The Armour Archive

C. Gadda

Beautiful work! Very well executed - I love the stamping pattern.

C. Gadda

Might want to check Antiquanova Mint as well (http://www.antiquanova.com/). I've gotten excellent coins from them. No problems in spite of being all the way in the Czech Republic.

C. Gadda

Does anyone here do, or know who does, brass casting? I'm looking for someone to do some custom work for me, pretty simple stuff (some hand-held tool like things). Thanks, GK How big are these items? For small stuff there is a foundary about 5 min from where I live here in Los Angeles area that I h...

C. Gadda

There is also Oakeshott's "Archeaology of Weapons" which covers from the Early Bronze Age up to the dawn of the Renaissance. Pretty useful overall.

C. Gadda

Ummm, this is a bigger topic than you know. From when to when? Stone Age to Space Age? Bronze Age to Early Iron Age? End of 30 Years War to Great War? You need to be MUCH more specific as to what you are trying to do. Even "just" the Middle Ages, say from the 10th to 15th centuries, would be a lot o...

C. Gadda

Call Museum Replicas and ask for Robin Chaudhuri (Cho-der-A) and ask him if they have one that you could obtain. Let him know that I recommended him (they used to sponsor my jousting back in the early 2000s). If anyone has one, it will be them. My quest is complete! Thanks, Lloyd, for the tip, and ...

C. Gadda

I've done several orders with him over the years, including one custom order, and no problems. I will, however, relate a funny involving Sir Raymond. Many, many, many years ago (around 1990, or so) when I was in college I ordered all four volumes of "The Best of the Hammer" from him. Weeks passed, b...

C. Gadda

Did cheekplates go away? Well, yes. I wasn't really trying to suggest otherwise. The why seems to be covered fairly well in this thread, which was the main thrust of the question that started it - but the "when", which was also touched upon, is murkier, and that is what I am most interested in. I sh...

C. Gadda

One point I did not see addressed was this: what makes us think that cheek pieces and neck guards necessarily went away? What if they existed but we simply have not had the good fortune to find an example yet? Keep in mind that, prior to the Coppergate excavations, one might have assumed that the An...

C. Gadda

IIRC, the bronze barrels were hammer forged on a mandrel. This might have been after casting, it has been a long time since I read the article. Some were, some weren't. Held mentions that a Werder barrel in the Tojhusmuseum was found to have been cast as a tube and then extensively cold hammered (o...

C. Gadda

Regarding gun barrels, I wonder if the copper alloys withstood greater charges because they underwent plastic deformation, versus iron which would have seen brittle fracture? Could be a factor, but, again, the fact that they are one piece homogenous (more or less) castings as opposed to forge welde...

C. Gadda

Wolf wrote:ya know.... i may have this. somewhere.... will have to look but it may take me a long time.

Appreciate the effort - thanks!

I have also left a message with the contact at MRL that Lloyd mentioned, but he has not returned my call as yet.

C. Gadda

actually... true 'geek' would be using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to view the old catalogues online. Interesting suggestion. I went ahead and took a look but didn't see anything. Not that I expected to... this catalogue came out ~1994 or 1995, and so far as I can tell MRL did not even hav...

C. Gadda

Still looking for this.

C. Gadda

Gun barrels were made in the Renaissance from bronze, and were thinner than iron barrels because they were stronger, and could withstand more pressure. (Robert Held, A&A Annual, 1973). This is incorrect. The cite is from actually from Hoff’s article “ The Significance of ‘Inventor’ in Felix Werder’...

C. Gadda

You are truly one of our greatest geeks. Best of luck in your quest. Hal Why, thanks! Actually, I find them extremely useful when obscure stuff comes up on eBay, in terms of ID'ing the item and figuring out a reasonable bid price. Just this past week I snagged an old Del Tin/MRL Rondel Dagger that ...

C. Gadda

If someone has a copy, but is not willing to part with it, would it at least be possible to get decent quality scans of the covers (front, back, inside front, and inside back) and also the index list of weapons for sale (with height comparison chart) on the first two or three pages? It was and I thi...

C. Gadda

Does anyone have this and is amenable to sale or trade? I have every other MRL catalogue from the "good old days" before Windlass took over (and a lot of the later ones as well) but for some reason I never got this one (I think I moved at that time and thus missed it). I'd love to complete my collec...

C. Gadda

The only attested use of butted mail outside of Renaissance parade armour that I know of is from the Ciumeşti find in Romania, Butted mail was used extensively by the Japanese, Sudanese, Indians and Khevsurs. Oh, very true - I was only referring to European mail. I probably should have specified th...

C. Gadda

This discussion highlights a serious problem in A&A research, namely the mis-reporting of data (or even its wholecloth invention), and how errors propagate into various scholarly publications and result in myriad mis-interpretations and flaws. Thanks to all these mis-translations or even sheer fligh...

C. Gadda

The more I look at it, the more I think Williams misunderstood what Rusu wrote. In an earlier post I gave the verbetim of the German text - any native speakers care to take a crack at it? I think I have the right of it. Regardless, Williams has done no original research on this, and is only citing R...

C. Gadda

As you said, every report is contradictory. I wasn't confident enough to translate Rusu so I relied on Williams, The Knight and the Blast Furnace , p. 29. "Rusu shows what appears to be both riveted and welded links of a circular cross-section. Most of the links were of wire between 0.8 and 1.8mm t...

C. Gadda

Let me be clear that the only actual scientific analysis that I know of for the Ciumeşti mail is in Rusu, and that clearly states that the armour is all butted. Note that I have done A GREAT DEAL of research on this particular example, to wit: Connelly, Peter. Hannibal and the Enemies of Rome. Silve...

C. Gadda

The initial Ciumeşti report said that it was butted but it isn't. It is made of alternating rows of riveted and solid links. It has a small patch of butted links that probably was a repair. IIRC the mail found at Horny Jatov in Slovakia is the earliest example of mail we have and that is also rivet...

C. Gadda

At a point in time several years ago, I had sat down with Eric Schmid and had a conversation about mail. What types there were, when they were used, etc...Since that conversation, the appropriate level of research that I had been doing sort of fell to the side, as my interest in the plate armours a...

C. Gadda

scott2978 wrote:It was the german flail with the twisty chain links.

Really!? That one seemed so robust - I had contemplated getting it, actually. Any inkling how it failed (i.e. metal fatigue, bad design, etc.)?

C. Gadda

Thanks for the link! I own the hexagon rondel they make, it's a nice piece. But the other items I've bought from A&A are not always that great. The Crusader dagger they make has a screwed-on pommel with a bit at the tip welded on to make it appear peened, and there are other such shortcuts I've fou...

C. Gadda

If you ever decide to offer up these for sale, do let us know. Looking for something 14th or maybe 15th century European.

C. Gadda

What I've read of Erik Schmid says it didn't stop -- only that demi-riveted was much reduced, and all-riveted got all over the place. We've speculated it had a lot to do with economics -- directly, perhaps, in some change in the relative price of plate/sheet steel and wire. In that century, plate/s...

C. Gadda

No worries!

C. Gadda

I have scanned pp 2-11, which cover the A7 mail. PM me your e-mail and I'll send that to you. If you need the rest of the article, I can do that but I might need another day or two.

C. Gadda

I think I have that -let me check and I'll get it out later

C. Gadda

Folks, just thought I would share this discovery I made a few days ago. I'd been looking for a piece of ash to haft an axe, and really couldn't find anything nearby that I didn't have to order. Doing a random google search, I happened upon the fact that, apparently, most wheelbarrow replacement han...

C. Gadda

Very nice work! Thank you for compiling all of this research into one place for easy reference - you've done a big service to the community here.

C. Gadda

Im looking for kit parts pieces, garb (from head to toes), weapons (seax, axes or spears) for a XXL fella or accessories. Used is fine for a living histry Anglo-Saxon reenactor. Please PM me for any deals! Thanks for readong! Anglo Saxon covers a few centuries; are you thinking early (i.e. Vendel p...

Re: Wide stamped belt. Late 14th, early 15th century

Re: WTB Replica Medieval Coins

Re: Who can do brass casting?

Re: Research for development of Arms and Armor.

Re: Research for development of Arms and Armor.

Re: WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

Re: Raymond's Quiet Press

Re: Why Did Cheek Pieces and Neck Guards Go Away?

Re: Why Did Cheek Pieces and Neck Guards Go Away?

Re: Bronze vs Iron

Re: Bronze vs Iron

Re: WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

Re: WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

Re: WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

Re: Bronze vs Iron

Re: WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

Re: WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

WTB/WTT - Museum Replicas Catalogue No. 36

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: Mail and what is time and region appropriate

Re: WTB: 14c Rondel dagger

Re: WTB: 14c Rondel dagger

Re: Combs

Re: Copper-alloy rivets in mail?

Re: Wanted: Erik Schmid Article

Re: Wanted: Erik Schmid Article

Re: Wanted: Erik Schmid Article

Re: Amazing, undiscovered sourch for Ash

Re: Building a 12th C strong box

Re: WANTED: Anglo-Saxon gear for reenacting/live steel