The Armour Archive

Mac

So, I finally got around to looking at that bag of photos. Although it turned out to be three bags of photos, there no others of the woman's thorax. I did however find another woman's armor I built in the late '80s (?) The cuirasse and arms are based on early 15th c. English brasses. The central cre...

Mac

I'm gonna' disagree Chris. I think we are looking at a coat of plates. It's sort of like the ones in the mid 14th c. German art, but with narrower lames.

Mac

Mac

Tres cool! You can see the reflection off the surface change as it freezes.

Mac

Mac

Frye,

Thank you for the details surrounding the bullet hole in Montmorency's bevor, and apparently his face as well. I stand corrected.

Mac

Mac

kina like a tasset... for ur nuts i spoze. Only in rare cases (like Henry VIII's foot combat armor) are they worn with the genitals actually IN the cup. Mac hmm... in that case, how is it attached? OK, here goes.....there are several ways that steel cod pieces appear to have been worn. The most typ...

Mac

ERIN wrote: kina like a tasset... for ur nuts i spoze.

Precisely! But a good deal more stylish... no?

In most cases, they simply hang like a tasset or a bessagew over the groin. Only in rare cases (like Henry VIII's foot combat armor) are they worn with the genitals actually IN the cup.

Mac

Mac

Gentleman, Thank you all for your kind words! The woman who owns the armor told me that her infant daughter tried to nurse on the breast plate once. I guess that's a vote of confidence as well. I've just searched through all of my old negatives and random prints, but could not come up with any other...

Mac

Ulrich, That is EXACTLY the sort of thing I'm looking for. Unfortunately, it can't be had here in the burbs of Philly. The shop is about the same size as the one I rent, for which I pay over 1000 per month. It should be big enough for you. Unless you can work when your hand are cold (I can't) you wi...

Mac

Ugo, It would be really cool to chase names into the portrait medallions. You've got just enough room to do it if the names follow the curve of the borders in the backgrounds above the heads. How are you going to attach them? I would braze a couple of split pins onto the backs. The pins would be pas...

Mac

Norman, I see that most of the buttons you link to are copper alloy, but some are pewter. If you find that you are dissatisfied with your *plain* ball buttons we could make you some *fancy* ball buttons. You would be the "envy of the East"! This shameless plug was brought to you by Billy a...

Mac

Sorry Graham. I should have been clearer in my post. Sean basically has the right of it. The punches are made of annealed tool steel. Once they are shaped, they are hardened by heating to bright red and quenched. I draw the temper to deep brown/going on purple. I place the piece of brass on a tin bl...

Mac

Graham, Making your own is the cheapest way. Here is a pic of a couple of punches I have made to do this. The depressions were driven in with a "counter-punch" while the blank is soft; the rest is just file work. I use them with a tin block. http://www.billyandcharlie.com/washerpunches.JPG...

Mac

rb, I believe that it is entirely separate from the arming doublet. It looks like a pair of sleeves with just enough body to hold them together. Its construction is analogous to the sort of shoulder/arm pads that hockey goalies wear. You can also find analogy in some of the more elaborate Japanese k...

Mac

This is a "what if" Etruscan woman's thorax. I have been hesitant show this for a number of reasons. The first is that "breasts-plates" are a hot button topic. I hope that we will be able to discuss this armor calmly and then move on without getting distracted. The second is the ...

Mac

Here is the image of the mail "shrug" that Sean mentioned above. It is a detail from an illustration in MS Ottob. lat. 1417, fol. 22, from Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Roma (ITALY) Manuscript title: "Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi", by Marco Giuniano Giustino C...

Mac

mackenzie, Here's what the caption says. Scuola boulognese, c 1320=1330 Codice Sallustiano; Miniatura con l'uccisione dei congiurati catilinari (vedi anche le figg. 30-31) Firenze, Riccardiana Note that the figs. 30 and 31 are the pics of the mace that I posted in the other thread. These "neo-c...

Mac

Thank you Pitbull. In your honor, I thought that I would through caution to the wind and post a couple of pics of an Etruscan woman's thorax that I built back in the early '80s

Unfortunately I can't get the pics to load. Perhaps I will have better luck tomorrow.

Mac

Mac

Here are a couple of pics from Armi Bianche Italiane, L.G. Boccia and E.T.Coellho, Milano 1975. The first is a detail of a mace from the Odescalchi collection. It is said to be 750mm x55mm, and weigh 1,430g. It is thought to be from c1300-1350. The second is a miniature illustration from c1300-50 wh...

Mac

It is pleasing to see documentary evidence which supports this very sensible economic model. How far back this sort of specialization goes, is of course the next question. Here is an earlier example from another metalworking craft. In the Mendel Housbuch there are pictures of men who's job it was to...

Mac

It's a couple of hours later, and I no longer hold with my theory above. I've thought about it some more. I think that twist thing I was talking about earlier today is only relevant to voiders which are open on the top, so the two edges can be "slipped" with respect to each other. As such,...

Mac

Jason,

I'm pretty sure I can see the same thing going on in both sleeves. Have you got a better pic?

Mac

Mac

Can't Arminius just get his ear pierced too? That really seems like the best solution.... doesn't it? Then, he could buy a pair of earrings, and share it with his helmet.

Mac

Mac

I was thinking about this "elbow down" vs. "elbow back" thing while I was out walking just now. It seems to me that I've seen other sleeves displayed like this, and always wondered if they had been twisted a bit so that they would lay flat. This got me to thinking about what it w...

Mac

This is what I think I am seeing. All counts are approximate. I'm sorry my writing is so bad. Note that row reductions must necessarily remove two rows at a time. They can be done in one of two ways. One leaves a bit of a hole, and the other a sort of a knot. Both sorts were found in authentic mail ...

Mac

Zachos, I find that knowing when to trust an artist, and when to assume that he was "winging it" is a tightrope act. I agree with you completely about the gauntlets in the effigy you linked to above. They are depicted bent back farther at the wrists than is likely to be true. What's more, ...

Mac

Destichado,

No problemo.

Mac

Mac

Arminius,

Thank you for clarifying what was going on with the right ear (ouch). I guess I should have bean more specific. The detail of the left looks to have a center punch mark, as if waiting to be drilled for an earring.

Mac

Mac

Destichado, We are really much closer to being on the same page than than your post suggests. You must have bean writing your post at the same time I was writing mine. Mac On the other hand, I suppose it is possible that the artist meant the long green sleeves to be part of the arming doublet, and t...

Mac

Ugo,

I see the center-punch mark....you're going to pierce the ears aren't you!!!!!?

Mac

(I think I'm going try to grow sideburns like that...)

Mac

It is possible that what we think is her long sleeve is actually meant to be the rear hem of her gown, picked up and carried over her arm for ease of movement. We can't see the other sleeve due to the banner she is carrying so I can't be sure. JonT I think not Jon. I went back to the higher res. im...

Mac

Duane, It's pretty typical for men at arms to wear some sort of more or less civilian gown with their armor at this time. I think out artist has assumed that a woman at arms would do the same, but have a longer skirt. I think that any sort of arming doublet would be under the dress, and not be visib...

Mac

Has anyone noticed how the figure on the far right appears to have a scabbard that passes through his fauld somewhere near the hip? Is that normal? It's not at all unheard of with the deep flared faulds of kastenbrusten. The typical alternative is to have the scabbard attached to the outside of the...

Mac

Jason,

That pic shows the tailoring pretty well if you already know what you are looking for. Can you post a link to a higher res. version of it? That would make it easier to discuss.

Mac

Mac

Pitbull,

There are a lot of theories about the rondel on the back of the armet. I think that fashion is as important a reason as any.

(I am keeping my post on that subject short so as not to derail this thread)

Mac

Mac

Duane, You mean the pic with the Virgin and Angles in armor, yes? I feel pretty sure that Her sleeves are just the usual big straight tubular sort that fall over the elbow. I don't think they differ at all from the other mail sleeves in the picture. Exactly how the sleeve of Her dress has ended up i...