The Armour Archive

Mac

Tasha, The more I look at these headdresses, the more it seems to me that the thing being worn by Liz Woodville is *not* the same thing that appears in those brasses. The thing Woodville has on her head is clearly a sort of cylinder. The things in the brasses and in the pics that Charlotte has poste...

Mac

There's a good example to be had on page 69 of Bryan Holme's "Medieval Pageant". My camera is not working, or I would post the pic.

Mac

Mac

Tasha,

I think that Charlotte is on to something. Is there any reason to think that we are looking at a cylindrical thing on the back of the head? It might well be a structure on each side of the head. That would account for the dip in the middle when view from the front.

Mac

Mac

schreiber wrote:Well, we might as well learn something here.... like what's making that noise...

It's the posterior margin of one of the forewings rubbing against a file-like structure on the upper surface of the other forewing. The stiffness of the forewings make them act like soundboards.

Mac

Mac

Oskar, That "potato chip" thing can be very vexing. In general, it is caused by having "too much circumference" to fit your circumference. In other words, the edge is in a state of compression, and the extra metal throws its self into waves. If you work in a way so as to put the ...

Mac

Suzerain, If you do braid it, you should tuck the braid into your shirt or take some other measures to make sure it does not become entangled in your polishing equipment or any other powerful rotating machinery. I have met a woman who had her scalp ripped off by a spring winding machine...! They wer...

Mac

m The continuously variable transmission (CVT), although a pretty new innovation to the car industry, the idea has been around since the 15th century when Leonardo Da Vinci sketches his version of a stepless continuously variable transmission. http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/viva7s2/DaVinci_CVP_il...

Mac

Olaf Goubitz says in "Purses in Peaces" that many leather boxes that he had examined were glued rather than sewn. Perhaps it is thus here. The overlap of a glued seam might be skived down quite thin, and difficult to see. I find it interesting that the glued seems that Goubitz describes ar...

Mac

Mild really doesn't harden up that much, so that's largely a moot concern. Hrolf, Thomas is talking about work hardening here. Work hardening can be a very significant factor in the design of a mild steel component. It is, for example, what allows us to drive nails without them bending. Mac

Mac

Eric's videos are great, but has anyone seen historical examples of hinges made in the way shown in the video? It almost seems too easy(and I'm hoping that it is :lol:), but I'm wondering if it is authentic. :?: Do you mean "are real medieval armor hinges folded over, and two layers thick on t...

Mac

sha-ul wrote:
Mac wrote:My shop is all in boxes at the moment.

Ouch, that HAS to suck

Yea, it does.....and it's going to take a few months to get the new shop ready to work. Meanwhile, I can't even find the things I need to work on the shop.

Mac

Mac

losthelm wrote:not sure if it helps much but some information on home build insuturments off the link page may provide insite.

http://annat.net/ac/play.htm

Thank you for that link. I didn't find anything about horns, but there is certainly a lot of other stuff to look at.

Mac

Mac

You may be able to save the horn you made, got any pics/diagrams (measurements?) of the one you made? I can make some suggestions with a bit of info. My shop is all in boxes at the moment. I'll post pics when (if!) I find it again. If I had to guess, in light of what you say, I probably made the mo...

Mac

Jonathon, Do you have a source for information on mouthpieces for horns? I have read a little on the acoustics of wind instruments, but have never seen anything useful on horn mouthpieces. I tried to make a hunting horn once, and no one is able to make it sound good. I suspect that there is somethin...

Mac

Kevin, Reading between the lines, I think you are expecting too much. On historical pieces these hooks are only used in applications where they prevent the unintentional withdrawal of a pin from a hole. That is to say, that the pin takes the load, and the hook just keeps the pin in the hole. The hoo...

Mac

chef de chambre wrote:Yes, I have, but it isn't flute-like, by any means.

I agree. It's not flute like; but relegating it to hunting and signaling does it a grave injustice.

Mac

Mac

That's certainly a spectacular acquisition! I wonder where the bard has been, before Pierre snatched it up.... Long ago, a SCAjun told me that he had seen an ex-Hearst bard in a warehouse. The guard had showed it to him as a treat because he knew that he was interested in such things. I wonder if th...

Mac

Chef,

Have you clicked through to listen to the link? It's really quite a lovely sound....sort of haunting and forlorn.

Mac

Mac

Kevin, I usually set my programmable thermostat for a nighttime temp of 55 degrees F. My daytime temp is usually more like 70. This has worked well for me in terms of rust. I think you could get away with a somewhat lower temperature, but I'm not sure how much. I suppose that the minimum acceptable ...

Mac

Oskar, Real great helms are rather thin at the lower edges, especially when compared to the thickness on the upper plates. I think they are typically, if not universally hemmed to the inside. I'm pretty sure that the wire is only used in places where the armorer thought he was going to have trouble ...

Mac

Well done Earnest! The madder looks really nice. I look forward to seeing how the green goes.

Mac

ps. If you need more goose bones, I hope you will come visit and kill some of the Canada geese we have here. The damn things are taking over!

Mac

Thank you Bertus! That's an excellent piece of work!

I wonder if we can take this weight as "typical" of a fancy plaque belt....It seems pretty reasonable.

Mac

Mac

Here is the only picture I have of a ventail made the way I said. It is one of the ones that Steve Sheldon had made to my specifications in India. It is a little long, but it could easily be trimmed. It bunches slightly in the middle of the chest, but that's more about my head carriage than the mail...

Mac

Armyeric, Let me recommend as a general rule, that you insert 5 expansions every *other* link row. That is to say, only add expansions in a row where the rings are leaning "left" (or "right" if you prefer, but not both). If you use 4 rings for *every* row, the resulting fabric wo...

Mac

Gentlemen,

These armors are FAKES!

Ironically, that's why they look so good... That's the pernicious thing about fakes; they look even better than the real thing if you are not tuned into the authentic aesthetic.

Mac

Mac

This illustrates that thing where looking at distant objects in space is like viewing the past.....My beard is still brown in the nebula.

Mac

Mac

use some version of "B", it is a conical transition from the semi-spherical shape of the spaulder cop to the cylindrical shape of the rerebrace. Valerius Like Mr. "V" says, ....with the top slightly bigger than the bottom (as per Schreiber). I would not worry too much about the ...

Mac

William, If I may offer you some advise; -use three internal leathers -make the rerebrace part of the assembly -use three lames (like the one in the effigy) rather four -make the lames "curved" rather than "straight". ie. the "flat" or "template" shape should ...

Mac

Escudero wrote:I am thinking of GOTSCHA LAGIDSE.

Yes... I wanted to mention him, but could not remember his name.

Mac

Mac

Let us not forget Walther Suckert.

Mac

Here's a link to an item on Ebay which is made in two halves. The seller says that it is 18th C.

http://cgi.ebay.com/18th-c-European-pew ... 286.c0.m14

Mac

Mac

I've always coveted one of Steve Millingham's square flagons, but it's pricey with the exchange rate and shipping. So, ya planning on offering these for sale at some point? If I'm not mistaken, Steve M. is making his with 8 separate pieces. They are pricey, in part, because he finds them to be a lo...

Mac

Baron Alcyoneus wrote:I've heard that there isn't a lot of evidence for soapstone molds, although they are certainly handy. I've read that the Romans, at least on occasion, used slate. What other forms of molds were used?

I presented a list of mold stones in this thread http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... =limestone

Mac

Mac

Here is a test of the two piece technology. I made up a four panel half, and used it to make a plaster of Paris mold. I wanted to see how it would work before I spent the time(and rock) on a permanent mold. This test cast is in pure tin. So far...so good. I need to make up a new test mold though, be...

Mac

Here are two pictures of the aligning jig. When all the panels are in place, the gaps close up sufficiently to solder. A couple of twists of wire around the narrow places helps.The top comes off the jig so that it may be withdrawn from the shell of the vessel. The bottom is soldered in later.

Mac