The Armour Archive

Tibbie Croser

Aaron, what date is this tonlet armor?

I imagine your best advice would come from Gwen and Jeff, Chef, James B., Jeff and Charlotte, and Tasha. Chef of course specializes in Burgundy. Don't depend on the guesses of well-meaning posters.

Tibbie Croser

Syr Justus, I understand why you don't want to create paperwork. But I can imagine cases in which the marshals would *want* you to report injuries. They can't fix problems if they don't know about them. It's one thing if injury results from just bad luck or legal but inadequate armor. However, if it...

Tibbie Croser

I strongly understand and appreciate your desire for something different. I'm female, but dressing as an early-16th-century common man for rapier fighting: fitted hood, linen shirt, very simple jacket/coat/front-opening tunic, tight pants, socks pulled over the knee, leather ankle boots. I see you'r...

Tibbie Croser

What do you dislike about doublets?

Maybe there are solutions to the things you dislike about them.

Tibbie Croser

The type of chest protector I want to make? A simple breastplate, i.e., front part of a cuirass. I wear a plastic chest protector under my garb for rapier to protect my female squishy bits. I'd like to wear a leather chest protector on the outside. Why disguise leather? Well, my kit is early-16th-ce...

Tibbie Croser

I've seen excellent prices for fustian and other linen-cotton blends on the websites of Carolina Calicoes and Hamilton Dry Goods (periodfabric.com). Are there any opinions on those merchants or their fustian fabrics? Do they attend any SCA events, or is it better to call them for samples? Are there ...

Tibbie Croser

I'm considering using some unhardened saddle skirting that I have to make a chest protector for SCA rapier. However, I'd like to disguise the leather with textured paint. Would some of those multisurface Rustoleum/Krylon paints work on non-hardened leather? Do those paints work with a flexible surfa...

Tibbie Croser

Hi. Chaosclyve. I do rapier, and I'm also interested in early-16th-century England and Scotland. The Osprey book Armies of Henry VIII may be a useful starting place for visual references. The Tudor Tailor is another book I'd recommend. Instead of a gambeson or pourpoint, a quilted/padded jack would ...

Tibbie Croser

Der Soldat, welcome and thanks for the images!

I too am interested in this period of armor and costume. A transitional period throws up some unusual designs.

Tibbie Croser

That leather armor is beautifully made. How are the pieces attached together? Are they riveted to a backing material? Did you harden them at all? It does look like good unisex armor that could be designed to fit a variety of people. Seriously, for non-SCA games that allow fantasy armor, like Dagorhi...

Tibbie Croser

Isabella, I'm with you. If men had to undergo pregnancy and childbirth, they might not use "uterus" (or less polite words) as an insult.

Tibbie Croser

Welder, your idea is fascinating, but why the SCA? The idea doesn't mesh well with SCA culture. I also have the impression that much of formal dueling culture came after the SCA's stated period. Wouldn't it be better to try to implement this with an HMA group, or better yet, some 17th/18th/19th-cent...

Tibbie Croser

The LadyRapier Yahoo group (for female SCA fencers) has a lot of discussions on female chest protection. It's not required by the Society rules, but check your kingdom's rules. A lot of choices in rapier gear depend on personal preference and local customs, especially local calibration (how hard the...

Tibbie Croser

I'd also recommend Zen Warrior Armory (m). They sell gear for SCA. The blades are sturdy. The masks are very good, especially the stainless steel mesh ones. Before you invest in any gear, though, talk to your local rapier marshals. Do they have loaner gear available that you can use while you're ass...

Tibbie Croser

Freiman, it might be that women can indeed be successful fighters without changing who they are as people. But people in a minority, like women fighting rattan, usually have to conform to the behavior of the majority in order to be accepted or at least to advance.

Tibbie Croser

So it's the type of shot thrown, then, and not the weapon material? Would a WMA swordsman using a steel sword with a historical basket hilt have the same problems?

Tibbie Croser

The problem of basket hilts hitting the user's own hand was mentioned in another thread. I'm not familiar with rattan weapons. Why would this happen? Is it because the rattan is much more flexible than the steel? Do fighters have ways to stiffen the hilts so that the hilts don't move so much within ...

Tibbie Croser

Take a look at http://www.merchantadventurers.com for budget tunics. She has in-stock tunics but can do custom as well. She also has trim available.

Revival Clothing has "Viking" tunics, but they're only in linen.

Tibbie Croser

Gavin, that's very wisely put.

(Edited to delete the "Duke"; I must have confused him with the Eastern Dukes who post on AA, such as Duke Andreas.)

Sorry!

Tibbie Croser

Suzerain, why do you want to make SCA swords at all? Why not stick with making custom swords for WMA people and reenactors, who seem to outnumber SCA folks in the UK anyway? The whole idea just seems like a bad fit with your skills and preferences.

Tibbie Croser

Duke Logan, there's a current discussion of the strapping tape rule on the SCA Missile Combat Yahoo list. It appears that the strapping tape isn't intended to strengthen the shaft but to contain fiberglass dust or splinters if they occur. Also, do you suppose that anyone will object to a legal mater...

Tibbie Croser

After reading this, I looked at my copy of Janet Arnold. I found two doublets which definitely had detachable sleeves. One of them is thought to be a fencing doublet. The other is the one with elbow-length sleeves. They are both "unusual" doublets in multiple ways. Most of the doublets in ...

Tibbie Croser

They look very good. I hope they meet the ever-changing regulations for CA ammo. Have they been seen by the Atlantian KCAM? If they don't work out for SCA (and even if they do), I believe at those low prices there would be a demand for them in the foam-combat games that have archery. What prompted t...

Tibbie Croser

Nice blackened BP with a good curve to it. If only I weren't so tiny (5 foot 1 inch, 32-inch chest).

You say the BP is too short for your 6-foot-2 frame. How short is the BP? It would fit my husband in the chest (he's a 40 to 42 jacket size), but he's about 5-foot-11 or 6 feet.

Tibbie Croser

Norman, before you put a lot of time and work into this, *please* contact your Kingdom Rapier Marshal about your home-drilled sheet stock to get the idea pre-approved. It's best to get your Kingdom Rapier Marshal's interpretation of the 3/16" offset rule. At the very least, do up a small sample...

Tibbie Croser

In the pictures of Sidney's funeral procession, are the thigh-length coats the "ropillas" that were mentioned in the Elizabethan cassock thread?

Tibbie Croser

Thanks for the replies. I really have no desire to learn metalworking beyond basic maintenance and repair. I wanted to investigate the feasibility of converting a helm. However, it looks like paying a professional to do it may be money well spent. It's very helpful to hear from people who have *actu...

Tibbie Croser

The consensus on this thread seems to be that doing this kind of conversion is *not* as easy as it might seem. Perhaps that's why more people aren't doing it. Not every SCA fencer is a skilled metalworker.

Tibbie Croser

Sha-ul, you could line a wool cloak with fine, lightweight wool (worsted). The light, smooth wools aren't scratchy and don't even feel like wool.

Tibbie Croser

For the late 16th century, perhaps a cassock or short livery gown would be more suitable than a tabard.

Tibbie Croser

Thanks, Marco. Actually, I bought one of your burgonets about a year ago, but realized I didn't like the helmet style. Plus I inadvertently cut down the pin attaching the faceplate to the helmet brim so that it was too short. I'm trying to figure out ways to reuse the faceplate with another costume ...

Tibbie Croser

This essay by Kevin O'Shaughnessy is helpful: http://www.companyofthebronzering.org/library/technology/rapierhelmet.pdf

Of course, yet another option is hardened heavy leather for the helmet.

Tibbie Croser

"Houston Hall"? Where in New Jersey was that? I know there was an SCA group at Rutgers in the 1980s.

Tibbie Croser

In another forum, when I was whining about the scarcity of SCA rapier helms, Primus Paulus wrote: "Flittie, There are numerous sources online for cheap (under 100) morions, cabasetts, and some burgonets from India. m (10 bucks over) m m The steel is not as expensive as you might want to believe...

Tibbie Croser

I did not intend to hijack this thread. A discussion about SCA fencing helmets belongs in the Medieval Combat or Armour forums.

Where to buy fustian?

Disguising leather with paint

Basket hilts hitting the wielder's hand?

Converting costume helms for SCA rapier