Padded Rus armor -- myArmoury.com

Matthijs van Halteren · Posted: Sat 29 May, 2010 10:23 am Post subject: Padded Rus armor

I got a question, does anyone have any resources or where to find any info on padded armor used by the Russians in the time period 1000-1100 AD.
I want to make a padded armor (gambeson) to wear under my lamellar armor, but I am just unlucky to find a pattern for it on the internet.
I want to make it from thick linen and for the inside lining use old army wool blankets i got laying here, so how many layers of wool blankets should I use, up to 4 or more?
Any help would be appreciated Happy

Sam Gordon Campbell · Posted: Sun 30 May, 2010 2:23 am Post subject:

I'd say maybe two layers and a nice thick tunic/shirt should be good enough.
Alas, textile armour info relating to this period is hard to find.

Aleksei Sosnovski · Posted: Mon 07 Jun, 2010 10:05 pm Post subject:

Do you intend to fight in it? If no, then make it thin, 1 layer should be more than enough. If yes, then

1) Put on a couple of sweaters and your armor
2) Ask somebody to hit you hard
3) If it hurts like hell then put on another sweater (under your armor).
4) repeat steps 2 and 3 until it simply hurts (in a fight you will not feel that pain at all).
5) Now you know the required thickness of your padding.

Lamellar is a semy-rigir armour and therefore requires quite little padding.