The Armour Archive

My Google-Fu is not working. I am looking for info on the original gjermundbu helm.anyone know how thick the steel / iron plates were ?
All I get with Google searches are sales for replicas.

I tried a search on "gjermundbu find" to see if I might exclude replica-sellers. It didn't really, but I got some hints, like:

The helmet is of great interest in itself. A four piece helm held together by two iron bands rivetted to the skull of the helm with a wide iron band encircling the base of the helm. There is also evidence of an aventail being attached to the helm but only fragments survive. The goggle or spectacle eye pieces portray a helmet from a earlier age yet the manufacturing techniques are far simpler than that of the earlier Vendal age helmets.

I'd read this, plus any weights given, as indicators the metal was not monstrous thick. What were you thinking might be upper and lower thickness limits, and how important is this? I don't yet quite see what you're trying to do with such a detail in such a project. Are you building, or data-gathering?

This helmet was found in nine separate fragments that have allow us to study its construction. The helmet consists of a framework in the form of a horizontal rim and two vertical metal strips, one of which goes from the back of the head to the forehead, and the other from ear to ear. Four plates are fastened to this framework with rivets, thus forming the helmet’s skull-piece. The ocular, which provided facial and nasal protection, are fastened to the horizontal rim as well. The ocular had inlaid decoration.

-- from A Rather English Viking. Sounds like classic spangen construction to me. Page has very nice shot of the Viking spectacles; really different from what you normally see from modern makers, isn't it? -- doesn't look at all like a domino mask, but more like the bows of a pair of scissors.

Practically all the reproductions give a 4.5lb weight for 14ga Gjermundbus when I added "helmet weight" to the search. Are you after something else? CAS Hanwei offers a 3.8lb 18ga job in its AH2190N model. Another seller claims it's 16. Likely wasn't what you want, though.

Konstantin the Red wrote:I tried a search on "gjermundbu find" to see if I might exclude replica-sellers. It didn't really, but I got some hints, like:

The helmet is of great interest in itself. A four piece helm held together by two iron bands rivetted to the skull of the helm with a wide iron band encircling the base of the helm. There is also evidence of an aventail being attached to the helm but only fragments survive. The goggle or spectacle eye pieces portray a helmet from a earlier age yet the manufacturing techniques are far simpler than that of the earlier Vendal age helmets.

I'd read this, plus any weights given, as indicators the metal was not monstrous thick. What were you thinking might be upper and lower thickness limits, and how important is this? I don't yet quite see what you're trying to do with such a detail in such a project. Are you building, or data-gathering?

This helmet was found in nine separate fragments that have allow us to study its construction. The helmet consists of a framework in the form of a horizontal rim and two vertical metal strips, one of which goes from the back of the head to the forehead, and the other from ear to ear. Four plates are fastened to this framework with rivets, thus forming the helmet’s skull-piece. The ocular, which provided facial and nasal protection, are fastened to the horizontal rim as well. The ocular had inlaid decoration.

-- from A Rather English Viking. Sounds like classic spangen construction to me. Page has very nice shot of the Viking spectacles; really different from what you normally see from modern makers, isn't it? -- doesn't look at all like a domino mask, but more like the bows of a pair of scissors.

Practically all the reproductions give a 4.5lb weight for 14ga Gjermundbus when I added "helmet weight" to the search. Are you after something else? CAS Hanwei offers a 3.8lb 18ga job in its AH2190N model. Another seller claims it's 16. Likely wasn't what you want, though.

Actually, I was looking at a replica that is made from 17 gauge steel. I wanted to know if that is historically correct for spangenhelms from the period.

Maybe because the helmet is only partially preserved, the matter of its weight has not much come up. There wasn't a lot appearing on my two searches either.

We ought to be able to extrapolate its service weight if we knew the mass of its remains.