The Armour Archive

J. Salazar

Here is a replica built by Micheal Dabic http://www.globaleffects.com/Temp/Mace.jpg The screw on top presses down on the uppermost internal tabs to keep the flanges in place. I think the tabs are too small on this replica to be strong enough, but I remember seeing a period one with similar sized ta...

J. Salazar

I've been reading that the flanges were brazed onto maces. Two questions... 1. How strong was the join? I'm not experienced in brazing but I imagine it wouldn't be as strong as steel. Could it resist the impact to an armored enemy? 2. How was brazing done in the middle ages? I've seen modern brazing...

J. Salazar

Hello, I have decided that my first functional piece will be a mid thirteenth century non-integral coif. I am using a design by Paul Smith, with instructions posted here. http://www.the-exiles.org/Article%20chain.htm It will be of demi-riveted construction with round rivets and round sectioned rings...

J. Salazar

Here is a pic of the back. It has a convex shape similar to my round riveted rings. https://i.imgur.com/tQysYuG.jpg In answer to your questions, 1. I use wire cutters with a divot removed in order to cut out rings with the overlap intact. They are at an angle to produce the "snakehead" feature. 2. I...

J. Salazar

Mark, I'm on my phone right now. Let me see what I can dig up from my computer tonight.

J. Salazar

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I really do wish I could post pics of my tools, but not much insight could be gleaned, considering they are not much different from what you could find with a casual google search. I have some very special tweaks, however, which took years of trial and error to l...

J. Salazar

Howdy folks. It's been a while...almost 2 years in fact. I wanted to start by apologizing to the community for my unannounced hiatus. Between the birth of my first child and a bout of depression I've been down for the count. My mood has taken a recent upturn, and the first thing I decided to do was ...

J. Salazar

Thank you for the high praise folks. Paladin, as far as commissions go, I should hopefully start taking some after I get a bit more experience with actual weaving. I'm currently in the process of getting a website going, in the meantime you can always message me or get updates via my facebook page. ...

J. Salazar

Hello,

Just wanted to thank Josh for the kind words and help him out with a few images of my newest work. Enjoy!

http://i.imgur.com/LvOZlkT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YcYF37h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3BMSvov.jpg

J. Salazar

Hello, Does anyone have any existing patterns for mail coifs worn with cervellieres? I've seen many examples from medieval art, but has anyone ever recreated one? I'm still confused as to whether it was worn under the coif or sandwiched between the coif and another round mail cap. Any help or just d...

J. Salazar

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I think I can help out with a bit of experimentation. I recently made a patch of mail with a considerable amount of scale on it. I will be buying some wheat bran this week and tumbling it, I'll be happy to post the results. Here's the before... https://s-media-cac...

J. Salazar

I had no idea wedge rivets were used outside of Europe! Thanks for posting. I'm not surprised by the demi-riveted construction and wedge rivet combination as much, it is the round-sectioned riveted links with wedge rivets that surprised me, I'm used to seeing flat-sectioned wedge riveted links. What...

J. Salazar

You need a control piece. Tumble one piece with bran and another piece with nothing. It is possible that the rings abrading against each other will clean just as well as bran or sand or anything else. Here were some patches that were carried around in my pocket for various amounts of time. The left...

J. Salazar

Hold the phone, demi-riveted construction with round-sectioned links with wedge rivets? Am I seeing that correctly?

J. Salazar

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I think I can help out with a bit of experimentation. I recently made a patch of mail with a considerable amount of scale on it. I will be buying some wheat bran this week and tumbling it, I'll be happy to post the results. Here's the before... http://i.imgur.com/2...

J. Salazar

I personally believe that the watershed characteristic may have been a purposely added feature along with wedge riveting, both in an attempt to keep the individual links from twisting. Some mail makers either did not learn how to do this (watershed) or thought it was not necessary/useful etc. If yo...

J. Salazar

You rock.

J. Salazar

Most excellent. I love how I never visit this forum without getting a history lesson, thank you guys. Perhaps "short sleeved hauberk" would be a better way of putting it? I get the sense that a full gambeson would be more appropriate for a later project. Since my first shirt is more of a prototype a...

J. Salazar

Ernst, I read the thread. Very informative, thanks so much. I was wrong in assuming that gambesons were that old. Konstantin brings up a good point though, I really ought to pin down the era I plan to work with. I'm leaning towards Viking age shirt but also a high middle age bynie, if they existed. ...

J. Salazar

Hello all, I'm currently in the process of ordering a gambeson for mail tailoring purposes when making my byrnie. I wanted to ask, what is an appropriate thickness for a gambeson from the 11th or 12th century? I've only ever heard of thickness in regards to layers. Would there have been a difference...

J. Salazar

Hey neat, somebody linked to me! Seriously, I can help with round riveted mail with solid links. The link that Gadda posted should be a very basic walkthrough, feel free to drop me a message or look for me on facebook, I'd be happy to give you a crash course. However I think a good first step would ...

J. Salazar

Hi folks, I was hoping someone could give me more information on cervellieres, particularly how they were worn. Were they worn both on top of and underneath mail? I've seen images of both, and I would be interested in learning how to tailor mail around it. Any modern replicas, especially worn in con...

J. Salazar

Here you go. I used a tap and die to insert a screw for locking the drift in place. Please note that the current drift is extremely broken.

J. Salazar

A couple of comments based on my own research in doing my article for the Journal of Arms and Armour: 1) When looking at medieval mail the source of the iron was critical to the process. Only the purest iron had a sufficiently low slag content to permit the drawing into wire. If possible the first ...

J. Salazar

Signo wrote:Could you show us your piercing tong and peening tongs?
Thanks

No problem. I should have some time tonight.

J. Salazar

I personally believe that the watershed characteristic may have been a purposely added feature along with wedge riveting, both in an attempt to keep the individual links from twisting. Some mail makers either did not learn how to do this (watershed) or thought it was not necessary/useful etc. If yo...

J. Salazar

Hello again! Just wanted to update everyone on my project. Sorry about the long wait, work tends to have me down for the count towards the end of the year. However I'm ready to start off the new year with my new project. Here's my newest sample after some fine-tuning... http://i.imgur.com/kYCC0T8.jp...

J. Salazar

I can't be of much help with an in-the-flesh apprenticeship, or even with plate armor for that matter, but if you are ever interested in making mail I would be more than happy to help you out. I'm currently helping out someone purely online, and his work is really coming along nicely. A great deal o...

J. Salazar

Looking at the big image, I agree that the shirt is everted, and of demi-riveted construction. From the general form, I would be surprised if it's earlier than the late 15th century. Damn. Every curator wants to claim that they have some 11th-12th century mail. Most of them don't. Does anybody? How...

J. Salazar

Hi folks, I was hoping to start a discussion of the Bayeux byrnie. The main reason I wanted to bring it up is because I know next to nothing about it...all I have found is a short description dating it to the 12th Century, which I find odd, considering mail from this period is very hard to find. A f...

J. Salazar

No kidding?

I'm curious to see what kind of properties the bloom would have from black sand. Keep us posted brother.

J. Salazar

Hi folks, just wanted to post a quick update for everyone. I have some good news and some bad news. Well, the bad news is that I failed to make a new tool which had wider overlaps and larger rivets. Its back to the drawing board as usual. I'll have to take the entire week to prepare and try again on...

J. Salazar

Do we have anything as far as period artwork which could tell us if it is long sleeve, etc?

This is all I could find.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/article ... g_mail.htm

J. Salazar

Ok, so I'll be needing a plan B

Do we have any evidence of tailoring for Viking age mail?

J. Salazar

Boza! Nice to finally meet you! You blog has been a source of inspiration for me for quite some time now. I especially like your process for piercing rings. You and Johan Gemvik are the only people I know of that pierce each half of the overlap separately, which is something I've been considering fo...

Re: Flanged mace construction

Flanged mace construction

Thirteenth century non-integral coif

Re: My latest rings; watershed feature

Re: My latest rings; watershed feature

Re: My latest rings; watershed feature

My latest rings; watershed feature

Re: Jorge Salazar's mail

Re: Jorge Salazar's mail

Cervellieres and mail

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: Was maille cleaned using sand and vinegar?

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Fitting a gambeson for mail

Re: Fitting a gambeson for mail

Re: Fitting a gambeson for mail

Fitting a gambeson for mail

Re: Riveted Mail Info?

Question about cervellieres

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: A young guy with a dream: Apprenticeship

Re: Bayeux Byrnie

Bayeux Byrnie

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project

Re: Introduction and High Medieval mail project