hello all
im an irish reenactor and want to get a full man at arms kit. chiefly the armour and clothing. but i dont know where to go for these and would like the views of others who may have gone before me getting armour in europe of quality. i am not very rich so miney is a big issue and usabilty of kit is another eg a kit that can be used in as many periods as possible.
so does anyone have advice on where to go to get stuff?
weapons are no concern for me yet but any advice on them i will like
eriod wise im looking from 1350 to 1550 really give or take a few years
now i know the armours available may not be usable for this wide time span but an interchangable kit is what i need.
so advice?
regards
nathan

Greetings!
I'm working on my kit from the 1360s. I built everything (shoulder guards, great helm, shield, chainmail) on it, (And as you see, I'm about to construct a ,,bit" more ;) ) Considering the Hungarian prieces, making armour is the cheapest, and quite often the most accurate solution. It might be hard sometimes, but there are a lot of people, who like to help, not to mention the literature that might give you a hand too! (I'd recommend the book ,,Basic armouring" from Paul Blackwell)
I only could talk about this time-consuming way of getting a kit, but I don't regret that I jumped into it, give it a try. The tools and materials are quite cheap, and if there is someone professoional to help you out (with the joints on the great helm for example) Youl will be able to cooperate with the difficulties!
Have fun, be careful! :)

John

Greetings!
I'm working on my kit from the 1360s. I built everything (shoulder guards, great helm, shield, chainmail) on it, (And as you see, I'm about to construct a ,,bit" more ;) ) Considering the Hungarian prieces, making armour is the cheapest, and quite often the most accurate solution. It might be hard sometimes, but there are a lot of people, who like to help, not to mention the literature that might give you a hand too! (I'd recommend the book ,,Basic armouring" from Paul Blackwell)
I only could talk about this time-consuming way of getting a kit, but I don't regret that I jumped into it, give it a try. The tools and materials are quite cheap, and if there is someone professoional to help you out (with the joints on the great helm for example) Youl will be able to cooperate with the difficulties!
Have fun, be careful! :)

John

im making my own great helm at the moment but i dont have a forge so to make the later pieces i want would be impossible so really i need good makers i can go to for this.
if i had the room and materials it would be getting done right now but sadly i dont.

Well the problem with such kit is that it is a really lot of time you want to cover in one set of gear - during that time frame there where rather drastic changes in both armour and weapons - even sword you would use in 1350 would be rather out of place in 1550 and vice versia. It would be more usefull if you would be more specific about the place and social status of the persona you want to recreate - one thing is for sure, clothing used in 1350 would certainly not be fitting for period 200 years later.

yes i realise the drastic changes that occur through these periods so wi would like my kit to be easily interchangeable i have decided to begin making pieces as its something to do. my usual aim is to go for a lower ranking warrior as this way if i do get more high status stuff i can alter what i have to fit around it.

Well, esentially that would mean interchanging everything - even the paded clothing that is worn under the armour would change significant;y during this period. Essentially, you will end up with several compleatelly diferent sets of gear. My advice would be to choose one period to work with - it will allow you to get the gear togeather easier and quicker, you can afterwards set up another set...