The Armour Archive

Steve S.

I'd love to fight SCA combat in this harness. I need to get an SCA legal kettlehat variant, and of course do something about the knees and elbows. The elbows are pretty easy; I could probably wear hidden elbows under the gambeson, but even over the gambeson the maille hides them well enough. But the...

Steve S.

I have done nothing to the dryer at all - I just chuck in a couple of shirts and turn it on. I let them run for 2 60 minute cycles - 2 hours. It's not terribly noisy, and I work right next to it. The carpet idea sounds good to me, though.

Steve

Steve S.

Here's a picture of me in my riveted maille kit. It was taken at an SCA event here in Meridies this weekend, Fighters' Collegium. It's slightly SCAish - I'm wearing sweatpants for hosen and the sword and belt (made by our own Templar Bob) is a bit 14th centuryish (the kit is 12th centuryish), but I ...

Steve S.

Poor salary, but man, what a dream job!

Steve

Steve S.

[img]http://www.forth-armoury.com/temp/IMAGE002.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.forth-armoury.com/temp/IMAGE003.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.forth-armoury.com/temp/IMAGE004.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.forth-armoury.com/temp/IMAGE005.JPG[/img]

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Forth Armoury
The Riveted Maille Website!

Steve S.

Well, I finally picked up the basement/garage enough tonight to take some pictures of my new armour shop! http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif My fiance and I moved into our new home just after Pennsic. The h...

Steve S.

Wow, Fred, that's a good one!

Steve

Steve S.

I connect my strip into a tube as soon as the strip is long enough. This is the trick for making an anventail - make sure your initial tube is large enough circumferance! If your helm is 23" in circumferance, it is not sufficient to start with a strip that, when stretched tight, is 23" long! ...

Steve S.

They have all sizes, but all I am getting quotes for are 2", 3", and 4".

Steve

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Forth Armoury
The Riveted Maille Website!

Steve S.

Well, I spoke to the guy on the phone, and he knew what a ball stake was and just what I needed. They sell very rough finished balls, and very high-polished, through-hardened balls that you'd need a plasma drill to get through. He is going to quote on a nice steel ball that can be welded. I'm awaiti...

Steve S.

I have a huge 6 or even 8 incher I piced up at Gundo's hammer in a year or so ago. Haven't used it yet, but I'm holding onto it!

Steve

Steve S.

I have a lead on a supplier of steel balls with a good high polish that can be welded. I am getting quotes on 10 2", 3", and 4" balls.

Anyone interested?

Steve

Steve S.

My maille manufacturer in India wants to make other things as well. I have suggested lamellae; perhaps even finished garments laced together! I don't know a damn thing about lamellar armour - I've always seen the "tombstone" scales. With a D (or a B for that matter) shaped plate, how do you make an ...

Steve S.

I used this exact passage for documentation on my own coat of plates: http://www.forth-armoury.com/photo_gallery/COP/cop_inside.JPG (more here: http://www.forth-armoury.com/photo_gallery/COP/Coat_of_Plates.htm ) The above coat of plates has a leather outer shell but is lined with canvas on the insid...

Steve S.

True brigandine armours are actually somewhat difficult to make. They involve hundreds of small overlapping plates all riveted to the inside of a coat. Most SCA "brigandines" that I have seen are a coat of some kind with various non-overlapping plates riveted to the inside. This is what the "Bravehe...

Steve S.

You're right that the foam-stuffed arming cap isn't any hotter than a foam-lined helmet. But I'm a fan of foam in the helmet, as it's a good shock absorber, it doesn't soak up sweat (closed cell), and it's hidden. But I would never use it to line a gambeson. It would be like wearing a giant beer coo...

Steve S.

Well, as I said, all bluing methods result in a thin surface layer. It will take some abuse, but it's not impervious to wear.

Steve

Steve S.

Well, you can blue by heating the metal, which forms an oxide on the surface of it. The exact color depends on the temperature you allow the metal to reach. You can also apply chemicals to "blue" the surface. I'm assuming this also promotes an oxide of some kind on the surface. In either case, the b...

Steve S.

Could someone show me what the lamellae made for the last order look like?

Steve

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Forth Armoury
The Riveted Maille Website!

Steve S.

Great web page on lamellar how-to, Norman!

Steve

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Forth Armoury
The Riveted Maille Website!

Steve S.

You might want to check out this article here:

http://www.arador.com/articles/armourstart.html

Steve

Steve S.

Bricks are cheap. I was just at Home Depot last weekend buying some decorative ones for to contain our decorative pea-gravel under our deck. I bet you can get firebricks for less than $1 each. I would think you could build the body of your forge out of red brick, and line it with firebrick. Steve --...

Steve S.

Hey that's great stuff!

Steve

Steve S.

I agree with Morgan; perfectly legit ebay ad.

I can't imagine even the most rank fighter not knowing that you can't have an open faced helm in SCA combat.

Steve

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Forth Armoury
The Riveted Maille Website!

Steve S.

I'm very pleased with this shipment. They are striking the rivets very securely. In fact, I washed to shirts last night, and on the first shirt I only found 3 rivets in the rinse bin. That's less than .01% of the 24,000+ rings. On the second shirt there were no rivets in the rinse bucket. You do fin...

Steve S.

Hi folks! [img]http://www.forth-armoury.com/Product_Catalog/shirts/hauberk5.jpg[/img] I just got another shipment of riveted maille shirts in yesterday - it looks excellent. They really seem to have the riveting down well. These shirts contain nearly 25,000 rings, each of them riveted with we...

Steve S.

Hi folks! [img]http://www.forth-armoury.com/Product_Catalog/shirts/hauberk5.jpg[/img] I just got another shipment of riveted maille shirts in yesterday - it looks excellent. They really seem to have the riveting down well. These shirts contain nearly 25,000 rings, each of them riveted with we...

Steve S.

"...it may turn into a raising project."

One has to wonder what will be raising up on this project...

Steve

Steve S.

I actually got my hands on some iron wire that was so soft I could use it without further normalizing. But I think, as a general rule, normalizing is a good idea. The way you know your rings aren't soft enough are when they won't flatten properly: http://www.forth-armoury.com/research/bad_rings/skip...

Steve S.

I just got in a new shipment of riveted hauberks. These are 18GA fully riveted rings, in the European style (wedge rivets), with a 3/8" ID. They are low carbon steel, and are sized with a stretched-tight circumferance of 70", perfect for a 50" chest and a gambeson (see picture below). The shirts wei...

Steve S.

Aw shit - just stick the colored tape on their helms so I know who's head to take off.

Steve

Steve S.

Hi Mithril.

Send me an email and I'll send you the hidden URL.

hint: you spelled "rivited" wrong.

Steve

Steve S.

Thomas: Clicking on the little envelope simply pops a new html window that lists the email address. You can then click on it and send an email directly, if your email is tied in with your web browser. If your email is not tied into your web browser, you can either write it down or copy-and-paste it ...

Steve S.

"THEY ARE NOT FLATTENED AS INSTRUCTED. They are flattened at the rivet points only. I do not know why they did not follow my orders on this. If the hauberks were not constructed as well as they were I would have exploded on the spot." Sorry to hear about your experience. I was only able to get my s...

Steve S.

I'd offer the suggestion that you consider linen instead of cotton. It can be obtained inexpensively at linen-web. com

http://www.fabrics-store.com

Steve

My maille kit (pic from Fighters' Collegium)

Pictures of my new shop! :) :) :)

New shipment of riveted maille just arrived!

New shipment of riveted maille just arrived!