The Armour Archive

So I have a coif coming that I'm going to decapitate and make into a short aventail.

Curious as to what peoples opinions are on the best way to mount it that doesnt' include me ordering something online.

Probably just ... a leather strip with the rings stitched / pinched inside it then rivet it around the helm?

Other thoughts?

You bought a coif and not a tube-neck camail?! Hope you got it at a substantial savings. But you hint at it being a butted coif.

Is this for that leather helmet of yours? Riveted readily stitches in, butted can use holes but it's an inauthentic look, or a more involved stitching method of at least two stitches per link to prevent the link's butt join from slipping past the stitch thread and requiring readjustment.

Otherwise, for steel hats, the following:

If you're outfitting a bascinet, what you do depends entirely on the configuration of your camail strap and/or vervelle line, which determines that configuration.

Vervelle lines and their camail straps appear in just about every imaginable variation between a high horizontal vervelle line at about cheekbone level, through slanted from low center back to either temple, to a shallower slant of the same kind plus a dogleg at either strap end angling up to temple height, usually very close to the upper corners of the face opening. The lowest-altitude variant hugs the bottom edge of the bascinet and the doglegs go vertically up the sides of the face opening.

These mean various different shapes of temple triangles to fill in between the main body of the camail and the doglegs of the camail strap.

If it's a buckethelm, why not simply employ the coif as a coif? It will mean nothing to you in the SCA game in terms of protection, but it will increase the mass of your helm to prevent you getting your neck cranked from a hard halberd shot to the temple.

If you're looking to hang the mail away from the neck, then I see your point about fastening it about the bottom of a helm. Might as well rivet the strip in. If you're going to butt links shut through holes in the leather strip, use horizontal oblong holes so the links lie nice and flat. If your mail is riveted, attach with stitching, as hole punching won't be the strong option; strength is what you buy riveted for.

Konstantin the Red wrote:You bought a coif and not a tube-neck camail?! Hope you got it at a substantial savings.

If you're outfitting a bascinet, what you do depends entirely on the configuration of your camail strap and/or vervelle line, which determines that configuration.

Vervelle lines and their camail straps appear in just about every imaginable variation between a high horizontal vervelle line at about cheekbone level, through slanted from low center back to either temple, to a shallower slant of the same kind plus a dogleg at either strap end angling up to temple height, usually very close to the upper corners of the face opening. The lowest-altitude variant hugs the bottom edge of the bascinet and the doglegs go vertically up the sides of the face opening.

These mean various different shapes of temple triangles to fill in between the main body of the camail and the doglegs of the camail strap.

If it's a buckethelm, why not simply employ the coif as a coif? It will mean nothing to you in the SCA game in terms of protection, but it will increase the mass of your helm to prevent you getting your neck cranked from a hard halberd shot to the temple.

If you're looking to hang the mail away from the neck, then I see your point about fastening it about the bottom of a helm. Might as well rivet the strip in. If you're going to butt links shut through holes in the leather strip, use horizontal oblong holes so the links lie nice and flat. If your mail is riveted, attach with stitching, as hole punching won't be the strong option; strength is what you buy riveted for.

I got it at a trade, and it's going to hand just under my occulars and around the middlish of my helm if that makes sense.

Caught me editing my post.

Will this be for your leather helmet?

Konstantin the Red wrote:Caught me editing my post.

Will this be for your leather helmet?

No... I don't have a leather helmet.

It's for my heavy fighting helm.

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=89946&highlight=jackie+helm

Oh, that helmet! It's pretty airy -- I'd still say just use the coif whole, with all your padding in an arming coif.

I bet you're seriously working on neck protection. A coif, since its mail would lie closer to your neck, would call for a low-pro safety gorget under the coif. A camail hanging off the helmet proper has the spaced-armor curtain of mail action going, with its famous ability to absorb incoming. A camail so suspended and reaching out to the shoulder points combines both mass and an extremity of friction to absorb the energy of a sword strike to the side of the neck. This may be a larger radius than you're contemplating.

I want an aventail... if I wanted a coif I wouldn't have posted!