The Armour Archive

My search fu is weak. I am looking for a helmet to convert for SCA heavy rapier and possibly cut and thrust. It would need to be big enough for a 23-24 inch head with minimal padding-I think it's still only 1/4" closed cell foam or equivalent? I have perf plate and can cut and weld if need be. Any help is much appreciated.

Something like an India-built morion in 16 or 18 gauge sheet, then?

Hind Handicrafts says theirs is 16.

That's just one cheapo example I got off Googling "morion for sale" -- there are nicelooking and more expensive ones available too from various European shippers; ninety pounds sterling here, a hundred ninety-eight Euros there, this one's got an interior shot giving you a fair picture of its welded segments for $62 plus $31.90 shipping. Looks like there's a lot of stuff to find, Googling on "morion" or "cabasset" or any other sort of sixteenth/seventeenth-century infantry hat and being prepared to work up lower-half coverage.

Either would work but it's not always easy to determine size.

Some of them give measurements, too; that seems encouraging.

The morions and burgonets I have converted trended on the small side. The Burg I rebuilt from the ears down to accommodate my neck length.

One thing to look out for with morions and cabbasets for C&T is back of the head protection. Depending on neck length and how it sits on your head it may need a plate back there to be legal.

All of them need to be dialed in carefully with the gorget if you intend to fight without a hood.

I recommend burgonets for rapier and C&T. They are just about perfect for our rule set.