The Armour Archive

I don't know if you've seen these but they are all the rage right now in the rapier community. Apparently there was almost a riot at Gulf Wars when Darkwood ran out of the things, and two of the local rapier guys swear by them - light, allows the air in, guaranteed to pass a blade-fail test and a semi-historic solution to the many armouring requirements we have.

My question is, how would you wear one? I would want it hidden, but I certainly don't want it against the skin.
Is the weave large enough to point hose to it?
If you wear it over the shirt and put a doublet over it, it hangs below the doublet by 8-10 inches.
Do you tuck it into the hose? (eesh, I hope not!)

Anyone ever point hosen to the shirt?

Honestly, if you want the protection without the look I would go with 1 of 2 other options.

1 buy a spectra fencing doublet. Then you can hide it and be good to go.

2 make a rapier doublet with 3 layers, outer layer of linen, middle layer of chainmaille, and inner layer of linen. Kind of a padded Jack with chainmaille in the middle instead of plates.

The chain shirts are cool, but really designed to be worn on the outside.

You should probably wear the mail under at least one layer. Normally, I wear a linen shirt, mail, and a linen doublet. My doublets are 17th c. though, so they are longer and the mail only shows a bit. In very hot weather, I wear Under Armor heat shirt, mail, and a linen shirt. I tuck the mail into my breeches. Even under my C&T gear, which includes a buff coat, the mail permits more air flow and aids in cooling.

I personally hate spectra, but YMMV.

But depending on what era and what sort of SCA rapier fighting you are engaging in, mail is appropriate. I have seen period art showing early/mid 16th century soldiers wearing a doublet, then mail, then a jerkin. European settlers wore mail in the New World after it had gone out of use in Europe since it was still effective against native weapons. Hidden mail is even period, at least according to some accounts of duellists wearing mail under their doublets. Probably because they realized their mouth wrote a check their ass couldn't cash, as my dad would say.

"My question is, how would you wear one? I would want it hidden, but I certainly don't want it against the skin.
Is the weave large enough to point hose to it?"
No the space between is less then 1/8.
You could in theory but you would litteraly need to be sewn into your garb.

"If you wear it over the shirt and put a doublet over it, it hangs below the doublet by 8-10 inches.
Do you tuck it into the hose? (eesh, I hope not!)"

If I was wearing the chainmail I would wear them tucked.
A thin close fitting linnen shirt or underarmour body suit is long enuff to avoid skin contact.
A second layer to cover.
My pluderhosen has enuff room to accomidate and still be comfortable.
A chainmail tutu would just ruin the look.
I know a few people wear them outside being appropriate for their persona.

At this point I don't have one of darkwoods shirts

If you wanted to point hosen to it you could always sew the cords to the hosen and some larger rings to teh bottom of the shirt. Or you could sew the cord to the shirt for that matter.

I wear one.

The chain doesn't look like armor. It looks like butches mail, hide it. It is nearly invisible under clothing, I keep getting marshals questioning how my thin shirt passes punch test.
I wear a t-shirt if it is under 70 or under armor if it is over 70, then the chain, then a linen tunic. It is so breathable that when wearing under armor on a cool and breezy day, I will freeze to death after I stop fighting. I tuck it directly into my pants, over underwear. It never bothers my leg skin or hair. It is wearable directly on the chest with minimal skin pinching and hair pulling, it's only a mild inconvenience if you forget your undershirt.

It's sturdy enough to point hose to if you use more then one ring. I don't think it would look very good. I also wouldn't sew it into a garment. One of it's greatest advantages is that you can wear any garb you want over it. At War I can wear a new clean undershirt and tunic every day on the field.

Gavin

Ok, I understand the type of mail we're talking about now. Should have went to the company's website.