After reading the armor vs sword collector thread, I wanted to share some very cool pictures of a couple various components of my half harness, prior to heat treat. The work has been done by Patrick Thaden.

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Bellows Visor Close helm

Looks good. :cool:

That is sweet!

I've been mulling over having a harness comissioned for a little while now. The thing is, my group focuses on blossfechten, so it's a little hard for me to justify full armor unless other people are willing to do it, because it certainly isn't cheap. But I've been thinking of having a suit inspired by the pictures in Talhoffer.

I've always really been fond of the gothic cuirass that MRL sells, but I have a feeling it would be too big for me. I'm a skinny guy.

Some serious wow factor there.

Bill,

Ok this is scary! It was actually that cuirass, or rather the Peter Fuller original that I used as a spring board for the current cuirass. the breastplate is slightly different in that I used a slightly later style of proto-maximillian design, with a common element of light fluting throughout. I am telling you, if we keep this up people are going to start talking! Btw, be on the look out for the "package". Talk to you later.



James

I only know Mr. Thaden by reputation but the back plate is really spectacular ! The choice of the transition between
Gothic and Maximillian is a really neat and I would guess unique one . Whats the expected turn around time for the
whole set ?

Allan,

I commissioned the cuirass, helm, gorget, full arm harness (including haute guard equipped pauldrons) and finger gauntlets. he started in february and is heat treating all the pieces this coming week. So total, I guess about two and a half months. I am also having custom period arming clothes made to go with the armor. I have attached a rough picture of the breast and gorget. Note, the tasset's are not shown in this picture, but it does give an idea of the depth of the fauld and shows the fluting on the placart. The inspiration for this design was a picture of a statue in "Arms and Armor of Imperial Austria". I chose this design because it was unique, and it was the right time frame to take all my favorite stylistic cues and make them actually flow into a comprehensive whole. I decided to go with spring temper on the whole harness, so I will have to wait for the leg harness, but in the end I think the wait will be worth it.

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Rough and missing the tasset's

Be sure to post pictures of the whole armor when it's completed.

Thats a really snappy turn around time on custom work ! I really hope you'll be posting pictures of the whole rig . I'm interested to see the lines of this stylisic(sp) transition harness . There are windows in armour development that
just dissapear in the market place ( theres 14th century transitional and suddenly we have high gothic and then
suddenly its 1560 and peascods are the norm ) that make this boundry pushing sort of thing cool as...

Great looking harness. I hope to see the completed item :eek:
Personally I prefer the "machined off the peg look" of a Pikeman harness /like one made by shop of Hans Prenner in Graz...
No extras just bare necessity.
"Simplicity has a beauty of its own"

Paulo

Here is my half harness in finished configuration, being worn by a friend of the armourer. All I can say is WOW! It is has far surpassed my expectations. I cannot recommend Patrick Thaden enough. Anyways, it's late, I am tired and here is the picture. Enjoy!!

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Half Harness German circa 1510 ish.

James, that looks schweet! Close ups when you get it pretty please ?

Here is the link to the entire photo spread of the entire forging process.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/patrick_thad.../my_photos

Btw, I finally saw some Mercenary's Tailor pieces last weekend. I was very impressed with the quality. Add to that the overall price, and they are a hell of a deal.


James

Awesome looking half harness! I love it. :)

James , i'm sure Patrick has his hands full but that series of underconstruction photos and alittle text would make an interesting article at least from my perspective . Again thats a great looking harness from a relatively ignored period when it comes to modern manufacture . Great choice !

But I was actually planning on doing something to that effect.

Dude , do it i'm all ears..errr...eyes .

Hi James,

Wow!! That rig is the coolest!! I like the bellows visor, very well executed. Funny how I haven't seen this thread until today, but we've been busy at the workplace as of late, not much time or energy for anything else, especially w/ the insane amount of pollen in the air at this time of year . I really hate the almost "poisoned" feeling I get from my allergies.

Great harness James, may you get maximum enjoyment from it for many years to come.

Bob

James,
That is AWESOME. I especially like that the wearer is armed with a corn dog. (Couldn't resist. ;) ) Seriously, though, that is very much in line with what I've been thinking of having made, though I'm very flippant on the type of helm I like. I'd really like a sallet, but the style of bellow visor you've got is one that I've also really been thinking about.

Of course, none of this stuff is going to get commissioned at the rate I keep buying swords!

Bill,

if you are going to continually miss the point of the unique weaponry in the models hand, let me point it out FOR you!

It is the very rare, yet widely feared corn-dog chaku. I thought this was a learned forum ! :p

PS-This post is entirely tongue-in-cheek.

James