How much did you spend on your kit?

Eirik · Post by **Eirik** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:17 pm

/sigh

Figuring it all up, I have around $280 in my current kit, and less than $500 for the 20+ year span.

maybe $600 total...if you add in all the weapons and shields.

I've been very resourceful and a bit lucky...

I think I have an all time low price of $5 for my first kit.

The helm was a gift from Xyzom Von Wolfshadow, I bought my knee cops from Anton B. Hawkhelm for $5... I made everything else from stuff I had laying around.

knitebee · Post by **knitebee** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:33 pm

including what I wear under my kit I'm about $1200 (majority of that the mail hauberk I dont wear most of the time) in to it but thats with all the metal and half the fabric all being made by myself. to buy the same from someone else I'm wearing about $5000.

I haven't replaced anything yet so dont have the over the years cost.

Proxus · Post by **Proxus** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:53 pm

First this is my second kit. My first was a Roman Legionairre impression that I spent $135 on my hemet for, and spent the rest of time making everything else for by hand. Segmentata, cingulum, tunic, caliga covered boots were a labor cost as Sheridan graciously paid for most of the materials I just had to make 3 pieces for the group and got the third for me.

Currently

Helmet (Brand) $450.00

Aventail: (Knut via Windrose) $150; $125 installed on helm (Icefalcon)

Gorget; $10 leather and brass plates.

Gambeson: (Gambesons.com) $250.00

Belt to hold up legs and cover kidneys: $15 in leather $5 in metal and rivets/buckles.

Chainmail: (Icefalcon Stainless blackened) $650

Gauntlets: $375 (Icefalcon)

jock / Cups (replace yearly) $20/year x 5

Tyger Toggs $25 (stolen off bench at practice need new ones)

Pants $20 (to replace pair that ripped was using which also ripped)

Legs: (wife's old ones got from Brand many years ago...not sure) free...
however need to replace so she can begin fighting again....NEED
Chausses.

Knee cops: (Luther) $100 (actually elbows but i got chicken legs)

Arms: Bazuband leather free....just time and about .50cents of wood glue
maybe $5 if you count buckles.

Basket hilts over years....$75.00

Mandrake Hardware $50.00 (still need to attach to sword)

Half Gauntlet: gift from friend

Belt: BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS, GIVEN JOY, GIVEN ME BACK COMPANIONSHIP AND GAINED SOME GREAT FRIENDS through SQUIRE BROTHERS AND KNIGHT.

Rattan: $35 maybe.....most has been given by friend for doing demos with him over past couple of years but am on my last 4' section to make new sword this weekend.

Hockey bag for transport: $65

Probably a couple of hundred in leather over the years, maybe about $200 in materials for various soft kit wife has bought/sewn for me.

Grand total: $2600 in the past few years....wowser..... I'm addicted to armor and knightly accessories for the pursuit of arms I think.

Still need to buy some chausses and will probably get them from knowne world treasures shortly. (any chance there will be a SALE? hehe)

dukelogan · Post by **dukelogan** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:38 am

my first kit cost me $200 for everything. my second helm was $45. then i won crown and needed a nice helm. that was 14 years ago and the helm made by master eldrid cost me, well less than what he charged which was $700. i made everything else. my current shield is the same shield i made about 9 years ago and i upgraded my legs 5 or so years ago with titanium legs from sir mrks and i paid less than the $700 he charged.

so, im gonna guess, $700 for the helm and legs, $8 for the 1/8" polyethelene band i wear on my belly to appease the marshals who are worried about my kidneys (yeah i know, pretty silly thing to worry about in our sport since i doubt you could hurt someones kidney if you tried to), my elbows were $20 for the pair and ive had them for about four years (bought new as last seasons style for hockey), my fighting glove was $10 ($20 for the pair and i only wear a glove on my sword hand), my cleats ran me $20 (last seasons nike land sharks bought eight years ago) and another $40 to cover them.

i guess thats all about right.

regards
logan

Edward MacTavish · Post by **Edward MacTavish** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:28 am

Right now were somewhere around $12,000. With another $6,000 in upgrades being built.

Edward

Hrolfr · Post by **Hrolfr** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:46 am

Current kit-

$300 for the helm, 150 for the aventail.
140 for the new steel gauntlets.
15 for the weight belt and about 40 worth of leather....

Overall, another 1Â½K or so. This is over 10 years, and of that overall total includes 3 other helms, 1 of which I wear solely for Pas. It's my 'fancy helm' :wink:

Syrfinn · Post by **Syrfinn** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:48 am

According to my ex-wife? To much. :p

Sextus Maximus · Post by **Sextus Maximus** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:53 pm

Hmmm lets see...

Helm: Old one $500, Current one $600

Shirt: First around $200 plus time, 2nd $300, 3rd $400 plus time

Arms: eh $60

Greaves: $400

Shoes: 600

So, Current kit including shield as well... $1660 around there. Still not to bad for a hobby unlike getting a Harely like my dad and bother have..

Hrolfr · Post by **Hrolfr** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:01 am

Less than I have spent on my homebrewing equipment :lol:

Baron Alejandro · Post by **Baron Alejandro** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:47 am

LALALALALALALALALALALALA

SirCathal · Post by **SirCathal** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:16 am

This hobby isnt as expensive as Golf.

Clubs ... 1000 - 2500 depending on the brand per set
Clothes ... 150
Greens fees/Cart 30 bucks a round (at a cheap course).
5-10 bucks for balls at the driving range.

This SCA stuff is way less expensive than golf.

Baron Alejandro · Post by **Baron Alejandro** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:25 am

There's a gentleman in southern Atlantia who got his Laurel for golf. He would make handcarved golf clubs. I would take up golf if I could get a club from him.

wcallen · Post by **wcallen** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:46 pm

Having made armour back when it was cheap and seeing what has happened to the prices over the last few decades, I would bet that most of the numbers we are seeing are pretty low.

If memory serves, this one was about 2K back in 1985:

http://www.allenantiques.com/R-14.html

That would not have included any clothing to go under it or any of the incidentals that would allow you to fight.

This helmet was insanely cheap at $350 also in the mid 1980's:

http://www.allenantiques.com/R-9.html

On the low end, I think I got on the field for around $100 - the armour was TERRIBLE. The hockey gloves and fiber-glass for the shield were probably the 2 largest expenses. This was back when I was 15 and almost no one had any real armour (1978-sh). I know I have at least 3 times that in my current assortment of bits, and I made everything except the gambeson. Even when you make stuff yourself, it isn't cheap. I just spent over $100 on belts for the belt sander. People who make things often remember the steel price and forget the 'incidentals' which probably cost 3 times as much.

Since I had to buy raw rivetted mail to make this, one of my kid's halloween costumes cost me about $500 to make :

http://www.allenantiques.com/R-26.html

The rest have been much cheaper because I could make most of them with just the normal investment in materials. Most of them are just a lot of time, some materials and the (low) costs Tracy charges me for the cloth work to go with the pieces. They probably still cost $150-200 each in cash outlay. You can see all of them here:
http://www.allenantiques.com/Reproducti ... ction.html

If the reenactors posted something here, the numbers would (likely) be very different. Getting good clothing, armour and all the stuff that goes along with it mounts up fast. Really fast.

If you really think that you could support a new Mac harness every year on $10,000 annual budget, I bet you are fooling yourself (I don't actually know his prices, just a guess based on the little I have heard and prices others are charging).

I know that any guess as to how much I have spent on stuff related to my version of the hobby (since I build armour and need tools, built a small library and buy authentic pieces) would freighten people to death. I probably have more in my library than almost all of the previous estimates. Tools are only a few thousand dollars, but I was at the Lynch sale, so I got a lot of my tools cheap.

My expenses don't compete with cars anymore. I passed that a long time ago. They compete with houses. I bet that a real assessment of what some other people out there have spent would at least be in the same ballpark. Note: I don't live in So. Cal. or Boston, or such, so houses are cheaper around here. My expenses can't compete with a cheap Bay area house. I am not quite that nuts and I don't have that much disposable income. I have also been playing this game for 3 decades so it isn't a huge amount each year.

Wade

BobKnight · Post by **BobKnight** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:10 pm

wcallen wrote:Having made armour back when it was cheap and seeing what has happened to the prices over the last few decades, I would bet that most of the numbers we are seeing are pretty low.

If memory serves, this one was about 2K back in 1985:

http://www.allenantiques.com/R-14.html

That would not have included any clothing to go under it or any of the incidentals that would allow you to fight.

This helmet was insanely cheap at $350 also in the mid 1980's:

http://www.allenantiques.com/R-9.html

On the low end, I think I got on the field for around $100 - the armour was TERRIBLE. The hockey gloves and fiber-glass for the shield were probably the 2 largest expenses. This was back when I was 15 and almost no one had any real armour (1978-sh). I know I have at least 3 times that in my current assortment of bits, and I made everything except the gambeson. Even when you make stuff yourself, it isn't cheap. I just spent over $100 on belts for the belt sander. People who make things often remember the steel price and forget the 'incidentals' which probably cost 3 times as much.

Since I had to buy raw rivetted mail to make this, one of my kid's halloween costumes cost me about $500 to make :

http://www.allenantiques.com/R-26.html

The rest have been much cheaper because I could make most of them with just the normal investment in materials. Most of them are just a lot of time, some materials and the (low) costs Tracy charges me for the cloth work to go with the pieces. They probably still cost $150-200 each in cash outlay. You can see all of them here:
http://www.allenantiques.com/Reproducti ... ction.html

If the reenactors posted something here, the numbers would (likely) be very different. Getting good clothing, armour and all the stuff that goes along with it mounts up fast. Really fast.

If you really think that you could support a new Mac harness every year on $10,000 annual budget, I bet you are fooling yourself (I don't actually know his prices, just a guess based on the little I have heard and prices others are charging).

I know that any guess as to how much I have spent on stuff related to my version of the hobby (since I build armour and need tools, built a small library and buy authentic pieces) would freighten people to death. I probably have more in my library than almost all of the previous estimates. Tools are only a few thousand dollars, but I was at the Lynch sale, so I got a lot of my tools cheap.

My expenses don't compete with cars anymore. I passed that a long time ago. They compete with houses. I bet that a real assessment of what some other people out there have spent would at least be in the same ballpark. Note: I don't live in So. Cal. or Boston, or such, so houses are cheaper around here. My expenses can't compete with a cheap Bay area house. I am not quite that nuts and I don't have that much disposable income. I have also been playing this game for 3 decades so it isn't a huge amount each year.

Wade

I envy your child so much.

Iain (Bunny) Ruadh · Post by **Iain (Bunny) Ruadh** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:23 pm

Oh dear ... well rough call for this current harness only ...

Helm $200
Face $550
Elbows/Knees $150
Cuisses $120
Padded cuisses $75
7 piece Churb $120
Maille $2200
Splinted vambs $70
greaves $120
arming coat $400
sabs $450
finger gaunts $250

replacement of body/limbs with heat treated spring in period 1350 .. $4400

Compared to some of my pistols/rifles ... about same level ..

Wanting to go for my 16th C. heated spring museum correct harness ...
$40k+ ... but that will wait until after the economy stabilizes and Pat Thaden has spare time ... and even then I'd be amazed by what he produces ... compared to what I imagined.

Corby de la Flamme · Post by **Corby de la Flamme** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:58 pm

Even contrasting the prices, there is a much larger, fundamental difference between golf and armored combat:

In golf, you're supposed to hit the balls.

Thank you! Thank you.

Dietrich von Stroheim · Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:20 am

Well, let's see...

Helm--Stainless Icefalcon Sallet w/ bevor, listed now for $895, don't remember what I paid
Arming hood--$40ish
Fighting tunic--$0, my wife is a seamstress
Marshall Repellant (Kidney Belt)--$20 weight leather weight belt.
Cleats--$30. Best and safest footwear for this sport.
Period Leather boots to cover the cleats--$250 (but I bought them originally to be worn, next time this'll be a LOT cheaper)
Ice Falcon kite shield + accessories--Around $220 total
Low profile black hockey gloves--$30
Bedford Tourney Hilt--$70
Sports elbows and knees--$60
Cup, supporter, crash shorts--Around $40
Full hockey gloves for spear or GS--$50 and best gauntlets I've ever used (first pair was a set of $500 Celtic warriors hourglass gaunts)

I think that covers it, aside from rattan, which I seem to blow through like kleenex.

J.G.Elmslie · Post by **J.G.Elmslie** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:14 pm

not so much the financial cost, but what I'd hate to try to work out is the cost in man-hours for all my bits.

particularly the 100% hand-sewn 16th C white silk jerkin and pleated shirts based off Janet Arnold's patterns of fashion records.

*twitch*

the cost in terms of silk, shot silk linings, linen, pearwood for the cores of buttons, etc etc is'nt much... but the cost in terms of how long it takes, cutting out every button core from a 3mm slice of wood, rounding it smooth, wrapping it in silk, then putting it onto the front of a jerkin which is layered with a delicate ivory brocade silk pad-stitched onto the middle linen layer...

*twitches again*

Wilhelm zu Eltz-Kempenich · Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:32 am

Since I am making / made everything myself for the most part, it'll come to maybe $200-250. Steel is cheap so the armour itself will maybe be 50 bucks, another $45 on shoes, $50 for my pourpoint, and another $50ish for fabric so far. The gambeson I'm getting in trade for labor so that doesn't exactly count. Throw in maybe 20 bucks for random odds and ends like buckles and I'm still sitting pretty.

Bear in mind that my (still incomplete) kit will be straight up mid 14th century, from my undies to my tabard; nothing modern like plastic or the like. I'm gonna march onto the field looking like the real thing. Amazing what can happen with patience, practice and diligence. All that for the low low price of dirt cheap. So for you guys spending so much... ever consider making it yourself?

Cunian · Post by **Cunian** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:44 am

Helm - used White Mountain - $225
Gorget - $2 scrap leather and shoe laces
Body - $110 -rawhide side, shoelaces, paint, leather
C-Belt - $10 leather
Legs - $25 leather, $30 cops, $1 used soccer shinpads
Arms - $5 leather, $45 articulated elbow, $30 various sporting elbows
Hands - $10 leather and shoelace, $10 leather gloves, $5 lacross gloves, $55 basket hilt
Sword rattan - $5
Shield - gift + $10 hardware and straps
I make my own garb, perhaps $22 in material and thrift shop pants for an even

$600 with an average age of about 10 years of use. I spend a LOT more driving to practice.

Johann Lederer · Post by **Johann Lederer** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:33 am

Being a relative new person ( less than 5 years in SCA), I think I have $1-2K in the items I have. I still have most of my first kit too. I loan the good parts out to people starting out.

I read a lot of people were comparing costs for hobbies...I did a little figuring and WOW...scary...

I have done ACW/N-SSA for 22 years, my uniforms for that are well over $2K, and most of those we (me and my family) made. Once you go into particulars about camp items there is another $1K.

Firearms and accoutrements - $3k easily. One competition musket I have is at least half that cost, and I make my own leather accoutrements!

WWII - probably at least what ACW is, if not worth a heck of a lot more. I started collecting when I was in High School, so I bought low and hung onto most of it. I won't go into the firearms that were lost in the aweful boating accident!

I also have a decent collection of US army and Navy accoutrements from WWI to post Vietnam, smattered with a few pieces from WWI back to ACW.

When I started, my mentor said I should spend the most for a helm, after all if you value you brain, you want to protect it...I kind of listened to him, but I have decent protective helms that I love. The other thing I add to that list is good gauntlets. I have decent ones, just not the ones I really want...someday I will own stealth gauntlets....maybe I will sell my WWII collection! LOL (yeah right)

How much did you spend on your kit?

Armored Combat vs. Golf