Armour and Castings Review - Hounskull Bascinet
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:23 pm
I would like to start off by saying that I am Delighted with my helm. It is the best helm that I have fought in, in over 20 years of SCA combat. Most of the following discussion concerns the things that I needed to do to make the helm SCA legal, but the work involved was not any worse than padding and strapping a helm from scratch.
PROS.
The shape of the helm is beautiful. See pictures at :
http://members.cox.net/rdrischard/photo.htm
These pictures are after I put a small dent high in the left side of the top, but before any modifications for SCA combat.
The Price was Very Good!
The basic helm was $170
Stainless Steel Construction +$50
Interchange grill +$50
Brass Trim +$40
Shipping About $40
The Workmanship.
The helm was shined to a very nice finish and painted with primer on the inside. The only negative was a glob of weld metal on the inside of the hounskull which was in just the wrong place for my nose. I had to grind that flush. The grills interchange fairly eaisly (3-5 minutes). The only problem is that with the houndskull on the helm, I have to transport it upright or the pins will slide out.
The Cloth Liner
This was included in the basic price of the helm and is very comfortable. I had to modify it to be suitable for SCA combat, but it was not that hard to do.
The Grill
The grill will probably never be dented or need repair. It is much stouter than need be for SCA combat, but adds a nice bit of mass to the helm to reduce the impact from hard blows. I'm not totally thrilled with how it looks, but I have had several favorable comments from others, on how it looks
The Delivery,
The helm took about 10 weeks to arrive, when it was expected in about 4 weeks. However, this was to some degree due to a hand injury for their Stainless Steel craftsman. To be realistic, 10 weeks is an awesome delivery and if I had been quoted 12 weeks to begin with, I would have been thrilled with 10 weeks. This summer Bethan offered a dog face bascinet that was in stock at a reduced price for quick sale. I did recieve that helm in 10 DAYS from when I sent payment.
THE CONS
The quality of the leather used for the chinstrap and the strap for the grill was not very good and the straps were all cut VERY short so that I can only use the very last hole. I will probably need to replace them.
The 16 gauge Stainless Steel
I have fought in several practices (with Dukes and Knights) and one Crown Tourney with the helm. It has one small dent that I made, when I was first testing to see just how strong it was, and a very small one made by His newly Royal Highness Mahadi during Crown Tourney. It might be beat up over the next few years and I may need to pound out the dents and at some point replace it. If it lasts 3 years it is worth the money to me. If I wanted a pristine show piece, I would leave it on the shelf. The 16 gauge stainless helm will probably look good a lot longer than the 14 gauge mild one that I bought from them, because I am not known for keeping a helm polished.
The Packaging
The helm was sent in a cardboard box without any packing. The helm was just rolling around inside. Though the box was taped well, it had a few holes in it by the time it arrived. Perhaps the thought is that there is not much the various postal services can do to a stainless steel piece of armor, but a couple of pieces of wrapping paper would have been nice.
MODIIFICATIONS FOR SCA COMBAT
1. The chin strap as sent offers no protecton from blows to the face of the helm., it is only a chin strap. I installed one of the Mandrake Armory chinstrap, which seems to be working very well.
2. The suspension liner offers no shock absorbancy for blows from above. I added two 1/2" layers of EVA foam (also from Mandrake Armory) between the top of the helm and the cloth liner. Just enough, so that there is a little compression before the liner bottoms out. The black foam is almost completely invisible, even with the helm off and looking inside.
3. There is brow padding all around the inside of the cloth liner which is stuffed with raw cotton. It is probably stuffed a little Too full of raw cotton. It is seperated into six sections. I slit the back (helm side) of each section and removed about half of the raw cotton and inserted a 1/4" thick piece of EVA foam. You would have to pull the liner out to see the foam. For a new or less experienced fighter, I would remove almost all of the cotton padding and use 1/2 or 3/4 inch of EVA foam in place of the raw cotton.
4. My KEM is a little concerned that the liner does not extend quite far enough down on my forehead to ensure that the top of the face opening does not come into contact with my head. I have had no problem with it, but told him that I would modify it if I ever had any metal to skin contact.
I give Armourandcastings.com 4 and a half stars out of 5 and if there was a little better communication with the customer, they would get a 5 out of 5.
I have to stop writing for the moment, but will proofread this later tonight and add anything else that I think of.
Regards,
Duke Jean Richard Malcolmson, KSCA
Ansteorra
PROS.
The shape of the helm is beautiful. See pictures at :
http://members.cox.net/rdrischard/photo.htm
These pictures are after I put a small dent high in the left side of the top, but before any modifications for SCA combat.
The Price was Very Good!
The basic helm was $170
Stainless Steel Construction +$50
Interchange grill +$50
Brass Trim +$40
Shipping About $40
The Workmanship.
The helm was shined to a very nice finish and painted with primer on the inside. The only negative was a glob of weld metal on the inside of the hounskull which was in just the wrong place for my nose. I had to grind that flush. The grills interchange fairly eaisly (3-5 minutes). The only problem is that with the houndskull on the helm, I have to transport it upright or the pins will slide out.
The Cloth Liner
This was included in the basic price of the helm and is very comfortable. I had to modify it to be suitable for SCA combat, but it was not that hard to do.
The Grill
The grill will probably never be dented or need repair. It is much stouter than need be for SCA combat, but adds a nice bit of mass to the helm to reduce the impact from hard blows. I'm not totally thrilled with how it looks, but I have had several favorable comments from others, on how it looks
The Delivery,
The helm took about 10 weeks to arrive, when it was expected in about 4 weeks. However, this was to some degree due to a hand injury for their Stainless Steel craftsman. To be realistic, 10 weeks is an awesome delivery and if I had been quoted 12 weeks to begin with, I would have been thrilled with 10 weeks. This summer Bethan offered a dog face bascinet that was in stock at a reduced price for quick sale. I did recieve that helm in 10 DAYS from when I sent payment.
THE CONS
The quality of the leather used for the chinstrap and the strap for the grill was not very good and the straps were all cut VERY short so that I can only use the very last hole. I will probably need to replace them.
The 16 gauge Stainless Steel
I have fought in several practices (with Dukes and Knights) and one Crown Tourney with the helm. It has one small dent that I made, when I was first testing to see just how strong it was, and a very small one made by His newly Royal Highness Mahadi during Crown Tourney. It might be beat up over the next few years and I may need to pound out the dents and at some point replace it. If it lasts 3 years it is worth the money to me. If I wanted a pristine show piece, I would leave it on the shelf. The 16 gauge stainless helm will probably look good a lot longer than the 14 gauge mild one that I bought from them, because I am not known for keeping a helm polished.
The Packaging
The helm was sent in a cardboard box without any packing. The helm was just rolling around inside. Though the box was taped well, it had a few holes in it by the time it arrived. Perhaps the thought is that there is not much the various postal services can do to a stainless steel piece of armor, but a couple of pieces of wrapping paper would have been nice.
MODIIFICATIONS FOR SCA COMBAT
1. The chin strap as sent offers no protecton from blows to the face of the helm., it is only a chin strap. I installed one of the Mandrake Armory chinstrap, which seems to be working very well.
2. The suspension liner offers no shock absorbancy for blows from above. I added two 1/2" layers of EVA foam (also from Mandrake Armory) between the top of the helm and the cloth liner. Just enough, so that there is a little compression before the liner bottoms out. The black foam is almost completely invisible, even with the helm off and looking inside.
3. There is brow padding all around the inside of the cloth liner which is stuffed with raw cotton. It is probably stuffed a little Too full of raw cotton. It is seperated into six sections. I slit the back (helm side) of each section and removed about half of the raw cotton and inserted a 1/4" thick piece of EVA foam. You would have to pull the liner out to see the foam. For a new or less experienced fighter, I would remove almost all of the cotton padding and use 1/2 or 3/4 inch of EVA foam in place of the raw cotton.
4. My KEM is a little concerned that the liner does not extend quite far enough down on my forehead to ensure that the top of the face opening does not come into contact with my head. I have had no problem with it, but told him that I would modify it if I ever had any metal to skin contact.
I give Armourandcastings.com 4 and a half stars out of 5 and if there was a little better communication with the customer, they would get a 5 out of 5.
I have to stop writing for the moment, but will proofread this later tonight and add anything else that I think of.
Regards,
Duke Jean Richard Malcolmson, KSCA
Ansteorra