The Armour Archive

Hi all,

My current method of strapping spaulders and arms does not appear to be working very well.

I use a leather thong that I tie crosswise across my chest, looped under the armpit and tied at the shoulder opposite the armpit under which it is looped. The remaining length of the thong is then passed through two grommet holes in the spaulder and tied off again. The last lame is strapped as normal around my arm. I find that this allows to much play in the spaulder, i.e. it moves too far forward or back. I do not think that pointing it too the gorget will work (as I have seen some do). Is this a case of just pointing it to the arming coat?

Also, the cops in my arms fall past the point of my elbow quite often and it would help to rig something to hold them up.

Sorry for the lengthy post for a simple question !

Thanks,

Owain

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"Veni Creator Spiritus!"

I have always pointed them directly to a gambeson. A couple of grommets through the gambeson, leather cord to tie the spaulders on and you are done. There is no need for a fancy strapping system, at all.

If you do not have a gambeson, make/get one, life is SOOO much better.

seems like pointing the spaulders to the coat or whatever is on your body would be the best idea. without pics its hard to tell. a couple sturdy shoelaces stitched or stapled to the arming coat or whatever should suffice.

as to the elbow cops. do you have rerebraces? if so, just point them to the spaulder or shoulder of coat as well. if you do not have rerebraces you can still do that though not as efficiently. another idea is to point the elbows to the sleeves of your gambeson, arming coat or whatever, if it has sleeves of course.

my gear includes a leather vest (plates inside- around the ribs and small ones on the shoulders) and full splinted arms (vam, cop, rerebrace). I just ran a strip of leather up from the rerebrace to a set of D rings under the shoulder flap of my vest. the arms still slip a bit but they stay in place long enough for a few fights. the plates in the shoulder act sort of like spaulders for protection but since they are integral to the vest I can't use them as an example of how to wear a spaulder.

hope this helps some.

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Angus of the White Mountain Shire

I have pointed mine directly to a patch of reinforced mail at the shoulders.

I avoid a gambeson because of heat considerations in the southwestern United States. I find taking an occasional stinging blow in the course of my fighting is less bothersome than sweating to the point of meltdown all the time. Plus, it increases endurance and keeps the body cool because a hail hauberk will act as a swamp cooler given a breeze of any kind and shade of any kind.

Of course, the kind of fighting I participate in does not require a gambeson.