The Armour Archive

earnest carruthers

Yes, it is, well worth getting it. Also as you rightly say there is much that can be back referenced to the 15thc, the tools are no different than ones portrayed in earlier art, the boxes seem to match earlier methods. It is the embellishment and style of some things that are Tudor. All round an exc...

earnest carruthers

The time taken and cost to make leather is mostly growing the animal, ie years the tanning may take a few weeks to a year, depending on the process. The time taken to harvest wool and spin it may well be substantial, but it is offset by the essential reusability of a sheep, they get fed, they get sh...

earnest carruthers

Cunian "It's not an either/or choice with a hide. You cut out the big things first - breastplate, and the small things after - shoes. It's kinda like filling the jar with rocks; if you start with the small rocks, you won't have room for the big rocks. But there are usually lots of little shoe-s...

earnest carruthers

Painting the silk would be considerably cheaper and you would get much the same effect and it would be authentic too. Pigments are cheap and the binders also, even if you opted for a modern substitute like an acrylic binder. $200 to set up seems excessive but about right for the technique mentioned ...

earnest carruthers

Looks like a bit of artistic licence with that one IMHO. m is a real sallet. and this one m However there seem to be sallets with a longer sweeping back piece, I think they are towards end of 15thC though... The one you posted seems to be emulating ones like this, kind of, but not as nice in form. m

earnest carruthers

leaf gilding will be a pain and likely to rub off very soon after application. Gilded metals were done either amalgam gilding, ie mercury and gold/silver, rubbed on and then heat used to drive off the mercury. Or leaf floated onto mercury, heat then used as above. Given the toxicity of mercury vapou...

earnest carruthers

Chicken fat was used. linseed oil and pine resin was also used, applied to armour at high temperatures to seal it. "The armorer showing me this didn't have any documentation to this effect, and was speculating, :" Maybe because beeswax is an expensive item in the middle ages due to apiary ...

earnest carruthers

I was having a stab at this earlier and got as far as the going clockwise from top in latinised - forgive errors, perikefalaia korinthiakou typou Helmet corinthian type miodes oreichalkinos thorax brazen breast plate pericheirida outer something or other peribrachionio outer arm somthing perimhrides...

earnest carruthers

Ah you crazy rich folks, always buying the best

earnest carruthers

Open hose, ie not joined are much easier to wear all round, I prefer them and they are fine for my social level in the 15thc. Most reenactment bad hose are badly made or worn incorrectly, ie laced up too tight when being fought in, a disconnect between seeing spray on hose in MSS and the actuality o...

earnest carruthers

I can vouch for Gwen's hose on behalf of my friend Mark Griffin, who rides and fights and has no worrie with his tackle coming free when wearing HE hose. re the doublet/jacket thing. ""no it isn't" "yes it is" " Actually you are both right, at least in terms of early mo...

earnest carruthers

You are welcome and no it didn't.

earnest carruthers

Sorry, I missed the rose bit, my bad. Had I stopped and digested I would not have asked such a dumb arse question, my apologies. Have a look at these images by Graham Turner, the 'Dave' that he refers to in his write up is Dave Key, a rather diligent medievalist and his suggestion, based on contempo...

earnest carruthers

How is your lord's livery meant to be worn?

earnest carruthers

If it is really deep mud, no footwear other than duck feet will stop you sinking, hobs wont stop 'booties'* and wont reduce the PSI thing that means your feet get glooped. Depends on how deep your mud is ultimately. Pattens are great when moving through crap with a firm undersurface, like a street f...

earnest carruthers

The sewing on your jacket is excellent btw.

earnest carruthers

Oh and talk to your weapons, have good dialogues.

earnest carruthers

I was a part owner of a Past Tents 'burgundian' prototype and the roof and panels were integral. This old behemoth is still around. I feel this to be wrong, suspended walls make sense and certainly appear in medieval illustrations. You could cut your material costs down a bit by not using spokes, bu...

earnest carruthers

Make whatever you like out of it, it will be a good example of medieval recycling of materials. A good piece of leather, which is not a cheap material would be put to good use for as long as possible. There are examples of other materials including leather being re-used in ways that were not their o...

earnest carruthers

Why don't we see them later too?

because most reenactors rely on pictorial imagery which has a habit of omitting any form of weave.

Seriously. So flat colours are the norm.

despite documented mixed cloth and surviving parts.

earnest carruthers

Carve a story on it, in low relief.

Then dye it in madder.

Polish, et voila.

earnest carruthers

Not sure about DA as such but dyeing leather black seems really old: as long as you have a source of iron, either as a salt (coperas) or as soluble ions, say iron filings or iron particles found in the water well of grindstones. You simply brush on and the tannin reacts with the iron to make a black...

earnest carruthers

At Kelmarsh last year we were 21st century reenactors reenacting Victorians dressed as 15thc soldiers, a Victorian battle of bosworth pageant, really quite odd.

I do fancy doing 1980s WOTR reenactment, bad shoes, track suit bottoms, the whole shebang.

earnest carruthers

Aw come Doom and Endre, what about IKEA and Volvos?

earnest carruthers

As long as you get the thumb gusset in the right place for your hand the pattern is easy, as james says. We have a few variants on a theme and the only problem was when the gusset was wrongly placed (cut). You can omit the split between the two main fingers and have a pair of mittens, one was found ...

earnest carruthers

In google try:

medieval knight herald badge of office

You might also try to contact the College of Arms, in the UK, if anyone would know they would.

earnest carruthers

In wanting to know what one is I found this ace site on Eastern weapons and armour

www.hindunet.org/saraswati/indianarms.htm

talk about exotic.

earnest carruthers

Have you tried contacting some of the Polish groups or even some of the many Polish craftsmen?

Matuls may be able to point you to one.

earnest carruthers

I second that it is a good book. Even though it is mid 16thC the information on say box construction and the tools is valid for earlier, certainly for 15thc. Clothing is another matter though as that is much more era specific, some are straight out of a Robin Hood film, a cynic might say those parti...

earnest carruthers

Yeah, agreed Alcyoneus, a cudgel is basically a crude club, any old bit of wood, ass jawbone. A mace is manufactured, that is certainly how the difference seems to be portrayed, albeit used the same way.

earnest carruthers

"First bollock-dagger I've made, found getting the handle shapes even, the hardest part. "

really nice work, but as you know, bollocks are not all the same size

That will be a prize and a half.

earnest carruthers

Glad this has now got a date, I wish it every success and hope that someone does the same in the UK.

Have a good one guys.

earnest carruthers

Salright Brent, you have already posted in LH. Didn't see it.

That was what I was referring to.

earnest carruthers

Thanks for tha lot Endre, interesting stuff re the Vikings. Personally I hate the English long bow myth, the truth is scary enough. "ELBs were usually well over six feet long and up to 180 lb draw," That is a debatable point because most bowyers will say that a bow should match the height of the arc...

earnest carruthers

Nice one Brent.

Mght be worth giving this a heads up elsewhere, if you don't I will, if that is ok?

It will only make me buy more books

I love that the barcode reader is a cat, excellent.