The Armour Archive

Gerhard von Liebau

Buy from americans then, that way you can go their house and find out whats going on. Might even keep some of us in business. Aye, ever heard of West Coast Armory or Otto's Armoury? They'll do you good. Also, if patriotism is the only thing driving someone to purchase armor from so and so, perhaps ...

Gerhard von Liebau

Ottoman light cavalry at that time were fighting in much the same way I just described. Massed cavalry archers that often defeated heavy cavalry. Why? Because they wouldn't let them get near each other and would send volley after volley into the faces of their enemies. Different story than melee com...

Gerhard von Liebau

That was utilizing mass archery, and was primarily against bodies of heavy infantry from the Roman and surrounding Germanic tribal armies. Not to mention many Huns were also quite heavily armed for their time - in fact, more so than any cavalry the West had ever seen. Same story applies to the Avars...

Gerhard von Liebau

I never noticed much very simple about 'em, personally! http://a403.idata.over-blog.com/523x430/0/12/64/13/new2010/4_ViennaKastenbrust_cuirass_1.jpg http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/30e747532ef53bb490940770e52a1cc82e4dc9cd_m.jpg http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/790cba59659279...

Gerhard von Liebau

Are you talking theoretically? In actual medieval battles, I can think of few circumstances were heavy cavalry were at a disadvantage against lighter armed cavalry except if they were either heavily outnumbered, obviously held the lesser ground or were attacked in conjunction with other forces or fr...

Gerhard von Liebau

Well, casein is of course the protein responsible for the waterproofing in milk glues/paints. I'll bet with two layers of casein paint and the beeswax, you've got a pretty weatherproof shield. The casein also works great in high heat, too! Magical little milky bonds...

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

I think Paolo just drew too much of a forehead on that fellow to fit those decorative pieces in. Gotta' keep in mind that it's a painting, not a real armet.

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

I have done a rawhide covered shield. You have to use a water proofer on the rawhide to keep water out after its done. Or you can use milk-based glue beneath the rawhide and milk paints over the top, and the enzymes will naturally create a very water-resistant surface... Just like they did in perio...

Gerhard von Liebau

Here be a tiny one I found online.

Gerhard von Liebau

As James says, most of the fourteenth century heater shields in Der Mittelalterliche Reiterschild are surprisingly small. I recently noted one that was some 26.1x18". Of course, a man's armament would have something to do with how quickly he took on the trend of smaller shields; I reckon this is tru...

Gerhard von Liebau

Looks great, James! Your attention to detail is well displayed.

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

I'd be awestruck if I saw someone wearing armor like that on the field of combat. Hopefully because he was kicking ass for my side, not vice versa. Thanks for sharing, Tom!

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

Before I started making my own reproduction leather armor I was able to play with multiple pieces made by Dan Houchins (of House of the Wolf). He did some pretty nice cuir work in the fourteenth century style and even made a rather flash reproduction of the BM rerebrace. Typically Dan liked to use 1...

Gerhard von Liebau

Considering the large shields that most Celts carried, I'm surprised they'd need to do much parrying or prancing in the first place...

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

Jasper wrote:What tick me off during the show, was the limited time frame of building the chariot was never explained. Why did the less 3 months to do all this?

Probably because Mike couldn't afford to be in Egypt working on the show for more than three months due to budget/time constraints?

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

Thank you Galfrid! That's exactly the place I knew it was published but for the life of me I couldn't find it. Cheers!

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

Hello folks, I'm looking to find a copy/translation of (paper or electronic) the purchase roll from the Tournament held at Windsor in 1278. If you know what that is then you may be able to help, if you don't know what it is then you probably can't. If someone's interested in more details I'll add mo...

Gerhard von Liebau

Very nice work. The details on the casts are very sharp. Do you touch them up after they're out of the mold, or can you achieve that finish with the pour? Cheers!

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

http://www.battleofbannockburn.com/Project-Progress/ Well, the website's progress page been updated as late as the 23rd, and the reenactment page still says: "The full details are being finalised at the moment." I suspect the full details are not yet available. However, their conservation projects a...

Gerhard von Liebau

FWIW Dan, the video is only about 3 minutes long and shows the results of the same archery experiment as that which we have photos of posted in the BAC topic.

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

I saw the exhibit in Chicago over the summer, but the museum didn't allow photos in special exhibits. Bummer. Thanks for sharing!

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

I'd leave the ones above the visor slot out. If you're under the sun you might get far too much light through those coming straight into your eyes. The lower ones may not correlate entirely to any period example, but they look fine. In the shadows of the interior it will probably be almost impossibl...

Gerhard von Liebau

Mac wrote:This time I will let it dry more slowly... no microwaving.

But certainly that's the way they did it in period!

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

I was literally looking at that yesterday, and am pretty sure I just stumbled upon it while researching locks.

Small www.

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

National Balsa! http://www.nationalbalsa.com/basswood_planks_s/219.htm I bought my basswood there, still mulling over what sorta' shield I'm going to make out of the total 36x24x5/8" I got. Under "planks" you can get various thicknesses up to 4x2x48", and under "sheets" you can get many sizes... My ...

Gerhard von Liebau

Yet I've heard better things about the strength of this North American counterpart, Mac. I've been warned it is the European variety that is not up to par for weaponry and such! What say ye', there? I can say I have a 1" diameter spear shaft for a Greek dory, and I find it strong. It is American 'po...

Gerhard von Liebau

That's absolutely cool information, Stallari. Could you point me toward any historical material that may have referenced such uses or merits? I do reckon that other suitable results of staves of this and that length after this and that year would be quite close to such quotes! But how exciting to he...

Gerhard von Liebau

I would actually be interested in knowing more about medieval uses for European poplar, particularly for abusive purposes such as tools and armament: among those as hafts of pole arms and shields. I understand it is quite different from American poplar and have been warned that it would not work wel...

Gerhard von Liebau

RandallMoffett wrote: ...timber called 'lynde'...

So we have poplar...

Why does 'lynde' mean poplar? Looks more like linden to me, which we know to be among the most favorable woods for shields and a generally fine native European wood used for a variety of other Medieval crafts.

-Gerhard

Gerhard von Liebau

If you can't read German, at least stare at this for a while. Every page. Jan Kohlmorgen's Der Mittelalterliche Reiterschild . What period of shield are you interested in? The book above deals mainly with continental shields from between 1100-1400. Construction methods never varied wildly. Most shie...

Gerhard von Liebau

This is what happens when you let people with no reenactment background take charge of such bold projects. The issues of impracticality that tarnish their endeavors can be endless. It reminds me of Victor Davis Hanson's arguments about archaic hoplite armament; his stance was based almost completely...

Gerhard von Liebau

I literally just read Maurice Keen's chapter on heraldry in Chivalry today, and green came up a lot. It was listed as one of the primary colors used in multiple sources before the end of the thirteenth century. I noted this as interesting since I'm just finishing a shield with a field vert . It was ...

Gerhard von Liebau

Hard to tell from the picture, do you know of a pattern anywhere? Not sure how to approach putting on the apparent split end and how it all goes together. Jacked from these threads at Myarmoury: http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=4951 http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=6348 ht...

Gerhard von Liebau

Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) did these two self-portraits of himself in armor. The second is from 1911, not sure on the first. http://hoocher.com/Lovis_Corinth/Self_Portrait_With_Armor.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZF2TvtdrnP0/TAwH9nqTVqI/AAAAAAAAADE/vRh5QbqPzDw/s1600/Self-Portrait+-+1911.jpg Jacek Mal...

Gerhard von Liebau

Some of the fanciest armor of the mid-late 16th century is also the most technologically advanced, providing a very high level of defense and maneuverability. For 'commoners,' the protection offered by armor increased rapidly and throughout between the 13th-16th centuries, yet due to the dissipation...

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