The Armour Archive

Patrick

As far as I am aware, there is no historical evidence of such. However, in the wonderful set of books _The Traditional Bowyer's Bible_, there is an article about pushing bowmaing design theory to the limits for compensating for low-quality wood. The author uses white pine to make a functional bow. N...

Patrick

Jason- How come I don't know you? I've been in the Fairbanks SCA for 5 years. Where you been, dude? The group needs more armorers, since I don't have time for it any more. And just to let folks know that Fairbanks weather isn't always bad, today it warmed up to 0 degrees F! Night before last, it was...

Patrick

Some signs can't take the contact cement. I had one that I made a quickie gorget out of and I just put the reflective material on the inside. I went to glue in foam and the contact cement disolved the reflective layer. It was a really nasty slime that stuck to things, but didn't want to be a good ad...

Patrick

In the Best of the Hammer books, there are several articles by Knut Osterstrom about his attempts and successes at making the stuff. I only ever did a few links (around 30), but my information was from those articles. The cool thing about those books is just how much good information they contain fo...

Patrick

I worked for 7 years in a university library and never saw a donated book go on the shelves. That doesn't really address the question, though. Just pretend that the books you pick out actually will get into the collection. I would like to see a copy of the Known World Handbook in the library with a ...

Patrick

Can't add much to how the steel-fighters do things, but I can add a little to how different real swords are from rattan. Last Summer, I got together with a few friends who are also in the local SCA and soem who are not. We had our real swords and a bunch of milk jugs filled with water. These make wo...

Patrick

In that case, yeah, get him looking good! I sort of assumed that he hadn't been fighting yet. Just misunderstood your original post.

-Patrick

Patrick

Ted has it about right. I am not an advocate of the "dress them in lousy stuff so they'll get thier own" brand of loaner gear. If they have to take it off and swap with another guy halfway through practice, that is enough incentive to get thier own gear. I try to have them wear something that is goo...

Patrick

If your friend is serious about getting into the fighting, how many times has he suited up in loaner gear or borrowed armor? Has he even purchased a cup and knee pads? I am not dissing him. My experience has been that over half the people who are really hot to fight in the SCA around here will leave...

Patrick

I usually leave the scale on because I am lazy. I have tried to buff it off, but it would take starting with a pretty agressive buff to do it. I only managed to polish the scale. Gave up and sanded off the few pieces I wanted to have bright. Then, a few days later, I learned about the vinegar trick....

Patrick

My personal pet peeves have to do with the horrible history, rather than the props. Yeah, there are some glaring uglies in the props, but the history side is criminal! I know folks in the SCA who now think that Edward's grandson was really the son of Wallace and that the affair in the movie between ...

Patrick

Long time ago, I read about how one armorer did the bra cups for a C-cup woman. He went to the sewing store and bought a pattern for a woman's bra. Then he used the D-cup size. He pointed out that with a cloth bra, it can move with the breast flesh, but steel won't. The cup was in 2 pieces in the pa...

Patrick

I just lay a piece of metal over the edge of my anvil (railroad track) and beat it to a nice angle. Low tech, but it puts a very good crease in the steel. What patterns are you using for your gauntlets? I have used 3 different patterns and none of them required creasing the metal or fluting it. Just...

Patrick

A note on the leather baskets- Our baron used to use one. It was wax hardened. After getting hit enough and knocking around in the car enough, and all the usual abuse, it wasn't a very good form of protection. he blocked with the basket and was done for the day. This is my gripe about most leather a...

Patrick

Well, the way it is now, we show up at the park, get into armor, talk a while, fight slow for about 3-5 minutes, then fight fast for about 2 minutes, talk 3-5, fight 2, talk 3-5, ... You get the idea. It isn't the greatest workout, but I do get to fight. I used to love having 4 or 5 people at practi...

Patrick

Go ahead and finish that loaner armor. Do not make any armor to give away until you know a person is serious. Even then, help him make his own. I made most of a suit of armor that is currently not being used because I gave it to a "very serious" fighter who nobody has seen in months and who hasn't f...

Patrick

I am really lazy about making the gas forge I intended to build about 6 years ago. If I had a torch, I'd sure use it, too. Go to a store with a gardening section. Get a bag of vermiculite. This will cost like $3 new. Fill a bucket or box with it. Heat up your file to a nice bright red. Have a magnet...

Patrick

In the episode Mrs W mentioned (I was at that event) the musicians were just trying to provide some background music to enhance the feel of an otherwise-dull wait for some so-so turnips to make their way around the tables. The music may not have been period and the players didn't really care if anyo...

Patrick

Quite some time ago, there was a discussion on mail-covered hockey gloves. I am very strongly against using hockey gloves for protection, but the principle is the same as covering the mitten gauntlets. Personally, I just wear steel gaunts and will continue to do so, even if I do an earlier harness. ...

Patrick

If you want to take it to a serious level, you do the same thing all the armorers on the board did when they wanted to take that to a serious level. You make a lot. Give away a bunch. Sell what is best. Throw out the worst. Books and tutorials only help a certain amount. The best thing I did for kni...

Patrick

I'm a lousy chess player, but I don't expect a good one to give up his queen when we play. On the other hand, when I fight locally I do give up advantages. I don't consider it honorable and I don't like to do it. I do it because I was told to by a knight. And our marshal is his squire. The game is a...

Patrick

Well, I have never made greaves like that, but on the "bum knee" subject, I have done something about those. I had knee surgery due to an injury sustained in SCA fighting (torn meniscus) and had to do something to prevent future problems before I could fight again. Look at the Cynagua Marshallate ho...

Patrick

Rev. George- I think you got the second one off of either Dan Fenwick's page or else the Cynagua Marshallate page. I gave him the pattern and told him I got it from Sir Paul of Summerton's squire. It works fine and I have see the same pattern floating around the SCA with other armorers. Just so you ...

Patrick

OK, so where did you find the pic? I really like that one! It looks (guessing) like about the first half of the 15th century. Reminds me in shape fo the pourpoint of Charles DuBlois. I could have the name a little wrong, but there is a good picture of it in AAMK. The one I am thinking of was late 14...

Patrick

Fireclay. The stuff used for refractory linings. That's what most folks seem to use when they first try Japanese-style hardening. A few years ago, one of the knife rags ran a story by Rob Hudson (ABS Mastersmith) on doing a heat-treatment that is similar to this. He suggested using furnace cement (u...

Patrick

Remember that cheaper is not always better. Would you rather pay $200 for a sword that is only decorative or $300 for one that *could* be used? On the whole forging/grinding thing, nobody seems able to point up hard data on which is better. This is because, as Krag said, heat-treatment is so much mo...

Patrick

As I understand it, the plackert can be worn alone. Several 15th century illustrations seem to show this. I'm at work, or I'd get out my books. For the barbute, understand that there is only a narrow opening down the front of your face. I like a very closed helm, but others get claustrophobic in the...

Patrick

In _The Poor Man's James Bond Vol. 3_ by Kurt Saxon (not worth the cover price, but an amusing relic of my childhood), there is a reprint of what looks like a Popular Mechanics article. I details some very nice plans for a crossbow. The prod is made from a leaf spring and cut to shape with a hacksaw...

Patrick

What were you planning to charge, Olaf? If you have a list of tentative prices (between X and Y dollars, with a Z% discount on order of 5 or more of the same thing, for example) I bet a lot of folks would be very interested. I am sick of using a jigsaw to cut out armor. My wife is sick of me using a...

Patrick

I am currently working on a set of legs like the set Sir Hillary details on the site posted above. I had a torm meniscus and surgery to fix. I am finally about to get to go fight again! But not without a brace to make sure it never happens again. If there is any way you can swing the money, go see a...

Patrick

Ned has got it, at least for high-school German. On the "ch" sound, I never really said it right until someone pointed out that it is pronounced a lot like the "ch" in "Loch Ness". In some places, it is pronounced more like "sh". But that always sounds silly to my ears. I have to agree with H the B....

Patrick

Well, there is at least one illustration in the Cantigas de Santa Maria that shows 2 symphonies being played. http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/ For a how-to on building a simple hurdy-gurdy, check here: http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/hurdy.htm Then, you could always look around on the hurdy...

Patrick

Can't help with online info, but I at least have heard of a style called "High Style." I have an old edition of The Fighter's Handboke. Back when freon cans were legal for helmets. It describes the Bellatrix snap as a new, advanced blow, not to be taught to a new fighter, etc. It also addresses the ...

Patrick

Master Cad has pics of a bascinet he made with a grill constructed this way on his website. Sorry, I don't have the URL. I have made a couple of "hobgoblin" helms with riveted bars. The lower half of the face is a plate with holes in it. The nasal bar is twisted to give a nice flat face to where the...

Patrick

I don't have anything to add to the ABD discussion, but I do have a suggestion for Val. Have you looked at Javelins? Being big enough in the shaft to not fit through the bargrills, I doubt they would be a problem. Also, the don't cost as much as an archery rig. You still have to learn to chuck the t...