The Armour Archive

Greetings,
I recall seeing a Duke somewhere out West (I think it was Radnor) using a broken jousting lance with vamplate as a shield in a Crown tourney. I suck at making stuff myself. Anyone that knows of what I speak have one for sale or is willing to make one for me?

Yes, that was his grace Duke Radnor of Guildemar in the West kingdom. He made that one himself, though at one point he was talking with me to make a hardened leather guard for him.

Torvaldr,
Thanks for the gorget and demis by the way! How difficult would it be to produce what he was asking for (and what I think I am asking for)?

Yes, it's Radnor - I had the pleasure of fighting him a few months back with him using that style. As a guest to the region, the first thing this wandering Calontiri had to ask was "Are you allowed to hit me with that?" It's a very cool item.

Brucer

Too bad about his bicep though

I'd love to see pics of this.

Anyone have a best guess as to the dimensions of that broken lance...somewhere around 45 inches I am assuming? What would be the best type of wood for this (nothing too heavy)?

Conn wrote:Best guess as to the dimensions of that broken lance...somewhere around 45 inches I am assuming. What would be the best type of wood for this (nothing too heavy)?

As far as wood, you should make it out of rattan, especially if you want to stab with an end of it. Even if it will be stricktly defensive, rattan will stop any grief with the marshals.

I think a thick leather cone would do the part of the hand plate.

Uric

My understanding is that His Grace used a regular piece of wood and that he only used it as a 'shield', so no striking point. I do not think rattan would be thick enough for this...unless someone has a 4 foot 3 inch thick stick laying around...I agree on the leather vamplate, I will see if Torvaldr is interested in a commission!

Often they broken lances are made of Ash baseball blanks. with the handle shaved in the center. And sorry Conn Ulric, leather even hardened does not cut it as it goes soft after being hit. a modified basket hilt works well but a leather one can go over it.. That is what his Squire uses on his. The hand guard on Radnor's broken lance is a clusterfuck of metal bars that we have made work. It is much better than it was, often it would rip his hand open.

He is my Grand Knight.

Conn wrote:My understanding is that His Grace used a regular piece of wood and that he only used it as a 'shield', so no striking point. I do not think rattan would be thick enough for this...unless someone has a 4 foot 3 inch thick stick laying around...I agree on the leather vamplate, I will see if Torvaldr is interested in a commission!

Well Conn, consider a madu fighter. He uses a piece of rattan with a thrusty on each end and blocks shots with it. So without doubt you can get a thick piece of rattan and make this work. You could even put a thrusty on the top and give yourself an offensive angle to it.

Uric

I am not disagreeing with you that it could be like a madu, however I was trying to make it look like a thick lance and use it just as a shield with no offensive properties left to it. I am hoping it will be a challenge and fun to use, while being historically possible...not that a madu isn't (what an argument that would start)!

His Grace uses it only for defensive work. It is not a madu, and as far as i know it is kept heavy to absorb the impact of shots coming in. I have fought withit myself and it is really very nice to use.

You said it was from an Ash baseball bat blank. From what I see, they're about 2 3/4" round. I can get some 3" thick rattan, would it be possible to construct one from that?

Let me know if you find a source for the 3 inch rattan...I will buyone as well.

I actually fight with a broken lance from time to time but more of a "for the fun of it" weapons form. I just took a 36" peice of rattan and added a thrusty to it. I mainly use it for defense but do the occasional grill pop with it. I also added a barber shop type stripe on it with grip tape.

I have found body thrusts and such are very hard to stick with it however a good pop to the face will be good every time.

I do not have a basket on it I was thinking of it as the end of the pole not the handle area. I like the videos though I might pick up something like that and give it a try.

Digr-Jokul rattan will work as a short term. But its not heavy enough and it breaks pretty quickly. The ash blank really absorbs a lot of the impact even at the bottom. We messed around with a few styles. But rattan died pretty fast where as the blank lasts years and years.

And there is no thrusties in Radnors style of lance. The point is that the tip broke off and against armor is useless.

Contact me if you want to know more about how to make them. We can have a nice long chat. and I will tell you how to make them with a better basket set up.

I believe Radnor's broken lance is made from a beefy chunk of ash. I don't think it started life as a baseball bat blank, but I could be wrong.
It is about sword length, btw.

Purely defensive. I recall him stating that it had all the disadvantages of a madu with none of the advantages.

- Scott

Scott wrote:I believe Radnor's broken lance is made from a beefy chunk of ash. I don't think it started life as a baseball bat blank, but I could be wrong.
It is about sword length, btw.

Purely defensive. I recall him stating that it had all the disadvantages of a madu with none of the advantages.

- Scott

It was a Baseball bat blank. He got it at McBeath in Berkeley.

Tuomas, do you guys have a lathe, or how do you turn outthe shape from a blank? Do you just carve it?

Hey Owen.

Thats a funny question, we rigged something lathish up last time for the handle. However Jason of Esfenn his squire has a lathe, and JASON's is lathed. The blanks at McBeaths have a slight taper. Plus Jasons hand guard is like 1000X safer than Radnor's. Jason even said even though his is from scratch a baseball bat blank would be WAY better.

He is helping me make one as well. Owen shoot me a FB message we can chat about it

Toumas,
Torvaldr is making me one after speaking with His Grace Radnor. Any tips from you or Jason are much appreciated...

I agree, tips are good.

Conn, I have a few light armour lances and some broken carved lances that I would let go of. The carved lances are of poplar and are shaped like the lances that HE sells, but are only about 4' long. I'm not sure what the light armour lances are made of. Let me know if you are interested.

I would be interested in one of the carved ones.

Conn Totally.

Um, Radnor is not the best person to talk with about the technical details. No offense to my Grand Knight, but he is more of a end user.

And Torvaldr, We can start a FB chat or something and we can discuss the best way. Id recommend metal basket under your leather guard. Ill give you plenty of pointers. so you don;t have to make our mistakes

Tuomas wrote:Conn Totally.

Um, Radnor is not the best person to talk with about the technical details. No offense to my Grand Knight, but he is more of a end user.

And Torvaldr, We can start a FB chat or something and we can discuss the best way. Id recommend metal basket under your leather guard. Ill give you plenty of pointers. so you don;t have to make our mistakes

Thanks, you know where my fb page is.

Torvaldr,
I am not on FB anymore, but please garner what you can for our little project!
Thanks