The Armour Archive

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I am overdue in this review. Months ago, I bought a pair of gauntlets from Aleksandr. These ones, in fact. [img]http://www.imgup.ru/images/6s7x0106156.jpg[/img] And they're just as beautiful in person as they look here. He's one of the growing flock of supremely talented eastern European armorers, a...

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Dislocation is the movement of molecules out of their places in solution. Work hardening, for instance, smashes the granular structure together and causes internal stresses that lead to the hardness you experience. Heating the steel allows those molecules to dislocate and move back into a more "...

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Only sometimes! Sometimes it was all hard riveted together, as on covered breatplates. And sometimes there were more than two pieces! We could discuss the pros and cons of this construction all day, but the fact is, they did it. And there was usually practical impetus. But I'm convinced that 80% of ...

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...now that I think about this, I believe I recall once seeing photographs of a suit that had elbows made in the style of floating elbows, but which were in fact hard-articulated. I don't recall anything else about the suit, and I don't know that it wasn't a victorian forgery. But the photos were bl...

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What exactly are you doing? "You can process anneal to reverse work hardening but that still requires a high temp ( @1250 deg F) soak for @ an hour." No, it really doesn't. You can get obvious softening simply by momentarily achieving critical temperature and sticking the workpiece in an ...

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You can also remove galvanization with aforementioned heat. if you dont need your lungs any more that is +1 ...And I'd rather see painted metal armour than galvanised metal armour any day. Surely I'm not the only one around here who's not scared of galvanization. 0_o Seriously guys, people around h...

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This is amazing, and wonderful to see.

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You can also remove galvanization with aforementioned heat.

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Agreed. Nope. No more than wearing a churburg 14 breastplate would be period for a 17th century cuirasser. That said: If you DID use Ringlord products (the large ones, please?) to make a full coat of scales, and got yourself the greaves and vambraces and funny kettle hat to match? Everyone would kno...

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Earliest I have seen is circa 1440s, on KNEES, not elbows. (can't be any later than 1455, when the painter died)

There may be earlier examples, but I can't think of any at the moment.

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Do I *really* need to explain?

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http://www.mcmaster.com/#red-metals/=86daw4
Second one. Pretty good price, too, considering recent history.

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What's your measuring stick?

If a dutch oven is good enough for representing the 16th century, then yes, this is good enough for the 14th.

Is it right? No, it's not. Will anyone notice? Yes, but only a few. Is it good? Probably, yeah.

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In this case, both.

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You'll be fine.

Tempering only works one direction. If you start with straw, you can go further to purple or blue. But if you go to blue, you can't come back to straw without rehardening first.

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Plaster and paint make a carpenter what he ain't

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Two words: Fitted Backplate

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I can't find my jaw. Last I saw it was rolling around under the desk, but now I can't find it!

In the interest of public safety I'm going to have to ask you to stop being so awesome.

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During a recent and ongoing armoring project, I suddenly (with great surprise and much forehead slapping) discovered a maxim. To whit: a bowl can never be deeper than your longest stake. Or rather, it CAN! But it can never be worked upon at a greater depth than your longest stake. Or rather, it CAN!...

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Nope.

There's physical examples, but I know of no drawing/painting of a pollaxe from the 14th century that's clearer than deLiberi.

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A lot of the advice is to buy a more expensive wood. I'm already down almost 80$ after 4 attempts. I'm not going to buy something that's double what I've been buying, just to screw it up as well. Most of the rest of the advice was to cover it with something. I'm not at that point yet. I'm still try...

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I remember a friend telling me about a suit of armor for a tall fellow (6'+) at the Royal Armories (when it was at The Tower) that was 7'+(7'10"?) tall. My thought was "where did they put the extra?";) You can put it under the feet, or above the head, and they won't complain much. Pu...

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Mother of God.

That's magnificent, Lance!

When it comes to weapons simulators, you're the best that's out there.

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Thank you!

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I plead complete ignorance in this matter. I was about to paint a heraldic garment (late 15th c) when I realized I had no idea if there was provenance for that practice or not. I know fabrics for TENTS were painted, and for shields, and for flags, and most likely for bags (can't imagine someone stit...

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In that case... perhaps the French Revolution? When the populi threw off the shackles of their oppressors -and became their own oppressors- and abandoned nearly all straight blades. Symbols of the nobility, donchaknow.

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No, it's not the same as what he's describing, but it *is* the same in function. On the other hand, I have a cleaver of my grandfather's that was made in exactly the fashion he describes. The sucker is a 3/8" thick slab of steel with a hamon . No one in the late 1940s USA would have called it a...

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If you try to ONLY quench the edge the heat from the core will leach into the quenched area during the quench process delaying phase transition and causing a perlite or bainite structure. if you do not do anything else to this structure it will SUCK for holding an edge and act like crumbly cooked s...

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Of course. You'd have the same problem with I.D.'s method too, though. Not overlaps, but the gaps caused by the tolerances not being close enough, which would happen whether it's lapped or butted.

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So if I'm hearing you right: you'd flare all the edges out and butt the edges together, riveting the flared edges? So there would be raised, riveted ridges all around and no overlaps anywhere. Yes? I can see ups and downs of working like that. One the one hand, all your work areas are so much more a...

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Some people think this looks wicked.
http://www.cbswords.com/images/uc1120bba.jpg
I think it looks stupid.

I think this looks wicked.
http://www.armabohemia.cz/imgnew/epees/epees/EP29v.jpg
Some people would think it looks plain.

The words you use do not mean as much as you think they do. Use others.

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what about if you made the sword, all one piece, heated it red, and then just doused the edges to harden them, do you think it would work? it would be more of a gradual change from hard to soft, and it wouldn't have weaknesses where it wans't possible welded properly, so do you think it would work ...

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I'm interested also. But I'd be satisfied with pictures of just the finished product.

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How long do I have to plan on letting these soak? overnight? a weekend? a week? etc? before they will have accumulated a nice patina of rust? I assume that pickled structural steel is still susceptable to salt water. Leaving them in the salt water will do virtually nothing over a short time period....

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What he said. If this book were to become an analog of ToMAR or the book Dr. Capwell is putting out, I'd happily spring for as much as $100, and *might* -depending on reviews, or if I saw it in person- even go a little further north than that. Unlike Greg I have no problem with the inclusion of mode...

Review: Aleksandr Krolevetsky

So I made a Bichorn...

(15th.c) Painted Cloth - used for clothing?

Re: I know it's a sword not armour, but can i get some opini