The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

(I have no dog in this hunt, but what Kelby describes is very similar to what we did in savate for years when doing full-contact drills. Five seconds of "hey, gimme a 5." ::thump:: "that felt like a 7 to me, how 'bout a touch lighter," or "meh, that felt kind of 3-ish, you can ramp it a little more"...

Russ Mitchell

Sorry, yes, Dallas-Fort-Worth.
In response to PMs gotten, they DON'T need cash -- the guy's got himself a two-year teaching stint (after putting in literally 124 job apps last year, heh). It's more a case that they're starting from a position of jack and squat.

Russ Mitchell

Hey folks. On the VERY off chance anybody is around DFW and happens to have spare table lamps, portable but not camp chairs, or a bicycle suitable for a teenage boy, please let me know. Second-hand towels and teenage clothes for 14-year-old boy also wouldn't hurt. One of my wife's colleagues from Hu...

Russ Mitchell

Actually, it's worse than that, Ernst. Comes can also occasionally be synonymous with "knight," as a further complication of the godawful " miles debate." (which is why I left comes untranslated) Ernst: full disclosure, my latin sucks, too. The freightyard paid my way through school, but it was no p...

Russ Mitchell

No problem. If I had the cash laying around or you wanted any of my junk in trade, I'd already own that thing.

Russ Mitchell

Comitis is the genitive singular of comes.
Pro armatura comitis, therefore, is pretty rock-basic. "For the comes' armour."

Russ Mitchell

Yeah, it's in this forum. just browse for his thread.

Russ Mitchell

Mongol-mongol, or Manchu? What draw does she handle? Ulricus' Grozer Hungarian bow is very close to appropriate for a non-Manchu Mongol bow, and is the kind of sweet bow that's worth of a wedding gift. (I have no interest/dog in this hunt, but if she can pull in the forties, it'd be a sweet gift).

Russ Mitchell

Kepes kronika has a few pics suggesting that they were basically built like shovel greaves (maybe not so finely shaped), with plates inside. This is next on my plate once my farsetto's done. Can't help you on scale greaves, tho.

Russ Mitchell

I remember reading it (and being hella-amused that he named his mail shirt after what seems like obviously bawdy jokes), but don't have a precise quote, sadly...I left most of those books behind when I drifted eastwards in historical interest.

Russ Mitchell

I don't know of any that would go over the helmet but under the visor. The Hungarians sometimes "hide" their helmet under felt hats (as do the Cumans, etc), but this is ....something totally different.

Russ Mitchell

RED. Looks much, much nicer.

Russ Mitchell

How do our sizes do with odd feet? I could get away easily w/ a pair of your 2-toggle boots as comfortable office-wear (the black ones going well with work clothes), but I'm a classic duckfoot-narrow-heel guy...

Russ Mitchell

I think lathe has gotta be the way to go: if I had the lathed parts, I could easily dremel to suit.

Russ Mitchell

Don't have the technical skill to do that secondary spring (mechanical idiot here), but that sounds like a GREAT addition for squirrel-hunting.

Russ Mitchell

We know they painted mail, too. Hardrada's "Emma," for instance. But that was white paint.

Russ Mitchell

What a sweet deal.

Russ Mitchell

Definitely stitches...I"m not seeing enough detail to say whether it's padded pants, or just using more than one layer, or...

Russ Mitchell

No idea what the photo's showing. Would need a much closer examination.

Russ Mitchell

The middle of each of those rectangles, there's a light dot that looks to me like a rivet. It's washed-out, but there.
Edit: just rechecked, it's smudgy on the last one, but quite clear on the first one, so-so on the second.

Russ Mitchell

Hard to see why padded pants would have rivets...

Russ Mitchell

That depends: do you want the vambrace to hug your arm and rotate with your wrist, or to hug your arm but not have to move when your wrist rotates? Round for the latter.

Russ Mitchell

I'll tell you flat out -- the piece I own from Dobson's workshop (via Joe, who's a personal friend), is the hardest piece of leather armor I've ever handled, period. I just utterly suck at last-making!

Russ Mitchell

Hmmm.... We could think of it as "post medieval road warrior", maybe. Violent, mostly or entirely lawless, and survival depending on being willing to kill someone else and take what they had if opportunity presented itself. Understatement. Even in the New World, they were famous for never doing any...

Russ Mitchell

In answer to your question: yes. Hide glue with the heat-gun is how I did it. Also, I found that it really didn't work quite as well if the leather wasn't under tension so much (lacing/nailing to form). For PURE water-hardening, I would recommend soaking it a bit, and baking in the over rather than ...

Russ Mitchell

When they improve longevity into the 130s-140s, expect to see a lot of just terrifyingly good old-guy fighters out there....

Russ Mitchell

It has been my 100% amateur conjecture for years now that what "chi/ki" really is is a vizualization technique for making our nervous system and muscles do stuff they're capable of but that we're not good at controlling consciously. It's a translation problem. "chi" as life force doesn't translate ...

Russ Mitchell

That's more or less what my argument was for the "if there were ever such a thing as ring mail, why would it have existed," and I think your argument makes total sense in that context.

Russ Mitchell

Not being SCA, I can't vouch for your ruleset, but it seems to me from what I read that at least a number of higher-level players take coordination and power generation very seriously. Ken: not just savate, either. It's coordination and structure, not muscle mass. If you can't hit somebody full-powe...

Russ Mitchell

"Previous studies have found that the force generated in a karate punch is not determined by muscular strength, suggesting that factors related to the control of muscle movement by the brain might be important." Might be? :lol: On the one hand, this is "discovering warm water": on the other, I'd lov...

Russ Mitchell

Ironbadger: minus the center plate, that's more or less what the funky scale armor of St. Demetrios shows (though with exposed scales which appear to be riveted rather than sewn) -- something that's on my "make this" list once I finish up with my current stuff.

Russ Mitchell

Andeerz, if you come up with a relatively simple/affordable form setup, please let me know. Dobson nailed his pieces to wood, but plaster and selvedge edges seem like they'd work pretty well, too.

Russ Mitchell

False dichotomy. Aim small, miss small, applies with blades, too.

Russ Mitchell

I had mine on high, actually, but I was very careful. OH. Works MUCH better if you tack it to a form, when working this way. I'd produce half-tanned cuirboilli like this on a regular basis (since I can handle the tanning), if I could get a decent set of forms. But I'm total shite when it comes to wo...

Russ Mitchell

I've done it. It works just fine so long as you don't burn the piece. I haven't done "hot immersion," b/c I like my fingers better than that.

Re: Not 'excessive' but harder than 'good'?

Re: CHARITY (DFW): Items needed for transplants

CHARITY (DFW): Items needed for transplants

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: WTB fancy bellydance jewelry, fancy drum, mongol bow etc

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: WTB fancy bellydance jewelry, fancy drum, mongol bow etc

Re: WTB fancy bellydance jewelry, fancy drum, mongol bow etc

Re: Constructing 14thC brigandine or scale greaves.

Re: Blackened Chainmail

Re: Chainmail Coif with face plate?

Re: Gold Samurai Armour - a question of complementary colors

Re: Plenty of Shoes in Stock at Viking Leathercrafts

Re: Last construction for leather forming...

Re: Lewis&Clark Airgun

Re: Blackened Chainmail

Re: Super Duper Center-grip Shield Bundle - FS

Re: Can anyone shed some light on this "Splinted Coat of Pla

Re: Can anyone shed some light on this "Splinted Coat of Pla

Re: Can anyone shed some light on this "Splinted Coat of Pla

Re: Can anyone shed some light on this "Splinted Coat of Pla

Re: Hardening leather: the finer points (not remaking the wh

Re: Hardening leather: the finer points (not remaking the wh

Re: Overlapping washers as armour. Anyone done this?

Re: Hardening leather: the finer points (not remaking the wh

Re: Study shows that punching power comes from the brain

Re: Study shows that punching power comes from the brain

Re: Overlapping washers as armour. Anyone done this?

Re: Study shows that punching power comes from the brain

Re: Study shows that punching power comes from the brain

Re: Overlapping washers as armour. Anyone done this?

Re: Hardening leather: the finer points (not remaking the wh

Re: Fast is fine but...

Re: Hardening leather: the finer points (not remaking the wh

Re: Hardening leather: the finer points (not remaking the wh