The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

nkante, I second Kel here. Do NOT accept this hide unless you are going the same route I did, and want to add "tanner" to your list of zombie-holocaust emergency skills. Most people do not appreciate the smell of cadaverene, nor the profusion of excited flies who will instantly go into "it's party t...

Russ Mitchell

Thanks, Eltz.

Russ Mitchell

What were you going to say about the arms, btw? Your post got cut off?

Russ Mitchell

Sorry, I didn't link the larger version of the "in formation" picture over from the original thread -- if you look in the smaller one, you'll see a center guy with his arms akimbo (third helmet from the right, elbow and forearm prominent amongst the shields) and what OUGHT to be a polearm in his han...

Russ Mitchell

When I've done it, I used a fairly loose mixture, on the watery side, but I have a memory (which may not be accurate) of Maelgwyn's being pretty thick.

Russ Mitchell

Huh. Got the alum-tawed stuff in the oven now, Kel -- turns out I got a cheap, crap-tawed hide where they used a paste rather than a soak... the center appears to be mostly untanned. It's only partially "crackly" unfortunately, because it looks like they used a brutal bate on the hides -- there are ...

Russ Mitchell

Yeah, Kel, and what STILL strikes me about Dobson's piece is that it's the only piece of leather I've seen that was anywhere near that range (say, 4-6mm, I'd have to measure) that was rock-hard. So he seriously might be onto something. I got some alum-tawed latigo in, and will try glue-hardening it ...

Russ Mitchell

You'd probably need to find a method of determining what the original colours were. They might be yellow now but they could have been anything from dark brown to green when originally painted. You're right (though the colors in this one seem very well preserved; we have dark brown, green, and sever...

Russ Mitchell

Are you looking to: 1) replicate the hardness of Dobson's pieces, using half-tanned leather baked on a last? 2) treat finished leather until it has behavioral properties similar to half-tanned leather? 3) have leather that is tanned, but dries stiff and rigid like rawhide does? All three have differ...

Russ Mitchell

Uh... no, Arpadian Dynasty is the primary line of Hungarian kings until the interregnum and rise of the Anjou. Nothing whatsoever to do with Albania.

Heh. I know some of the people in the photos from that site...

Russ Mitchell

Basically because there's no market for it stateside, Oddbjorn. Actually making the stuff is about the simplest thing on earth.

Russ Mitchell

Sounds good to me. The stripes on the shield are the heraldic emblem of the Arpadian dynasty, so that much at least is super-clear. PM incoming.

Russ Mitchell

I would normally associate that color coat with leather, too, but I think you're right and that it's most likely cloth. Yellow (and yellow-orange) doesn't carry the pejorative indications in East-Central Europe as they further westward, so dyed fabric makes sense to me. Yeah, they could be hinges an...

Russ Mitchell

Yes, in conjunction with baking. Maelgwyn showed it to me when I went down to visit him for the day once. Works well.

Russ Mitchell

Morning, everybody. I posted this over to the Design & Construction board, but wasn't able to get much of a response. Am looking in regards to the following, and especially keen to figure this out if I can, because it fits one a sort of personal "holy grail" insofar as it would give me a kit that's ...

Russ Mitchell

I've never tried plates running "columnar," and don't know how that would work. I'd recomment three sections, rather than four, with the top two rows of plates going all the way around your skirting. This will let you leave a slight gap on the sides, but not enough for it to bounce around like shiny...

Russ Mitchell

@ Freiman: I *just* stumbled onto this while looking for helm-padding advice. Have you considered suggesting an Ethiopian noble?

Russ Mitchell

Interestingly, Swiatoslawski (I think it's Sw) mentions a clappvisored pukelhelm like that from the 14c iirc. I don't have much in the way of reference for it w/o digging, however.

Russ Mitchell

Do you mean hinged, or rigid? Hinged visors are clearly extant in the fourteenth century, but I don't know of any examples prior to that in the surviving artwork -- the earlier artwork seems to show a preference for great-helms rather than visored helms. Rigid visors (what a lot of folks call brims)...

Russ Mitchell

::rubs hands with glee:: Yeah, need a timeframe. There's a TON of stuff, some of it unusual by western standards. More than happy to help. (Side note: Hungary is in East-Central Europe, the medieval Kingdom of Hungary especially so, and Bulgarian is Southeast Europe. Not trying to be a dick, and her...

Russ Mitchell

Three or four days in a row in harness brings a number of issues to the fore. Though the canard about not being able to sleep in the stuff... I'm a VERY light sleeper (I wake up when the cat walks into the room), and I gotta say, I actually sleep better in the stuff, as the weight seems to convince ...

Russ Mitchell

Ahem.

"Light, Light, Flat, BEAR!"

Sorry. Just kinda had to.

Russ Mitchell

Therion, seriously? I think this needs full-length tassets for the legs as a 3/4 harness. As much as I think it'd be best done as a fantasy rig (and a bad-ass one to boot, as it's not really a historical rig but, as folks have noted, DEFINITELY has a serious vibe to it), I think the gracile lines yo...

Russ Mitchell

Said comments are inane in the first place. Living skin != leather.

Russ Mitchell

Well, THAT screams for a canted handle, moderate curve, and pronounced yelmen...

Russ Mitchell

Ah, you're being Italian! Sweet! You're a *little* late for my frame, but I can adjust some and be your scrappy Hungarian mercenary.

Russ Mitchell

We don't have a lot of that lining material there, but it looks to me like very thin material and probably there just for comfort... but now that you mention it, being THAT thin, it could actually have been a backing which as degraded and ripped out. I don't think it's very likely given the plate de...

Russ Mitchell

I'm not seeing any visual evidence whatsoever for this being scale, unless those strips on the top and bottom are a new way of defining "backing material." Dan, what are you seeing that I'm not?

Russ Mitchell

Assuming no problems with the tannage, then, you'd want to reinforce it the way early colonials did buff-coats, but adding a layer or two of parchment on the inside.

Russ Mitchell

Depending on how it was tanned, though, it can potentially be re-finished in order to be made a bit more supple. But if it's that stiff, it wouldn't need much in the way of reinforcement anyway.

Russ Mitchell

Yes. Though whether it's worth the effort per se is a bit of a question, and how it was tanned may be another. Can you provide some details/pictures, and what sort of defense you're thinking of making?

also, I'm jealous as hell.

Russ Mitchell

You know, Steve, I hadn't really thought of it, but I wonder whether there's any relation between the double-cane I learned (which is effectively case of rapier played with sticks, lots of thrusts) and *actual* case of rapiers, and whether any of it can translate to SCA heavy. I'm slowly but surely ...

Russ Mitchell

They're great stuff -- I'd consider it except I wear a 10.5EEE.

Russ Mitchell

I know the folks who make these -- they're made-to-measure. You don't have wide feet or narrow heels or anything like that? Damon'll need to know...

Russ Mitchell

Darn. Not ready yet. I normally shoot a 65 and a 70 modern longbow. I have a 140 that I plan on building up to, but I am not there. And it is more technique than muscle, but the technique requires that the right muscles be up to the job, too ;) And the technique is different on the different bows. ...

Re: Rawhide

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

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

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

Re: Help with armor identification, please. (x-post)

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

Re: Help with armor identification, please. (x-post)

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

Re: Help with armor identification, please. (x-post)

Re: Help with armor identification, please. (x-post)

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

Help with armor identification, please. (x-post)

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