The Armour Archive

I've been talked into taking up heavy fighting again.

I'm interested in period methods of padding helms, and translating those into useful SCA methods.

At first I thought of rolls of something - horsehair or jute matting - attached to an arming cap, but couldn't find anything useful about how much horsehair or similar was enough, that is how thick it had to be.

The arming cap patterns I've seen seem uniform thickness rather than shaped like martial arts headgear, is the idea of rolls of something with spaces between not a period solution?

Does the suspension style work with SCa style fighting?

I need to give the armourer measurements so he can make the helm. How much period padding is sensible for SCA use? Is period all the way doable, or given the specific SCA requirements, should I use closed cell foam in the helm and an arming cap as well?

I understand Brian Price has written a book that may contain such info, but at US$80 it's a lot for one item, and I'm hoping to get pointers here so I don't have to spend that much!

Silfren

A linen coif with wool or felt batting works quite well. Generally it is ribbed just like an aketon/gambeson, with the quilting going vertically (i.e., up the back of the neck and over the top of the head).
Most coifs you see for sale are costume pieces meant ot be worn with an already padded helmet...as such they are usually lightly padded themselves and only about a 1/2 inch thick.
But there is no reason you could not make one that was thick enough to be your sole means of padding. Since it is tight-fitting to your head, and not necessarily to the helmet...you will always be padded to a uniform depth. You can always add padding to your helm to fill in the hollow spots.
Depending on the kind of helm yopu have, this might be the best way to pad your head.
A coif such as I have described works of course best with a helm that follows the countours of your head... I find that bascinet needs no other padding that my inch and 1/4 thick linen and leather quitled coif.

You may be interested in this article on suspension liners:

http://www.forth-armoury.com/photo_gallery/helm_liner/helm_liner.htm

Steve

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Forth Armoury
Highly authentic, affordable riveted maille.

Inch and a quarter thick linen and leather... Care to explain more?

Is that made from leather with linen stuffing, is it layers of linen then an outer covering of leather like a jack?

I'd imagine a bascinet (which is what I'll be using) might rock back and forward as it will pivot about the ears and not have anything at the back of the neck to stop it. Or doe sthe tight fit (with coif) at ear/jaw level do the job?

Silfren