in German, "Thank you sir may I have another" around the edge, but it's a silly thing (with a green boot in the middle).

raito

Weren't there some knives made a few years ago with Ti backs and steel edges? IIRC, they weren't welded, it was some sort of mechanical interlocking thing. I recall the backs being anodized.

Re: Need some info on making a proper knife blank