The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

I'll be honest. I wish I owned this armor -- because I'd acid-etch something truly HORRIFYING onto it and wear it as an absolutely indestructible fantasy rig.

Russ Mitchell

For what it's worth, I think that funky round scale armor of St. Demetrios may not be just artistic imagination, and while I can't figure out how to interpret all of what's there, I think a rough equivalent is manufacturable.

Russ Mitchell

Sorry, guys. I posted a query for help, and then **naturally** found the image ten seconds after posting it (this after having looked for three hours straight), and it didn't seem fair to leave it up where people would spend time hunting it down, if I had it already on-hand. Sorry for the inconvenie...

Russ Mitchell

For what it's worth, I was thinking the same as Vladimir. If you could give the cheek and slats a sense of "drape" in the way it's creased, as if it were (impressionistically speaking) a cloth or hair equivalent, that would be really neat, and nothing I've seen done before (though, being SCA-friendl...

Russ Mitchell

Absolutely fantastic, Mac. This is the kind of stuff I would never even have dreamt of existing.

Russ Mitchell

That dude and I were working on something, but he stopped returning messages a long time ago -- I don't think he's active.

Russ Mitchell

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the katana/tachi blade design -- but Clark's still da man.

Russ Mitchell

Howard Clark is da man. If I needed a sword for the zombie holocaust, I'd be mounting one of his.

Russ Mitchell

Ah, that. It's quite common for mail coifs to be set up like that in Central Europe, thonged closed and fitting very closely.

Russ Mitchell

Thanks, Arrakis - I hadn't guessed that b/c of the difference between the two helm setups and the king's face-hugging hood... but there's nothing to say that the helm liner has to have been padded all the way down the head and neck -- bad assumption on my part.

Russ Mitchell

I have my own photos, but Google "improved" its service, and now I can't make links like I used to be able to. Let me see what I can do. EDIT: ah, I have to reinstall picasa, apparently. Here you go: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xIX1R2ikUh0/SGxRz4wGTrI/AAAAAAAAAK4/XCEagoUQRS4/s800/DSCN4264.JPG...

Russ Mitchell

Hi there. Am wondering if anybody has an idea what the King Lajos [Edit: Ladislas, what was I thinking?] and the dude in the visored sugarloaf are wearing. My first guess would be an armored surcoat, but there's no rivet marks, and the "I'm wearing a daisy" aventail thing is a bit on the odd side. A...

Russ Mitchell

Guiron le Courtois has a whole bunch of oddities on that front, many of which I've only seen in Hungarian stuff (like #3 to the right there with his point-perfect hussar's tarcsa). Makes me wish I had the time to do up a really good shield typology with dates/relations.

Russ Mitchell

I can't use it, but I gotta say, NEAT. This is the kind of thing I think of when I think "quality fantasy armor."

Russ Mitchell

Yeah, and they have fantastic peer review, too. Last I knew Konieczny & Co were doing medievalists.net and were no longer doing DRM, but again, it's all speculation on my end, and I won't know for real until this spring.

Russ Mitchell

Haven't heard a peep out of them for a while now. I'm assuming Cliff knows, but I was basically planning to show up at Kalamazoo for their yearly meeting and find out.

Russ Mitchell

::shrug:: I really DON'T have a dog in this hunt. But if you ask me ~"what evidence do I have that these guys aren't completely incompetent," there's just not a lot I can do to help you. Word-usage changes over time is freshman philology, not some thorny post-grad issue. So it's *possible* that they...

Russ Mitchell

Mac, Since I a) have not seen the original documents b) have therefore jack idea of their historical context, c) am not a philologist, when the people who satisfy all of those conditions publish, I am inclined not to second-guess their competence. I you want to make an argument that they're wrong an...

Russ Mitchell

Historical-Etymological Lexicon of the Hungarian Language (Budapest Akademiai, 1970, vol. 2, p. 357). First documented use of the word "Kapca" in written sources is found in 1380, with the latinate spelling "Capza."

Russ Mitchell

I've sold lamellar armor for ~250 pre-recession that was in many ways comparable to that one. I've sold 3 or 4 completed lamellar sets to SCA guys total. The good news: you're diligent and you have solid basic skills. The bad news: you did a ton of work and created something that won't be saleable w...

Russ Mitchell

No such luck. I'll ask Anna to see what she may have in her notes, since some of her old material from ELTE is with her. Kapca are definitely not just a modern thing, though.

Russ Mitchell

Russ, Is it the foot wraps or the insult that you have no source for? If you have evidence for the foot wraps, please share it with us. Mac As I said, I don't -- textile work is way out of my specialty, and it's not like I can just snap my fingers and instantly access old offline scholarly material...

Russ Mitchell

Foot wraps are correct for medieval Hungary. Not even the beginning of a clue for eastern Europe, though. Also a source of several brutal insults (if you refer to a woman as a foot-wrap, you are effectively calling her a cheap and filthy whore, and it's rough enough that you could expect a fight to ...

Russ Mitchell

Randall: opinion in Hungary is that those kettle-helms were used by crossbowmen. The design allows you to stay protected AND look to see what the enemy's up to while you're facing down to span your crossbow.

Russ Mitchell

Gojslava, Braslava, Tomislava are options. I'm not a slavic specialist, surely somebody else knows a lot more. Genealogies from the region might help.

Russ Mitchell

Very cool, thank you. I like to be able to change up my grip depending on the kind of strike I"m making, so a gauntlet which allows that is interesting.

Russ Mitchell

Is your hand able to move? Those look so thick it seems like you'd have a hard time gripping a blade -- pressure grip on two-handers, but could you use it for single sword with any mobility?

Russ Mitchell

I wouldn't mind having a pair of accurate mannikins/lasts....

Russ Mitchell

THAT part is true. I'm rusty now for lack of practice, but the alphabet isn't hard at all.

Russ Mitchell

Kirpichnikov is my usual first go-to, but I can't read the stuff, either. I'm limited strictly to forms or leaning on my Ukrainian buds for help.

Russ Mitchell

Tom, I don't want to blow off your comment, because I'm interested in the discussion, but please pardon me if I'm reticent about doing so. I'm pro-SCA and will definitely be coming out to practices soon now that my kid's able to stay up a bit later at night (if I can scrape together a helmet, etc, a...

Russ Mitchell

Great idea; anybody got one?

@Kelby: yeah, and that's a lot of work! It's why I only tan hides every other year or so (and only when I can get a hide cheap enough for it to be worth the bother, of course -- as a suburbanite, my access to processor-skins is low).

Russ Mitchell

I've sort of held off, since I"m not an SCA guy and don't want to come across wrong or preachy. But I have a training tool that will get skilled people from hitting flat in ten minutes, and is sustainable with about ten minutes per month. Absolute beginners will need about a half-hour or so, but onc...

Russ Mitchell

Yay. Oh - no argument on the economics, btw, vis-a-vis modern tanneries (about which I know relatively little). Torvaldr edumacated me on that a bit ago - hopefully the drought-forced spike in early slaughters that's driving beef through the roof right now will at least give those guys a momentary s...

Russ Mitchell

Mac, Thanks. Sorry if I've come off touchy, folks -- I got this off the ground with a running commentary rather than waiting until I'd done everything and then summarizing, as I usually do, so any miscommo about what I'm up to is definitely MY fault. I had thought this was a sufficient apology for ...

Re: Friend looking to complete a Blankenshield style harness

Re: requested topic does not extist.

Re: requested topic does not extist.

Re: Want to progress a bit... in quality/appearance

Re: Panzerhosen

Re: WTB custom birchwood Hungarian cavalry shield

Re: who sells a "real" sword

Re: who sells a "real" sword

Re: What are these dudes wearing?

Re: What are these dudes wearing?

Re: What are these dudes wearing?

What are these dudes wearing?

Re: Historical Foot Combat 14th Century Shields?

Re: FS Fishbone bazubands

Re: De Re Militari

Re: De Re Militari

Re: C14th socks? - Of bare toes and turnshoes

Re: C14th socks? - Of bare toes and turnshoes

Re: C14th socks? - Of bare toes and turnshoes

Re: What is my armor worth? Should I change it?

Re: C14th socks? - Of bare toes and turnshoes

Re: C14th socks? - Of bare toes and turnshoes

Re: C14th socks? - Of bare toes and turnshoes

Re: Kettle Helmet Brims

Re: Need help with Slovak name research

Re: Leather guantlet

Re: Leather guantlet

Re: 3D printing of armor?

Re: First time for everything.....research frustration!

Re: First time for everything.....research frustration!

Re: Advice requested: current sca techniques and flat hits

Re: Experiment this Weekend: Carta Boili

Re: Advice requested: current sca techniques and flat hits

Re: Experiment this Weekend: Carta Boili

Re: Experiment this Weekend: Carta Boili