The Armour Archive

Old_bear

Luckily, I'll take chastisement and Harrumph's from MY good Master at any time! Knuut, the flat ring mail looks great, by the way.

Aaron

[This message has been edited by old_bear (edited 09-18-2003).]

Old_bear

Currently, I'm building a roundnosed klappvisor w/ interchange, a pair of 14th C. spring steel legs with formed cuisses and a pair of spaulders. Then on to a breast plate, the old one hasn't completely rusted through, but close. Hopefully, soon I can get back to the one piece raised hourglass gauntl...

Old_bear

I'm working on the step by step explanation of this offline and will be posting it soon.

Aaron

Old_bear

I'll add my little "cautionary tale" about gluing padding into helmets, to this also. I built my bascinet in about 1983 (before my reign), and in my pride I didn't paint the inside AND I glued the padding in. Well, recently I was polishing the old hat up and noticed a very peculiar "pit" in the side...

Old_bear

Thanks, that's a great site. It has already wreaked havoc on my checking account!

Aaron

Old_bear

So you all can see what passes for fun at the ol' shoppe....

A good solid day of throwing each others work away and trying to pop the articulations... heh heh.

And you wonder why no one wants to come and play...

Aaron

Old_bear

Jehan, Thank you. At this time, I'm only working in Master Cad's shop, helping out with occasional projects and directing traffic on open armouring nights (we get upwards of twenty people in there) and rebuilding my ancient kit, I've got armour that's from before my reign ('83). Unfortunately, I'm v...

Old_bear

Thank you. I started with 12ga. and really worked the center, with the last "pass" done hot. I work the eyes from the inside, over the edge of the anvil, the edge has a small radius to it, so I don't gouge the metal up. I also mostly planish it from the inside with a long, agressive raising hammer (...

Old_bear

Very nice work. Must be something in the air... Everybody's making roundnoses! Good detail on the ocularium. Another hammer that really helps is a stone mason's hammer, get 1 1/2 pound or heavier and radius the long cross-peen end. It will add some real authority to your blows and helps in boxing ou...

Old_bear

Pedro, Looks like a good start. You seem to be getting a nice shape overall. The lower back plate has maybe a bit too much dishing in it, the backs tend to be a little flatter where the spine is, and a slight bulge on either side of the spine for the muscles that run along side. This is not a great ...

Old_bear

Well if everyone else is showing their projects in progress... here's a roundnose visor I'm working on. Go to: http://home.earthlink.net/~old_bear/id14.html I figured after 20 plus years maybe I should make one for myself. It's mild steel, worked mostly from the inside, it been about 4 1/2 - 5 hours...

Old_bear

I used to own a Panther marquee and used to think it was great. I mostly had good experience with it, but it really started to sag. We had to put blocks under all of the poles to get it to stay tight. I realized that the center pole was too short from the get go. I managed to get a Past Tents round,...

Old_bear

They go back into the 13th Century. Though they probably would have been a brigandine form, see the effigy of Don Alvaro de Cabrera of Ager (d.1299). At first the sabatons would cover the top of the foot. By the first quarter of the 14th C. they made them both brigandine and exposed metal. They seem...

Old_bear

Here's some info on English coinage from that time range. Though the French did have some great looking coins throughout the period. We'll start with Edward III (1327-1377) The country saw a rise in prosperity, and the coinage reflects it. Large silver denominations appear, and a gold coinage is per...

Old_bear

Thank you for posting the photographs! What great experience. Nice shape on the cervelliere. What is the shape of the stake you are raising over?

Aaron

[This message has been edited by old_bear (edited 09-09-2003).]

Old_bear

It looks interesting, however it only seems come out twice a year. Seems like a bit of a hit for 2 issues. However you can order it through Amazon.com.

Aaron

Old_bear

My apologies, I don't want this getting bristly. And though you are largely correct about the overall SCA's lack of authenticity, I've insulated myself from it by collecting like minded people around me and my group. I still believe in Force of Example NOT the Example of Force! Back to topic: You ca...

Old_bear

>Listen to this advice if you are interested in authenticity in LH or reenactment. Ignore it and do what you want if it's just for the SCA.<

Hey, go easy on the pot-shots there, cowboy.
Some of us still care.

Aaron

Old_bear

Stephen, are you thinking of the Great Bascinet in Churburg? It was the one belonging to Ulrich IX. It dates from 1445-1450. It has a rounder topped skull with the liftable frogmouth visor.

Aaron

Old_bear

I used one for years for polishing bronze jewelry, and they're great. If you are looking to polish larger pieces, you'll need a larger unit, the one you've linked to would be good for smaller jewelry and parts. The shape on the inside is like a torus (a donut), that inner diameter needs to be large ...

Old_bear

Max,
We used some of the 2" because that's what my shop had laying around, however the 3" would give you better coverage. Magnus ran some along the wrist also. I'll send some to Cheval if he ever get's me his address.

If you are working on some, post progress pictures.

Aaron

Old_bear

If there are any not spoken for, I'd be interested in picking some up.

Thanks,
Aaron

Old_bear

To the folks planning to attend, start thinking about projects that you'd like help patterning. I'll primarily be talking about the basics of patterning, but pretty much anything is fair game. I think it's very important for aspiring armourers to learn how to lay out your own patterns based on the o...

Old_bear

Really, quite nice work! Do you heat treat them assembled? Do you do heat treatment yourself? Also, (here's the nit picky part) Why isn't the wrist lame dished? The originals I've seen have a shaped wrist lame, it give you much more range of motion. Thank you for posting the shots. Good inspiration....

Old_bear

Max, Here's the info and the link to the felt: It is from a Exhibit and Display supply house, and comes in 1/8" and 1/4" thickness, up to 3" wide, with and without adhesive backing. It's sold as crate liner. It runs about $9 - $25 a roll, depending on width. Here's the URL: http://www.dslgroup.com/G...

Old_bear

It helps to have a few us as "traffic directors"...

A.

Old_bear

Don't get me wrong, I think people should do some of their own legwork when it comes to research, however, I've been trying to make heads or tails of the above site for weeks with no avail. Just those two little search words helped a great deal. For a non-German speaker the site is a little tough to...

Old_bear

Drake, Sorry about the late reply, Magnus hosted a nice Barrier Tournament this weekend, small turnout but we all had a great workout. I took a look at the photos, it doesn't look like it's too big a problem. It looks like you just need to remove the rivet and then go through the glove layer also. T...

Old_bear

Looks like a good start. Do you have a metacarpel plate (back of hand) that you are fitting to or are you starting with the fingers? The last finger plate looks it may be a little long, depending on the size of that metacarpel plate. What tools do you have access to? We'll see what we can help you m...

Old_bear

Pedro,
It's good to see you are still building armour, or again. You're work seems to be coming along quite nicely! I'm afraid I didn't recognize your new moniker, Cad had to tell me. Good detailing on the visor. Are you going to make a bevor to match?

A.

Old_bear

Do you mean metal guage thickness, or width of the plate across the finger?

I like to use the spring pallet banding, that's about 20 ga. or 18 ga. mild steel.

Width is 1" - 1 1/8" before curling.

A.

Old_bear

Brian, Yeah, the 27th was bad for me, it is our Baronial Champions Tournament. I can't speak for Cad, I'm pretty sure I can make it on the 4th. This is more of a R & D type get together, rather than a hands-on meeting? One of the things that I've really noticed, while lurking on the Archive, is peop...

Old_bear

So, did anyone take photos...?

A.

Old_bear

That's an interesting shot. Where's it from?

The only other photos I've found are in "Les armures des Rois de France au Musee de l'Armee" and those aren't all that good.

A.

Old_bear

No, you're not driving us crazy, you are asking good questions. How else do we(as a group) find out, how many time do we have to reinvent that same wheel? Magnus used a deer skin glove on his and used cow on mine. I've had good luck with cow, the deer tend towards stretching more than I care for. Ma...

New Klappvisor