At this special time I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the holidays bring you piece, joy and a chance to rest and recharge.

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Greetings!

Some updates from my workshop for first quarter of 2024. At first I invite you to follow me on my Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/piotrplatener/ I going to public there latest armour projects and also remind some of my previous work.

Complete reproduction of the helmet from Nysa (Poland), with hand-sewn lining (made also by me) and with riveted mail avential made by mail maker Paweł Dubiel - https://en.paweldubiel.pl/ That's how the helmet may looked like when it was new in mid XIV c. It's was my very interesting project, because I have unique opportunity to work so close with original piece which was preserved in soil for more than 600 years.

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Klappvisier bascinet based on two sources: skull on bascinet from Musee de Valere in Sion and visor on original from University Museum in Marburg, Inv.-Nr. 185. For the visor I made additional vent holes on left side and divided eye slot into small rectangles for better protection. Skull raised from two halves of 2 mm high quality mild steel, heat hardened and tempered up to 36 HRC. Visor raised from one piece of 2 mm medium carbon steel and hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Visor is removable. All in rough satin finish with some visible hammer marks and scratches from grinding. Weight 3,230 kg.

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Leg harness in Kastenbrust style, circa 1470. It's part of incoming full armour suit, one of few projects I currently have on my workbench. Made of medium carbon steel and spring steel in various thickness: 1,5 mm; 1,2 mm; 1 mm. Equipped with handmade steel buckles and vegetable tanned leather in dark blue dye. Heat hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Weight of single cuisse is 2,5 kg, and 1,2 kg for single full greave.

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For more photos I invite you to my website.

Greetings!

After a longer silence on this forum I have for you a massive update of my work.

More late XV c. stuff and next part of armour in Kastenbrust style, circa 1470. This time braces and gauntlets. Made of medium carbon steel and spring steel in various thickness: 1,5 mm; 1,2 mm and 1 mm. Equipped with handmade steel buckles and vegetable tanned leather in dark blue dye. The gauntlets have articulated wrists, which gives some extra mobility. Heat hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Weight of single brace is 1,780 kg, and 1,140 kg for single gauntlet. Stay tuned for more gauntlets photos.

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A short video showing the gauntlet wrist mobility you can watch on my Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5-vNYFrs8h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

New version of cuirass based on effigies of Beringer von Berlichingen (1377) and Voit von Rieneck (1379). The backplate (consisting of 74 plates) is based on the statue of Saint George from Prague. Breastplate was forged from 2 mm thick medium carbon steel, the front fauld from 1,2 mm spring steel and the entire back from 1 mm medium carbon steel. It’s heat hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Weight is 11,35 kg (it’s XL size).

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And now the armour on which I was working on for longer time and finally is almost finished. I have presented you some photos from work in progress in above posts. The Spanish armour project mainly inspired by depicts from Altar of St George of the Valencian school, circa 1410. Link to the Altar: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17807/altarpiece-of-st-george-altarpiece-master-of-the/ All brass decorations are with quatrefoil pattern, a very popular motif in Spanish medieval art. The armour is equipped with handmade steel buckles with brass gilding.

At first here is the great bascinet. It's made of high quality mild steel of 2 mm thickness. The skull consists of 4 pieces riveted together. Visor was raised on hot from one piece of 2 mm steel, whose final thickness varies from 2,5 mm on the visor peak area down to 1,5-2 mm and the edges. Below the visor on the chin plate there is a solid stop rib to deflect thrusts. It’s heat hardened and tempered up to 36-38 HRC. Weight 6,7 kg.

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Cuirass with separate paunce in downward lapping lames construction. Backplates hinged at breastplate sides - so called "reredors" construction. Made of medium carbon steel of various thickness: breastplate 2 mm, backplates 1,5 mm, skirt 1,2 mm. Equipped with lance rest based on Churburg CH13. Heat hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Overall weight is 9,85 kg (breastplate and backplate 5,25 kg + paunce 4,6 kg).

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Complete arm harness: early pauldrons with rondels, braces and gauntlets. Hourglasses are variation of English style ones with brass gilded knuckles for a more fancy look. All made of medium carbon steel and heat hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Weight for one pauldrons with rondel is 1,5 kg; weight of one brace is 1,580 kg and one gauntlet is 0,830 kg.

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Complete leg harness. Cuisses are quite unusual with such detail like lames on upper part of thigh plates and stop ribs. They are also closed at the back like in English style armour. All made of medium carbon steel and heat hardened and tempered up to 42 HRC. Weight of one cuisse is 3,140 kg; one full greave is 1,360 kg and one sabaton 0,650 kg.

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St George armour, circa 1410 - have a look at the bigger picture.

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More photos you can find on my website.

Greetings!

A little suplement for my previous post.

Here in a short video on my Instagram profile in which you can see hourglass gauntlets from the Spanish armour project circa 1410 with sewed leather gloves: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAso3tItw88/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

For comparison here is a video with Kastenbrust gauntlets also with sewed leather gloves:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA0-QsbNuwh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Greetings!

For the upcoming winter holidays, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Recharge batteries, spend time with family, read a good book, watch a good movie, play a good game…that’s my plan.

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