About Estonia... you probably haven't heard that 2008 summer a massive pre-viking war grave was found in Saaremaa? Yup, seems that locals beated up some raiding scandinavians, maybe it was swedish king Ingvar... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salme_ships http://salmepaat.blogspot.com (the blogspot lin...

Hi !

Lookin' very nice. I *like* the way you did the face part - usual approach is to bend that by hand, but i see nice hammerwork here.

Hail to the hammer

*VERY* inspirational.

Andrew - from where did you find this image ? If i remember correctly then it's only one picture from a big book covering nations that once ruled major part of today's russia.

1- lamellae of type 1 2- lamellae of type 2 (variant a) 3- lamellae of type 2 (variant b) 4- lamellae of type 3 (variant a) 5- lamellae of type 3 (variant b) 6- iron ring of maille shirt (hauberk, i believe is the termin in English) 7- bronze ring of maille shirt 8- lamellae of type 4 9- upper part ...

Yes yes - these legs are VERY inspirational :) I have to finish building my workshop, though, in order to make something fluted... everything is stuffed with building materials right now. Are these for steel weapons combat ? I have no experience with 1mm spring steel defences - how much maintenance ...

For some reason i can't add more than 3 pictures, and they are in reverse order than i entered. Must read instructions when i have more time :) Anyways, here's the another view of the helmet i'm building for myself. Now i must give final shape to occulars and attach the neck protection. Then some br...

Yea, got some time finally to do some pictures. Best ones are:

Pictures of new spangenhelmet frame are of helmet my friend started to build under my "supervision"

Truly inspirating kettlehat i must say

I have seen that you do your tools yourself - so what kind of tool did you use for the fluting in central rib and how you did it ? (sorry, English isn't my primary language, so i hope you get the point what i'm asking about)

I used hand drill. Held the helmet in place between some pieces of wood on "workbench". Does anyone have some pictures or anything more detailed about Gotland helmet from Vendel era ? It's the helmet i'm trying to copy, but i don't have anyting more than line drawings from book "Die Vendelzeit Gotla...

Got some pictures done tonight. Not very good lighting indoors and stuff. Must go outside and take time for good photos. Unfortunately the picture from the inside turned out quite blurry, i imagine it's the artificial ligting or lack of proper artificial lighting. I'm also quite busy now, so i don't...

Ghostpig - i saw your armour on SH ! Awesome

I must remember that i send you pictures i promised

So, it seems that my posts on this forum begin all from second test of something :D Well, this time it's the spangenhelm. I did first one some two years ago and i wasn't very satisfied with the results - it turned out quite off the dimensions. I have riveted the halves to the bands with countersunk ...

Same question here ! I managed to make cheated version - plywood with plank in center, riveted to place (smithed nails into broad-headed rivets, used self-made washers) and although it's far from historically correct shield, it can take some quite heavy abuse. I'm afraid though, that when the shield...

Some time ago I purchased some 1 mm spring steel for COP. For Wisby nr. 20 (or was it 21) style COP one doesn't need any particular shaping, only little curve in plates, so far i think i have no problem with material. As no one has any practical experiences in heat treating armour in Estonia, so for...

Really nice ! One thing i don't understand - as I come from different cultural background (i live in Estonia) - why is LARP such a curse word amongst Archive people ? Do USA LARPs look really horrible ? Here in Estonia we have very few re-enactors, NO SCA, so the only mass battles are fought in LARP...

Wow, truly amazing shape on breastplate. I have very limited knowledge of German armour from that era - were these kind of cuirasses really THAT flat ?

I LOVE seeing something that's not very often seen - keep up the good work.

And remember: a project (especially arms or armour) demands blood. The amount of blood is symbolic, but if it doesn't get bled upon during the making, it will demand blood during use... How true :) I just managed to drill into my left hand index finger with cordless drill. I wanted to cut corners a...

... got 'em finished yesterday. I need only to punch holes for attachment, or make attachments as they were historically. So... this would be something like my 3rd try making shoulder defences :D Made them for my friend. 16 ga. mild steel. Can someone (who has at least read the Thordeman book) give ...

The links posted by Domnall, Mikael d'Armstreet and greenshield are things that could have been used by baltish people, but there is NO archeological record about the types used, nor written, in detail. There is an effigy from about 1220-1250 on what warrior (probably German/Danish invaders) wears t...

I'm speechless !

I used these effigies as an example: John de la Pole Unknown (?) knight from around 1370 The shoulder cops don't seem to extend so far down. I have seen other brasses/effigies of different shoulder construction also. The construction works, only the topmost lame doesn't go so far up as i wanted - bu...

Heh-heh, because the archive went down the way it did, i saw and remembered my post.

Re-did the strappings and surface finish, some time ago these spaulders looked like this (i have added straps for now, i don't have access to digital camera to take photos of finished product):

One reconstruction, from official museum's site, can be found from:

http://www.muuseum.haapsalu.ee/viiking/ ... sileht.htm

So, this will be my second test in making a pair of spaulders... Sorry for somewhat dark photos (if i get camera where the "true" first pair is, i'll take pics of them too). I tried to copy ~1370 English spaulder. Somwhere is the picture of the effigy, but i can't find it right now. The pop rivets a...

I subscribe to the idea that external splints with rivet heads between them represents alternating internal and external splints. Because of the overlap you get between the splints, internally and externally splinted cuisses are generally heavier than those hammered from one sheet. There is a find ...

Cool !

There is always something in pure fantasy armour that real historical pieces don't have... Wait... Kolmans and Negroli did cool stuff too, back then

That is *really* nice umbo :) I am currently working on my first one... i'm trying to copy one from "Die vendelzeit Gotlands"... here is picture of my progress so far... It is cold raised (actually my second atempt on raising), annealed between passes. Done in three passes. The topmost black marker ...