Armour night!

We had a great turnout for armouring last night with Kansuke, Chris, Jeanne-Marie, Wolf (right-handed Horde archer, not the left-handed Thunder swordsman) and Nora working on various projects. Jeanne-Marie la Verriere made aluminum splints for her gamboised cuises, Kansuke worked on aluminum gauntlets, Chris cut out and edged a birch plywood shield and Wolf wrote up an armour plan and did most of the dishing on his first elbow cop. Nora is looking at an 11th century personna associated with one of the Celtic monasteries where illuminated manuscripts were produced. I worked on a loaner-armour coat of plates and a shield for somebody who just can't seem to make it to armour shop.  Oh yes, and I also made a double batch of Barley porridge which was enjoyed by all. :)

Armour nights have been happening nearly every Thursday lately.  I'm trying to remember to take pictures and post them, but I'm usually running around like a ringmaster in a 3-ring circus so I often forget.

Do YOU have your armour ready for the fall melee season?

Why would anyone want to be a knight?

I wrote this for the Armour Archive a few months ago, but I want to share it with another audience here.  The question was, Why would anyone want to be a knight?

I want to be the guy who, when he shows up for a battle, makes his King smile with confidence and his opponent start worrying. I know those worries.

I want to be the guy in the tournament fight who shares a moment sheer poetry with his opponent, who shows such grace and polished skill that the crowd gasps and the young men weep tears of frustration because they haven't learned to fight like that yet, and they WANT it. I know those tears.

I want to be the guy who everyone refers the new fighters to, because they know I'll help them see how to pursue excellence while having fun in our game. I've been having more than my share of that fun for nearly 30 years now, and I love to share it.

I want to be the guy that is so immersed in the literature and the culture of Chivalry that I can find the right way to share the ideas and ideals with others while sitting around the campfire or doing chores or hiking back from the res. point, and get to see the light in their eyes when they GET it. I have been dazzled by that light.

And if, someday, the Body of Honor in my chosen game and my chosen Kingdom should find me worthy to be their brother, and my King should ask me to serve as one of his personal warband, his comitatus, his hetairoi, his knights, then I would gladly accept. Not because I want the belt, but because I want to be a part of that company, and because the accolade is a significant milestone along the path towards being that guy who I want to be.

But beyond all of that, outside of all reason and logic, the heart wants what it wants. I have wanted to be a knight for as long as I can remember, and I will go on wanting it and studying it and striving towards it while I have breath.

Maelgwyn Dda

Here we go again

Another fall tourney season begins soon and once again I am working with several new fighters to get them armoured. If I can get Patrick, Russel, Cameron, Abby, Morgan, Diedre and Christian all armoured and on the field in time for War of Ages in November, that would be great! If THEY make it a priority and work at it, I'm sure we'll get there. I've posted some of my patterns to Facebook recently but I'll incude them here too:






Simple gambesons, one size fits many. Assembled from layers of linen, batting, and more linen. Quilt, cut out, then turn in and top stitch edges, sew shoulders together, and you are done.

The pattern picture is laid out flat. Once assembled the garment crosses over in front like a bath robe. Or a mongol del...that's it...a manly, warrior-like mongol del, looking nothing at all like a bathrobe. :)

Ok, for the measurements the hem should be about 1.5 times your size at the hips. Allow for an inch or two of overlap at the shoulders, which means the shoulder-to-waist and armhole need to be an inch longer than you would think. But nothing is really precise in this garment, that's why it works for lots of different people.

Lamellar options

The following is re-printed from the Bryn Gwlad e-mail list:

Historical and archeological evidence is available for lamellar scales of brass/bronze, wrought iron, leather, rawhide, horn and (in some Chinese examples) stone. Ridged, fluted or embossed examples exist in both brass/bronze and iron. Iron lamellar is known to have been tinned or bronzed in some cases, including some where bronze leaf has been applied with a bituminous glue. Lacing materials include brass or bronze staples, leather and silk cord. While linen or hemp cord makes sense to me I don't remember seeing any evidence that it was used.

It is important to realize that making hundreds of scales by hand is a project for fanatics (Hi Aeddan!) and not recommended in this case. So we are down to commercial sources of scales which at present includes 2 sources for stamped plates in stainless steel, a couple of sources for mass-produced aluminum plates in a variety of finishes, a few sources for custom designed laser-cut plates in a variety of materials, one source for leather plates and one for plastic in a couple of sizes/styles and a variety of colors.

Considering cost, maintainability, durability, weight, ease of ordering, authenticity of materials and authenticity of appearance I recommend 20 gauge stainless with a central flute down each scale, laced with paracord and edged with chrome-tawed leather. These fluted scales are only commercially available from one source to the best of my knowledge. This will do an excellent job of representing an authentic wrought-iron lamellar laced with silk cord and edged with alum-tawed leather. After a single week of use, this will appear MORE authentic than an armour of perfectly authentic materials because we beat up our armour far more than our ancestors ever did, we persist in working or going to school rather than spending our off-time polishing armour like a legionary or a steppes nomad, and we lack the servants of an upper class cavalryman or officer of the classical or medieval periods.

On a chemical level stainless steel and modern mild steel are both quite a ways from wrought iron, but it would take advanced instrumentation and a highly trained eye to spot this difference on the field. When you add in the effects of various heat-coloring and finishing techniques it is simply not possible to tell the difference between these materials by eye. While many people (some of them Laurels) have claimed to be able to spot this difference, experiments have shown that they are mistaken. On the other hand, if you mirror-polish your stainless and then expose your unwaxed mild steel to some humidity the difference is obvious.

Some day I'd love to make some wrought iron scales and experiment with tinning and bronzing methods, but that would be an arts and sciences project rather than practical armour for on the field.

My closest second choice for a practical recommendation would be a mass-produced aluminum scale, either acid etched or annodized for a desired finish. The added thickness of this material catches my eye but it does not bother most observers, and it has the benefit of being easier on the lacing material. This makes an assembled lamellar more durable. It really comes down to cost and aesthetic preferences. See: http://www.mefario.com/eldesar/lamellar.htm

I fought for years in the plastic lamellar and now my son wears it. I feel that it does a reasonable job of simulating a hardened leather armour if made from appropriate colors, but the "metal" colored plates look a bit off and look far too thick to be realistic simulations of metal. Given the comparative cost and availability of metal and leather lamellar plates I no longer recommend purchasing plastic lamellar for adult fighters, but if I was given some I would certainly put it to use.

I'd need to run some tests to be sure, but I'm not convinced that the plastic or aluminum plates are any lighter weight than the 20 gauge stainless. Both steel and aluminum provide far better heat transfer than leather or plastic.

Maelgwyn

Hello there...it's been a while.

After my last post came the rush to get ready for Gulf War, then to get ready for Lysts, then to get my house on the market...so I've only gotten back to armouring fairly recently.

Failure to Blog
I've hosted sessions for Marita to work on a new shield, Martel to make a helm liner, Jens to collect and begin strapping some donated gear that would only fit him, Katrina and Artorius to assemble 3 boffer-legal rattan-core swords, Alfred to help sort out some donated loaner gear and work on his curie (leather breast-and-back plate), and Nicola to refurbish a borrowed helm and begin work on a 14th cent. curie for his early 14th century Italian kit. I've taught a class at Tuesday fighter practice on making linen helm liners and at least one student has finished one. Thanks Tivar! I also went over to Rachel's place for a war company surcoat/tunic sewing session that included Helene, Nicola and Artorius as well.

Current Events
Last night Avery came over to work on a helm liner for his new spring-steel 16th cent. Burgeonet for cut-and-thrust fighting. He got the pattern made and the fabric cut out, and took a bag of wool with him so that he can finish it at home.

Nicola worked on beveling the edges of his curie and also cut out a helm liner using fabric I had available. Buying all those "doggie bag" specials from http://fabrics-store.com has really paid off!


Josh also came over to discuss an armour plan (mid-14th cent. Welsh) and get started on a coat of plates. Again I was able to provide materials from what I had on hand. His CoP shell will be a sturdy blue cotton velvet with a heavy white linen lining, The plates will be white plastic barrel or "faux horn" riveted on with roofing nails. We got a pattern drafted, linen cut, and plates cut out. It will be very similar to the ones Helene and Rachel made previously.

Hrethric and his daughter Caitlin came over to work on an 11th century Saxon armour and hang out with my son Artorius, respectively. :) Hrethric bought himself a strap end cutter and brought along a 10-12oz. hide which he is cutting into 1 5/8" wide strips and then 2 5/8" long scales. We will glue-soak and bake the scales after they are all cut and the edges burnished.

Artorius removed some broken straps from his gauntlets and worked with me on plans to re-strap them and keep his fingers safer, but then he seemed to get distracted for some reason. He will need to finish them up this weekend if he wants to use them next Tuesday.

This weekend I hope to straighten up my work areas, put the rawhide edging on a linen-covered birch shield for Duke Kein, wax-seal a pair of light leather vambraces for me so that they are ready for me to rivet on the spring steel splints, and post some pictures of all of this to this blog.

New gorget design

Please pardon the poor image quality, but you can see my new gorget design. I used some old scrap suede leather, about 6"x15" of 18g. stainless and 2 strips of 1/8" thick felt. A 1.5" band of stainless goes around the neck with a hinge of latigo on the right side and a latigo strap with a buckle on the left. Glued under it there are two strips of felt and a layer of leather that folds over the top and is glued down with ShoeGoo. The scales are roughly 2"x3" and are sewn down with linen cord. This one is for a fighter with a 13" neck.

This was inspired by the Carlisle collar but is not a replica of any particular piece.

Old post on Franchise

I can across this old post from the Armour Archive and decided to share it again here.

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005

In my understanding, franchise is to rights much as prowess is to weapons. All men of arms have weapons, but worthy men of prowess use their weapons regularly and to great effect. All men of rank and station have rights, but worthy men of franchise exercise their rights regularly and to great effect. The knight who possesses the virtue of franchise metes out justice within his domain, drives out evil-doers, travels to meet with and counsel his Liege, attends his Liege at feast and otherwise gives full exercise to each of his rights.

I believe one of the best measures of franchise is the ability to give one's superiors counsel that they need but do not want to hear. If a person is seeking to improve their practice of the virtue of Franchise, I encourage them to examine their existing rights and their exercise thereof. Do they have the right to petition for entrance into Crown tournament, and do they exercise that right? Do they have the right and duty to counsel some liege (baron, prince, king, household leader) by virtue of any office or title or membership in some order? Have they done so lately? What other rights do they have? Why would anyone ever expect a candidate to exercise the rights of Knightly station if they do not exercise the rights they currently enjoy?

Franchise must be tempered with justice and courtesy and mercy and other chivalric virtues lest it over-reach itself into arrogance or greed. NO virtue stands alone, and a true knight should have each and every chivalric virtue in good measure.

Maelgwyn