The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

Suggest making sure you're using light materials in your strapping. I have a scale vest of 1-1.5mm scales, and it's HEAVY. As in, "My God, do I really want to wear this all day" heavy, and which would be a severe handicap playing the SCA game, unless I did something like go hiking in it every day fo...

Russ Mitchell

Handsome padded rerebraces you've got there, Slim.

Russ Mitchell

Russ Mitchell

Then again, flip it around. Say they're both thrusting swords. Gladius and Rapier, side by side. Don't that just also blow the hypothesis right out of the water?

Russ Mitchell

Nice.
You might get more commentary, btw, on the Interpretive Recreation forum, if you're wondering why so many views but so few comments.

Russ Mitchell

I don't know about 14thc. leather tunics, but this site has some nice work with leather tunics. http://www.wojmir.pl/skorznie.htm Nice site, and some of their stuff looks really good. If they were to be more authentic about it, it'd be oil-tanned stuff, and generally more in the caftan style. Moose...

Russ Mitchell

Kilkenny: see above, I've already addressed the objection.

Russ Mitchell

Gaston, these look fantastic. I'm not in the market right now, but I"ll definitely be bidding on sets 4 or 5 when the finances change.

Russ Mitchell

I'm likely to repousse myself, since I know what design I'd want. The only other thing I'll need to do is drill four small holes into each plate, but with metal that thin, it's not like that'd take me more than about ten seconds on the drill press...

Russ Mitchell

Sha-ul, I've had one pm querying, but either the copper or the brass would work fine. These aren't structural and don't need thickness, they're just there to be pretty and protect the felt and leather inside them.

Russ Mitchell

It's out-of-SCA, but I have pretty much always worn a thick felt hat (1-1.5" thick) under a helm in Budapest when we played; our helms weren't as thick and heavy as yours, and I took shots from guys on horseback (and from one guy with a very solid oak sabre waster that's not quite but a close equiva...

Russ Mitchell

Nobody with a beverly and some thin metal wants to make a quick buck?

Russ Mitchell

Hi there. Need to obtain six 3" diameter steel or bronze disks. The metal needs to be quite thin, 20-ga at absolute max. Don't need anything fancy, just little metal circles, and don't want to waste fundage buying more metal than I actually need (I'm trying to *clean* the garage, not fill it with sc...

Russ Mitchell

Since the messer is dominated by the use of the Long Point, however, it may not be the best example. Except of course, for the original thesis statement. It's not THAT horrific a statement compared to some of the absolute crap on swords that got published last year, so I wouldn't get worked up over ...

Russ Mitchell

Tan your own! I have....

Russ Mitchell

(and yes, Dan, I'm well aware that modern paper is likely to be "off" compared to 16th-century materials as well -- until I can track down some scholarly literature on early paper-mache in Europe and its construction, I'm in the dark on that, I'm afraid)

Russ Mitchell

1. I am using paper, which I'm aware is a different substance -- this is not anything resembling a publishable or precise test, simply looking at how the glue reacts when moving around various fibers, and at what thicknesses they achieve "useable" hardness." As to paper-mache as a material, though i...

Russ Mitchell

Depending on your application, the rolled variation can be even more attractive -- I prefer square buttons for bags and such, but rolled buttons for coats, as they then look very attractive mated up with frogging rather than just buttonholes.

Russ Mitchell

Interesting. 1. Last batch from Sunday is still drying, but it's looking like five layers is ABSOLUTELY insufficient using traditional paper-mache materials (modern glues would be borderline). 2. So it seems to me that the layers of paper in this case are essentially to provide shock resistance to t...

Russ Mitchell

Maeryk, respectfully, don't really think the snarking is deserved here -- it is no shame to be ignorant of something, and then ask so as to alleviate that.

Russ Mitchell

It is also believe quite a few cultural "differences" in drinking are also attributed to what Graham talked about. Limochello (sp?) vodka and lemonade, some Balkans put wine and fanta/sprite together, etc. The alcohol helped make it safer to drink. IIRC, Iodine making drinking water safe is a fairl...

Russ Mitchell

Graham,

What you've posted isn't in dispute. The OP asked if it were true that medieval Europeans drank *nothing* but beer/wine, which is a very different question.

Russ Mitchell

I agree, it will clearly be ablative: for repeated use, ten layers wouldn't cut it. But then, I'm a diehard leather fan and the same "weight" of leather, even water or glue-hardened, I wouldn't put out for SCA combat, period. We're talking about something no thicker than a dress belt.

Russ Mitchell

Myth. During the Turkish Wars in Hungary, a "German" hungarian made lots of money by selling beer to Habsburg troops on the grounds that "beer keeps you from getting sick," and none of his customers got dysentery or similar diseases. Had beer drinking been universal, he couldn't have marketed on tho...

Russ Mitchell

To my surprise, the basic "clay" involved in paper mache itself dries surprisingly hard -- take this, of course, from a guy who hasn't made any of this stuff since he was covering balloons in fourth grade. The material is quite brittle. Interestingly, and potentially quite useful for SCA folks who a...

Russ Mitchell

"Primarily" is an argument based on tactics: the weapon was chosen for a reason. Wide-bladed "thrusting sword" -- short. Later-period weapon with only marginal slashing utility -- longest ever made. Substitute parang for estoc, if you really want a huge difference?

Russ Mitchell

Hi, I am looking for a period source (fechtbuch, preferably) that shows slashing being done at close quarters with a long sword - does anyone know of a good source for that? I am reviewing a book where the author states that slashing requires more space than stabbing, and so slashing swords are nec...

Russ Mitchell

Properly made gambesons work very well. I had a Jupon (pretty much the same thing but for 14th c) that I had to stop wearing beause I could not feel shots and was simply walking through shots. The padding in that moster was 1 in thick before the quilting. I sewed multiple layers of wool and linen t...

Russ Mitchell

The Hungarians as well, if art's any judge.

Russ Mitchell

Ja, Ogedei, and the reference I "recall" didn't necessarily talk about small plates, either. It could easily have been something closer to a jawshan in appearance.

kyb0417: Thanks again!

Russ Mitchell

Losthelm: yeah, that's part and parcel of tanning. Some rot can be beneficial (say, if you're trying to slip the hair off a hide), but all the things you'd do to slow down bacteria apply -- cold water especially. Nothing says "germ spa" like a tub full of nice somewhat-warm water.

Russ Mitchell

Ogedei: I thought it was in Rubruk, but I'm having trouble finding the quote for you -- sorry.

Russ Mitchell

So whatcha workin' on, Cliff?

Russ Mitchell

I've had rawhide sitting wet in a bucket for two WEEKS without issue. It really is an issue of hide, cleanliness, and contamination.

Russ Mitchell

A very long time -- it depends on how clean your water and your hide are, and what crap various folks may have put into it if it's a chew-toy rather than a straight rawhide.

Re: St George - Hradcany Square - Body armour - Update!

Re: FS: Jolly Knight Linen Gamboised Cuisses

Re: WTB/LF: Cuman bra parts

Re: sources for slashing at close quarters

Re: My first leather water bottle

Re: Leather tunics and/or arming caps. No such thing?

Re: sources for slashing at close quarters

Re: Spring steel vambrace splint auction- 3rd set

Re: WTB/LF: Cuman bra parts

Re: WTB/LF: Cuman bra parts

Re: Helmet padding study

Re: WTB/LF: Cuman bra parts

WTB/LF: Cuman bra parts

Re: sources for slashing at close quarters

Re: How do you make this leather button?

Re: Basic "paper mache" tests -- no pictures.

Re: Basic "paper mache" tests -- no pictures.

Re: How do you make this leather button?

Re: Basic "paper mache" tests -- no pictures.

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Re: Basic "paper mache" tests -- no pictures.

Re: Is it true thaty everyone drank beer?

Basic "paper mache" tests -- no pictures.

Re: sources for slashing at close quarters

Re: sources for slashing at close quarters

Re: Do Outlanders still fight only in gambesons?

Re: cervellier with klapvisor?

Re: Discovered Korean armour artifact in 2011

Re: Rawhide question.

Re: Discovered Korean armour artifact in 2011

Re: Lamellar thickness

Re: Rawhide question.

Re: Rawhide question.