The Armour Archive

Donal Mac Ruiseart

I use a PVC end cap Gorilla-glued to the base end. Be aware that there are two types of such caps. One is flat on the end and one is slightly rounded. The slightly rounded one is about 5 times more comfortable to palm than the flat one. For grip, I wrap athletic grip tape (friction tape) about a foo...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Konstantin the Red wrote:Hrolf, the term is common in Atlantia -- I think it may be promulgated around SCAdia by the Known Worlde Handbook.

O rly? I've never heard it here, nor have I used it.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Saritor wrote:Do I need to pm you my email address, or...?

No, the design drawings are part of the photo sets for each item.

Here is the armour chest.

Here is the armour stand.

Here is the weapons rack.

Pay attention to the notes and captions.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

For those who may be interested, I have a design for a weapons rack, an armour stand, and an armour chest.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

more seriously . . .

Pocula Mea me faciunt ebriaco

Donal Mac Ruiseart

No they don't.

The CONTENTS of your cups makes you drunk!

Donal Mac Ruiseart

This is a refined version of my first post here. I have never actually made or used this system, but if it were done, i think the effect would be almost magical, causing a banner to stand out straight and yet still be able to flutter in the breeze and to turn with the wind. It requires the banner to...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest another possibility for how banners appear to be unsupported and yet standing out fairly straight. One time, years ago, I used a method that may or may not have ever been used in period, to cause a rectangular flag to stand out almost straight, and yet stil...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Gaston de Clermont wrote:What's up with his thighs?

Good question! The leg armour seems NOT to be symmetrical with itself (i.e., the left and right legs don't appear to mirror each other.). It may have to do with the way he's kneeling, but that wouldn't entirely explain the apparent anomoly of design.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

They twice banned the wearing of sabers because people regularly used them in bar fights, then twice rescinded the ban because people used their war hammers instead and it was so much worse. I recall an article describing light hammers that doubled as walking canes, that continued in use at least i...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

It's necessary to do all that just to view the contents?

Donal Mac Ruiseart

@Forkbeard - Yes, that's the item. Apparently it IS a piece of pumice. But that link identifies that the "Cape Cod" firestarter is no longer available, at least not from that company. EDIT: I looked around and there are other vendors selling them. But also, the link says it burns for about...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Missed it, daggone it. Any possibility of a re-show?

Donal Mac Ruiseart

We have one of those, a "New England fire starter."

I think the head of the torch is porous ceramic. I don't know how practical it would be to use for illumination, or how long it would burn. I don't have any oil or kerosene at hand to test . . .

Donal Mac Ruiseart

laprovadura wrote:73 fighters and counting
http://intentletters.shireofcanale.org

Something's not right.

When I follow the link, all I see is a test letter.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Extremely cool.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

What time??

Donal Mac Ruiseart

OF course, kfinna, the bird you used is a martlet (identifiable in having no feet. They actually thought martlets had no lower legs or feet.). This raises a question concerning the design, however: In what position do you want the bird to be? The one in Kfinna's design is "close" (standing...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

I am impressed. Very impressed.

As they say in the Navy, Bravo Zulu.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Try reading Barbara Tuchman's The Calamitous 14th Century for a good sense of how the 14th century mirrors our own last century in many ways. Not perfectly of course yet very similar parallels. I initially thought one would have better luck finding that book under its primary title, A Distant Mirro...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Klaus the Red wrote:I wonder if there any documented cases where visiting foreigners were forbidden to adopt local dress, specifically so they could be identified?

Something akin to the Roman law prohibiting foreigners from donning the toga. . .

Donal Mac Ruiseart

The heraldry on the tree can be a little puzzling in cases where a combatant fights under a cognizance other than his Arms: A badge, say; or an impresa, or his Lady's arms. The fighter's shield or surcote then does not match what's on the tree - although in several cases the alternate design is pret...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Agnarr wrote:Wow, that is a big ass shield.

Is that what ABAS means?

Seriously. I'm not familiar with the expression.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Jestyr wrote:What size are the shields? Letter paper size?

If memory serves, the shields on the Atlantian tree are about 14 inches high.

(I notice, though, on perusal that some of them - I think some of the newer ones - are a bit larger than the rest)

Donal Mac Ruiseart

I can tell you who they all are, if you wish.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Here is Atlantia's Tourney Tree http://www.bogpages.com/SCA-photographs/2010/Fall-Crown-Tourney/IMG5466/1092203786_CFMud-M.jpg This picture shows it with two shields on each bar, which is pretty typical. The shields hang from hardware hooks set in the top of the shields, which have a small reinforci...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

nothing quite like a finger to woo those obstreperous 13 year old girls! (I will NOT make a remark about giving her the finger!) (I will NOT make a remark about giving her the finger!) (I will NOT make a remark about giving her the finger!)(I will NOT make a remark about giving her the finger!)(I w...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

So if you were in that country where they tended to kill folks for wearing "foreign dress" you would maintain your home country clothing? This was not a matter of a foreigner being killed for wearing his native (English) dress in a foreign country. This was an Englishman, in England, wear...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

From the POV of "Joe, the traveling Ancestor" the native garb is barbaric, and they wouldn't be caught dead in it. I don't have it in front of me, but I recall a picture of a 16thC English nobleman (Knight of the Garter) who had spent a lot of time in Italy (as a diplomat, I think) and ad...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

I would not advocate changing the basic blazon to accommodate the augmentation. What I have seen of augmentations in Atlantia is that the blazon of the pre-existing device is given, followed by a description of the augmentation, which in your case would be: "and for augmentation, in canton a un...

Donal Mac Ruiseart

. . . but no idea how to get it made.

I think there just might be a market for it among SCAdians and other afficienados of the period.

Anyone know who actually makes the ones that look like chrome skulls with the LEDs in their eyes?

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Donal wrote:Why did the Vikings leave Scandanavia?

They didn't like the neighbourhood - too many Vikings.

This goes on through Iceland and Greenland with the same answer, then asks why they left Vinland in the late 15th century.

They didn't like the neighbourhood - too many Italians.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Like Leo Medii, this would be my choice of swords for armoured combat.

But for unarmoured, I would opt for a more modern design:
[img]http://www.militaryheritage.com/images/1897_1.jpg[/img]

Donal Mac Ruiseart

Ever think about being a herald yourself, Darkprophet? You seem to have a good sense of the art.

Donal Mac Ruiseart

The standard SCA joke for many years about Vikings counting was "One, two, many!" Or, of course, the minor variant when describing how many Vikings are coming "one too many" Why did the Vikings leave Scandanavia? They didn't like the neighbourhood - too many Vikings.

Re: Suggestions on large shields

Atlantia's Tourney Tree

I Have an Idea for a Trailer-Hitch Ornament . . .