[Christopher VaughnStrever]

David. That is exactly my goal in the end to do and I have been wanting to get a blunted sword from albion. I would love to put up demo's of that for people.

Questions on the armour you were wearing. Were there any dents in the armour? What was the type of metal and what was the thickness of the metal? When you say polish (I have heard some people mean different things when they say polish) what exactly are you meaning by that?

I am extremly interested in your response of that demo.

[David E. Farrell]

my helmet is all mild steel with a 12 gauge bowl and 14 gauge sides (it is a reproduction of the S-18 armet). no dents, just a bit of scuffing where it made contact. Some time with a bit of steel wool and oil will smooth it out nicely (not that I am very worried about it). My body armour is 14 & 16 gauge mild steel plates covered in thick wool. The thrusts did catch at the wool a bit, but nothing major. All in all, it looks the same as when it went in.

[Adrian Ford]

Hi everyone,

I have been re-enacting battles and foot combat for nearly two decades now and have had a few experiences that have brought home the protective value of armour.

I currently wear a milenese harness with a visored bascinet. the body armor is mostly 18 gauge steel, with the arms, legs and helmet 16-14 gauge. It weighs about 30kg.

During a battle re-enactment I fell onto my back and then had a friend in full harness trip over my legs and sit with full force onto my head. I felt the helmet flex under the impact against my skull before it sprang back into shape. I have always worn full armor whenever I could since then.

While trying out some new sabbatons, I tripped and fell down a circular stone stairwell in a church. I had a tasset ripped off, popped rivets in knee and elbow joints and bent my fauld out of shape, but only suffered a small bruise on my arm.

Tripped over a tent rope and fell through/snapped a trellis table - no damage or injury.

When I used to wear a mail shirt under my harness I found that the weight imbalance to be a bit of a problem if I fell and ended up with my feet higher than my body. I had to have help getting up once after falling head first into a shallow ditch. The top heaviness is handy in battles though, because if I leaned forward when running there was not much that could stop me (apart from tripping), allowing me to force a way through most opposing lines.