I've been looking at Chad's collection to see better and more varied shots of the MRL Staunton Helm than on the MRL site, as I'm tempted to order this one.

I think there is no liner available, as is, from MRL but I can get a liner made by Allan Senefelder at Mercenary's Tailor that I can install myself as I did for Moat sale barrel helm and a bascinet from Albion. ( As I've mentioned before in another topic, Allan can make these for those " orphan no liner helms ". Shameless plug! But Allan deserves it with his usual AAA quality customer service. )

I really like the look of this helm and I wonder if Chad can add additional comments about it.

To make some comparisons between some various barrel helms: The Albion version of an early barrel helm give good coverage for the face but is cut very high behind the head leaving the neck very exposed, on the positive side the front bottom edge of the helm being just a fraction below chin level makes getting air easy in spite of very small and not very numerous breath holes. ( Must have made the neck look very tempting as a target ! )

My later period sugar loaf helm comes almost down to the shoulder and in spite of larger breathing holes makes sucking in air more of a strain.

I wonder if the crosslike breaths in the Staunton let in more air than just holes and if they help in improved vision and situational awareness. It also seems to be the most visually appealing of the bunch :cool: :lol:

Jean,
My helm is several years old, and I don't believe MRL offered liners in any of their helms at the time I bought it. That may have changed, since many of their recent helms have liners. I'd check with them to see if one is offered.

This helm, though, may not need a liner/suspension since it would have often have been worn over another helm or with a coif and one of those rolled head-ring things you see from that period.

Quote:

I wonder if the crosslike breaths in the Staunton let in more air than just holes and if they help in improved vision and situational awareness.

I'm not sure, since I've never worn mine. :) I wouldn't think the breath holes would help vision, though, since at the angle they sit at, you wouldn't really be able to look out them.

As for it offering more protection than the earlier helms, I'm sure it does. That's probably why the helm evolved from leaving the neck exposed to covering almost to the shoulders.

I'd be happy to give additional comments if you let me know what kind of info you're looking for. :)

Well, I just went and put the helm over my head to see how well you can see out the breaths (anything to help out the intrepid myArmoury readership :) ). They offer a little bit a vision, assuming I held the helm in place where it would with with some kind of suspension. Not much, though. They actually would be a little bit of a weak spot if you got hit directly on the cross-shaped breath.

Thanks Chad, I have been a bit unlucky that all my great helms are just a bit too small to fit over my cervelière but the suspension systems I installed seem to work well. ( I could get a smaller cervelière I guess ? And the suspension system might still work with the cervelière if loosened to adjust it. )

The cross hole and vision thing: Yes they are much too low to be any use looking at something clearly but as with small breath holes they do add a small but maybe useful amount of awareness of motion below the sight slots.

Our most basic and primitive sensitivity is to motion first, then contrast and finally colour if the lighting is above a minimum amount. In low light we basically see in black and white. ( Anyway a bit of trivia that might be interesting. )

Oh, MRL don't seem to offer liners for this type so my using a suspension system from another source is one valid choice and using it unlined over a cervelière is also a good choice if one can find two that will work together.

In any case it's a good looking display piece but I still like to be able to wear it.

Maybe it's just me but it seems to have more " personality " than other types of barrel helm. :loll:

Jean,
Do you have any pics of Allan's liner for your helm? How did you install it? I'm curious. :)

Chad;

Oh, my purchasing a digital camera is still on my to buy SOON list: Waiting past mid-month for the charge to be applied to the next credit card billing month. ( About a week or two. )

LINER: From measurements of the outside of the helm at brow level ( The inside measurement should be about 1 / 2 " smaller. ) Allan made his standard suspension system out of leather in the usual 4 separate panel pattern, the panels also have felt pads sowed on. Allan would normally instal these for you if you ship him your helm.

In my case to avoid cross border costs and annoyance he sent me the liner for me to mount. ( At 2 / 3 his usual price. )

INSTALLATION: Allan sent me a supply of rivets including some extras just in case. After deciding where the rivet holes should go around the brow line I drilled 8 holes for the rivets.

What worked best was punching hole in the leather for the front two and rear two rivets after holding the liner in place and marking the liner with a marker pen through the holes in the helm. After riveting the front, checking if the rear holes are at the right places, I riveted the back. The side rivets were next, pulling and holding the sides of the liner and using the marker again I found the position of the holes and punched the holes on both sides and then riveted one side and then the other.

The actual riveting was done with a small shoe cobblers' hammer and I use the head of a small sledge hammer as an anvil. The tricky part is holding everything in place and hammering ( You almost need 4 hands :lol: )

To help in doing this without the " Mutant extra hands " I would put the rivet through the hole and use masking tape on the outside of the helm to keep it from falling out while I lined up the matching hole in the liner, put the washer over the shank of the rivet, tried to keep the rest of the liner out of the way, balance the head of the rivet on my improvised anvil and finally peened the head of the shank. That first rivet is really awkward to do but once you get the front and back riveted the sides become easier to do.
I've installed two liners so far and the second one was easier as I figured out all of the above tricks to make the job easier.

This is great information Jean, thank you. I've often wondered how this was done, and your explanation is very clear and concise.

One more question then, how does one know where to place the rivet holes? They must belong in the place that places the occularii in the most advantageous position in front of the eyes, but it seems a bit tricky to get that right. Is there a 'trick'?

Cole:

Well depending on the helm one could just measure the circumference of the helm at brow level and space the holes equally.

With a helm with brass trim around the eye slots it may be necessary to vary the spacing to avoid drilling through wider areas of the trim decoration. Also with a helm that already uses rivets it might be a choice to put the liner rivets in line or staggered in position with the original rivets.

What worked for me was placing the front rivet at about the position of the outside corner of the eyes, the back ones with a similar spacing and the side ones around in front and back or the ear.

The liner is riveted approximately 1 / 2 " higher than the top edges of the eye slots, being careful to keep all the hole at close to the same height all around the helm: The easy way to do this was using making tape as a guide for the vertical positioning of the rivet holes. The rest is just careful peening, the liner is installed with the quarters untied, when all the rivets are done pushing all the quarters inside put a layer of leather between your sensitive hide and the rivet heads: In other words you don't feel them at all. A bit of extra material if the liner is slightly oversized bunches up a bit but actually increases the padding effect if not too extreme. ( It's better to work with a slightly over sized liner rather than one too small.

The liners have buckle and straps on each side and one must be careful that the liner is well centred, this is helped by the fact that the liner has a line of stitching right in the middle ( Right between the eyes / nose, you can use this line to make sure that nothing is askew ;) :lol:

Hope this helps, and Allan can give you some advice on installation by E-Mail if you order a liner from him ;)

Well just bought the Staunton MRL helm: Can't talk about any of this without burning holes in my credit card sooner than originally intended, I guess I just OVERTALKED myself into it !

Oh, now I have to still get that Digital camera :eek: :blush: :lol: