The Armour Archive

I saw this posted years ago (2004 maybe?) and thought I'd bring it back up, as we have had so many more armourers with even nicer and more elaborate work having come upon the scene in the last five years.

A) So, how much have you spent on your current rig?

B) How about altogether since you started with all your different kits (yes, this is going to physically hurt some of us to figure out but just do it, work through the pain).

I'm tallying up the numbers as we speak and will have a response by the time I get home from work today.

2k easy. And that does not include weapons and all the sword fittings.

Uric

Oddly enough, I'm betting under $2K for my cap-a-pie suit.

-Aaron

do you mean just what we are wearing now, or what we spent through the incarnations to get to where we are at?

Those are two different numbers entirely.

Thorvaldr

Ouch Thorvaldr...

OK, all incarnations...I'm betting it's more like $7K+

Thorvaldr Skegglauss wrote:do you mean just what we are wearing now, or what we spent through the incarnations to get to where we are at?

Both. Take a deep breath, work your way though it. I know it's going to be painful. Okay, well for me it will at least.

Thorvaldr Skegglauss wrote:do you mean just what we are wearing now, or what we spent through the incarnations to get to where we are at?

Those are two different numbers entirely.

Thorvaldr

exactly.

Replacement value for what I wear now? About $1,500.

Total cost incarnations to this point? About $5,000.

Replacement cost for all the armour I currently own? probably about $5,000 not including the kit I currently wear.

It's like asking me how much it weighs....
I do not want to think about it.

There is ALWAYS an upgrade possible. There is ALWAYS another suit for another purpose (light-fight-flight) that I "need".

And my dream suit is still out there. The tonlet armour of the Chamberlain of Burgandy has been my "dream suit" for over ten years. When I can afford it in spring-stainless, I expect to drop another $7K to $10K, and then be a happy fighter on the field until I'm 80 or older -- money well spent.

-Aaron

How much did I spend? Nothing really. It was all found in the basement and made by the b/f.

How much is it WORTH? Hmmm... nother question entirely. I'll try to crunch some numbers today and see what I come up with.

Current kit replacement About 3K if I could even get some of this stuff made again.

Over 36 years? Christ on a crutch. This is just a wild assed guess. Maybe 6K? Hell, I have about 2100 in my german suit and I havent even started the helmet.

Ugh, I just added up helmet transitons alone ...



... over $3400.



Hi, I'm Lucian and I need an Intervention.

Probably a little under two grand. $600 on helmets, maybe another $700 on body harness, $200 on steel gauntlets. I may have spent as much on miscellaneous pads, gloves, sticks and baskets as I have on everything else.

Materials costs for my leg and arm harness over the years, wag at another $200.

I know - most of it looks like what I paid for it I couldn't touch a helm by Inman and Athena for $400 today. Gauntlets to match mine cannot be had for $200 today. My Brian Price bascinet was about $200 and could not be replaced for that.

I can look on my armour as a profitable investment !

2k on just what I have now, but probably only 3k total (just armour). I was fighting for 10 years before I invested in my current rig. Most of what I wore beforehand I made myself so it was not overly expensive.

Uric

Ok, Current Kit total cost:
$1639.00

adding all my armour and armouring bits together:
Right around $4500.00.

Not bad about $1000.00 per/year in armour stuff. Certainly not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Thorvaldr

Ooopps

I forgot the gauntlets......

add another $1500.00

so about $6000.00

Thorvaldr

I decline to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me .

G-

Cant possibly count every piece I have worn in the SCA, and as I have made most of it my cost would be lower than most.
If I had to buy my current kit with both pairs of gaunts, 4,200
Thats the cote, livery, cote of plates etc etc, everything but my belt and weapons

Nissan Maxima wrote:Current kit replacement About 3K if I could even get some of this stuff made again.

Over 36 years? Christ on a crutch. This is just a wild assed guess. Maybe 6K? Hell, I have about 2100 in my german suit and I havent even started the helmet.

not true...the helm steel is cut out and the rough pattern is done....The hammering begins again (since I ripped a hole in the first attempt) the week after Border Skirmish) ....so it has been started.

As to the topic -

Having made most all of my current kit..... maybe 400$ material and 40 hours of time for the hard portion of the kit.

Does that include the soft kit portion? (chausses, gambeson, etc...) if so, about 300$ in materials and another 20 hours of time.

Greetings,

My current incarnation cost me almost $2k.

My first suit to get me on the field cost about $1k. Between then and now I've spent, roughly, another $1k.

For me it's difficult to determine exact costs because of the way I've traditionally purchased armor; one piece at a time. It's also hard to factor in costs like tape, rattan, clothing, gloves, etc. Y'know, the incidentals.


Hjlmr inn Danski

question a) alot, but it could have been more if people had'nt given me discounts and friend prices

question B) OMG i don't wanna know

I would guess than many of you have spent FAR more than you realize on "stuff".

Paint for your shields. Duck tape and paracord. If you made yourself, special tools that you got to make it (heat gun for plastic, leather scissors and punch, rivets). Shield blanks, or wood to make them. Add a curve?

Sort of like your credit card bill at the end of a month... $20 increments add up.

I'm still trying to make my kit, but as I've only been fighting for 2-3 months, I think I'm doing decent. As I have a large family, and most of which are pack rats, I have most of the materials needed for construction. Right now its a toss-up whether I'll spend more on fabric, or a helmet (Otto's are looking good, but my girlfriend made me promise to find a summer job before I buy one).

Being a broke college student sucks.

Whats the current shop rate?
Do you want costs for tool investments?
Replacement costs or what the actual dollar figure?

Jestyr wrote:I would guess than many of you have spent FAR more than you realize on "stuff".

Paint for your shields. Duck tape and paracord. If you made yourself, special tools that you got to make it (heat gun for plastic, leather scissors and punch, rivets). Shield blanks, or wood to make them. Add a curve?

Sort of like your credit card bill at the end of a month... $20 increments add up.

Oh definitely...I have spent in the 4-5k$ range for my shop and probably another 500$ for all of the incidentals over the years...

my first, very nice kit sans helmet i built for less than 500 and i was covered from ankle to throat. Ill rebuild it in the future though.

Current kit, with gaunts and helm is about 2k. My helmet was almost half that though, and worth every penny.

Cheers!

Current kit: $700
Helmet - $400
Lamellar plates - $75
Bazubands - traded a wooden kite for them ($60 worth of materials)
Center-Grip voal - $50 materials
Legs - $65
Other assorted whatnot - probably $50 worth of materials, most of that either leather or linen.


Total spent over the years, probably close to 1k.

I never thought I was doing this on the cheap, but it certainly looks like it from this thread.

I have certainly spent more on tools than I have on armour. But then, I've made far more of my stuff that I've bought.

Current kit? Over $9,000.

Altogether over the years? Easily over $15,000.

It sounds like a lot, but that was spaced out over a period of many years.

/thinks. If you include heavy/rapier/rapier weapons..

Around a thousand. Got very lucky that I got a free helm.

About $400 but I made it. But it's my first kit and kind of ugly

Current kit ~$2K

Most of my previous kits I mostly made, so maybe another grand or a little more over the course of 20 years.

Helm and aventail- 700
Lamellar- 225
Bazubands- 150
Legs- Given to me, but was told they were 150 dollar legs

So altogether not too shabby when compared to everyone else on here, of course its not as nice looking as everyone elses as well.

Hmm,

Replacement cost would be about 4k.

Maille 2.5k
Helmet 1k
Gauntlets .5k (actual cost. not sure on replacement cost probably about the same)

I spent about 2.2k on it, mostly because I bought my maille before Knutt's prices skyrocketed a few years ago.

Kenric