The Armour Archive

Mac

From a practical standpoint, I would imagine that accidentally pricking the wrong noble whilst sewing their hosen onto them might be hazardous to a servant's health. It wouldn't seem like something which was entirely safe. I would NOT want to have anyone sewing things onto me, let alone trying to d...

Mac

I think the question remains, though. Can we use this image as evidence that people sewed themselves into their hosen?... or is this just a make shift by a shifty guy with his leg all wrapped up in a bandage? Just for starts; where does this idea even come from? Is it just what we get when we turn o...

Mac

Very interesting catch! Thanks! It's pretty obvious, though. One can see at a glance that the guy's legs are different circumferences. From there it's just a question of looking closer at the painting. Good question on whether they are implying something about this guys character by showing this. P...

Mac

OK... so the current assembly is one of Scallini's ideas. It's a mash-up of Trapp's armor #130 and helmet #179. Graff Trapp had a lobster-tailed helmet on that armor, and all of the parts bore the Augsburg mark. He went on say that the gorget, cuisses, culet, gauntlet-cuffs, and the neck of the helm...

Mac

Here are a couple of pics from Scallini's 1996 Churburg catalog. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8hJ8cj4IEic8XlbaJFXy4OBqcoRSy6v6H15UgMTdo85RkvaGqgoPzWU_1hZjKG2noe8gWTEFldjFRKx2vR0Qlexnn2AsG9Ylzn7Zlnf0mNfEUUhf8HS5fQik4LsmZcvU0HTtUx6FHHnfE54PTJzjMrSmfqHxoqz-3quRHyc6BceZutYGUSjobfrC8Xxv6zxD_ZWMe9uZj...

Mac

I'd like to point something out that has been bothering me. We see this image from the Lyversberg Passion on a lot of Pinterest boards, and many people use it as evidence to support the idea that one needs to be sewn into one's hosen at the ankles. The supposition here is that this guy has not done ...

Mac

What a splendid thing! https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1a/73/15/1a73155c6ae694181a7bebe6fd53e79c.jpg On of the biggest surprises is that way the edges of the steel plates have been treated at the overlaps. https://i.pinimg.com/564x/45/3f/3f/453f3ff008aacf66d0653196dab3253d.jpg It's a wonder that the crupp...

Mac

Robert , that first close helmet you have posted looks like a possibility. The last one you posted is superb . I don't think it is the same but if you have other views I would be very interested. The first helmet of from a Christies auction catalog . It was from the Harding collection in Chicago, s...

Mac

This just came across my Pinterest feed. It's rougher work, but I think I see a certain similarity. https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a1/f1/d2/a1f1d22f22da59435e3b2c5b2593e36d.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MBW5ktV4KkfbF6baFHke52A_2NmmJP0ghmwt4fwEyS_bKPvg4OqudU660Lw2onx6MbmhkwwqYQ6jzJIWz3NzGiKCnQOu7w...

Mac

I'm thinking mid to late 16th c close helmet. We don't have a lot to go by, except the shape of the crest/comb, which is a bit unusual. It's relatively shallow, and not very sharply defined. Here are a few examples with roughly similar crests/combs. https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/CKS/2...

Mac

Eckhart has sent me the pics, and I am posting them below. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MBW5ktV4KkfbF6baFHke52A_2NmmJP0ghmwt4fwEyS_bKPvg4OqudU660Lw2onx6MbmhkwwqYQ6jzJIWz3NzGiKCnQOu7wSujo9Qe8xRMGP5Y26tDei3K5Z8pToW5qn9VfXac6t55kJo6ST4lOugs1OXevKJXOdugdtZeCh-cL0LzFAPCR7dcTgApmTOXJRq3dO7N5ZvqiuyVvI...

Mac

As far as where to get some... I thought these looked passable, for the price. http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=SNAM8905&name=Steel+Buckle+with+Chape http://www.kultofathena.com/images/SNAM8905.jpg It's sort of a shame, though, that they did that notching on the edges of the mounting pl...

Mac

Eckhart1966 wrote:I'm afraid I'm lost Robert ! Can you send me your email address via a PM . I'll send you the photos and maybe you could post them for me ?

Done that.

Mac

Mac

I'm getting "404 error" messages on those links.

Have you got your preferences set so that other people can view the pics? That's an easy thing to forget.
Mac

Mac

I use Google Photos, and it works OK. If the image is too big, you can usually just change the width to 850 or less and the height will take care of itself.

Mac

Mac

A good starting point to arming women might be to get a sense of what the folks in the middle ages and renaisance thought armed women looked like.

I've just added some more Amazons to my "women in armor" board.

Mac

Mac

Thank you, Peter!

That makes a lot of sense.

Mac

Mac

This morning, I took a look at some boxes that hadn't been opened since I packed up the shop in Ithaca. It seems I did some casting in petrobond sand in the '90, but was a bit hobbled by the lack of a heat source beyond my torch. There was a lot of stuff in those boxes that I'd more or less forgotte...

Mac

I have to confess that I skipped the casting method years ago, I hope this outcome isn´t too radical :oops: It is very true, that using plaster replicas of the client's legs is a sort of a crutch.... but it's a crutch I feel I need to do a good job. Another point is material thickness. Light greave...

Mac

This is the sort of fellow every armorer should have working just down the street. Look at those strings of little buckles on the wall! I bet he could knock out 40 or 50 buckles before lunch.

Mac

Mac

Nyckname wrote:Cast your own. It isn't that difficult.

What process are you using? Are you getting good results?

Please don't be shy about sharing pictures of your work!

Mac

Mac

Thank you for taking the time to pick those out, Wade! They are on my boards now.

Mac

Mac

I've used the slow set alginate from Pink House . It can be mixed with warmish water, and still yield a reasonable set time. The results are good, and there is none of the cursing and whinging that you can get when you pour cold water around someone's legs and tell them to stand still for fifteen mi...

Mac

I use a complicated and cumbersome system that involves alginate, but I'm always interested in hearing of simpler ways to do it. An important thing is that you should not make greaves over any sort of form that was made with bandage material. The thickness of that material will add too much to the s...

Mac

Tom B. wrote:I have started gathering images of straps and straps ends as well.

Here is the beginnings of my Pinterest board:
Straps & Strap ends (Mordants)

Here is a bunch from the Met

Excellent!

I've started a new board as well. It's on armor hinges.

Mac

Mac

I have indeed been looking at (and downloading) a number of those images - thanks for making those available, by the by. You are very welcome! What I had in mind was if there was a more detailed analysis of buckles intended for armour, including a typeology by time period and location. Certainly I ...

Mac

I'm sure that some fibers are better than others; but in a thin layer like we might want in an arming doublet, I'm not convinced that it makes much difference. If one had the convenient choice of fibers, it would be best to use the authentic one. On the other hand, I think it's good not get paralyze...

Mac

Has anyone done a tutorial on identifying and making period correct armor buckles? Would be useful. My advise it to begin by looking at as many examples of original buckles as you can. I've started gathering some images here . Like James said, many of the extant ones are probably not in their origi...

Mac

Thanks for taking the time to make videos! It's always an education to see how other armorers work. You do some remarkable things with a very heavy one-hand sledge. I was surprised to see how you changed your grip when lifting the hammer back up. I sort of wish the camera had been positioned so we c...

Mac

I know a person that has a Black Swans arming doublet (Historic Enterprises' cloth side of the house) - I've handled their 14th C design, but it has zero padding. This person used to fight SCA and HEMA, and didn't miss the padding, the armour absorbs all the impact. Incidentally, they have a 15th C...

Mac

Ok, so if the arms dont require cotton batting or very little, what area's should be thick and thin of it? I assume the shoulders, though I am interested to hear how you distributed it. No area really needs to be thick. The only reason to add any batting at all is to help smooth out the line of the...

Mac

So here is where I am in armoring, I am at the state where more research is needed in every department, in particularly tailoring and metallurgy. Tailoring seems to be a better place to start since its important to get he underclothes correct. Tailoring is indeed a good place to start. What sort of...

Mac

Am I right that armour buckles almost always have a buckle plate rather than just folding the leather around the buckle and sewing it closed? You are absolutely correct. There may be examples of ones without a metal plate, but I can not think of any. I can see why they strongly preferred iron buckl...

Mac

Looking at these pictures more I then noticed that both A-26 and A-104 have corners on the finger lames that follow the compound curvature of the lames, that is the corner is not a straight line as it is in my first attempt. This is exactly right. The corners can be sharp or round, but however they...

Mac

Mac, Did the Churburg fall off of the project list? I know it's not my shop but I was certainly living vicariously through your recreation. :) It didn't fall off the list, but it is "on hold" till the Fall. I got distracted by a costumer fitting, followed by a sort of creative slump and a cold that...

Re: Sewn into your hosen?

Re: Sewn into your hosen?

Re: Sewn into your hosen?

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Sewn into your hosen?

Re: Horse armour light version

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Identification of a helmet fragment

Re: Armoring Female Bodies

Re: “Plaster bandages” questions

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: “Plaster bandages” questions

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: “Plaster bandages” questions

Re: “Plaster bandages” questions

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: What to stuff arming doublets with?

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: ArmorySmith. How to make armor

Re: What to stuff arming doublets with?

Re: What to stuff arming doublets with?

Re: What to stuff arming doublets with?

Re: Buckles for straps - where to buy?

Re: Constructing 16th Century Gauntlets

Re: Mac's blog