Just have a second, but I wanted to give a HUGE plug to Alex and they folks at Steel Mastery about the tremendous Grand Bascinet that they built for me.

I don't have any pics of my own yet, but you can look at the helm HERE

It arrived last Friday and I jousted with it on Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, it is the last helm that I will ever buy!!!! I not only love the look and fit, but after over 25 years of jousting, I FINALLY have a joust kit that is homogenous to a single period!!

I will definitely post a more glowing report when I get home from work!

Lloyd,

Thanks for pointing Steel Mastery out. I don't think I had ever seen their stuff before. I really like the bascinet with side hinged visor. I didn't notice any informaion on their site about sizing. How did you ensure you got a helm that fit properly?

Congratulations on the new toy!

-Grey

Hey Lloyd, sounds awesome! Very glad that you got a helm that you really, really wanted. May I ask if you plan on attaching the front and back straps to it to hold it down to the breastplate, or not? Can't wait to see the pictures of you in it! Greyson, I'd comfortably date a bascinet with the qualities shown by their "side-mounted" version at arond 1465-1475 in Western Europe. Steel Mastery is happy to work with custom orders, and I encourage you to research some original bascinets and/or effigies to the era you're looking at. Put together some sketches and send them to Steel Mastery. The quote for your custom work should be similar to their listed prices, and if you get together this information you can always look into other craftsmen as well.

-Gregory-

Lloyd, that thing looks awesome. One of these days, I'll have to catch up with you just on the topic of armour in general. I know you certainly put yours through its paces...

Grey, I have one of those side-hinged bascinets coming here in the next couple of weeks. I'm working on an aventail for it now, and will restrap it and add some minor decorative elements myself, but intend upon using it as an alternative to my usual fencing mask for longsword work. While I would often prefer armour over modern safety gear, my personal focus on precise authenticity for a particular region and time isn't very extreme, preferring it to be from the late 14th to first half of the15th C, but most importantly safe. I will definitely have some comments for you regarding its performance and craftsmanship. The helm was already finished rather than sending measurements and whatnot to Alex (and on a hell of a sale to boot!), but what he provided for measurements, it should fit as though it were a piece of custom work off of mine. I would have loved one of the onion-top klappvisors with the period turning hinge and all the decorative elements, but I have to keep my budget in mind as well. I have had good contact with Alex, and, though I don't have the armour in hand yet, believe that I will be a repeat customer if the quality of the piece meets the level of customer service.

Just to chime in here, I have one of their pig faced bascinets and I feel it is the best sub- $500 helmets I have ever seen. the stitched in liner is really nice. The two things that I have a problems with are the visor not staying up and the fact it seems a bit bulky to me. The bulky-ness my come from the fact that I have an earlier model and it follows the contour of the head so with the heavy padding the top is natually a bit large so the bottom can still have enough room get the helmet on.

Wonderful helm Lloyd. :D I love their work. Question; what kind of production time does Steel Mastery have for a piece like this? Just curious how long it took before delivery. Thanks and congratulations.

Alex did a rush job for me on this one, after we had problems getting the invoice to go through. It took a bit over two weeks to get here and they actually built it in a few days (we had been working on the details for well over a month). I had pretty much daily communications with Alex and the the customer service was first rate!

The Bascinet was supplied with integral straps to attach to both breast and backplate which I plan on doing this weekend. I ordered the rivetted liner and with my arming cap, fit like a glove.

The vision is exceptional for such small occularum (we have to have them tight to prevent lance shards from getting to our eyes) and this helm will stand up to about anything as I had it built completely of 12ga steel (I would have loved to go for their new 65G spring steel, but my budget was limited).

As I said, I love this helm. I finally have THE helm for me.

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