The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

I couldn't see a full cross-section, for obvious reasons, but the top of the foot looked sufficiently bulky and the plates sufficiently fine that it's totally plausible. I didn't see any "collapse" to the foot which would argue against it. I can't vouch for the full time range, as my familiarity wit...

Russ Mitchell

Hey, how's it coming? Especially the hole-drilling - got a method to make it efficient?

Russ Mitchell

Usually I just do a hungary-tan (hot-stuffed alum-tawed hide: relatively easy to make, though labor-intensive, strong and ridiculously durable), but if I'm feeling motivated, it could definitely happen. Wouldn't mind some help for the first stage, though -- you get used to it eventually, but cadaver...

Russ Mitchell

That's true: I'm one of the guys who was driving that a while back, and it's possible I'll half-tan a moosehide I've got this spring. "Scabbard butts" as they call them are very hard to get stateside, though they're in wide currency in Scandinavia for knife sheaths. Dobson believes that this was the...

Russ Mitchell

Please post pics when you're done -- there wasn't a whole lot I could add this time around, but I'm a huge fan of scale.

Russ Mitchell

Well, given a chance, I'd much rather get a piece from you, talk armor, and drink a beer. But otherwise, we just need to soak and then bake a piece at controlled temperatures, and see what happens to it.

Russ Mitchell

Christophe de Frisselle wrote:How soon before I can legally download and follow the step-by-step instructions to scale Ugo's creations for my body type?

There, ftfy.

Russ Mitchell

Hey Andeerz, The gents at the ALCS (American Leather Chemists' Society) confirm the "prevention of gluing up" part. The rest is JUST the sort of detail I was hoping for. Thank you. Any idea from what you've read as to why the process seems to work best on thick pieces rather than thin ones, and why ...

Russ Mitchell

A general apology has already been tendered: I'm more than happy to make it personal in your case. The intent is not to be snotty, but to get to the bottom of how cuir boilli actually works -- the general theory glosses over some serious shortcomings, and I'm trying to figure those out. Meanwhile, I...

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.

Russ Mitchell

It would be nice to know what untreated rawhide would do. I have a feeling that the collagen and tannin react to each other when soaked with water and heat, creating the hardened polymer. Possibly without tannin, the leather will not polymerize. I currently do not have a source of true raw hide, ot...

Russ Mitchell

Respectfully, you're missing the point. What I've done (and all I've done) is confirm that the tannins themselves aren't doing anything b/c of the heat. If all you want is end product, then this discussion is irrelevant to you. Feel free to disregard. However, for those who actually want to understa...

Russ Mitchell

Some flexibility, but not much. It'll have the springy sort of flexion flexibility that wood has, but forget bending it in more than one plane unless you're strong enough to tear cuirboilli with your bare hands

Russ Mitchell

I wasn't aware they were that early (though if they start cropping up in Italy that early, it'd make me a happy camper, as I've always liked the form).

Russ Mitchell

That part's old-hat, Kel, but what does "in the presence of" mean? Chemically speaking, that's pseudoscience.
But I'll hold on and see what you can dredge up.

Russ Mitchell

Chrome tan should not harden. A "boil test" puts one in boiling water -- it's supposed to be stabilized through that temperature so that no chemical changes occur. I don't know about a retan under those conditions, because in theory it would depend on the degree to which the chromium salts were remo...

Russ Mitchell

It's ALWAYS bugged me, Mac: ask any tanner (I mean, ANY tanner), and they'll tell you that the hardest part of making leather is softening the hide. So why go through all that damned work, if you're just going to harden it back up again, especially in a semi-industrial society where they don't have ...

Russ Mitchell

That makes some sense, except insofar as it's experimental "received wisdom" that chrome-tanned leathers don't water harden. And they have plenty of collagen. Theory I've been hearing is that the polymerization involves the tannins -- if it doesn't, it MAY simply be that the chrome provides temperat...

Russ Mitchell

They're Mongol -- I've seen the original now in two separate exhibitions. The type was in wide use on the steppe among the Kipchaks, and were seen for that reason as far SW as Egypt. Their weight was handled with straps going upwards which are theorized to have lashed at the belt. You also see said ...

Russ Mitchell

A roll of paper, soaked in tannins (strong tea similar to what I've used before for tanning leather), and a control, of the same paper, simply wet, were heated at 180. There was absolutely no appreciable difference between the two. Which is what was expected, since tea-soaking and baking is a known ...

Russ Mitchell

Looking at "poor man's modern equivalents" for hidden armor and "get them on the field" armor that aren't plastic, I'm going to see if the tannin theory works on its own, and soak paper and cardboard in strong tea.... then bake the stuff at 180 for a while and see what happens. It's weird, but it oc...

Russ Mitchell

Well, darn, I'M not flaky, and me and my wife would wear a pair of those Buryat style boots in a heartbeat... (wife says "duh, yeah." But she's Hungarian, and those boots have felt in them, heh. Magyars LOOOOOVE felt and leather.) EDIT: Good enough for my wife to immediately hit the Ebay link and di...

Russ Mitchell

Your basic jupon-like arming coat, I should think. It shows a very deep-cut shoulder, assuming that it's not simply attached to the brigandine.

Russ Mitchell

Sounds about right to me...

Russ Mitchell

These are very good prices for what looks like an excellent product.

Russ Mitchell

Also note that the khazaghand is mail and gambeson built integrally. Works like a charm, I'm seriously inclined to remake mine.

Russ Mitchell

"Seljuk, Ottoman, and Moor" is sort of a huge category there (one of which isn't by ANY definition eastern). Can you be more specific? I can show you a sculpture showing one in Transylvania, but that's not hitting your three ethnic groups there.

Russ Mitchell

If you're looking for a quick intro, Cedric's on it. Anything past that you're going to have to start hitting the scholarly literature.

Russ Mitchell

I think sample pictures would be needed, honestly.

Russ Mitchell

Or whether it connected directly to a rerebrace w/o using a cop at all.

Russ Mitchell

Randall, please let us informed!!!

Russ Mitchell

Hang in there -- I'm taking the girl to a quackinnashack tonight.

Russ Mitchell

Sorry, missed your reply.

I have a pair of Weiss snips and some files, so I can clean them up if they're not perfect; I'd generally prefer the brass, unless said kick-plate is too thick, in which case CU it is.

Russ Mitchell

This is neat stuff, but I keep coming back to it and trying to gauge the significance. Mostly because I have a poor understanding of Korean armors. Are there additional and/or pictorial references you would recommend as quality somewhere online? Unfortunately I don't have the background to know what...

Russ Mitchell

Effingham: if the metal strip on one side was riveted to the opposite side of the "heart," then it's an enclosed vambrace. That's how I interpret it, since I'm not seeing any evidence of a similar strip on the other side. Another possible option is a rerebrace connecting at the elbow (as one sees in...

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Re: Experiment this Weekend: Carta Boili

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