Late 14th c legs with dished cuisses

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:26 am

I finally riveted these together. The strapping still needs to be done.

These legs were primarily based on the CH-54 legs in Churburg. I wanted to try this style with the dished cuisses. All forming was done by hand either hot or cold. Material is mild steel, coated in beeswax.

Pictures are low res to meet upload requirements.

There are a number of things I'd like to have done differently. Feel free to comment.

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:29 am

Here's another picture.

The breastplate I made years ago. Now I need to work on the rest of the suit.

Konstantin the Red · Post by **Konstantin the Red** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:48 am

Ornate custom hinges for the win! Do 'em yourself, or is there somebody out there doing medieval or medieval-plausible decorative hinges?

Still waiting on the actual breastplate pic, though.

Pitbull Armory · Post by **Pitbull Armory** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:17 am

Hi there, Nice looking legs, interesting how theres no lame over the cop, the cuisse is dished out on the lower edge. I like the hinges too nice touch, Did you make them? Keep up the good work.

Take care

Pitbull

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:09 am

These were my main project this summer. The goal is to make the whole kit for historic SCA tournaments. I made the hinges from 18 ga. and added some chisel work. The hinges and wrap plates are not on the original example.

The dished cuisse added a lot of complexity to the shaping, and the main benefit is to match the originals. I see why they stopped doing it.

Three late 14th century examples of this construction are the legs from Churburg, a similar set in the Royal Armories, and the child's leg harness in Chartres.

Here are some reference pictures from Cad's site:

http://www.mallet-argent.com/authentic.html

http://www.mallet-argent.com/images/leg ... 5-70_1.jpg

http://www.mallet-argent.com/images/leg ... 5-70_2.jpg

It looks like the St. George statue pictured uses the same leg construction.

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:31 am

Konstantin the Red,

I looked up the thread on the breastplate, but all the image links are dead for my old site. I would also have to admit that it was done in 2004 and I only just finished the legs. :oops:

At least I have not changed size. Here's an image of test fitting some parts with masking tape straps. The mail weighs a ton and restricts a lot of overhead arm motion. I don't know how much I'll use it.

schreiber · Post by **schreiber** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:33 am

Hey, Jacob, you need to get us close up pics of the hinges!
And while you're at it, get us a pic of how you did the chisel work. I'm sure you'll get a few drools out of that.

fghthty545y · Post by **fghthty545y** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 2:04 pm

Wow, I had never noticed that bulbous dished area on the origional cuissies until now!

Galfrid atte grene · Post by **Galfrid atte grene** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:03 pm

Nice work. I find that adding shape beyond just the cone section and crease to a cuisse is helpful for both fit and strength. Its also important in order to achieve the correct look for this period.

Frederich Von Teufel · Mon Nov 08, 2010 5:28 pm

This is a very difficult piece to recreate, congratulations on a very nice job. The hinges help to really give it that extra 'oomph', but I think that the shaping in the quisse and the recreation of the fan area itself are good. I think you are already aware of all of your problem areas so I won't reiterate them, but I'd like to see you work on your square rolls as that would be a good area to improve your skills.

Frederich

Alec · Post by **Alec** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:52 pm

Hey Jacob, great job recreating that no upper lame look. I look at the pics of the originals and can't picture how to get enough movement to suit SCA combat. Well done. Its a very sweet detail that sets these apart from the crowd!

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:41 am

Here is a closer picture of the hinges. They are 18 ga, folded over a nail, and the chisel pattern was added to the outside. The first one I made was huge, so I made these smaller. I still think they're bigger than they should be. The originals are very small. Most of the work was in cutting and filing the pieces. The chisel work was done with specially forged chisels and a treadle hammer. However, a blunt chisel and a hand hammer still would have finished all of them in a few minutes.

The triangular rolls are what I'm least happy with. They turned out to be more difficult than expected and are not right for these legs anyway. The originals had a smaller roll and less of a corkscrew shape across the top. I knew better than to make my first triangular rolls on otherwise finished legs that I was happy with, but I did it anyway.

I wouldn't claim to know all of the historic problems with these, but I have had the opportunity to talk with a number of excellent armourers about them. Some of the suggestions at Pennsic were added before riveting them. Others involved a lot more reworking or replacing of parts.

Other suggestions have included straightening the rivet lines, trimming more excess, bringing in the fan, adding more shape to the demi-greave, and underlapping the wrap plate. Some of the lines and proportions are off, but overall I'm still happy with the attempt. Any other suggestions will go into an eventual second try. However, the rest of the suit will be made first, and probably a lot of other stuff before I start over on these.