The Armour Archive

Ok, tonight was pretty cool. About a month ago I met this guy and found out he had an interest in swords and things medieval. So we started hanging out and going to workouts and such. A couple of weeks ago he got into my stuff and fought for the very first time at a practise down in college park. He was hooked. So in the next couple of weeks we worked on his armor. Tonight we finished up and went to another workout where he got out on the floor for the second time, only this time it was in entirely his own armor, made and fitted to him.
I got a couple of pics tonight, figured I'd share them with y'all.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v95/ratangei/Batu.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v95/ratangei/Batu3.jpg[/img]
The bazubands and greaves are hardend leather, I tooled the symbol into the bazubands. The lamellar is noble plastics. We're still working on the gorget and half gauntlets but they're coming right along. Thanks a lot to Uilleag for a lot of help and the loan of some tools as well. Really made a huge difference.
Anyhow, I figured I'd post this for the 'Tuchux look like shit' crowd.

Cool.

Nice bazubands. What's he waring for leg armor?

Thanks for the compliment. I made 'em myself. He helped too. The leg armor are shovel greaves a whole lot like the ones Uilleag makes. Not a perfect copy but taken directly from that inspiration. He was instrumental in showing me how to work the leather like that and while I have a long ways to go till I'm at his level he's done everything he could to help me get there some day.
The shovel greaves are unobtrusive because the mongols at the time period we like werent really wearing leg armor that I know of. But making allowences to the game we play we liked the protection.
BTW his name is Batu and he's all about it

Very nice, Animal. Really. I impressed as hell.

A word of advice from a guy who nearsighted and wears glasses. See if Batu can use soft, disposable contacts while fighting. I've been using them for about a year and a half and they've never given me any problems. Smashed glasses suck.

Mord.

He takes them off for fighting, but he's also looking into contacts. I wear contacts too, I'm blind as a bat without them.
Glad you liked the kit. I gotta give a lot of credit to Batu. He came into this basically cold and ended up making the dishing stump, the t stake, now the ball stake as well. He's got his hands on every piece of his armor and put a lot of work into making it. Not bad for a dog that had never set a rivet before. He put the effort into making his first armor worthy and I gotta respect that.

Nice, Looks like a nice Mongol rig. Even the Plastic lamallar looks good in black.

You might try a scale type brig gorget. Might look nice with it.

what helm are you putting with it?

Animal, Batu,
Cool Shit. particularly that he did a lot of his own work.He might want to think about something on the collar bones though.

We're gonna attempt a Mongol type spangenhelm. He welds so it shouldnt be TOO hard. A local armorer, Baron Heinreich, has offered most gereously to help out. He's a real nice guy and does some pretty cool work. As for the collar bone, I'm looking at making a gorget that covers that along with the neck. I think it's a spanish collar or some such. I'm not good with the terms, but we're gonna do it out of the hardened leather.
We're taking care with his stuff. He's 36, almost my age. And old bones dont heal like they did when we were kids doing this.

Nothing to add other than "very nice". Wish I'd started out in stuff half as good.

Nice work on the lamellar and bazubands. I think it's very cool that he wanted to make his own gear - that's how I got started, too.

Animal wrote:We're gonna attempt a Mongol type spangenhelm. He welds so it shouldnt be TOO hard. A local armorer, Baron Heinreich, has offered most gereously to help out. He's a real nice guy and does some pretty cool work.

Heinreich is who I learn from/work with! He'd mentioned that you were going to come down to the shop at some point, but I haven't been up there since Pennsic - been working on my basement and the room for the incoming baby. He does do some fine work.

Looks great Animal, excellent work!
Look forward to trading some rattan with him sometime!

his collarbones dont look too exposed to me in the pictures. as for a gorget why not drap something off the helm? i havent worn a gorget in some time now that i have my camail (i always forget how to spell that word) attached. my second helm had a leather drape on it that supplied the required neck protection, although i wore a hocky goalies gorget with it.

regards
logan

Animal wrote:We're gonna attempt a Mongol type spangenhelm. He welds so it shouldnt be TOO hard. A local armorer, Baron Heinreich, has offered most gereously to help out. He's a real nice guy and does some pretty cool work. As for the collar bone, I'm looking at making a gorget that covers that along with the neck. I think it's a spanish collar or some such. I'm not good with the terms, but we're gonna do it out of the hardened leather.
We're taking care with his stuff. He's 36, almost my age. And old bones dont heal like they did when we were kids doing this.

A drape is always an option as well. I've not really been hit in the collarbones so I never worried about them much. But fluke shit is always a possiblity.

Looks great, as Marvin said it is much better than my first kit was. What mixture did you use for hardening the leather?

Vebrand

Animal , forgive me for saying it , but no one else has..."Good Dog."

Seriously though, if every new member of this org. showed that much initiative and willigness, we'd all be better off.


Baron Hamish

V,

I can speak for Animal on this one, he used my technique of water casing, work hardening and then heat treating. The over-all project is then sealed with some form of leather finish, either kiwi shoe polish or mink oil, or something similar.

Animal, you and Batu make me very proud with this first kit! I would like to see the greaves up close soon. I would love to see the final shap, (the pic doesn't do them justice). Its always awsome to see the work of someone you have worked with and taught! I wish my first leather armour projects looked even half that good!

Batu should be very proud! That looks great, especially for his first set of armour!

Animal, that just rocks! I really like the look. Nice work with the leather! Congrats on getting another fighter for the Tuchux.

Nice job on the leather. Get the majority of Tuchux up to this standard and you won't have to hear the 'Tuchux look like shit' comments. Or if you do they will be undeserved.

Richard

Now that's the kind of opponent I want to face across the field at Pennsic ... a good helm and I can forget for a few! I totally agree on the soft contacts ... that's what I wear when I'm in full soft gear and hard kit ... makes life easier and keep the "feel" up. As for age ... just an FYI .. the King of the Midrealm (HRM Brannos) just had his 39th B-day a couple days ago ... just to put things in perspective ...

King Thorin of An Tir won this one at 52 ...

Animal.. straight up kick ass! Very nice!

YOu can always go the lucan route.. "fight the blur" (or why he doesnt fall for body twitch fakes.. HE CANT SEE EM!)

same way I fight actually.. if I cannot SEE the stick it cannot HIT me.

course.. I also tend to haft block thrusts cause I'm that attuned to "HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT!"

Maeryk

He looks kinda like Mr T

Heh. I see what you mean now, Animal.

TAUNT=OFF



Look forward to trading blows with him, and you, soon.

Animal,

I couldn't help thinking when I saw the pics that (with the glasses, earrings and facial expression) he actually looks elegant. Is it me, but is the concept of an elegant Tuchux a little odd?

You should both be proud of the appearance. He looks great. How's his fighting? Do you think that he will get better faster if his opponents view him as more experienced that he is?

freiman the minstrel

Hmmm, elegant. Why not? We are a proud people, wealthy in goods. Why shouldnt we have nice shit? If I could find pics of my wedding I'd show you some elegant Tuchux. I've never in my life seen a more beautiful bride than Ratty on that day, decked out in Mongol garb. Radiant.
As far as him getting better because of his opponents perceptions, no. What's gonna make this dog better is the fact that he is afraid of nothing, has the heart of a lion and the desire to weild his sword honorably. Skill will eventually come, but the spirit is in him already. If people respond to anything it'll be that.

WORD!

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v95/ratangei/DCP_0036.jpg[/img]

This is a shot of one of the half gauntlets we got finished today for Batu. He shaped one and I shaped the other. Like I said earlier, he's learning this stuff at an amazing rate. Sorry for the lousy picture but I suck with a camera.
Thanks again to Uilleag for him taking the time to show us how to do this stuff. Much respect dog.

Animal:

You know, a maille or scale drape from his helm would pretty much make the look for Batu. His black lamellar and bazubands are a nice complement--with his helm on, he will actually look like a Turco-Mongol yigit.

Just out of curiosity, what type of helm did he go with Animal?

Mike! You dog! Where ya been? Answer an email or something willya???
Anyway, I'm going tonight to talk to baron Heinrich about getting his helmet started. Its a 4 piece Mongol spangenhelm, I dunno what to call it. BUt we're going with a solid bowl, but bars for the face, back and sides. The back and sides will be hidden either by lamellar or a quilted cloth drape. We havent decided which to go with yet. Either way it should look pretty cool. Heinrich is gonna assist with the making of the helmet but seems to think thatBatu and I can do a lot of the work. Batu is gonna weld the bars for the face, back and sides. He does nice work.



These are the stakes he made for us. They come in right handy!

Sorry for dropping of the face of the earth like that bro, I had an attack of life, and then I met this chick with thick legs.......
I still have the box I was gonna send you in my storage room, just havent got as far as the P.O. yet. Saw the post about Connor on the OT page, and By God he is a chunk! I am so happy for ya'll. Send me a motivational email so I will get off my fat ass and back into the fight again, I need a good ass whuppin.

We started the helms today! We took our sketches to Heinrich and he didnt even bat an eye. Just got out the folder and produced patterns and set us to working. He showed us how to cut out the steel on the beverly shear and we were both way impressed. We're using 13ga steel for the skull of the helms and are gonna make the bands out of stainless. Then he showed us how to dish the helm parts to the shape we wanted and started us planishing. Still got some work to do before the next step but that's next weekend. We were astounded at how quickly the work progressed but Heinrich has this knack for showing you what to do the first time. Much respect to him for his skills and generosity.
Nest time we go up we'll get pics.
I am WAY more impressed now than I was before at the armorers on here.

Alright..see, not only is that the most armoured Tuchuk I have ever seen, but his stuff is nicer than mine. Somewhere a Mama Celt weeps for me.

bah!


Seriously though, that is awesome stuff. Dynamite work. I look forward to seeing what the helm looks like when you guys are done with it. Let me 3rd or 4th the recommendation of an avential for the lid. You do something out of a dark leather and it will blend it all right in and look BADASS.

Here's Batu hard at work on the new helmet. We've gone up twice to work on it and are real happy with our progress so far. Here's a picture of the skull part of mine. We got a ways to go but for a couple of newbies we're doing ok I guess.

I'll post more pics as they develop!