The Armour Archive

Aussie Yeoman

More progress in the last few days. Without exaggerating, I am Supremely Dissappointed with myself. I thought the flutes on the back fauld would be easy, as I intended for them to be straight lines. I also thought I would expriment with going from bottom to top. So I did. I did all the flutes on the...

Aussie Yeoman

There seems to be this meme that armour should allow absoloutely unhindered movement. It shouldn't. Before everyone jumps in, let me finish. I know that extant armour does allow a generous range of movement, allowing people to turn cartwheels, play piano and all other sorts of fancy stuff. The thing...

Aussie Yeoman

Mouseover what exactly?

So, are we saying that the gentlemen in the tall hats are not stradioti at all, but are in fact, definitively hussars?

That's not especially a bad thing...however it does mean I'm still on the hunt for images of stradioti.

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

Hi Dweezle, thanks for those links. The blog was particularly helpful! The images, it seems, are from 'Der Weiss Konig', or 'The WHite King', chronicling the life of maximillian. The light cavalry wearing the tall hats are stradioti, which is interesting. The blogger talks about the hats being stuff...

Aussie Yeoman

However early it may be, I'm touting this as one of the best threads of 2011.

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

Hi all, We all know what Swiss pikemen, German Landsknechte and doppelsoldneren, and mounted knights looked like in the late 15thC/early 16thC, but there are some fighting units I've not seen in period art. Does anyone have any pictures, be it painting, sculpture or otherwise, of Spanish Rodeleros o...

Aussie Yeoman

Playing with how the fluting will look on the back: http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/dg2clarke/armour/P3090120.jpg Gothic backplates are a two edged sword. On the one hand they look mighty fine when done, but on the other hand there is soooooooo many feet of fluting......hours and hours of wor...

Aussie Yeoman

Today's progress. I decided to go from top to bottom again. This time I roughed in each of the remaining two flutes on each lame before moving onto the next. When I'd done the all I went back and tidied them up a bit. Still need a bit of work though. http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/dg2clarke/...

Aussie Yeoman

At a guess (and I'm willing to be proven wrong here), I'd say this is how it'd be done: The COP would consist of horizontal hoop-lames, like the stereotypical 20-21stC COP is. However, It'd have more lames, and instead of being straight, they'd be slightly curved, like ')' so that when curled thay'd...

Aussie Yeoman

Huzzah!

There is of course a reason why the more common breastplates on the field today are 'modified Churburg #13' and simple Wisby COP.

This same influence explains the limitless supply of spaudlers which extend far too long down the arm.

An end, I say, an end!

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

Mac,

Which manuscript are those images from?

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

Addenda: I should add that I intend to trim the top of the fauld lames where the flute looks off centre. In reality, the apex of the curve is actually off centre. Here's a quick shot of the tasset template: http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/dg2clarke/armour/P3070108.jpg D

Aussie Yeoman

After a far too long hiatus, I got back to working on this harness. The fluting begins. It's a little wobbly in places, but considering the number of errors elsewhere in this cuirass, a wobbly flute (which is present on many an extant harness) is the least of my worries. http://i102.photobucket.com/...

Aussie Yeoman

Mac, the saddle looks gorgeous. Too good to use! May I also add a request for more pictures, especially of the construction. I am reminded of so very many times where you've said of a helmet "if it doesn't pass the 'would it fit a human head?' test, it isn't likely a genuine helmet." (tong...

Aussie Yeoman

I should indeed be jousting...however I've no room for a horse, nor the time to keep it.

I know Kit, and was the guy to introduce him to the KdF when he was a fioreite purist.

Never heard of Luke though.

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

Hi Andrew, I'm not into jousting, so obvisouly not for that. I practise Kunst des Fechtens, German fencing frm the 15th century, so am hoping to one day make ecranche shiedl for use in foot combat ala the gladiatoria fechtbuch: m and Codex Wallerstein: m I realise a simply curved ecranche shaped shi...

Aussie Yeoman

I've read about the place how much gesso, plaster, paint and glue goes onto an ecranche shield, however what baffles me is how to make the wooden shield itself, of wood, with the antliclastic curves. At a guess, I'd thought that it would be made of several wooden boards shaped as ') (' from the fron...

Aussie Yeoman

I wasn't thinking that by using thicker steel you'd grind more...I was thinking more that thicker steel might look less of a 'bag of marbles' than thinner steel. However, it seems my armchair reasoning was wrong on this point. Have you ever measured the most dished part to see how much thinner the h...

Aussie Yeoman

Thanks for that Ghostpig.

Only an hour per half? Man, you must have arms like popeye!

Would I be right in guessing that with steel so thick, there's less planishing to be done?

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

2.5mm steel, eh? You dishing that by hand? What weight hammer are yoiu using and how long is it taking you to dish a helm half?

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

My understanding (I've translated a few medieval German fencing books) is that unter can mean 'lower' as well as 'under'. That would make it either: Lower arm shield or Forearm shield. If you want a word to describe what it would be without having a direct translation, how about forearm buckler? Ena...

Aussie Yeoman

Moore....

Aussie Yeoman

Thankyou one and all for the responses. Very informative. Very informative. Now I think of it, I think I've seen modern or near modern examples of the donut thingies, in The Traditional Bowyer's Bible. I wasn't implying with my questions that Mongols having lamellar was a new discovery: I simply did...

Aussie Yeoman

One way or another, I came across the following site: m It shows two scrolls in very high definition, which were painted shortly after the mongol invasion of Japan at the end of the 13thC. For more info, see here: m I know next to nothing about Japanese history, ditto with Eastern armour and weapons...

Aussie Yeoman

Frederich,

I too have a fascination for depictions of smiths of various sorts in their workshops.

Have you archived your collection online somewhere?

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

As others have said, it is as much about practice and experience as anything. You need to have an excellent idea of how the armour you want to make looks on the person, behaves on the person, but most importantly, how it acts on the person. You also need to have an excellent idea of how metal moves,...

Aussie Yeoman

Lindsay, that's sort of the thing I'm looking for yes. But read below and I will explain further. Karen, I'm not sure if I have seen that before or not...mightn't have been paying attention. Thanks for highlighting that to me! J Morgan Kuberry, I can't find the artist to which you refer. Is there an...

Aussie Yeoman

Hi all, I'm looking for images. Be they paintings, sketches, woodprint, engravings, carvings, or even etcetera. I'm looking for images of troops drawn up for battle, and battle lines that have been joined. From any time up to and including Pike and Shot. If you have the information regarding the dat...

Aussie Yeoman

That's all well and good, and it'd be good for use on armour as it'd also have a beneficial effect on the leather straps.

But the question remains: is there a historical reference for it?

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

Hi all,

there was a post here somewhere that linked to a british site that held all available honours, masters and doctorates theses.

Now I can't find it.

Anyone able to enlighten me?

Dave

Aussie Yeoman

I've heard this bandied about as an historical mix for armour-protecting salve. I'm sure it would smell delicious, and the mix would certainly have been in the realm of availability for medieval squires, knights and armourers, but is there any actual historic reference to it? Furthermore, has anyone...

Aussie Yeoman

Hi Mac, The depth when view from the outside of the thigh whould taper from top to bottom. I would try making it about a thumbs breadth shallower at the knee, and a thumbs breath deeper at the top. On the lateral aspect, I would start by taking away about finger's thickness all the way from the top ...

Aussie Yeoman

'Leathers' refers to strips of leather on the inside of the lames, to which the lames are riveted. This allows the lames to flex and move in almost all directions. (anyone got pictures to share?) Sliding rivets are where two plates are riveted together, with one plate having a round hole just slight...

Aussie Yeoman

Aussie Dave, Make it taller! Much taller. Like 3 or 4 inches taller. The upper edge should go all the way to the "waist" band of your (modern) pants. Think of the articulated part at the top of the cuisse as a tasset. Mac There you have it. Sage wisdom from Mac should always be taken most...

Aussie Yeoman

I thought I might share a possible means by which an accurate, personalised pattern for something like cuisses can be made. Actually, not like cuisses, but cuisses. The method used is very close to methods used by car body restorers to copy panels of old cars. In some other post I'll describe how to...

Rodeleros, Stradioti and war wagons

Want to make: an ecranche shield

The most amazing 13thC Samurai resource

Searching for images of......

looking for that thesis repository

rosemary, bees wax and olive oil

Patterning a Gothic plate leg harness