Gaston's sabatons yet another new style. Whadya think?

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 11:42 am

Well the title pretty much says it all. I finally got Gaston's sabatons finished.

Go see them here: http://www.crosswinds.net/~mad666matt/sabatonsth.html

Lemme know what you think. Gaston is playing a 14th century frenchie. He wanted to put his own hinges as well as strapping on since he's got some nice historically accurate ones he bought.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Joe Skeesick · Post by **Joe Skeesick** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 11:59 am

very spiffy Matt. You done good. How does one strap a sabaton btw?

J

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 12:12 pm

Thanks for the compliment.

Strapping. The heel plate attaches to the front of the sabaton with a hinge be it leather or steel or brass etc. Then a strap and buckle go on the other side that doesn't have a hinge on it.

Then you put some holes along the bottom edge of the sabaton. Lace through some leather lace and that holds the sabaton down on the foot.

Alternately you can attach a leather sole. Or a combination of the two.

So the heel plate holds the sabaton from falling off the end of your toes. The leather or lace (could use straps underneath too.) holds the sabaton down on the foot.

If there's no heel plate then you just run a strap around the back of the foot that connects on both sides of the back end of the sabaton. Put a buckle on to tighten it up and you're set.

Look at the rounded toe sabaton and you can see the heel plate attached with a leather hinge and strap and buckle. Get to the rounded toe sabaton by clicking the german transitional button at the bottom right of the screen. Then click the sabaton with the rounded toe thumbnail and you'll get a page full of thumbnails just like the one I posted the link for.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Otto von Teich · Post by **Otto von Teich** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 1:51 pm

Very nice Matt, looking great!Great price too!....Otto

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 1:57 pm

That's a great price? Should I charge more? You do realize the total as shown is $125 right?

Thanks for the compliment though. There should be another set up in a couple of weeks that'll have a centerline crease in em and the straps and hinges attached.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

The_Elves · Post by **The_Elves** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 5:17 pm

Spiffy-looking, and slickly done, but I have the impression that the way you have them articulated is impractical, and not correct for the period referenced. I think the way you have them done is more correct for the 16thC, and associated only with cavalry armor. In the "bent" shot, it seems clear that the portions of the lames hidden by the bending are poking straight into the foot [that isn't actually there]. That would either be uncomfy, or require a rather loose fit/strapping. IIRC, the toe-cap and first lame behind it would be the way you have it, after that the lames should overlap outside the preceeding lames, which allows the lames to articulate without binding against the foot. Note that this is from memory only; all my books are out in the shop, and I haven't tried to make sabatons from this period, yet.

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Otto von Teich · Post by **Otto von Teich** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 5:41 pm

They look to be correctly constucted for 14th century. In the 16th century they were done most often with the plates toward the toe overlapping upwards and the plates toward the back of the foot overlapping downwards, I had mine done by Christian Fletcher, and he used the same technique as Matt. It does look awkward,but funtions quite well. IE not as uncomfortable as it looks....Otto

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 6:06 pm

From what I've seen this direction of articulation actually started later in the 14th century.

You're right though the step articulation was more common for the 14th. But it has the same problem as this type of articulation but I think to a higher degree. With step articulation the lames actually push back against the foot. With this type they stay against the foot but end up basically shortening. You are right though to get the full 90+ degrees they'll have to be strapped loosely underneath. It's really screwy tryin to get a range of articulation from sabatons that just wouldn't have been necessary medievally. Kneeling just wasn't something armour needed to be designed for.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

dkaardal · Post by **dkaardal** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 7:08 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mad Matt:

Thanks for the compliment though. There should be another set up in a couple of weeks that'll have a centerline crease in em and the straps and hinges attached.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And they'll be mine!

Whee!

Donovan

Le Brassey · Post by **Le Brassey** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 7:36 pm

Outstanding, Matt!!!

...but you are really pissing me off about my current financial situation

Keep up the great work---maybe someday I can order a pair!

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Henri le Brassey
(mka: Timothy Finkas)

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Wed Mar 28, 2001 7:46 pm

Thanks Tim it's actually quite an honor to have caught the interest of someone who has such good taste in armour. (I really liked all that stuff you sold off. I didn't have money eiter)

And just to cheer you up. The longer you wait to get a pair of sabatons from me the nicer they'll be. Everything I make improves by a lot. Which actually makes it really difficult for me to fill orders of multiples of the same item since by the time I get to the last one the first one looks like crap next to it. So I go back to the first and fix it up and work my way through the lot and the same thing happens again.

I went through this about 5 times on an order for 5 shield bosses a while back.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory