The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

His prices on the scales have upped slightly, to 170. I have a batch coming to me, and can give a review to anybody who asks.

Russ Mitchell

LOL!

At least, Sersem, now that the scholars are no longer being forced to grind axes, there's the possibility of getting some serious distinctions made between which finds belonged to which peoples...

Pretty, Janos...

Russ Mitchell

the better and wiser will have to correct me, but it seems like fixing out the extra step would solve teh double-time problem all by itself, since it'll make you have to recalibrate your attack angles in mid-stroke...

Russ Mitchell

Reading these, and better-informed fencers will have to correct me, it seems to me that you might benefit from working it slowly and making sure that your strong is connecting to his weak, and not weak/weak... that SHOULD give you the displacement you need to keep it single time. Versus pflug... how...

Russ Mitchell

Sold. I need two: am hip deep in working on Leckuchner's messerfechten, and this looks like a better simulator than what I currently have.

But I'm playing hookey from work, on a bad day to do so... can you drop me an email, Therion, so I can get with you 2nite on payment?

Russ Mitchell

Well, when I make them up, they're likely to be fairly small... I'm probably going to get the rawhide from a source for drums, so probably not much bigger than 15-18"

Russ Mitchell

I know a way to make a nearly indestructable buckler, that also happens to be perfectly legit for persian and middle eastern personae in period, and am wondering how many buckler men are out there, and if people would generally be interested... it's the kind of thing that's easier, if there's demand...

Russ Mitchell

Will do, it's just a matter of looking in my copy of Munyatul Ghuzat...

Russ Mitchell

Bamboo and cane *can be* very strong. Remember that the couched lance didn't originate only in western europe, but was also known in the middle east, at least among the arabs and mamlukes, as the Anatolian method... no, I'm misremembering... oh hell, I'll have to look in the old translation tonight,...

Russ Mitchell

Email sent.

Russ Mitchell

Sure you can't afford to do a swap for those prints? Iv'e dealt with you before, and know you're reliable... I'd let you take it on the slow side...

I'll assume it's a no, but if you change your mind, email me.

Russ Mitchell

I've been there, believe me. I've got a private nibble, but these will likely be around for a while, and you know what's up my alley... just let me know if that changes over the course of the fall.

Russ Mitchell

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">....which lets a person who looks hard enough realize that it it machine sewn (2 thread) ....</font> The problem with this is that it's not always true... for example, in leatherworking, two thread sewing is the mark of a hand-stitched, in other words, tradition...

Russ Mitchell

Metal. There's some debate back and forth -- I'm sure Egfroth will weigh in, as I believe he puts both feet down on the "it's mail" camp--, but the lorica shown are, **imho,** clearly lightweight "ponchos" with metal scales. Leather scale can be very effective, but the Carolingians weren't swimming ...

Russ Mitchell

Matt, they should be visible in the lower right-hand corner of the prints... no doodles, though, they're print-signs, not marker autographs... (though that'd be cool..)

Russ Mitchell

Email sent.

Russ Mitchell

The nice thing about mail having all that surface area is that if you can get into the shade for even a little bit, it'll conduct heat OUT, too... I was a prop in a public ceremony where I had to stand in teh full summer sun for an hour without squirming or moving, just standing straight still... th...

Russ Mitchell

Thanks. Email sent.

Russ Mitchell

Janos: sure hope so...
Sasuke: photos came out great, scanned well. You should have them in short order...

Russ Mitchell

Will do. Digicam needs new battery I don't have, am taking film pics, and will have them developed tomorrow a.m., sent via scan/email by early afternoon.

Russ Mitchell

Just what the title says, I'm hoping somebody out there is more twisted than my wife and will tolerate it on the walls... really neat, but I was threatened with death... they're worth about 400 a pop, and not the ones floating all over the internet. Primarily interested in trade for arms/armour good...

Russ Mitchell

Email sent...

Russ Mitchell

I also have a pair with finger bucklers that were passed in Ansteorra -- there's a thread of mine a while back with pics that you ought to be able to find, if you're interested. I'm only getting rid of them because they're too narrow for my hands, will accept a trade if you're interested.

Russ Mitchell

Great thread, guys: it's threads like these that have me itching to get out and say hello at the Steppes practice once everything calms down (halfway done the banded lamellar, though). In my lineage with the sabre (we do heavy sabre, longaxe, and some basic knife/brawling), I can tell who's going to...

Russ Mitchell

I'm not allowed to work metal (the high price of my new leather shop), but I'd gladly bring the originals and help people with quivers...

Russ Mitchell

If my estate situation with Mom were clear, I'd pay that, definitely.

Russ Mitchell

Have used leather hand protection in Budapest for years. Now, before you jump on me, we fence hard with hardwood, with a sabre method that explicitly targets the hands. It's not fairy-sabre, by any stroke of the imagination. The guys in lightweight leathers would have been better served with finger ...

Russ Mitchell

I know this guy. Not like a brother, mind you, but I've dealt with him, and he's a straight arrow, was really good to the old proprietor before his heart finally took him. If you contact him with your problem regarding the patterns, he may be able to satisfy you: he sells stuff that he hasn't produc...

Russ Mitchell

Thanks for the link, Egfroth... my wife bought me a leather shop on the condition that I wouldn't turn into a metal-working junkie... so I'll have to commission one of these... Effingham, I understand how you feel, and you're both basically right. Dhimmitude isn't for me, either... in spite of which...

Russ Mitchell

Hi there. I have airplane tickets that need to be used this summer, lest they vanish, because they're changeable but not refundable. While I can't pay to have this sort of thing done until the estate clears, I could definitely attend a hammer-in if you're serious.

Where are you located?

Russ Mitchell

Yeah, but you gotta figure that 8mm weave... that weave plus the round rivets, is basically right on par authenticity-wise for guys like Ron and I do who east-central europe.

Russ Mitchell

Yes, if you're involved in fighting along the Teutonic/Livonian frontier. But there's all sorts of other stuff that would have to be taken into account in order to turn that into a workable persona.

Russ Mitchell

I have since obtained a small collection of authentic arrowheads, and, among the other things that will be done when my mothers' estate is settled this summer, is to find a smith to replicate them exactly. There are some surprising forms among them.

Russ Mitchell

And I tend to think of the same period as "leading into (and in)" the High middle ages and Ottonian Renaissance... doing alternately "Honfoglalo" (Conquest Era) and perhaps a little 14th c. Hungarian stuff, this is my main preiod as well... But I see reenactor site after reenactor site going the oth...

Russ Mitchell

I still totally fail to understand how 9-11th century can possibly qualify as Dark Ages... The Kaganate's just a research group, we've never actually met. I'm in a living history group in Budapest when I'm out there. I'd do it in North Texas, but there's not enough interest... though, if I start tea...

Testing the waters...

Three of Four signed-limited HR Giger prints for sale or tra