Kings Lance Leg armour

Magnus The Black · Post by **Magnus The Black** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:01 am

I have a friend who bought some Kings lance leg armour. They are 3/4 steel legs with a 5 piece knee and a center flute down the full length. Here is a link to what he bought. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 45785&rd=1
My impression is they aren't bad for the price he paid. They are well made and surely strong enough for SCA combat being 16 ga steel. They were impossibley narrow in the thigh though and also quite long in that measurement. He is 5'11" and we had to both flare the top and spread the thigh for them to fit him. This wasnt easy with the flute, the guage of metal, and the rolled edges. We also had to tighten one lame to prevent gapping as it was too loose. The adjustements were not unusal for off the rack armor in order to get it to fit. The only diapointment was the gapping on lame of one leg in which we corrected with the tightening of key rivets. For the $125 buy it now price they are some damn fine legs that will allow my friend to authorize before and then fight at Gulfwars this year. I see no reason why they shouldn't give years of good service. I'm usually not big on indian armour but this was a good buy.

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:30 am

For $125 he could have had Mandrake armoury legs, not to mention several other American armories.

These look OK, but not great. I've bought these same articulated knees from Von Sussen for $25. Could have added a cuise and demigreave yourself for not much more...

BTW-King's lance stole the pattern for these knees from Von Sussen and changed the wing design slightly.

Thought you might want to know.

Magnus The Black · Post by **Magnus The Black** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:56 am

Trevor wrote:For $125 he could have had Mandrake armoury legs, not to mention several other American armories.

These look OK, but not great. I've bought these same articulated knees from Von Sussen for $25. Could have added a cuise and demigreave yourself for not much more...

BTW-King's lance stole the pattern for these knees from Von Sussen and changed the wing design slightly.

Thought you might want to know.

Thats nice. I didn't see any $125 legs On Mandrakes page. Nor did I see any $25 from von sussen. He got a good deal I think on my nice steel legs. He also got them this week. He's happy, He has his own stuff so I'm happy. Yes I could have probably made him a pair myself but not for $125 worth of my time & materials. Some folks just have to say bad about anything :roll:

As far as stealing designs please, what is it you think we do everytime we copy something from the middle ages and make armour from it. Unless the guy broke in to Von sussens shop and stole his patterns from his files I see no issue.

DAVID01 · Post by **DAVID01** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:11 pm

Kings Lance don't make their own armour anyway, they buy it from India. It must have been those Indians who stole the pattern :wink:

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:58 pm

Not trying to piss on your pop tarts-I just am trying to show you a better way to get cheap armor.

Don't get me wrong-$125 is a good price. It's not a great price, though. Especially for something that probably cost King's Lance $35 wholesale. I just want to see the American armorers thrive because it's better for our hobby to have people local doing this professionally.

And the $25 may not be accurate-it may be $35, but I know that it was a good deal. And, Von Susen did contract with an Indian company to produce his knees. A year later, the same knee (you might not be able to tell the difference, but most folks here can) with a different wing design started showing up on the king's lance website. Von Sussen isn't upset about this, but it chafes me to see a company in India get patterns and training from an American armorer and then turn around and start selling it somehwere else.

If you're going to buy these from King's Lance-try offering him $50 each for dozen of them. I'll bet he takes it.

James B. · Post by **James B.** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 3:59 pm

Van Sussen and Kingslance both order from India, the same suppliers half the time. Kingslance just charges less sometimes. A good example are the flat riveted maille shirts. Kingslance sells a shirt for $299 Van Sussen sells the same one for $599, they are the exact same shirt from the same maker. Van Sussen has nicer stuff which seems to be the same as GRFB has produces, Historic Enterprises sells the GRFB stuff for less than VS sells his same made shirt, $845 from HE and $999 form VS.

Gwydion Caithnes · Post by **Gwydion Caithnes** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:09 pm

Not to hijack the thread, but I guess the gauntlets Kingslance sells aren't SCA legal anymore...

BlackRain · Post by **BlackRain** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:11 pm

I am also considering buying a pair of those legs... could you tell me how much they weigh? I want to know if the guy is jacking me for the shipping weight. Thanks for the help.

Best Regards,

Magnus The Black · Post by **Magnus The Black** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:51 pm

I think the 15lbs he states is probably pretty accurate but I'll ask my buddy.

Magnus The Black · Post by **Magnus The Black** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:06 pm

18lbs total shipping weight.

Gawin der Vuchs · Post by **Gawin der Vuchs** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:47 pm

Hello all,

The legs that Magnus is referring to are mine. Just thought I'd put in my two cents.

Yes I am sure that the legs I got aren't the best thing available but I had a couple considerations that made them a good deal.

One was that most of the legs of that type I was seeing were $300+. The only legs I see on Mandrake are currently $400.

Second was the fact that I could get those legs in less than a week and be able to fight in them and authorize in them now. The time from ordering to having them ready to fight was under a week.

Say what you will about Kings Lance, the legs I bought were exactly as advertised and will do what I need done for a reasonable price.

Also the 18lbs weight was what UPS reported as the weight for the entire package.

ARMOURER ERIC · Post by **ARMOURER ERIC** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 6:33 pm

You should buy my stock legs that are currently on ebay for $145.

Go to the ebay link at my homepage:

www.jamesriverarmoury.com

I custom fit the cuisse to your size. Much better quality than Kingslance, Made in US by me.

Eric

DAVID01 · Post by **DAVID01** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:23 pm

ARMOURER ERIC wrote:You should buy my stock legs that are currently on ebay for $145.

Go to the ebay link at my homepage:

www.jamesriverarmoury.com

I custom fit the cuisse to your size. Much better quality than Kingslance, Made in US by me.

Eric

What would you charge to make a set that looks like what he bought?

BlackRain · Post by **BlackRain** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:17 pm

I took a look at the legs you have on your site.... and like it was said in the previous post how much for the Kings Lance style of leg.... flutes and all including the gothic style Knee articualte. No offence but plain jane just isn't my style.

Best Regards,

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:58 am

I've got two sets of legs from ebay that were made by Mandrake for $125 each. They weren't bought from Mandrake, but they were new and unused.

BlackRain · Post by **BlackRain** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:49 pm

Well post us some pics there Trevor... if it's what I am looking for I may be interested.

Best Regards,

Kings Lance Leg armour

Kings Lance Leg armour

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