The Armour Archive

Cap'n Atli

I've taken the liberty of posting it on the Markland bulletin board. It will help them get ready for Hastings XXXXII this October at Kings Landing Park in Calvert County, Maryland.

Cap'n Atli

Or a 5# sledge and sheer bloody-mindedness. (hate, hate, hate!) Also depends upon the size of the spearhead. Many Anglo-Saxon spears and javelins were relatively small; less mass of metal to move. Some Viking examples are HUGE. (They remind me of the theory of the sword-bayonet, lots of length and ...

Cap'n Atli

The first time I saw one of these wonderful blades, it was at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival. The exhibit was by a fellow from Hawaii and constructed dugout canoes. I immediately noted that he was missing several joints from a couple of fingers. Well, that got MY attention!

Cap'n Atli

I didn't have my shop in the basement for long, just a few years. The house (built in 1924, replacing a previous antebellum structure which had the good sense to burn down) had a full basement, an innovation for that location. Unfortunately, this innovation lay between the swamp and the river. The w...

Cap'n Atli

MattB: What thickness of sheet or plate did you start with? Did you just raise it from a round blank? As I said, it maybe simpler than I thought (although one of Mord's examples seemed to show a weld line consistent with my theory). Mord: A good theory, but the examples, being from an earlier period...

Cap'n Atli

Depending upon what exactly your trying, I will reenforce Destichado's comments on swages. But first, you need to know what you want to do, and then you have to make the swages. The trick is that they are more efficient for production than for one-off. So if you do a lot in the same style and dimens...

Cap'n Atli

Forging, fabricating, casting (bronze age)?

Generic, Celtic, Viking, African?

Ridge fullers, splines?

I have some information that may be of use at: http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/armor/main.htm

Cap'n Atli

Okay, this has had me puzzled for years. If you sink the front and raise the sides, you would have a thin front and thick sides, but the cross sections show exactly the opposite: thick fronts and thin sides. Plus many of them have crenulated edges, integral center studs, and all sorts of difficult f...

Cap'n Atli

It can be difficult to do a "100%" impression, unless you just go naked. Steve and even some guys can't pull that off What, you mean piercings arent period?? Dental fillings certainly aren't. Let's see; you can also add vaccination marks (for those of us of the smallpox era), appendix sca...

Cap'n Atli

Please excuse our skepticism, but we have been spoofed before. This looks like the mirror image of the non-existent "Markland Armor Give-Away." Twice burned, thrice shy! Do you have a web site? Articles of incorporation with a state government? A Federal tax I.D. number? A 501-c-3 registra...

Cap'n Atli

Branding Irons for Animals: Be careful, there are still some laws on the books (especially in Western states) for registration of branding irons. It's an anti-rustleing requirement; but is seems to have tripped up a number of blacksmiths over the years. You might do a search on Anvilfire for the sub...

Cap'n Atli

You might want to p.m. Eric T in Tucson (he just posted at: m ) and get his advice. He retraced Coronado's expedition, in armor and lugging a musket, a few years back. He had great pictures and a great story. Survival tips in desert conditions are VERY useful if you're embarking on such an expedition.

Cap'n Atli

Pirates wouldn't be carrying letters of marque. That's why the Midrealm Royal Navy would hunt them down. One man's pirate is another's privateer, whether he bears a Letter of Marque and Reprisal or not. Follow the money! Cui bono? Letters of Marque were issued by many governments, some more legitim...

Cap'n Atli

One of our locals, Michael Bettes, leaves tomorrow for the Ozarks. He got the job as the castle's blacksmith. He's been blacksmithing at Cowtown here in Wichita for a number of years. So, is he going to report back to you with the straight dope on how the project is going? What works and what doesn...

Cap'n Atli

Isn't it "Letters of Marque?"

Cap'n Atli

The next thing you know it will be The Royal Horse Marines!

If any of these Midrealm swashbucklers want to get their sea legs, I'm sure some of the ships in ASTA will accomodate them.

http://tallships.sailtraining.org/

Of course, we could take them out, too. But how much will his Majesty pay for us to bring them back?

Cap'n Atli

SNIP It may be that it'll do 90% of the metal cutting I need and I have to do a little extra with a jigsaw or something. I can get it in close to the inside curves after trying, but it's just not as easy as the outside curves. I feel the piece I am cutting gets in the way on the inside curves. Mayb...

Cap'n Atli

Ah, old memories and nostalgia. My girlfriend, Pam, had a father in the car recycling business (we called them junkyards, back then) and she had unlimited access to his stock of split key rings. She being small and short (about 4'10 or so) she had her byrnie in no time. That would have been before O...

Cap'n Atli

EnglishSteel wrote:Is that anything like a newt?

Know; it's a Knute!

Silly English person!

Cap'n Atli

Obviously a Viking Age hedge fund manager displaying conspicuous wealth!

Mystery solved.

Cap'n Atli

Not Jabberwocky!

As Norman said- more suitable to teens or older.

Cap'n Atli

Come to think of it, I was only about 9 years old when I saw The Vikings and it obviously didn't do me any harm!

Cap'n Atli

When she's a little older, and starts to get family dynamics and personal relationships a bit more, The Lion in Winter could be delightful; especially if you're there to comment and respond to her questions.

(Of course these days, by age 10, they know it all anyway!)

Cap'n Atli

On the other claw, broken teeth are quite common on combs that were actually used, so maybe you can just explain it as a "wear pattern."

Cap'n Atli

As I found out in blacksmithing- sequence is everything.

Our socks and stockings are marked "TGIF" (Toes Go In First). So: "Cut teeth, assemble comb." needs to be written in runes on the frame.

Cap'n Atli

Before you go through the task of stripping the nails, you might try just a light sanding on the heads, some flux, and dipping them (one at a time) in a small iron pot of 95/5 tin solder. I don't think the zinc would cause any problems. If it works, you saved some time, if it doesn't work, you'll st...

Cap'n Atli

Have a wonderful time, wish I were there. I'm bound for the Blacksmiths' Guild of the Potomac Spring Fling in Berryville, Virginia.

http://www.bgop.org/

Cap'n Atli

I have the opposite situation while actively blacksmithing- everybody comes to me to open their jars and bottles.

Curious...

Cap'n Atli

Okay; there are three factors being considered: Appearance, performance, and research. Wrought irons and steels had various colors depending upon carbon content and localized alloys/contaminants (frequently manganese). They also were affected by heat treatment and other surface treatments depending ...

Cap'n Atli

How far down the hardy hole (sleeve?) does the bar for the ball stake go?

Do yopu get much bounce wiht the "bridge" shape?

Cap'n Atli

Yep, looks pretty obscene to me!

Cap'n Atli

"I am very interested about the armor and tabard of the individual in the middle." The one in the middle? He's a fop. No doubt about it, with the dags and the danglies he's a fop. I wouldn't be caught dead in an outfit like that, and if I were in an outfit like that, I probably would be fo...

Cap'n Atli

But it's most dangerous when old texts and findings are repeated as a sort of confirmed orthodoxy; with no further examination. Many PhD theses are a healthy challenge to such orthodoxy.

As I like to say: Question everything, even yourself.

Cap'n Atli

Dirt, oil from your skin, soot from the forge, stuff that works its way in with use...

The usual.

Cap'n Atli

Possible Local Markets for Armor Museums and Historical Sites: Do any of them do Living History interpretation? (If not, why not? ) Theaters: It's not just Shakespeare who has a lock on medieval and renaissance drama; you have Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Pedro CalderÃ³n de la Barca. Some proper wea...