The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

Heck, I say he's large every time those oak benches he calls legs come flying at me...

I'm still amazed and horrified that nobody picked up his Rus/Cuman kit...

Russ Mitchell

That was a Kassai. Groszer's are *even better,* particularly now that you can actually find them... primarily in terms of reliability... Kassai's bows overheat in the glue a little easily for my tastes. Both are very good deals for the money, don't get me wrong. But for price, reliability, and authe...

Russ Mitchell

Darn, I'm late.

If for some reason this falls apart, my wife works for fedex, and I could have it shipped reasonably... and am interested, as in a few months I will need much steel of that gauge.

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>To which I reply: Well, I haven't worked with HDPE, but I have worked with both Kydex and ABS. Both of those materials can be made into reasonably safe, non-historical armor suitable for stick f...

Russ Mitchell

We also have images of lamellar armour looking much like that from fourteenth-century Hungary. Granted, only in a couple of places, but it's there.

Looks pretty good. I'm doing something similar... in another six freaking months, maybe I'll be able to post some pics...

Russ Mitchell

You and me both. I realized that at my current pace, and with the individual lacings I want on my lamellar (makes a much more durable armour)... I'm looking at not twice, but easily three times as much labor as I thought I'd need to have to finish it, including at least a full evening's labor to sim...

Russ Mitchell

I come from one of said groups. We do armor as worn. But we also aren't doing tournaments... we compete against each other, but the group is small enough that the prize is the acclamation of skill, not which target area was struck...

Russ Mitchell

Da. Their cuirasses and horse armors are of leather and made this way: they take strips of cowhide or other animal hide of one hand's width wide, and they glue three or four of these toether and tie them to each other with laces or cords. In the top strip they pu...

Russ Mitchell

Bojei, My translation of Carpini isn't as specific as yours... in mine, he only specifies the middle-to-edge lacing, and on Wednesday night I figured out how to do that and obtain a 90% overlap, if needed, without exposing the lacing. I have to finish one more band before I make my shoulder straps, ...

Russ Mitchell

You come back to Oklahoma and get that horse, and we'll start doing horse archery for fun and profit...

Russ Mitchell

Haven't been able to get online at home, folks... waiver should come tonight.

Russ Mitchell

Plus, the guy at the top of the page is my old Professor! If you're not familiar with Grozer, he is probably the best bowyer in Hungary, and I'm pretty d(*mned excited that he finally has a web presence. Seeing a pic of my mentor doesn't hurt, either, of course. His bows are a clear step above Kassa...

Russ Mitchell

Also, there's a book called ~ The Crusades, An Islamic Perspective, by Carole Hillenbrand. Some nice line sketches in there drawn from 14th-c. images.

Russ Mitchell

SWAG (scientific, not speculative) didn't originate with me, T-Bob, honest. First time I saw it in print was from a guy up in Colorado named MacYoung, but it's been floating around for a while. Thanks for the response... have to play with that when I start lacing bands together... Edit: Got it. I ca...

Russ Mitchell

If it's not competitive, I've got a waiver I use for Bob's seminars, made up by one of the most vicious lawyers in Houston. It basically says "once you're on our property we can do anything to you we want, and you waive your right to do anything but crawl off the property when we tell you to." Email...

Russ Mitchell

So let's start a combat archery thread! No, really, just to keep a thread alive, I'm bidding on some crap old arrows, so that as the weather turns better, I can work on my draw speed. I'm much, much too slow right now, and can only pull about five to six arrows a minute... if I'm going to keep up wi...

Russ Mitchell

T-Bob, can I ask you a question? This is one of those times when I'm both impressed and appalled simultaneously... and since I'm only just now starting on the armouring path, I'd like to sap some of your experience. You managed to set up the lamellar so it actually achieves the overlaps described in...

Russ Mitchell

Word of warning and side note: Word of warning: don't soak these puppies in your bathtub... unless you relish the idea of explaining to your wife just how long and hard you're going to be scrubbing off the tannin stains... Voice of Experience here. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/eek.gif Side note:...

Russ Mitchell

I sent you that one... but no, I have no photographs, and unfortunately, only miniscule access to the Russian historiography...

Russ Mitchell

Hi guys... lamenting the loss of the search function... whoever posted that, could I get you to surface so I can ask you a question or two? Thanks.

Russ Mitchell

Oh hey, Ron, I just emailed him to let him know we commented... but if you check back, how about emailing me about some new arrows? I have some news about fletchings for you.

Russ Mitchell

Yes. I've never been able to afford one of the real ones (I currently use one of Groszer's Tatar bows), but I have a buddy in Hungary who made one... it's amazing how small a difference in horn applied translates to the range of strength required to string it...) I don't know the last two, but I kno...

Russ Mitchell

FYI: Ironically enough, just yesterday I finally heard back from an Italian professor with whom I was consulting, and in this case, "farsetto" translates to "vest." So it's something very much like the Cuman armor on the babas (of course, it's highly likely that these WERE Cumans anyway, since we kn...

Russ Mitchell

I present early next month. Thanks.

Russ Mitchell

Email me privately, and I can help you. I have somebody I'll refer you to, but I can't give out his email publicly.

Russ Mitchell

Endre, any documentation or bib you can provide would be mui helpful. I had arrows bounce at thirty... but the bow wasn't quite that powerful. The padding, otoh, was clearly a factor, and a big one.

Russ Mitchell

Worse than that, you're a total dork who owes me a drink... drop me an email so we can talk schedule, okay? I'll be out your way pretty darned often.

Russ Mitchell

(bought myself some hookey time prior to lunch). Jeff: "farsetti" loosely translates to "doublet, coat, jacket," etcetera. I'm working on nailing down a specific translation, but there are plenty of image sources to support the idea. Oh/Edit: forgot to mention -- there are terms in french for specif...

Russ Mitchell

Dmitry... oh, hey, do the math with that source, and the reason for the Cuman/Polovtsi use of the "Varangian Bra" is immediately obvious... if you don't get it, I'll lay it out for you in the Bay this month (you still owe me a drink!).

Russ Mitchell

Dmitry -- Yes, familiar with the Cuman/Polovtsi material... I have been making extensive use of it, in combination with other comparative sources... but for Magyars themselves in this period, images are rare. We can speculate about limb defenses (say what was possible), and can't say that anything ...

Russ Mitchell

(For those of you unfamiliar with the term, SWAG = "Scientific Wild-Ass Guess.") Leo the Wise and others refer to the Hungarians wearing leather armor, but never specify any particular type, except every now and then referring to cuirasses. In this period specifically (early high middle ages, roughl...

Russ Mitchell

That's kind of odd... but I'd been thinking considerably earlier than that... keep forgetting that the mid-sixteenth century is still period for some of you guys...

Russ Mitchell

Yes, I know that historically Japanese did not fight in European tournaments while they were visiting (though they did visit).

They did?? When was this? VERY interested in your source for this.

Russ Mitchell

Thanks, guys... I"m trying to see if I can tone the article in comparison to what I've actualy been working on the last six months, and make it a comparative deal between mail and leather armours... One thing I've been finding is that I'm shy on archaeological finds for "eastern" arrows in period, j...

Russ Mitchell

Hopefully Janos sells this together to Sarnac (it's a very sweet kit, and ought to be kept together if possible)... but otherwise, trust me, Janos is a big, big boy. 6'5", I think. I'm a six-footer, and he makes me feel pretty tiny. [This message has been edited by Russ Mitchell (edited 03-01-2003).]

Hungarian gear (bows, axes, felt stuff, etc.) available from

Who didn't like bone glue for SCA combat?

Looking for educated SWAGs.