The Armour Archive

After my semi-successful attempt at a globose breast I had a request from my better half to make her some leg armour, here's what I came up with so far. I made some 3/4 quarter legs with 3 piece knees of 18 ga mild, using 3/16" brass round headed rivets for the joint. The cuisse and shin lame are 12 oz veg tanned leather, dyed black and attached to the metal knees with copper rivets and burrs.

This is my first try at articulations and didn't turn out too bad, there is no noticeable gapossis and the knees can bend a full 90 degrees and a bit more. The knees need to be planished but Sheena likes them this way for some reason so all that's left is strapping and peining the articulation. For straps I had thought of using thinner leather than 12 oz, something along the lines of 6-8 with 3 straps per leg, one at the top of the cuisse, one at the knee cop and the last one at the shin lame. Would it be better to use 2 straps at the cuisse instead of 1 or would a suspension be better at the top of the cuisse lame to attach to a belt?

The pictures are located at
[img]http://www.quadrant37.com/chris/images/Armour/ArcherLegs1.JPG[/img]
shows both legs in full open position

[img]http://www.quadrant37.com/chris/images/Armour/ArcherLegs2.JPG[/img]

showing the bent leg

[img]http://www.quadrant37.com/chris/images/Armour/ArcherLegs3.JPG[/img]

Back of the leg

Thoughts, comments, nasty things about my mother?

[This message has been edited by taltosh (edited 11-09-2001).]

Your mother needs to be dished deeper...

Otherwise, the leatherwork and overall shape is really clean.

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Idëval
The Huntsman of
I-Nossë Lúmëvanwa
My mind opens wide when I roar

Crisp, clean work! My only concern is that 18ga mild will cave in if hit. I assume these are for heavy combat?

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Ivar Bloodhand, Norsetrader Arms

Tossing someone in the air with a blow of great force is not a sign of Chivalry. Any
strong fighter of moderate skill can do that. Impressive hang time is what I look for
in a candidate's technique. --Richard Blackmoore

Ivar, not for heavy, just for boffer combat so 18 ga is a'plenty. course when we start with live steel she might opt to have them replaced with some SS ones of the same thickness or 16 ga ones with a deeper dish for padding.

Ideval, my mother's fine, thank you very much, and those were the quickest and easiest patterns I ever made, just a few measures and got the right fit on the first try. I'll take pics and post the patterns on the archives if people are interested. The knees are a fanless version based on gundo's essay on articulating.

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Gentleman Chris
Squire to Earl John Tribiger, Journeyman artisan and Clerk
Editor of the KnightHaven newsletter

Not bad for a first articulation. A deeper dish will also allow them to articulate better, as well as have a space for padding. They are probably too light for SCA heavy combat; starting as 18 ga, and being dished thins them out to less than 18 ga (min for ridgid material in SCA). Different groups have different rules, of course. My first thought when I looked at them was "Planish", but you explained that.
I strap my legs twice top of the cuisse, once at the hip, and once in the centre of the cuisse top. I also strap them at the edge of my "wrap flap" (which you don't have), at the bottem of the cuisse, and at the top of the demi-greve.

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Dalewyn
Dalewyn@dbis.ns.ca
www.AlchemyArmory.com

Question:

are the brass rivets you used steel coated in brass? or are that solid brass?

If they are solid brass, I would think that they would wear much faster than steel ones. I could be wrong just curious.

Insane Irish

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by InsaneIrish:
<B>Question:are the brass rivets you used steel coated in brass? or are that solid brass?If they are solid brass, I would think that they would wear much faster than steel ones. I could be wrong just curious.
Insane Irish</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually I find that solid brass rivits are one tough bitch to remove, much harder than steel it seems. I don't think you would notice any difference in wear unless you wear them all day, evry days for a few months.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">If they are solid brass, I would think that they would wear much faster than steel ones. I could be wrong just curious.</font>

I've used 1/8 brass rivets for most of my past articulation projects with no ill effects, but since I have been armouring a little over a year, and making decent wearable armour for about half that time, I cant really say that they have passed the test of durability yet.

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AKA Duc Kjosua