The Armour Archive

Steve S.

Just wanted to say I used the pattern archive for the first time a couple of weeks ago making my first piece of plate harness. It's a great help!

Steve

Steve S.

Looks good to me!

Steve

Steve S.

Hi all, A long time ago I worked at a place that had a nice "stomp" shear out in the shop for cutting sheet metal along a straight line. I could probably cut something 40" wide. It was nice but such things cost many thousands of dollars. I'm looking for a bench top shear that can cut 18 or maybe 16 ...

Steve S.

Sounds cool. A couple of questions: ~ Thrusts to an open face (i.e., a bargrill), neck, and armpit, all “kill”. A cut or chop with a single handed sword to the face (bargrill) will also count as a killing blow. If you are "killed", you are out of the entire combat. If you are wearing mail, that part...

Steve S.

Soooooo all Eastern persona(e) are out? No 16th cent Samurai? No 9th cent Rus? I'm just pointing out what it says on the home page of the organization. We can argue about how legitimate the statement is or how well it is actually enforced but my point was to give insight into what the organization ...

Steve S.

I wonder what the historical cost differences were between a helm made of "large" plates of metal vs. gauntlets made of smaller pieces?

Steve

Steve S.

Got the fingers done this weekend. http://imgur.com/a/DzzeF After finishing them and flexing them, I was thinking, "Gee, you know, the lames don't really flex in the direction of the fingers at all. After re-examining the pattern, I overlapped them in the wrong direction. However, I'm not sure this ...

Steve S.

Today's progress: http://imgur.com/a/Kantb I'm going to have to remove the cuff and stitch it closer in towards the metacarpal plates as there is now too large of a gap between those plates and the cuff plates. Fucked the glove up - I grabbed it to do some grinder work and my finger kissed the grind...

Steve S.

If so, that definitely was a) a weapon b) used before 1600, and would thus be in our period. Unless anything not from medieval Europe is "not period", in which case there isn't much point in you answering this question. "The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creat...

Steve S.

So based on knitebee's success ( viewtopic.php?f=1&t=83740&start=0 ), I am working on my own Wisby gauntlets.

Here is the progress so far:

http://imgur.com/a/8tZPa

Steve

Steve S.

Hello, in my admittedly less than perfect understanding of the evolution of armor, I would have thought that mitten gauntlets (I assume easier to make) would have come before finger gauntlets. Yet, from illustrations, effigies, etc. it seems that the opposite was true. Why? Are there examples from ...

Steve S.

Interestingly, most of the 13th century depictions of tabbed tops seem to show the cap raised over the sides, and the tabs added to the raised flange. It's entirely possible that there is some flange folded down from the crown before the tabs begin - the biggest benefit of the tabs is it removes ma...

Steve S.

Like this?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yRSx5tAHTR4/T ... Armour.png

Just print out the spaulder part and size it till you get a size you like.

Steve

Steve S.

I was wondering if a jack of plates counts as rigid material for SCA Heavy Combat?

Just about any kind of metal armour over your kidneys should do.

Steve

Steve S.

Your craftsmanship is better than the pattern. :) Thanks. I tried it first since I figured it looked easy. But I agree the face plate should not come so far away from the crown. It made making the nasal a real bitch. In fact it was the hardest part of the helm. Next I am going to make this one: htt...

Steve S.

What material?

Steve

Steve S.

This whole business of building a helmet to fit a particular individual is overrated. If you can walk down the street, and children do not point at your head and cry, a real medieval helmet will probably fit you better than one made to specs by most modern armorers. This comment made me grin! :) St...

Steve S.

I blued the helm. All that's left is to paint the inside.

http://imgur.com/a/uwcfm

Steve

Steve S.

Welp, it's done. I went ahead and added a nasal. Bought a polisher and polished it up. I'm debating on bluing it. http://imgur.com/a/OlDJr Are you working off the reil burner design? Yup, I bought it. I've actually got one of the hybridburners.com burners around here if I can find it. Steve

Steve S.

Shrinking that edge can be a little tricky the first time. The common issues are #1 trying to move to much steel at once. #2 not properly supporting the work. Are you normalizing or working hot? I tried "working it hot", but all I have is a little MAPP torch, really not enough. I've got a big propa...

Steve S.

I've been wanting one for some time so I finally broke down and bought an 8" buffer from Harbor Freight. So I'm going to have a go at polishing it. I also bought some gun blue to touch up my Enfield barrel; I may give that a go also. I've put the helm on her head and it is just a bit tall, I have co...

Steve S.

Well turns out my long-reach hammer was no good here, so you were right, it was a special experience peening the crown rivets. :) The helm is now done, except for breath holes: http://imgur.com/a/DvfPe I have to decide if I'm going to buy a buffer and polish it or paint it. I rather like the beak fa...

Steve S.

I would think that the fast "touch" fight is actually less about stamina than others. I would think they are over more quickly than others.

I'd say the majority of single combats are over in less than 2 minutes? They still whip my ass.

Steve

Steve S.

Here is how I made mine: http://www.forth-armoury.com/photo_gallery/helm_liner/helm_liner.htm Note that I ended up re-making mine after this article was made, making the "dags" fatter so that there were no gaps in the liner. Also in the end I ended up sewing the dags together and eliminating the tie...

Steve S.

Your doing it the hard way.
Riveting that top pannel will be a special experience with the rest of the helm assembled

If you are talking about reaching the rivets to peen them, I've got special deep-reach hammers just for this kind of thing.

Steve

Steve S.

Here is tonight's progress:

http://imgur.com/a/cqQc8

I've got the body done, and I'm just working on the lid. I was trying to make the lid out of one piece with no "tabs", but I'm having a hard time shrinking the flange.

Steve

Steve S.

I've never been a very good fighter. But it seems to me that our game, at least in Meridies, is less about power and more about stamina. You don't need a lot of power around here, because it's basically touch kill. Clean, unanswered blows serve as well as cleaving a guy in half. So you don't need he...

Steve S.

Yup, was going to post the same thing:

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.galevskiy

Steve

Steve S.

I was looking for my rubber mallet last night in my hammer pile and it has wandered off. I think I'll stop by Harbor Freight and pick up a new one plus some nylon ones.

Steve

Steve S.

So tonight I started working on my first helm. It's probably a bit easier than usual since I'm making it out of .03" thick mild. It will be a youth combat helm for my daughter. I used the simple Alan Bauldree pattern here: http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/greathelm_ab/ I printed it out at 80% s...

Steve S.

Very nice design. If I may, I think another, simpler alternative to mortise and tenons would be on your support rail to drill holes at regular intervals and glue in wooden dowels. Then drill matching holes in your slats. Make the dowels stick up only the thickness of your slats. Then you can lay the...

Steve S.

You can basically live that kind of existence today - it's called "sustenance farming". The fewer people you have in your community the less you will be able to rely on other people for goods or services acquired through barter. Which means that much of your daily life will be consumed with providin...

Steve S.

I was going to use it for creating lasts for leather armour. But I have been afraid of it.

Steve

Steve S.

http://www.rjleahy.com/Store/rivets/crvr.htm

Steve

Steve S.

You might have better frame of reference if you translated those to the prices of food staples (bread, butter, etc.) at that time. Then you could say something like you could buy a sword or eat for x days.

It's the Dark Ages Big Mac Index!

http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index

Steve

Re: Pattern Archive - Who's Mantaining It

Re: Looking for feedback on a piece

Looking for an affordable bench shear

Re: Madu blow up?

Re: Finger gauntlets vs. mitten gauntlets

Re: Progress on my first Wisby gauntlets

Re: Progress on my first Wisby gauntlets

Re: Madu blow up?

Progress on my first Wisby gauntlets

Re: Finger gauntlets vs. mitten gauntlets

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: Spade shaped spaulder pattern

Re: Just a quick question about a jack of plates

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: Looking for - someone to do "tailoring" on mail.

Re: Fitting a late bascinet, Wallace A74

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: Stimulants in Fighting Competition

Re: patterns for Bascinet or Aventail lining?

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: Stimulants in Fighting Competition

Re: Looking for a Klapvisor Bascinet

Re: One night's progress on my first helm.

One night's progress on my first helm.

Re: Twin Sized Oseberg Slat Camping Bed

Re: Living it. Would you for real?

Re: Dish cutting find

Re: domed rivets

Re: The price of arms and armour in the Viking age