The Armour Archive

Mac

Here's a picture of the square vessel project. This is the vessel with eight separate panels (plus a bottom) all soldered (Sn/Bi solder) together. The lid is one piece. The finial and thumb piece are just sitting there for the pic. The total height is about 7 1/2".

Mac

Mac

I'll try to post some pictures of my square vessel soon. It looks a lot like the one that Karen just linked to.

Mac

Mac

Strongbow, The short answer is that I am spinning my beakers until I can get my casting technology under control. The same goes for my other hollow ware. I feel dirty about that, but it does produce a reasonable product. I have ongoing experimentation, and hope for a breakthrough. This craft would b...

Mac

MJ,

Based on what I think I'm seeing on effigies, 1 3/4" might be the the most typical size. I think that anywhere from 1 1/2" to 2" would be reasonable. It looks like some were even bigger than 2", but they were not as common.

Mac

Mac

MJ, Ingots are typically 5 lbs. You don't really want a 5 lb belt. Buy an ingot, and start making your mold. Make the plaques as thin as you dare. Cast up some test plaques. If they are too thin you can always alter the mold to make the next ones thicker. One of the beauties of pewter is that you ca...

Mac

In addition, there are the "square" vessels, made up of (usually) eight panels. Some authors suggest that the panels are all separate pieces. I do not currently hold with this. It seems much more likely to me that they are also made in two halves, with seams at opposite corners. (I would ...

Mac

Actually, that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for. I have to get Theophilus. OK, couple questions if that's OK... On the lost wax method: I assume the core is wood? I wax built up over the core, then the mold built around the wax? After the casting and lathing, how is the core removed? May...

Mac

So, the body of a flagon might be several parts. As I understand it, the parts would be placed on a form and turned on a lathe to smooth the surface and reclaim some metal (casting giving thick, heavy walls). Then the pieces would be soldered together and the whole piece lathed again to clean up th...

Mac

Strongbow, As far as I have been able to deduce, their were at least two processes for making vessels in concurrent use during the late middle ages and the Renaissance. The first, is the lost wax method described by Theophilus. In this process, a lathe is used to produce the core. After casting, the...

Mac

Strongbow, As Karen points out, there is not a lot of medieval period things to go by. Likewise, Derian is correct in pointing out that there are several distinct branches of the pewterer's craft. We have to take the evidence we have, and try to retro-engineer their processes in light of more modern...

Mac

Vermin,

The armor was apparently bright when new. If you flex the elbows fully, you can see bright steel in the protected under laps. It acquired a brown patina through neglect (?). The patina was "improved" around 1900 or so.

Mac

Mac

Tracy,

I just found two (opened) bags of tow in my box of helmet stuffing materials. They come to about 7oz. Shall I send them to you?

Mac

Mac

Tracy,

I think I may have a couple of bags of the nasty lumpy stuff that Jas. T. used to sell. I'll keep my eye out for it as I pack the shop. When do you deed it by?

Mac

Mac

Here is the picture that Bob is talking about.

This guy is wearing sleeves and a skirt, but not an entire haubergeon. This reduces bulk, weight and redundancy.

Mac

Mac

http://www.kunstbilder-galerie.de/gfx/paintings/mega/mwm02056.jpg The gold thing hanging out of the small red pouch above the guys head... Is it a pocket watch, a compass? Matthew It may well be a watch! The little red "purse" would be a dust cover. That's pretty exciting. There's not muc...

Mac

Signo, You have posed an interesting question, and one which I have been worried about for many years. I think that the typical Italian mail arm defense is a loose fitting sleeve which falls over the plate armor of the upper arm and reaches to about the middle of the elbow. I do not recall ever havi...

Mac

knitebee wrote:you are looking for "Cased greaves"

....which we should probably really call "closed" greaves.

Mac

Mac

Graham, You are asking all the right questions. Unfortunately know one knows all the answers. There is very little to go on in the middle of the century. Almost nothing survives in the way of armor, and the contemperary illustrations are frequently not intended to carry the sort of detail we need. S...

Mac

Erik, I my opinion, a "top loader" is a much better bet than a "side loader" for anything bigger than a gauntlet. It is easier to get things in and out rapidly. I've got top loading "L and L" kiln with an 18"x18"x18" chamber. It is a good size for helmets...

Mac

Norman,

These guys are in Manhattan. If they don't have what you want, I'm sure they know where to get it.

http://www.sculpt.com/

Mac

Mac

Cliff, I found my old photocopy. The article was in volume 10 (as per my notes), and is called "Observations on the Berkhamstead Bow" by Robert C. Brown. The copy is pretty light, and I don't think if will photograph well. I don't have a scanner, so I will give some relevant info (and comm...

Mac

Cliff, The Berkhamstead bow was probably a military bow for castle defense, rather than something you would carry around. It's pretty big! There were some dimensions for it given in a article in the Journal of Archer Antiquaries back in the 80's. I think I have a photocopy. I will try to find it tom...

Mac

Kynwric, This is a new product, and we are in the middle of the pre-Pensic-panic, so we haven't got the final price figured out yet. It will probably be in the neighborhood of $20 for the set of fittings by themselves. We will probably ask about $30 for the assembled collar (like the one in the pic)...

Mac

Thorstenn, I would recommend using a leather that was dyed all the way through at the tannery, rather than one that would have to have the back dyed "by hand". If I had to dye the back and edges, (like the one on the first pic) I would put a couple of coats of acrylic sealer on it. Mac

Mac

Gideon,

We could mount the fittings on a strap if you like; presuming that we have leather you like.

Mac

Mac

Gavin,

I'm glad you like the fittings! I'll see you at Pensic.

Mac

Mac

Gentlemen, Has no one else had trouble with infection? It sounds like most of the guys who responded were simply gluing themselves back together without benefit of antisepsis. Am I misreading this? Are you putting the CA *in* the wound, and then closing it, or are you holding the wound closed and th...

Mac

I'm bumping this in a shameless effort to put our fine product, once more, before the eyes of our esteemed customers.

Imagine, if you will, this beautiful collar with your motto in Gothic letters.

Mac

Mac

Schreiber, I am glad to here that other people have done this too. I used to use CA to glue cuts closed, until one time when a cut became infected, and that sort of scared me out of the practice. Realistically, I suppose that as long as you clean out the cut with some non greasy antiseptic before cl...

Mac

Gideon,

Please allow me to entice you with our new livery collars. These fittings are based on the 1417 effigy of Sir Edmond Thorpe. They will be debuting at Pennsic this year.

Mac

Mac

Graham, You initially asked for a formula for determining the size of the cop. This is my first approximation. Take the circumference of the wearer's knee and divide by two. This will yield the distance between the pivot points on the template. The template is then built up around this dimension, wi...

Mac

Mattmaus, You're going to think that this is a smart assed answer, but it is the truth. ---The rivets should be as long as they need to be, and no longer--- Practically speaking; I use rivets with 3/8" long, 1/8" diameter shanks for articulations. I nip them down to an appropriate length a...

Mac

Graham, The pivot points do not need to be co-axial for the articulation to function properly. Indeed the real ones are not. Find yourself a good picture of a knee (for example) which is taken from directly in front of the armor. You will see that the pivot rivets on *both* sides of the cop are visi...

Mac

Christian,

Is this the thing you are looking for?

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Mac

Nieczar,

Bravo!

Mac

Re: I want to make some windows...