Hello

I recently had a shoulder made from arming street and it had two holes on it. I was told these are called arming points and I was suppose to attach them to my gambeson's arming point. The problem is my gambeson doesn't have an arming point, is there any instruction on how to make one? Or do I just cut holes into my gambeson and call it a day? Thanks.

Ed

Find an old, solid leather belt (or any thick leather). Cut small squares, but not too small, 1 for each arming point. Punch 2 holes for point in the middle and as many holes you like along the edges for sewing onto your gambeson.

This way you don't have to punch a hole in the fabric of the gambeson. If you do it will likely tear sooner or later. And if you change your setup you can easily remove the leather patch and place it somewhere else.

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Thats correct. I added a picture of my arming jacket point to clarify.

I really appreciate your help mate.

Some folks like to do pretty little brass or tin pointy bits at the ends of the cords. Not really necessary but they do help keep the ends from fraying and give you just a bit of 'bling'...

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You don't need to punch holes in arming garments, use a sailors spike or a large awl to ease apart the threads without breaking them, then whip or blanket stitch around the edges to reenforce them. There are a few guides out there or get a copy of the museum of london clothing book, it's got some good instructions plus masses of other helpful info.

The aiglets on the end of the points will pass through the point holes easily.

Best bet is wear it and have a friend place your armour over the top and mark where the holes need to go, don't do it yourself.

I'd like to second the thought that you shouldn't punch holes in your garment. Historically I think a bone awl was used to separate the fabric fibers and sew an eyelet where permanent lacing was needed.

However, I would also like to point out an alternative pointing method used by an acquaintance of mine who's experienced in wearing armor, Ian LaSpina. He uses a leather tab, but instead of sewing it onto the garment, he uses the pointing lace itself to secure the tab in place using the eyelets as anchor points:



It's the same method I'll be using to secure the new armor being made for me by Jeffrey Hildebrandt of Royal Oak Armory.


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Most interesting, thanks guys!

did you makethat yourself Ian? Looks very nice.

Thanks for sharing this! I have a question though; if you were wearing mail under your plate, like say, for a transitional harness, would the arming points work about the same except that you would have to thread them through the mail rings? Or is there a different setup when you're dealing with a middle layer like that?