The Armour Archive

raito

You see where I'm going with this. I've talked enough here. I loved to be convinced of the efficacy of the passing shot, the bias shot, forward angular movement. Convince me (or agree with me, but that's boring). What I'm seeing is an amazing consistency between all of the Dukes I am watching - des...

raito

I wonder if a good place to recruit is the various DIY crowds? It seems like everyone is trying to recruit internet-obsessed couch potatoes. How about going after people who are already out and about and doing and making stuff? As for old fat nerds in crappy armour, I always present the SCa as a pla...

raito

I used to think that sort of fighting would be fun, but after reading a translated thread on one of the forums for that sort of group, I'm not so sure. It was a thread on the injuries at one of there recent events. Made Pennsic look like a tea party. One guy was thought to be paralyzed, but recovere...

raito

Caladin, I use this style myself, and have for at least 25 years. First tip: If your pattern is like mine, all the lames are the same pattern. So when you go to bend down the sides, the front needs to be a little narrower than the back, so that the articulation works. Second tip: Don't crease. Inste...

raito

I've been using gauntlets of .09 6061 T6 or T651 for many, many years. I don't use baskets ever. A pair of my gauntlets will hold up for a couple years of fighting a couple times a week, then get a semi-major re-forming, and are good for another couple. They won't last forever, but I haven't seen ga...

raito

VII. KINGDOM, PRINCIPALITY, AND LOCAL OFFICERS D. The Earl Marshal The Earl Marshal is responsible for overseeing the conduct of all martial arts activities, including but not limited to tournament lists, wars, combat archery, and fencing, as well as such related activities as scouting and target a...

raito

Here's one definitely under $400. [img]http://www.j-armour.com/j-battle/cadwallen.jpg[/img] Everything except the gauntlets and gorget was made in 2 weeks. Those were his own. (I should have taken another day or so on the kabuto. The shapes are off a bit.) The barrel for the body was $35. For a novi...

raito

Si, is the question of what >I< could do with $200, or

if I had to buy everything from somewhere else, what could I get for $200.

Because I'm in the same boat as Kenwrec. $200 buys a LOT of materials, and I have all the tools.

raito

InsaneIrish wrote:Is this:

Sir Duncan MacPherson for Mistress Seonaid inghean Dhomnaill

Duncan Fathombjorn? AKA Huggy Bear? IE this guy?

AKA That Durn Furriner?

Yes, it's him. He finalled last fall.

raito

I seldom take crap for my plastic. But my plastic Japanese follows a (mostly) correct pattern. And, as I continually point out, the majority of Japanese armour was lacquered, which is pretty darn close to plastic coated. And what about powder coating. That's modern plastic, isn't it? Heck, even spra...

raito

Maureen is in her six month of pregnancy and looks like she swallowed Shaq's bowling ball. I ain't moving anywhere. Fighter practice in the FLF suit is even iffy. -Aaron pffft amateur. We went to an event over labor day weekend 2 1/2 years ago,& the wife was 8 months prego Last time I tried tha...

raito

* Authentic even if this sacrifices sport effectiveness Except that it doesn't. * Sport, I wear plastic (hidden or not) and leather to reduce weight or increase mobility even if my persona would not have these things I wear plastic because the original material I ought to have is neither affordable ...

raito

Yes, there is. I have a Smith torch. They can be used either as acetylene/air or propane/air (don't need oxygen or a compressor). I have 6-7 tips for it. I mostly use it for jewelry purposes, where being able to use small tips is nice. I don't use it on steel all that much, but it's worked fine. I h...

raito

I did this to one of mine, and it's such an awesome customization, and so useful, and just... I really really really can not figure out why no one produces them this way. Because they produce ones where the angle is adjustable across a 180 degree arc. There's no need to produce one with a particula...

raito

And aggression has little to do with throwing blows. I'm pretty aggressive, but I don't throw a lot of blows. I'm just always there, and you don't get to relax (until I hit you). My two sword style bears more resemblance to wrestling than boxing (not that I can't box, but I'm a fat lazy old man). I ...

raito

Well, they're available nearly everywhere. Here's a single example: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000WTA5Y Most serious jewelers have more than 1 size. Figure out how big the things are that you're cutting, then get a frame that will cover that. a 4" frame will work for most stuff. I almost never ...

raito

freiman the minstrel wrote:It seems like there are two schools of thought for two stick. Please forgive me. I know I look like an idiot when talking about two stick. I started this thread because I know nothing about this.

...

Am I completely stupid?

Only in that there's at least a dozen schools, if not more.

raito

Though it might sound too simple to be believable...coming form a life long two-stick fighter...the fastest way I've found to get someone to use both hands proficiently and evenly is to have them fight the first two-thirds of a practice off-hand Sword and Madu, and fight the final third on-hand Swo...

raito

Only Mara is cuter, seriously. We need to find a sword small enough for her hands soon. She does think daddy's thrusting tips are pretty nummy... I agree. Mara is cuter than Violen. My current weaponry plan is that I've still got some good maple lying around, and I'll mkae at least a sword, spear a...

raito

As the punches only run about $20 try it out, what do you have to loose? The 20$ you spent on the piece of crap before you decided to go with a quality tool. The dies and punches have poorer tolerance than a Whitney, and either aren't of as good a material, or of poorer heat treatment than a Whitne...

raito

I'd also recommend Jack Dempsey's book. You'll have to do some thinking to translate boxing technique into SCA, but it does work. I mean, really, the guy considered the left jab a knockout punch... And on the more esoteric side, I recommend Willie Mosconi's book on pool. See, I've got this theory ca...

raito

I had one of the oak ones break. There was a flaw in the grain that you couldn't see until it broke. And it broke pretty sharp. As for gauges, does anyone remember the year Ihashi got all the gauges at Pennsic thrown out? Every other helm was failing because some dingdong thought that slicing off bi...

raito

Red Oak spear shafts were introduced East of the Mississippi by Morgan Alandris. I can't put a date on that. A few years later they were banned Society wide. A few years after that people came up with pultruded fibreglass spear shafts. First people I heard talking them up were from Trimaris. Everyt...

raito

Ya know, Caladin, I've got 50 amp in my garage...

raito

No not my wife, this one:

I'm inclined to agree.

raito

From my experience, Kydex outperforms the others, but is more expensive. ABS is crap comparatively, but cheaper. HDPE will last better, but I've only used it in barrel form, and it doesn't much like to be formed from that. But HDPE doesn't perform as well as armour.

raito

Wasn't the majority of Japanese armor lacquered leather or wood? I've seen some done with plastic that has the right look. It would also be a lot lighter, and easier or at least no more difficult to work with. Soprry, Ingvarr, the majority was lacquered rawhide or iron/steel. No wood to speak of. A...

raito

Interesting. How much of this sort of bias do you have inherent in your perspective ? Lots. That's why I wanted to conduct the survey, to get a more objective POV. Of the least serveral (acute) lower limb injuries that I've seen, none was sustained while kneeling. A couple were knees (ACLs), a coup...

raito

I've worn Japanese armour in the SCa for somewhere north of 30 years. Tool Tip #1: If you're working steel, get yourself a hand punch. You'll want a real Whitney Jr. Don't bother trying to drill the holes, there's too many, and the punch needs less deburring. Tip #2: If you want very well-fitting ar...

raito

As in "the knee thing" suggests a presumption that knee fighting contributes to injuries (knee injuries particularly ?) and the also apparent presumption that it would be less injurious to throw around lighter objects (such as, say a baseball ). Makes me wonder how much my wrestling caree...

raito

Sure, I have chronic, minor problems. But it's far more likely that my left leg will eventually fall off due to a fairly serious high school wrestling injury, soccer injuries, and a few decades of being kicked in that leg than from fighting with rattan.

raito

Yeah, you bust a lot of blades before you get the touch with a jeweler's saw. Then you'll only break half as many.

raito

What some have done that I've seen is to make (usually from tape) about a quarter inch 'guard'.

raito

Sean,

The quench isn't really necessary (just gets you back working if you're using a metal form). I haven't had a problem with brittleness in quenched ABS (or at least not worse than ABS in general).

I do find that ABS doesn't last as long as Kydex doesn't last as long as HDPE.

raito

losthelm wrote:a number of people use slavaged plastics from 55 gallon drums. these are usualy UHMW a spacific form of polypropylene. I

Usually, barrel are polyethylene, not polypropylene. And usually not UMHW, but HDPE. That's my experience.

Re: Forward Angular Movement (A Heresy)

Re: [SCA] Poll: Sport or authentic kit?

My wife says she needs a sword.