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Christopher VaughnStrever




Location: San Antonio, TX
Joined: 13 Jun 2008
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 382

PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 11:45 am    Post subject: If the sky was the limit?         Reply with quote

Now that I have my first complete 15th century suit of armor all together and "All" the kinks worked out of it. To where I have a great fit. And I can see some German influence in my kit, some Italian and Milanese pieces. It looks great and I am very happy with it at this point.

If you want to skim through this topic simply read the bolden words, those are what I want.

Alas... I am looking to start putting together my next suit of armor. I know for a fact that I want a perfect fit and I am willing to pay for it (I have spent over a year fine tuning my current armor. And I dont want to have to mess with the new suit at all) Of course I'll be putting this whole suit together over several years due to cost... But I want it all from from maker. I want the padding pre-attached to the inside of the whole suit. And it has to be Historically accurate as well as from one source; i.e. German, Italian, etc. and the helm has to be either an Armet or close Helm (which I know will also have significant dependency on where it is from. and the last of my order will have to fullfill some where in the 15thcentury, hopefully not too close to the 16th century


So.... if money didn't matter and they sky was the limit (Buying one piece of armor a year) What Armourer would you choose to buy from? Considering all the stipulations wanted.

Experience and learning from such defines maturity, not a number of age
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Peter Lyon
Industry Professional



Location: New Zealand
Joined: 20 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 12:21 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I think Robert MacPherson is retired now, so I would go to Jeff Hedgecock. I think his work runs about $30k for top quality, spring steel harness.
Still hammering away
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Sean Flynt




Location: Birmingham, Alabama
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PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 1:29 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Francois L'Archeveque
-Sean

Author of the Little Hammer novel

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Hammer-Sean-Flynt/dp/B08XN7HZ82/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=little+hammer+book&qid=1627482034&sr=8-1
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Zac Evans




Location: London
Joined: 26 Dec 2006

Posts: 151

PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 1:48 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here's the thing I noticed. You want pre attached padding, and historically accurate. Not the done thing I'm afraid. You only need padding if the armour doesn't fit properly. With a top armourer, you'll only need a little bit of padding in the helm.

For armourers your side of the pond, I'd recommend Jeff Wasson. He seems to really know what he's doing, and is particularly good at mid 15th century armour.
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Craig Shackleton




Location: Ottawa, Canada
Joined: 20 Apr 2004
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PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 1:52 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Peter Fuller, if he's still making armour. And I'd get him to make a replica of Henry VIII's foot harness for the Field of the Cloth of Gold that was never used.
Ottawa Swordplay
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Joe Fults




Location: Midwest
Joined: 02 Sep 2003

Posts: 3,646

PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 3:28 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

So.... if money didn't matter and they sky was the limit (Buying one piece of armor a year) What Armourer would you choose to buy from? Considering all the stipulations wanted.

1 - Corvette (I've found that the classic midlife crisis car is growing on me as I'm in midlife)
2 - Fuji SST 1.0 (2011 model)
3 - Fuji Altamira 1.0 (2011 model)
4 - Another Fuji Altamira 1.0 for grins
5 - SCAR rifle
6 - Some quality museum time in the whole UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Sweden, and Greece to learn more before I started making choices
6 - A wide and full assortment of proper plate full kit (so the soft bits too)
---Something German and Gothic from Francois L'Archevequ
---Something English from Mark Vickers
---I'd find somebody in Europe to do an Italian harness on the expedition
---Something Flemish or distinctly Burgundian from Jeff Hedgecock
7 - Some good mail for use in a variety of applications
8 - A nice brigandine or three for those times when the plate is just more than I want to do
9 - Mountain stages at the tour to watch and wind it all up, and to wind me down

That at least works as a start! Wink

"The goal shouldn’t be to avoid being evil; it should be to actively do good." - Danah Boyd


Last edited by Joe Fults on Fri 06 May, 2011 9:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Reece Nelson




Location: Overland Park KS
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
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Posts: 257

PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 3:48 pm    Post subject: armourer         Reply with quote

Patrick Thaden would be my choice Happy Last I heard hes slowly stepped down from armouring, and has been more focused on doing metal work for spiral staircases and such.
http://www.smithdesignmfg.com/Smith_Design_an...lcome.html

http://www.thadenarmory.com/

Id base my harness off of Tobias Capwell's first harness. There would be some differences, but it would overall look the same



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This is what I would want ;)
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Mark T




PostPosted: Fri 06 May, 2011 6:42 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Let's throw these into the mix: Jiri Lucius, Stanlislav Prosek, Albert Collins.

Of course, there are others in a similar realm; my point is that one way of interpreting 'sky is the limit' is to fantasize about armourers with five-year wait times, or those who can afford to only take on the occasional project, are busy with museum repro pieces, and so on.

If we're talking about a real project, though, another is to go to very high quality, but still affordable armourers such as the three above ... but factor in the cost of some serious body casting - or even international plane flights - to fulfil your 'I want a perfect fit' stipulation.

At least that could get you Joe's wish to visit all the museums in Europe first, so you're really 'in the zone'! Happy

Chief Librarian/Curator, Isaac Leibowitz Librarmoury

Schallern sind sehr sexy!
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Michael Ekelmann




Location: Seattle Metro Area, USA
Joined: 01 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Sat 07 May, 2011 3:46 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ugo Serrano, hands down. I've seen the Negroli inspired armour pieces he has done and they are amazing.
“Men prefer to fight with swords, so they can see each other's eyes!" Sean Connery as Mulay Hamid El Raisuli in The Wind and the Lion
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Randall Moffett




Location: Northern Utah
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Reading list: 5 books

Posts: 2,121

PostPosted: Sat 07 May, 2011 5:58 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Zac,

I agree for the most part. It does not look like armour was lined with padding by the mid to late 15th, whereas there is perhaps evidence this was done with some leg armour into the 15th and before I am not aware if it was really done with arm and torso armour. That said I think it is debatable if under armour was or was not padded at all by 1450 to1500. Clearly not as heavily padded as armour from the 1st half of the 15th or before, and certainly less so than that will mail and stand alone armour but the argument that it was unpadded is fairly lightly supported with evidence. So if Chris wants to use some padding in his arming doublet I see no reason not to. There are a few Probate Inventories from England of the time show such a garment was in use with armour.

That said there are lined and padded breastplates from the late 17th, 18th century and early 19th century that could be some type of show of possible continuance but I doubt it myself. Some of the breastplates taken back to England from France after Napoleon's defeat have fairly thickly padded liners. One I worked on likely had more than half an inch, perhaps 5/8 an inch of padding. Since most 15th and 16th century breastplates and arm harnesses lack the liner holes along the edges I think it not likely for this era though. That said there is one leg harness from the later part of the 1st half of the 15th at the RA that may have liner holes as well as one in Paris's Army Museum.

I also think Jeff is an awesome armourer! Though there are some great people out there and listed here.

RPM
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James Anderson III




Location: Charles Town, WV
Joined: 23 Jul 2010
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Posts: 92

PostPosted: Fri 20 May, 2011 10:57 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Marek of ArmoryMarek.com
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N Cioran




Location: Toronto
Joined: 21 Nov 2010

Posts: 72

PostPosted: Sun 22 May, 2011 10:09 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Speaking of Armory Marek, can anyone comment on their armor... I'm interested in his bascinets in particular...

Thanks
Cole
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Kel Rekuta




Location: Toronto, Canada
Joined: 10 Feb 2004
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Posts: 616

PostPosted: Sun 22 May, 2011 1:08 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

For the OP's timeline - Per Lillelund Jensen in Sweden.
His attention to detail and encyclopedic knowledge of armour in that period is second to none, IMHO. Genuinely pleasant and modest fellow too.

http://www.olofsgillet.org/per/
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N Cioran




Location: Toronto
Joined: 21 Nov 2010

Posts: 72

PostPosted: Sun 22 May, 2011 5:08 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Nice link Kel, thanks!

Cole
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Hendrik De Coster




Location: Belgium
Joined: 20 Jan 2007

Posts: 115

PostPosted: Mon 23 May, 2011 12:56 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

N Cioran wrote:
Speaking of Armory Marek, can anyone comment on their armor... I'm interested in his bascinets in particular...

Thanks
Cole

i ordered my breastplate and arms from him when wearing my arming doublet, when i recieved them half a year later the breastplate had to be reworked a bit to fit well(trimmed off some metal) but the waistline still is too large. the arms were way to big but in my excitement i took them home anyway instead of having him remake them to fit me.
It's good quality for the price however since he's rather cheap. for all my new pieces i'm more inclined to order them from roman carreshenko(sp?), here's his facebook page : [url]http://www.facebook.com/#!/photos.php?id=100001292234084[/url]
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Boris R.





Joined: 15 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Mon 23 May, 2011 10:06 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

i thought that Armoury Marek uses only iron, and not steel for its armour
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
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Zac Evans




Location: London
Joined: 26 Dec 2006

Posts: 151

PostPosted: Tue 24 May, 2011 12:47 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Randall Moffett wrote:
Zac,

I agree for the most part. It does not look like armour was lined with padding by the mid to late 15th, whereas there is perhaps evidence this was done with some leg armour into the 15th and before I am not aware if it was really done with arm and torso armour. That said I think it is debatable if under armour was or was not padded at all by 1450 to1500. Clearly not as heavily padded as armour from the 1st half of the 15th or before, and certainly less so than that will mail and stand alone armour but the argument that it was unpadded is fairly lightly supported with evidence. So if Chris wants to use some padding in his arming doublet I see no reason not to. There are a few Probate Inventories from England of the time show such a garment was in use with armour.

That said there are lined and padded breastplates from the late 17th, 18th century and early 19th century that could be some type of show of possible continuance but I doubt it myself. Some of the breastplates taken back to England from France after Napoleon's defeat have fairly thickly padded liners. One I worked on likely had more than half an inch, perhaps 5/8 an inch of padding. Since most 15th and 16th century breastplates and arm harnesses lack the liner holes along the edges I think it not likely for this era though. That said there is one leg harness from the later part of the 1st half of the 15th at the RA that may have liner holes as well as one in Paris's Army Museum.

I also think Jeff is an awesome armourer! Though there are some great people out there and listed here.

RPM


I forgot to reply to this at the time, so at the risk of backtracking a bit:

While my original post was ambiguous, I meant to talk in particular about padding attached to the armour in particular. Depending on area and use we have definite evidence for padded arming garments until at least 1467 (my knowledge stops around there. It's very possible it goes on further.) While there are a few extant pieces of armour with possible padded linings of the period, I would not trust this as evidence, due to the huge amount of tampering done in the Victorian age. The fact that a couple of part harnesses have padding out of the many hundreds we have available makes me disinclined to believe it was done at all, let alone with any regularity. If we unearth more limb defences padded like this, or a treatise that mentions it as a possible practice then that's fine, I'm just suspicious of one off finds due to the amazing enthusiasm of victorian curators.

We could move this to a new topic if more could be said, but I think we're essentially in agreement, I just wanted to state my case clearer for the benefit of those currently planning harnesses.
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Kel Rekuta




Location: Toronto, Canada
Joined: 10 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Thu 26 May, 2011 6:23 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Craig Shackleton wrote:
Peter Fuller, if he's still making armour. And I'd get him to make a replica of Henry VIII's foot harness for the Field of the Cloth of Gold that was never used.


Peter is pleased to accept commissions and at last communication, was not booked years out; merely months. He has a very early armet in queue for me this summer. I could not recommend a more pleasant fellow to work with, although I have met a number of superb armourers that are equally excellent fellows. Just keep in mind that premium craftsmanship requires adequate compensation. Excellent harness was never cheap and nor is it now.
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Kel Rekuta




Location: Toronto, Canada
Joined: 10 Feb 2004
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Posts: 616

PostPosted: Thu 26 May, 2011 6:31 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Zac Evans wrote:
Here's the thing I noticed. You want pre attached padding, and historically accurate. Not the done thing I'm afraid. You only need padding if the armour doesn't fit properly. With a top armourer, you'll only need a little bit of padding in the helm.


Not entirely true... Depends on the type and period of the harness. Sallet and bevor both require lining based on period survivors. Many 15thC cuisses show evidence of provision for removable lining. The rest of the harness seems to be sufficiently supported by arming garments.
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