The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

In steel, interested in end-product (far preferring single holes, as I don't see the triplets much in my neck of the woods), but I'd be monkeying with the plates considerably, to turn it into something closer to a "Prague St. George" getup, so I'd make a poor tester.

Russ Mitchell

I've been burned by folks on the Archive here more times than I remember, but I gotta say that I'd *definitely* do this with guys I've found trustworthy if they were interested. It's a great idea, and I'm already starting to think about how to put it in motion.

Russ Mitchell

Heh. Problem's not the latin (though mine is rocky, fruit of having to pay for my schooling by working in a freightyard rather than studying), but the paleography. This is going to be embarrassingly bad: I'm wayyyyy too rusty to be trying this crap at work w/o my dictionaries and grammar books. (som...

Russ Mitchell

Since many of the supposedly-stylized "oriental" images in Italian artwork of the era prove to correspond exactly to "Cumans, Hungarians, or Balkan troops" (many of whom were referred to as "Hungarian" even if ethnically slavonic, etc, b/c that's how the medieval world rolled), who also happened to ...

Russ Mitchell

That's a really open-grained leather, and sufficiently free of distortions that it looks to have been originally. Anybody know what kind of hide?

Russ Mitchell

Side note, while this whole thing's totally in your bailiwick, if he *doesn't* care for it, I'm still perfectly willng to pay you full price and just grind it like I said in our PMs. I don't see any reason to punish folks just b/c we had commo issues.

Russ Mitchell

That's one of the great undersung advantages of a bow with a good kasanlik. It's *easy to shoot.* Even when I was "tuned into" the hungarian warbow up above, I felt like a wimp trying to pull my neighbor's 50lb stickbow.

Russ Mitchell

pm sent.

Russ Mitchell

Eh, they're NOT the Kias of the bow world. You can get a LOT worse bow than a flagellum dei.

Russ Mitchell

If I had the cash or anything you even vaguely wanted, I'd be on this like white on rice.

Russ Mitchell

That's an important detail I'd missed, yep. Yikes. Glad it's working for him -- for a straight wood-lam bow to be of that size and handling that draw length is remarkable (including the knot). Traditional Hungarian bows were spliced, but that may be because it was one of the "heavy group" and genera...

Russ Mitchell

In a wood bow, it's absolutely horrid, I agree. In a h/s bow it's nearly irrelevant. The wood's a placeholder, basically (one of the reasons this design became so popular on the great steppe was that you could use truly shit wood and still make a perfectly admirable bow). There's also quite the shit...

Russ Mitchell

Patternweld: actually, that's not true. Knots and other imperfections are absolutely common in horn/sinew bows, including originals. Vermillion: I'm told that flagella dei has a good reputation for making a budget but rock-solid bow. What I'm referring to are chinese knockoffs on ebay which steal th...

Russ Mitchell

I know somebody in Chicago who's getting ready for her first hafla and might be interested. I'll point her at your fb page.

Russ Mitchell

Very nice, indeed. And I can't wait to see what you can do in Chinese style.

Russ Mitchell

(still watching to see if you can pull off the shield design)

Russ Mitchell

All our leather armor was padded with a layer of felt stitched to the leather with lacing. Traditional, lightweight, effective.

Russ Mitchell

Ebay has a TON of Chinese knockoffs for very low prices; quality is Chinese, of course -- you may get a great bow, you may get a complete POS. Chinese tend to not do quality control, but to put product out the door as fast and cheap as possible, and fix problems afterwards. Otoh, it's not like this ...

Russ Mitchell

I've got one bow left, it's a cheaper version of what Thaddeus has, Hungarian style. While I"m not KEEN to let it go, you could in theory talk me out of it. Won't embed the pic, b/c it's seriously oversized, but here's a shot of me using it a couple of years ago. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...

Russ Mitchell

No, Thaddeus, the hungarian warbow you have is a custom job. It's a one-off.

Russ Mitchell

Actually a 45lb composite recurve will easily penetrate mail, depending on the surface behind it, quality of arrowhead, fletchings, etcetera. A TRH is worth less than that, but the shit value of the USD is one of the reasons I haven't been able to replace it -- my next heavy recurve bow may be a diy...

Russ Mitchell

It's nominally 87# at 28" and stacks pretty heavily from there. At 32" I am getting what I guess is something over 100# maybe. I cant shoot this bow very many times before I am worn out and finding or making arrows heavy enough for it has been challenging. Russ described it as a war bow. It certain...

Russ Mitchell

Actually, for a one-off costume piece that's predicated on fulfilling a specific need, I agree with Schreiber. Some of the same armouring skills would be used, but she'd save a TON of money in the process. If the desired goal is an affordable and inexpensive piece, rather than learning about the per...

Russ Mitchell

I have one like that, made with Jeff Wasson's guidance. The top is actually biscuit-joined on. The bottom is plywood I made on a frame by laminating pieces of wiggle-board. I need another, though. I'm surprised you were able to get plywood to "behave" with the complex curve-line joining the middle ...

Russ Mitchell

ken and russ, i am building a few shield press's for battle of nations shields . if you give me a minute i can probably come up with something out of wood. cheers, nicholas squire to duke edric V Nicholas, You'd be the first person to succeed at making such a shield in several years of me going thr...

Russ Mitchell

Leatherworking is an expensive hobby using not-cheap tools, which in theory CAN be used for money, but only if you have absolutely top-flight skills (the market is absolutely flooded with leatherworking mediocrities -- full disclosure, such as myself). If you just want to knock somehting out for you...

Russ Mitchell

What material is that from? And could you make shields like those depicted in the Chronicon Pictum? I've gone through three different shield-makers, all of whom have tried and failed due to the complex curves involved...I've been beginning to despair of it being possible in wood, and contemplated us...

Russ Mitchell

I have a question on this topic: I'm used to a lighter helm, but significantly more padding (felt underhats, and even, bizarrely enough, for Cumans sometimes overhats, too) than most SCA folks use. Have any of you folks ever tried/tested a rig made that way? I'm curious because of the threads we've ...

Russ Mitchell

As a guy who was also giving away kindle novels, I'll be happy to review as well.

Russ Mitchell

Swabian makes a LOT of sense, too, as there was a large Swabian population in the territory that Astria and Hungary regularly disputed. I had dinner once with one of the last native Swabian speakers in the area.

Russ Mitchell

Armored boot, too.

Russ Mitchell

Well, that's bizarre. The images are very traditional deck of cards (still used in Hungary, in fact), but I've never seen it done on planks like that. Don't think this is medieval, with the 6 of hearts' heraldry reflecting the Austro-Hungarian merger.

Russ Mitchell

"Lots of valid solutions..." ^That. I'd recommend teaching them body mechanics 101, by making them strike-and-step until their eyes bleed. How THEY learn to use their hips will be predicated on recruitment patterns, sensory-motor amnesia, etcetera. So they're not going to match up with you. Blindfol...

Russ Mitchell

Amberger was harsh. But Amberger was also *correct.* Much of his assertions were just that, and contrary to established research (such as existed) at the time. In my experience the VAST majority of wma guys get along just fine unless they've done something to deserve a poor rep. I may just be outsid...

Russ Mitchell

*snaps fingers and mutters under breath while chuckling*

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