The Armour Archive

Cap'n Atli

Roofing Nails: Never needed to anneal them. They tend to be made of mild steel, so the only hardening might be from work hardening during the drawing and heading process. I've used them for years and never had any problem with heading them after clipping the point. Some have a very nice, bright zinc...

Cap'n Atli

>>SNIP<<< The only close parallel is the romantic visions of a utopian Mayan culture, held by '60's left wing political precolumbian historians, right up until the Maya language was cracked open, and their records could be read. Turns out they were cracking heads more often than not; those peace-lo...

Cap'n Atli

We paln to have the Gyrfalcon there, and take her out sailing if the weather allows it.

I'll also have a stash of Beowabbits there for sale! Autographs are free!

Cap'n Atli

Yep, what Wolf said:

(C) 2002;

ISBN 0 85115 914 1

Boydel & Brewer, Ltd.

Pull an ILL, then go ahead and buy it for yourself.

Cap'n Atli

Harumph; the color is rusty-black, just like the shackle around his leg and the staple connecting him to the bulkhead near his rowing bench.

Silly question.

Cap'n Atli

A few quick shots: http://www.markland.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1592

Plus:

Twelve (12) pages of photos from MTA. You may already be there!

http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p58/ ... TA%202009/

Cap'n Atli

>>>SNIP<<< And Atli...Hell yes, I would love to come and man that fine vessle..Unfortunatley, we are on opposite coasts... Yes; but our shipwright is in Inyokern, CA, and is just completing a vessel for the BSA in Texas. 32' long, 8' beam, 10 oars... It's an uprated version of our old Fyrdraca. His...

Cap'n Atli

"How do you dress Viking?" [Elmer Fudd voice] "You dwess him vewy, vewy cawfully!" [/Elmer Fudd voice] Just to point out, if you want to talk about the depredations of the Vikings, you'd be better off talking about all the mean nasty things they did to the Saxons and the Franks, ...

Cap'n Atli

I will note that the swordsmanship used to look good on camera and to impress an audience is not the same that you use to score points or with homicidal intent. That's why epee matches are perceived as boring by casual bystanders and intensely interesting by the participants. (As we said in the U of...

Cap'n Atli

I can't give you a really good construction cost (I have other folks for that, but it has to be official ); but for your curiosity I can provide some annual lease rates and some ballpark construction costs. Right now, our "boonies" lease rate for warehouse space is about $6 a square foot a...

Cap'n Atli

Packing up tonight; shipping out tomorrow.

See y'all down there.

Have a safe trip and try to stay out of trouble!

Pax vobiscum.

"Brother Edward; a humble sergeant in the Knights Hospitaller camp."

Cap'n Atli

Asbrand: There should be a couple of PMs in your AA in-box.

"Pegs, dowels, trunnels? You'd think we hadn't invented nails yet." (Conversation while we were building my new forge, which ate-up over thirty pounds of various sizes of common nails; 20d down to 4d.)

Cap'n Atli

Take II (Clack!)

Cap'n Atli

Hey guys, this is an awesome discussion. I'm going to punt it up to 'interpretive recreation'. Post pics of the finished projects! What, we have to finish what we're talkin' about? We just can't jaw it to death? Man; that sounds like, uh, work! Meanwhile, for our further edification, I have posted ...

Cap'n Atli

Thomas Powers wrote:
---I'm a smith not a woodworker!---

Thomas

One of my favorite comments from one of our crew, who was an excellent cabinetmaker, was:

"You know, Atli, as a carpenter you're a pretty good blacksmith."

Cap'n Atli

Here are various views of a generic early medieval chest that I did for one of our crew. We called it Offa's Chest, due to the hasp, which resembles King Offa yelling at his workers to "get the dike built." Note the variation on how the hinges are terminated. I try to avoid "hearts&qu...

Cap'n Atli

A few pictures for further discussion: Here is my toolchest, loosely based upon, and smaller than, the Mastermyr chest. Made with wrought iron and salvaged pine from some old crating. It's lugged my tools about from Jamestown to Newfoundland. The handles are because it's a traveling chest. I'm somew...

Cap'n Atli

I think we win!

Cap'n Atli

Military Through the Ages at Jamestown VA this Weekend Iâ€™ll be attending Military Through the Ages at Jamestown Settlement in Virginia this coming weekend (3/20 â€“ 22). m This year Iâ€™ll be a guest of Marklandâ€™s Knights Hospitaller camp, taking notes on what our descendants are up to and explo...

Cap'n Atli

As usual my time budget is gone-to-he11, what with getting the ship ready, finishing the new forge building, and Military Through the Ages; so if you're on a less-than-four-month schedule, you may want to hunt down another smith. On the other claw, it looks like a nice bread-and-butter project to m...

Cap'n Atli

m Please tell me I am not the only person on this discussion who knows what a kastenbrust is. I make no claim to any knowledge of armor or nomenclature beyond the Viking age! I know a fore brace from a forestay because my life (literally) depends upon it, but when it comes to plate armor I just app...

Cap'n Atli

"ultima ratio regum"

I always thought that that would look nice painted on the sides of our ICBMs.

Cap'n Atli

De-cloning is good. Unless you're making an exact "replica" you don't want all your chests to look alike, or like everybody else's, since in a hand-craft society they weren't. The hinges are pretty straight-forward blacksmith work. I've done several sets of hinges based on the Mastermyr fi...

Cap'n Atli

I'll have to dig around, but I do have an illustration of a farrier or horse groom ca. 1300 in a short, sleeveless tunic; or maybe a form of jerkin. I was pointing out to our folks that shorter hems tended to signify barbarians and lower-class folks (a later depiction of the martyrdom of King Edmond...

Cap'n Atli

A "unisex" breastplate noted on the Hussite YahooGroup: m So, I've been observing this thread for several days, and the objection to "dualism" on a breastplate for females seems to be based on good taste, practicality, and the fact that it just isn't necessary? On the other claw,...

Cap'n Atli

Considering the year that was filmed, it was still miles above many recent pictures. I knew I could flush out a commie apologist with that comment... LMAO It's really a wonderful movie for the time. Too bad Lenin got all Jerry Jones on the production and rushed them. Umm, I think it was Stalin, act...

Cap'n Atli

You might also want to post this over at www.anvilfire.com in the Virtual Hammer-In.

Well beyond my geographic range, but what are the dates?

Cap'n Atli

Nautical Notes on Bad Movies: The Norseman is infamous in our estimation for having a huge "below decks" captain's cabin. On that size ship, the "below decks" is about 18 inches high, not 8 feet! The movie was developed back when I worked at the SEC, and I pulled a copy of the An...

Cap'n Atli

Have you considered fiberglass handles? You have to be pretty careful and buy good ones, but they will last a lot longer than wooden ones. Well, I break them. I have thought of making my own carbon fiber ones.....or layering wood with one. Wood is fine for most applications but hard hammering with ...

Cap'n Atli

Mid-Winter Fest/School of Viking Culture and Skills The Longship Company, Ltd, a non-profit educational organization, will be holding a public "School for Vikings" on Saturday, February 28th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the All Saints Church Parish Hall on Oakley Road in Avenue, Marylan...

Cap'n Atli

To add to what Master Thomas stated: I have metal handles on some top tools, but all of my striking tools use wooden handles. Any chance you can drill the eye back in without wasting too much shop time and replace with a good wooden handle? On the original question; what was the cooling rate after y...

Cap'n Atli

You would need some form of an electrolyte to carry current. Seawater is ideal, and of course sweat is salty, but the saltier and damper for longer is what really does stuff in. As long as things are kept clean and dry and ph neutral you should be okay. Also, light oil should break any low-grade ele...

Cap'n Atli

Sutton Hoo: Actually, in Martin Carver's latest book on the find, from the re-excavation, the shoulder fittings have now been reconstructed as attaching a cloth mantel. I'll dig out the book tonight and see what path his logic follows for this. I do not agree with him at all about his speculation of...

Cap'n Atli

Are the strap hinges antique or reproduction? How much and from where/what/whom on e-bay?

Have you ordered the hasp yet?

Inquisitioning minds want to know!

Cap'n Atli

There's an adjustable forge in the Blacksmiths Gallery at ForgeMagic at: m Looks like it might be able to handle large pieces of armor. Maybe not as armor-oriented as Eric Thing's, but an interesting concept. Look at it soon, the picture collection shifts from that page as new pictures are posted. (...

Military Through the Ages at Jamestown VA this Weekend

Longship Company "School for Vikings" 2/28/09

Flexible Forge; Useful for Armor?