[Reece Nelson]

So I've been researching various forms of how mail was used with plate armour and I came across this image. I had originally thought of doing voiders, but it would be a big hassle to undo them and such every time I wanted to clean them :/ Plus I've seen many jousters use them and they keep "popping" out towards the bottom where the ribs are. So...I've documented this to be done in the mid 15th century and I saw that the mail looks to be loose at the bottom. Maybe it gets "tucked" into the body once you add the cuirass?

Do you think this will be a good alternative to voiders?

Thanks in advance!
-Reece

[Kai Lawson]

I know literally nothing about voiders, but I had always imagined that they were tailored and sewn all along the edges--like a metal over-gore for the armpits

[Robert MacPherson]

Reece,

Look at the pic of the reenactor who is having the "wardrobe malfunction". The armpits of his mail are about a hand's breadth from his body. The mail can't help but pop out as soon as he lifts his arms.

The important things are that the mail must have a reasonable armpit construction, and that some means must keep it close to the body.

The voiders on
the 15th C fellow in the first pic appear to go on like a short vest. Provided that it is tailored well, it looks like a very convenient solution.

Mac

[Reece Nelson]

Thank you for the replies


I imagine once the cuirass is attached the mail has little room to move around, but I'm curious once someone would thrust in the armpit and couch it like you see in the fight manuals, if it would then shift itself upward and "slip" out

Or, would the cuirass having shaped correctly with the torso prevent any sort of "slipping"? I imagine I won't know until I try it out.

Mac, do you know of anyone that has tried out this short vest style of mail?


-Reece

[Mark Griffin]

Think the modern guys fighting is Tournament of the Phoenix by the looks of the Hedgecock pollaxes. Cant identify the fighters though. Poss Arne Koets, maybe Toby? No idea what they were wearing, thought Dr Capwell was in a great bascinet....

Anyway, voiders simply need to be long enough and sewn /pointed on to stop that happening.

IMHO that is...

But Robert's suggestion re the vest is a good one. You could adapt a shirt easily for this and use it a bit like a padded arming partlet as suggested by various late 16th cent sources. That's a v nice picture, is he just back from a heavy bit of armoured work, or back from a serious drinking session?

[Mark Griffin]

Reece, can you give the ms source for the picture with the guy being carried? Thanks.

[Mark Hale]

The one on the left is Toby I think. Also for info, the first image is what Toby now has. Somewhere I have a photo as I supplied the maille to him

It's certainly a good idea, kind of like a waistcoat. So essentially sleeves with side for waist and then a strip over the shoulder blades.

If I can find the photo of Toby I will post it.

[Reece Nelson]

Hello Mark,

My source for that image from from this thread here. http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=21451m

And yes, the image is from the tournament of the phoenix. The guy on the right is Arne Koets and the guy on the left is Toby Capwell.

I'd be really interested in seeing that image of Toby's mail. You do amazing work

-Reece

[Tobias Capwell]

Ha! This is kinda funny, because in that picture, where I am fighting Arne, I am actually wearing a set of mail sleeves joined at the back like your first manuscript detail. Actually I made them after that very image. Works very well. Actually that one I'm wearing was made for Per Lillelund Jensen... I just sorta took it for a test-drive.... I'm in the process of making another one for myself.

[Reece Nelson]

Wow! That's neat!

Do you have a picture of you wearing it by itself? I'd like to see the piece in the flesh, as it were Seeing you fight in it, just set aside any doubt that It wouldn't work well for what I'll be doing.

-Reece

[Mark Griffin]

2 other things from the top pic. 1. He's bleeding where the mail isn't. A salutory lesson to us all.... :-) and 2. Whats going on with the waistline of the guy on the left? Some kind of split belt? Can't be a gore in the garment just there...

[Robert MacPherson]

[Mart Shearer]

Here's the Vatican Bibliographic Reference:

[Tobias Capwell]

Its a good way of doing it if a) you are wearing a style of armour which allows elbow-length sleeves worn over the vambraces and b) you don't want to be stitching mail to arming doublets.

There are a pair of sleeves in Berlin which retain their original linen edging down the front. This allows the sleeves to just be pointed up and away you go. So that's what I did and it works well.

I don't have any pictures of either of the two I've already made, but I thought I would write an article about the third one when its done. So that will have some decent images...

[Reece Nelson]

Tobias,

Here is my arm harness that I have. It's floating articulation and I have the vambrace and couter held by points in the doublet, then the spaulders overlap and are held by a strap.

Would this design get in the way with my arm harness?

I had thought about having my rear brace tie into the doublet to help it articulate better, so If doesn't work well with the current set up, I could try that maybe?
-Reece

[Tobias Capwell]

Well, I guess it depends if your upper cannon is inseperable from the spaudler, that is, joined to it as part of a single assembly, in the late fourteenth-century manner. If yes, the Italian sleeve set-up isn't going to work for you, since the sleeves need to be worn over the upper cannons but under the shoulder defences.

If you were to wear the upper cannons seperately, then it should work for you.

[Tobias Capwell]

Here's another shot from the same tournament as the one we started out with in this discussion... you can see the sleeves I was wearing a bit better. You can also see how they didn't work so well with my armour- the bottom edge can be seen sneaking out of the cuirass. The Mk. 3s will have more coverage down there...



TC

[Ben van Koert]

I use them as well. After seeing Toby's at TotP in 2010 I wanted to give this a go as my voiders were bugging me. It's a very nice system that works very well. It wears like a short jacket, I keep the front attached by two points on the arming doublet.







Fun bit: they started out as regular voiders, but they were remade into this by my awesome maille suppliers.

[Reece Nelson]

Great photos, Ben! I will diffidently have to give this a go!

Thanks for everyone's input in this, I think this would be a perfect route for my mail for my harness

Ben, could you post some pictures of the mail shirt with out the armour? I'd like to see the pattern you have set up for you're s

-Reece

[Philip Dyer]