The Armour Archive

Josh W

A shield is harder to destroy than you might think. Try it! Even with an axe it is hard to do. The axe frequently gets stuck giving the shield bearer more control of it than you. Hacking through shields is only easy in bad Viking movies. And yet I think shields of accurate thickness and constructio...

Josh W

Thanks, guys, for all the comments and criticism. Please keep it coming. No comprende. How do you 'run out' of steel? You know there's a fabricator on Stranger Road that sells custom cuts of sheet (among other things), right? I do know about that place, but I had trouble finding it, and was told (ap...

Josh W

For the last couple of weeks I have been hard at work assembling a new harness for SCA use (and possibly some eventual blunt steel/WMA play). I wanted a new kit because I have moved to the "deeper end of the pool" so to speak in terms of what the local SCA baronial fighter practice is like...

Josh W

I hate the look of knee fighting, too, but I think the indestructible shields are more of a detriment to the game. Maybe we'd see people actually bother to learn other weapon systems if your shield were only good for stopping three solid hits. Sure, it's an arbitrary rule that is only a distant refl...

Josh W

http://www.liebaart.org/ridder_e.htm

This one?

EDIT: No, it can't be this one; this guy hasn't got a crest and is wearing a coat of plates rather than an armoured surcoat.

Josh W

schreiber wrote:Josh, where are those illuminations from?

The top three are from S. Abbondio in Como, and date from the early 14th century.

The bottom one is Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Crocifissione fresco, in the Basilica di S. Francesco, Assisi, Italy. It can date no later than 1348, when the artist died.

Josh W

How about... [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3492730005_7386016b38_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/3492740363_3e62e0fa55_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3493562410_35e0e7b8ce_b.jpg[/img] http://www.italica.rai.it/argomenti/storia_arte/lorenzetti/gal...

Josh W

I have always wanted one of these to go with my Italian armour:

[img]http://northernelectric.ca/medieval/hats/hatpix/castagno7.jpg[/img]

Josh W

The actual account in the original Spanish relates that it was specifically coats of mail, not plate, that were penetrated by the natives' bows on that expedition of De Soto's to Florida. When plate is mentioned, it is noted that no arrow would harm the man armed in plate, but that the arrow would r...

Josh W

What exactly do you mean by the term "clamshells?"

What's wrong with regular mitten gauntlets? I've fought for almost fifteen years in mitten gauntlets of various designs and was never hurt in them.

Josh W

I thought you said teddy bear armour; all I see is teddy bear mail.

Josh W

A friend of mine in Denver fights in a case-hardened mild Patrick Thaden open-face sallet that is either 16ga or 14ga. It has yet to get dented. Case-hardening your mild steel helm is a fine idea, but as others have said, don't go below SCA minimum thickness if this is going to be used for SCA combat.

Josh W

Was it this one? m I'm curious; what did you need it for? Proof. Somebody didn't believe that armour is at all flexible, and it must weighs a tonne, and so on and so forth. I cant wear mine coz I dislocated my shoulder 2 or so weeks ago, so I emailed him a link. If any questions about the specifics...

Josh W

Was it this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm11yAXeegg

I'm curious; what did you need it for?

Josh W

Ordinarily, I try to stick strictly with the available evidence. However, I think a case could be made for the possibility that the Scandinavians during the viking period could have occasionally worn scale armour. First, we read mention in one or more sagas of some sort of body armour called "s...

Josh W

:shock: I wanna be Ken Mondschein and Jeffrey Forgeng when I grow up! Yes, get a Ph.D and then spend your time making no money and running around in armor. Fair enough; I'll content myself with pretending to be Ken Mondschein and Jeffrey Forgeng on the weekends when I grow up. I'll stick with nursi...

Josh W

A book whose earliest <i>fragments</i> date to around 100 years after the supposed events (an incredibly tiny fragment of "John" that dates from ~125. The next available fragments are from 175-225). The earliest complete sub-book dates from around 200 years after the supposed events. That...

Josh W

Baron Alcyoneus wrote:Because you are part of the Templar Plot?

Me? Nah, I like the Hospitallers more. Why don't you ever hear about them being involved in any cool conspiracies?

Josh W

I wasn't even going to go there...

Josh W

I wanna be Ken Mondschein and Jeffrey Forgeng when I grow up!

Josh W

The similarity in construction and "plate" layout between the Native American wooden armour and a Wisby type II coat of plates is striking.

Josh W

It is, therefor, unfair to condemn the senior fighter for acting in accordance with the prevailing convention. Maybe it's just that I haven't ever been to many practices in which one fighter clearly ranked as "senior" to the others, but this is not the convention at any practice I have at...

Josh W

I can't believe you guys are dogpiling on Aaron for this. The guy was rude, plain and simple. I echo what Nissan said about unsolicited instruction unless in a formal master-student relationship. It crosses a boundary of social propriety to simply barge in and assume you have any business telling so...

Josh W

Peroid helms ( discounting jousting helms ) were 16 guage at the most, with reinforces at the brow, and breast plates were 16 gauge at the front and 18 - 20 at the back...Against pole-arms or an axe or mace, no periiod armour would save you at all. Where are you getting your information? While it i...

Josh W

Benedek wrote:Did you ever put a nasal on that helm? Whatever happened to it anyway? Just curious.

Lavina owns it now, and I believe it does now have a nasal.

Josh W

I refer you to these threads:

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... =thickness

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... light=bern

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... rn&start=0

Josh W

Those are neat!

Josh W

I have lately conceived an interest in the use of iron scale armour in Western Europe during the latter half of the first millennium, specifically during Charlemagne's period. The psalter posted above, along with one or two other pieces of evidence, lead me to believe that scale might have been more...

Josh W

This looks like a lot of fun...

Josh W

I think I remember that article from the last time it was posted here over a year ago. I saved a copy of it, IIRC...

Josh W

Lately, I have begun to be dissatisfied with the way my greaves looked and fit. When I commissioned them years ago, I was still in hardcore SCA mode, and intended to wear huge boots and volleyball kneepads with them, so I ordered them much too big. I now regret that, and have been wanting to make th...

Josh W

As someone who owns armour made by this man, I can assure you that his product is worth waiting for.

Josh W

For what it's worth, I say all of the above having myself an almost exclusively SCA rattan combat background, with only occasional, minor forays into WMA.

Josh W

I think there exists a certain expectation among some of the upper-level SCA apologists that I've witnessed on this board that a real fight with swords and shields way back when would necessarily be fought at the speed and with the level of force they're used to experiencing in the SCA. I'm not conv...

Josh W

What is it called? A saddle stake? Dog-leg stake?

Where can I get one?

How much does it cost?

How soon can I have it?

Re: My 5000th post: In Which I debut my new 14th century ki

My 5000th post: In Which I debut my new 14th century kit.

Re-fitting my greaves.

what kind of stake do I need for greaves?