The Armour Archive

I'm getting back into SCA heavy, and after my first go at it the other day I have decided that my leg armor is crap. I have some old SS legs I made around some knee cops I bought that are about 5 sizes too big. I have bad knees now, so I want to lighten the weight on my legs. I am going for late 15th cent. Alsace / Haguenau area man-at-arms. There are plenty of examples from this period of soldiers fighting without armor on their legs, but I haven't seen any with anything but plate on their legs if they are armored. When I get to it I am going to make split hose to wear, and want to make something that has a sleek profile on my legs so it still gives the appearance of being unarmored.

I was thinking of making a quilted cuisse that has some plastic splints in it the same color as my hose, and having it tie on the leg with grommets so it fits close to the thigh. For the knees I was thinking of making close fitting soupcan knees and either blackening them or painting them the same color as my hose.

I am working on a pair of German style legs that when I finish I will wear when I want to look good, but for practice and melees I want something a little lighter. I looked around in a search and didn't find much. I saw one example of a guy who had tall boots with a knee cop built in, but I want to wear turnshoes. Any ideas?

The reinforced gamboised cuisse idea, laced on all the way up and fitted to your every curve in your upper leg, is a good one. Remember to put some of your reinforce upon the great trochanter of your thighbone somehow, even if you have to articulate it horizontally; it's kind of vulnerable to a hard-driven bastard sword cutting at the hip. You'll like hardening that spot up. Your splints will likely want some hot-forming to lay them closest to your skin, so have that heat gun and a flexible rule or a long pipecleaner handy -- even a piece of wire to provide reference curves, probably for each individual splint. A helper is good; this is a hard one to get with your own eyes.

I'd not suggest soupcan knees though, but fanless cops of a later form instead. Not only more period accurate but dished deeper too. You know now that you don't want a knee cop that is big enough to use as a kid's cerveilliere. That's what five-sizes-too-big sounds like.

Lacing the cuisse on could mean small grommets, though middle-size eyelets may suffice (grommets are big enough for rope), or corset-lacing rings sewn into circular buttonholes -- very very strong and better concealed. You may find some suitable-size spacer rings in town somewhere; that's basically what corset rings are. Preferably rustproof ones.

Let's see... short skirts at and over the hips? Might help with the transition from leg- to torso-protection.

My breastplates faulds cover my hips pretty good, thanks for the advice. I haven't done much plastic shaping but I will give it a shot. Could you point me to some examples of the knees that would work better?

Thanks!

Shaping 2" strips of HDPE should be pretty easy, as you're coping with less of plastic's lousy heat conductivity. And I hear you can get HDPE leaning to soft and formable by stewing it in boiling water until it's heated right through. Then if necessary you can tong it out of there and tweak it using the heat gun, for it will take it a little while to cool down and stiffen.

Fanless cops are dead easy too: check out Low Cost Armor, Yet Again for some not too out of date prices.

Mad Matt's Simple Fanless Knees look more 15th-century than his Soupcans a couple entries further up the page.

Bokalo's Armoury aluminum fanless -- same price as everyone else so far, has a quite white look. Kneecops two dollars more the pair than elbows.

Rough From The Hammer about halfway down the page, fanned and fanless.

Et cetera at length. They're, like, falling out of the Net.

This is a google you could have done for yourself. I am rather surprised and a little disappointed you don't seem to have.