The Armour Archive

If this good Knight or any other gentle who fights in this style of helm could tell me with a proper chinstrap and suspension system..do you have padding in the faceplate of your helm??? I am wondering ...
Thankye

In mine I have foam padding around the top band and on the flat lid. Nothing down below, and nothing on the faceplate. For a chin strap I drilled four holes, two on each side, and ran a shoe string through in a sideways U shape, a leather chin cup in the middle. Bow on the outside to hold it tight. Through the same holes I ran a thong that went through the top row of links of the "aventail", which was used to pull the mail up under my chin once the helm was on and the chin strap secured.

I have a Maciejowski helm and strap it like my others. I have four steel rings anchored inside the helm by looping a short piece of nylon webbing through and riveting them to four points- two above and in front of the ears, 2 below and behind. To each of the upper ones I tie a long round shoe lace, run it down through a chin cup, back to the lower ring, again to the cup, and then bring both through a spring-loaded retaining knob like those used on sweatshirt drawstrings. When I put on my helm, I pull on the string ends, cinching the cup under my chin. I then slide the retainer up, which keeps it all tight. The result is a helm that does not rock or pivot. I have been hit full-force with spears and never had a helm hit my nose despite it being only a fingertip's width away.

OK-a lot of four-point suspensions out here. Here's how I do mine:

A D-ring in front and above the ears, and a slot in the helm behind and below the ears-about the same "depth" as the back of the neck- From the front-no one should see the slots.

Through the D-ring I have a velcro strap that loops around-this attaches the chin cup to prevent the helm from lifting off the head. Through the slots I have a strap that attaches to the chin-cup and prevents the helm from slamming into my face. Buckle goes outside the helm and gets riveted on the strap.

Nice thing about this system: throw an extra chin strap in your armor bag, along with an extra rivet. It's adjustable, so you don't have to worry about getting the rivet placement right the first time. And you never have to cut rivets to change your chin strap.

I just recently made one similar to halberd's helmet Kit (thanks for the insperation Hal). I have 3 layers of closed cell foam on top and 2 layers on the side. The padding does not go below the top part of the helm. My chin strap isn't attached to the helmet it runs form the chin through the back part of the helm where I have built in some 1 1/2 strips to cover the pack of the head.

I have fought in this type of helm, as with all helms I have fought in I only pad the top.
I strap my hats with only 2 points, but in such a way as to behave like a 4 point system, that is mounting points slightly above and behind the ear.

Will need to keep this post around, since I am looking at maybe getting this type of a helm, just trying to pinpoint its time period to see if it fits in where I want to be in.

Syr Finn wrote:Will need to keep this post around, since I am looking at maybe getting this type of a helm, just trying to pinpoint its time period to see if it fits in where I want to be in.

1190-1250, Finn.

1250 - based on an illustration done by Mathew of Paris, I also use a four point attachment system. Mine ties at the back of the head, in this photo you can see the knot at the temple and the tie in the back. The cord runs loose through holes punched in an 'O' of leather. It works quite well, I have also been hit by full force face thrusts with no ill effects. I do have strips of padding I have run down the cheeks after having stout blows bottom the sides out - a less than pleasant experience.

Thaddeus, do you have any interior pics of the helm? Actually, interior pics of any of these helms padded and strapped up would be great.

Thanks,
Christopher

I can take a couple and post them later on.

Thaddeus,
What do you wear for arm armour?

Thaddeus wrote:1250 - based on an illustration done by Mathew of Paris, I also use a four point attachment system. Mine ties at the back of the head, in this photo you can see the knot at the temple and the tie in the back. The cord runs loose through holes punched in an 'O' of leather. It works quite well, I have also been hit by full force face thrusts with no ill effects. I do have strips of padding I have run down the cheeks after having stout blows bottom the sides out - a less than pleasant experience.

I have a low profile elbow cop from Adam and a kids soccer shin guard worn over the forearm. the cop is strapped in place over my coat and an elbow pad and the shin guard is under the sleeve of the coat so everything just sort of disappears from more than a few feet away.

Here is the inside of the helmet,

Is the top padded? I can't really tell if that's black padding or black paint on the metal.

So all the weight is on your browline? It doesn't actually rest on the top of your head any?

Thanks,
Christopher

there is a cap of foam in there, what you are seeing is the padding which is grey. I cut an oval the same size as the inside top and made a band of padding the same height as the side of the crown. Then I cut a one inch square (approx) piece as long as the side piece. the one inch square strip went in around the top of the side padding and then the top oval was stuffed up inside from underneath so that it gives me a crowned cup for the top of my head to sit in. once that was right I taped the whole mess together. I soon found I didnt have enough padding lower down. The helmet had a tendency to pivot on top of my head and the sides would make contact. Most unpleasant. So I added the blue foam cheek padding and brow line padding. That has worked really well and I have survived being stuffed really hard by spears and whatnot. (I actually charged onto the spear, being target fixated on something else)