The Armour Archive

Kel Rekuta

I feel as though I must elaborate some on what I have said. Iâ€™ve thought about these issues for thirty years now. Iâ€™ve wondered many times "where does the mail end when it disappears under a gorget plate ?" My conclusions have vacillated among different solutions. Then, about a year a...

Kel Rekuta

(Am I totally missing something?) Yes. Armoured combat with rebated swords doesn't have to be lethal, nor does it have to simulate lethal combat. It can be counted blows, tournament style, thrusting to the plate for safety and friendly sport. Like medieval people did as well. You need to talk to yo...

Kel Rekuta

It's possible that the first guy EVER to think of hitting someone in the back of the head with the back of a sword (rattan, steel or otherwise) was Duke Radnor of Guildemar back in 1979 (although I am sure there are others in the SCA who might claim it - Radnor actually denies it) Nah, they were co...

Kel Rekuta

Kel, did you find an online image of Jacopo's effigy? I haven't yet. Just the tourism one looking up the stairs at the sarcophagus. (yeah, Marsden etc) And all the places selling the action figurine. Those at least resemble the source, usually. Like I said, need to find better pictures of this effi...

Kel Rekuta

Angusm0628 wrote:Asking if we want pics? That's like asking if we enjoy breathing..

Burn up some bandwidth...

Child armour of Dauphin Charles (later VI) in the treasury at Chartres Cathedral
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en ... 2520Tresor

Kel Rekuta

Thanks for posting those Strongbow! I'd seen them before but it had been awhile. I WAS thinking the liner for helm and aventail were one piece. But it looks like the aventail liner might attach to the helmet liner somehow. Looking forward to the article... Otto - They are done in two pieces, helmet...

Kel Rekuta

Just to clarify, are you speaking of actually padding under the mail or where one would attach a helmet liner? The aventail is not normally padded nor does it need to be. I respectfully disagree. I think the shape of the aventail in many sources suggests it IS padded at least sometimes. Here's some...

Kel Rekuta

Thanks Cet.

Kel Rekuta

I probably found this image here or Arador back in 2003. If you recognize it, is it an artefact or a reproduction? If an historical piece, where does it reside? I am very curious about the finial on the base of the visor.

Thanks in advance for any help available.

Kel Rekuta

Doesn't tallow rot? Also: mink or neatsfoot oil will soften the item in question. Since this is an armor forum I'll assume that this is a bad thing. Johnson's paste wax. I get mine at Lowe's. Not very shiny. $5 a can and it will protect your mild steel as well. I'm going to end up getting about 4 c...

Kel Rekuta

I'll skim thru the stack of Shop Talk back issues looking for the article. Maybe the tannery I read about is gone now, a number of US tanners have closed down in the last couple years. EPA making the world safe for humanity and all that. I imagine the market for US tawed horsehide is limited now tha...

Kel Rekuta

Well, all the blows I've received to head slowed me down a bit but here it is: m (includes a link to their ad in the Big Book. Great resource.) Tennessee Tanning Co. PO Box 967 Tullahoma, TN 37388 Phone: 931-455-3441 Fax: 931-455-3460 E-Mail: mcunningham@rawlings.com I read an article about tawed le...

Kel Rekuta

[quote="danfrombham"]to make sure I understand you, all I have to do is put the cotter pins in spread the legs and duct tape them in place? I already have an aventail on my bascinet but its being held by acorn nuts (look okay but not that great). I was just going to use the same holes for ...

Kel Rekuta

Hey Kel I'll do a special price for you of 450 if you like. I've priced it to be competitive with steel mastery. Why, you don't have a month shipping delay? People will pay you $450 I'm sure. I paid $900 for mine six years ago. Mind you my man Thak had it to me in nine days . Anyway lining holes ar...

Kel Rekuta

The Big Flush dumped a couple of threads that discussed options for lining drinking vessels pretty thoroughly. One of the many unfortunate pieces that we lost. The subject got covered pretty well, but you probably never had a chance to look at them Yeah. There are, to my knowledge, two versions of ...

Kel Rekuta

No questions or feedback from anyone but Irish ? I'm a bit surprised. Okay, you asked. Straight "can" designs are pretty boring to look at. Perfectly functional and likely a period design but... boring. The "pear" shaped wide bottom designs as seen in "Black Jacks and Leath...

Kel Rekuta

Russ Mitchell wrote:I would love to find some alum-tanned horsehide to play with... Kel, if you're sitting on a source, give it up and PM me already.

Let me look it up the Big Book. The tannery is in Tennessee or Alabama or some such. I'll get back to you.

Kel Rekuta

Hey that's a great bargain Matt! I think you've underpriced it though. A couple minor suggestions: Extend the visor's bottom rear edge a bit in both directions to accommodate an aventail. This might leave a nasty gap between the bowl and visor right at the jaw line. Trust me, a sword point there HUR...

Kel Rekuta

Thanks for the outstanding effort to share your work through these videos. This generous gift of your time, time that could be spent making more delightful armour, is deeply appreciated. My compliments!

Kel Rekuta

Tandy has a couple lines of dyes. I've used various colors of their Fiebing's dyes on my own belts (brown and black before I was a squire, now red) and armour (red). I've never used the white, but if it's comparable in quality with their others it might give you the results you desire. Anyway, a 4-...

Kel Rekuta

Estaban wrote:This one also has a different visor as well(a face). This is Master Ugo in his kit. He has made a couple of Armets and is working on a new one (wow, just wow, negroli et al)

Its just so sad to have that rattan stick in that photo. Good Lord, what an armour!

Kel Rekuta

I would say stagger the straps so the pivot point is on a diagonal across the blade. That ought to help substantially. Yes this works well even on massively out of balance Heimrich rondel daggers. You also might want to look at some of the examples where the dagger rides behind/through a pouch. The...

Kel Rekuta

If that's hand-stitching, that's a damn good job. I wish I could say yes, but a while ago I decided a Tippman Boss stitcher would be a good investment, I think it's almost paid for itself... almost.. Oh, it probably has. Those things hold their value at resale. I couldn't find one used under $1000....

Kel Rekuta

I'm honestly surprised they used wood lanthorns, instead of metal ones, given how disastrous a shipboard fire would have been, Hmm, indeed. Im not sure how many were actually found....that might be more telling. Eight hinged door and ten sliding (up) door, mostly made from poplar and beech respecti...

Kel Rekuta

Crap, I had planned on making some of these but you beat me to it. I also wrote to the people from the MR museum. They got back to me fairly quickly and answered most of my questions, although they tossed in a note at the end of the email stating that it is described further in their book. (Can't r...

Kel Rekuta

This is how I am envisioning the Mary Rose lantern construction, partly based on Kels description above: Either a small wedge is inserted from above to effectively widen the cylindrical end of the "pane divider" thus making it hard to pull out.. Yes, that's basically what a foxed tenon is...

Kel Rekuta

I've seen them in the exhibits at the Naval museum. They are well documented in a chapter of "Artefacts from Shipwrecks" Mark Redknap,ed. Oxbow Books 1997 ISBN 1900188392. The lathe ends have pins shaped into them for the last 25mm to fit holes in top and bottom disks. Each lathe is groove...

Kel Rekuta

Matt is the guy locally for steel armour. In addition, while it's leather and not steel, there also Master Tarkatai near Hamilton. He is an excellent leather worker and has made lots of armour bits for people out at that end of Ontario. There's also Kel out at the military base near Trenton who doe...

Kel Rekuta

Ive got some great pine and what I suspect to be poplar or maple boards that are each about 16 inches wide X 9 feet long X 1.5 inches....and am itching to make something new. Anyone seen a study in the types of wood used in various European regions? Oak seems obvious for many extant pieces but I go...

Kel Rekuta

G-day Merv, Do you have the book Constructing Medieval Furniture. If so go to p10-11. If not I will be at training on sunday.. Thanks Warren.......I have the book.......thanks ! ....cause forgot it had 'metal' in it....great for hinges, etc, but I still gotta figure out the curley bits of the Fleur...

Kel Rekuta

Untill we get some true monster longbow around, I'm just not going to be satisfied. I wanna see some 140lb bows used. Again I ask what proof do we have men used bows like that on a normal bases? The Mary Rose is where all these monster bows are found and they were mounted on the ship so a man only ...

Kel Rekuta

who sells the blanks? I knew kingslance did for a time but he seemed to drop them and I though they were 16 gauge. They look good, RPM We got a batch of them from Valentine in 2005. Whonew welded them properly for combat. They are 14ga. unlike the light ones on sale now. These have been fitted out ...

Kel Rekuta

Coitus interuptus moritubus?

Kel Rekuta

Hello Matt, My main feed back would be the slots need to go away as in German Longsword the blade can come in in a thrust to the face flat (It's that German thumb grip for the upper guard known as Ochs). Some of the feedback at SFI would be a lighter gauge steel as a option. One again, thank you fo...

Kel Rekuta

That only took eight hours

Nice work.

Re: Wraps

Re: Camail padding

Location of a klappvisor bascinet

Re: Thoughts

droopy dagger hilts

Re: Hand Stitching

Say what?

Re: wood species used for furniture ..

Re: Fleur de Lys