The Armour Archive

A question for all of you, I have a Norman conical that I am going to be using for SCA heavy combat. what I need to know is how to go about making a period (12th C) chin strap. As it stands now I was going to use a spare Kevlar chinstrap. any help or suggestions would be appreciated

I think that a regular under-the-jaw style strap would have been appropriate, but with SCA helms having solid fronts and our game using big cushy face thrusts, you really want something that will split or cup over your chin, to keep the helm away from your face. There are some historical compromises you must make in the name of safety, and I think this is one of them. Use a leather chin strap that cups over your chin, and make up for the lack of authenticity with a nice kite shield and lots of maille.

There's an essay somewhere online by Michael De Lacy, outlining construction of chinstraps for SCA combat. I'll go dig around & post it.

~Wil

I fight in a "norman" with a face cage,
please note on the following that I am wearing an arming cap, and coif
I use stiff padding (ensolite) and work to exactly fit the helm to my head (eyebrows up) so that the helm can barely be rocked in any direction.
At that point I add a back pad to the rear of the helm.
My chinstrap anchors just barely foreward of the tips of my ears (upper), basicly on a line with my jaw. It goes just in front of my gorget, and cinches down hard to lock the helm in place.
I have fought in this helm for 12+ years, and have yet to have the cage driven into my face.
As a note you do have to play around with this style of "chinstrap" to get it set properly, otherwise the helm can pivot with bad consequences around the anchor points
You have to pad the helm for an exact fit (why would you want anything else?)
and you really can't talk that much once the chinstrap is tightened - but you're out there to fight, not chat