The Armour Archive

Dan Howard

Looking good. Keep going. Looking forward to seeing the result.

Dan Howard

Excellent. Many thanks

Dan Howard

I already have - multiple times on multiple forums. I maintain that shooting arrows at Indian riveted mail tells us little about the protective capacity of historical riveted mail. Even if I'm wrong, we'd still need an analysis of the differences between the Indian sample and the museum piece in que...

Dan Howard

I've seen it posited that he had a relatively mild deformity, such as described in the find, and also that his right shoulder was bulkier than his left due to his favouring the axe as a personal weapon. If both were true, he would have looked a bit cockeyed. The disrespectful nickname, after all, w...

Dan Howard

Because it's a completely different creature -- plot an impact point on that picture above, and see how many links get worked on from a single strike, and how many of those work the ring in compression to let a shaft through rather than tearing them open. While I still *suspect* it would be inferio...

Dan Howard

Even the ugly modern rivetting held for the most part; the wire itself didn't. One of the main problems with the Indian links is that they are way too thin. It is probably to make them easier to punch (using a punch rather than a drift is another problem) but it greatly decreases their protective c...

Dan Howard

Even the ugly modern rivetting held for the most part; the wire itself didn't. One of the main problems with the Indian links is that they are way too thin. It is probably to make them easier to punch (using a punch rather than a drift is another problem) but it greatly decreases their protective c...

Dan Howard

It definitely improves protection. Would be interesting to see how many butted links would be required to provide a similar degree of protection as a riveted link of the same material.

Dan Howard

(c)with a simulated bodkin arrowhead (18 deg point); at 80J impact, two links were broken; at 100J, the jack was holed completely.. Actually I did misread it. I thought the mail was holed at 100 J and the jack wasn't holed until 120 J. I would bet money that a properly-riveted dense weave of mail (...

Dan Howard

FWIW I'm pretty sure that I can make a 30-layer jack that will stop a lot more than 20J from a bodkin. Has anyone done any testing against proper jack reconstructions? I vaguely remember a Royal Amouries test that examined a combination of mail and jack. Was it Neilson?

Dan Howard

Yes, Dan's has charisma as his dump-stat. That's part of his charm. Now, shall we move on? Dan plays (And writes supplements for) GURPS, not D&D. Thus, he is better described in GURPS terms instead of D&D stats. I'd say he has Compulsive Behavior: Academic Scorn(-5), Delusion: "Mail was the besties...

Dan Howard

Here to burst Dan's bubble: Williams shows you need ~45J for a bodkin penetrator to defeat mail. On p. 942 Williams says that it required 80 J for the links to start breaking and 120 J to penetrate the mail and padding. It is hard to tell in the text but the table suggests that this figure is the s...

Dan Howard

Japanese mail frequently included twisted links not just butted links, the "jazerant-type armor" was in frequent use not "occasionally" and its called a "kusari katabira" which frequently had the mail stitched on top of the cloth not just "sandwiched between layers of cloth", and Japanese mail was ...

Dan Howard

Based on the above comment it doesn't matter how anything is spelt, so surely that debases the whole argument? It certainly matters in modern English. Mispelled words make you seem unprofessional. You might be unintentionally turning away potential business. I'd be wary of dealing with someone who ...

Dan Howard

There was no such thing as "original spelling". Words were spelled any way the writer wanted. There is a perfectly good modern English word that means the same thing and that should be used unless you are directly quoting from a period source. One could also nitpick about the claim that it was Old E...

Dan Howard

Mahiro, Dan seems to very Eurocentric and biased against the Japanese, using a word like "retarded" is an insult to Japanese people in my opinion I just don't have a Japanese fetish and am prepared to look at the evidence in an objective manner. If you look up the meaning of "retarded" you'll find ...

Dan Howard

Wedge riveted flat links were largely limited to the German makers. There was plenty of round-sectioned and round-riveted mail all over the rest of the world - Italy, Russia, India, the Middle East, etc etc. I also fail to see how Kozan's text is proof that the piece in question was made in Japan. T...

Dan Howard

Why does Bottomley believe that it is of Japanese make? Everything seems to point towards a European origin.

Dan Howard

Apparently kangaroo hide has around triple the tensile strength of cow hide.

Dan Howard

Is there a text where both terms are used?

Dan Howard

I can't see how punching can ever be better than piercing. Using a drift will leave the metal available to help peen the rivet. You just have to be prepared to replace your drifts more often than with mild steel.

Dan Howard

So it seems there have been many destructive tests of repro riveted and even alternating riveted/solid pieces of maille with repro historic weapons. Not really. The only test that used a repro of museum samples was the one in Williams book and made by Erik. None of the other tests used repro mail. ...

Dan Howard

So corselet and corset mean the same thing.

Dan Howard

The next question should be whether there is a difference between a corsetto and a corsaletto

Dan Howard

Those fancy pretty-coloured electrolyte drinks aren't solely a marketing ploy. They can help replenish electrolytes and reduce the likelyhood of water intoxication.

Dan Howard

Drinking water too fast can kill you. Drinking too much water can also kill you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication "Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests in which individuals attempt to consume large amou...

Dan Howard

Heavy armour is no more of a problem in summer than regular clothing. Helmets are more of an issue.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=157173

Dan Howard

A century too late but the Ordinance of St. Maximin de Treves (Oct, 1473) talks about wearing a sleeveless mail shirt under a jack. No hood though. "... The mounted archer must possess a horse worth not less than six francs, and should wear a visorless sallet, a bevor [or possibly a mail standard], ...

Dan Howard

Doesn't really matter whether you wear wool or not. I've worn plate armour for a hours in the middle of a summer day and it didn't bother me any more than if I wore regular clothing. Forgot to mention that enclosed helmets are stifling. I want to take them off every chance I can get. The outside te...

Dan Howard

Also, Chretien de Troyes mentions triple woven maille made of silver in Erec and Enide. He says that it was so fine it was like wearing a silk jacket. So triple woven couldn't mean triple layers, at least not here. I think triple woven might mean 6 in 1 because each row of rings goes through 3 ring...

Dan Howard

Doesn't really matter whether you wear wool or not. I've worn plate armour for a hours in the middle of a summer day and it didn't bother me any more than if I wore regular clothing. I have trouble with winter. 5-10 degrees C bothers me a lot more than 35-40 degrees C.

Dan Howard

Climate has little effect on whether you'll be stifled in armour or not. People have been wearing very heavy armours in the Middle East for over three thousand years. People on this forum have not died from wearing their armour in the middle of summer. I've done it for days during the Australian sum...

Dan Howard

The prevalence of painted leather armour is a good argument against the likelihood that wax was used to harden the leather. Apparently paint, gesso, gilding, etc can't be applied to wax-impregnated cuirbouilli. Based on other's experiences I think I lean in favour of hardened semi-tanned leather rat...

Dan Howard

I want to see a pic of Steve covered in duct tape

Re: Looking for Richard III

Re: Evil upgrade

Re: The Corset

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Looking for Richard III

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk armour?

Re: re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk armour?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: Goat or Kangaroo Leather for Articulations

Re: The Corset

Re: Stainless Rivited Maille?

Re: Japanese Maille Destructive Testing?

Re: The Corset

Re: The Corset

Re: How did the men-at-arms in southern europe deal with hea

Re: How did the men-at-arms in southern europe deal with hea

Re: Metal armour in a desert environment

Re: The Corset

Re: How did the men-at-arms in southern europe deal with hea

Re: The Corset

Re: How did the men-at-arms in southern europe deal with hea

Re: How did the men-at-arms in southern europe deal with hea

Re: hide/leather horse armour

Re: 1000th post! Body Armour - Proper Fit vs functionality?