| Author |
Message |
Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
|
 Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 1:42 pm Post subject: Opinions on Forth Armory? |
 |
|
Do folks out there have experience with Forth Armory? Here's a link: http://www.forth-armoury.com/.
Jouster/forum member Lloyd Clark had this to say:
| Quote: | If you want a tough pig-face, and don't care for authenticity, Forth Armory has SS ones for $250 (in 14ga!). They also have SS Sugarloafs and Great Helms as well.
Very good helms for "live" steel practice and jousting.
|
Anyone else have experience with them?
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
|
|
    |
 |
|
Patrick Kelly
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 2:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I plan on purchasing some maille supplies from them when they're back in stock. The only experience I've had thus far has been through e-mail, but the responses have been prompt and curteous. Not much to add I'm afraid.
"In valor there is hope.".................. Tacitus
|
|
 |
|
|
Felix Wang
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 3:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
I purchased a houndskull bascinet from Forth Armoury. Excellent value for the price; not suitable for Living History, but well made. Steve's supply of goods is variable, so if there is something you have in mind, I would go for it. Service was entirely satisfactory (except for the trouble he has keeping stuff in stock!).
|
|
|
|
|
David McElrea
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Felix Wang wrote: | Quote: | | ...not suitable for Living History... |
By this do you mean "it is not period-accurate enough for living history" or do you mean "it is not suitable for stage combat"?
Just curious .
|
|
|
|
|
|
Felix Wang
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 5:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
My helmet is stainless steel, so period accuracy is sacrificed. On the other hand, for stage combat it would probably be eminently suitable, being tough and needing little maintenance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
David R. Glier
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 5:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Dang, everything's out of stock!  I wonder if he's okay... Here's hoping that Christmas buisness was good to him and he's just temporarily sold out of stock .
The helmets are for the SCA -as you can tell, they're in stainless or an overly-heavy guage for period repros. I have no idea if he makes his helmets or has them made for him, and I have no idea what their quality is.
I *do* know that, at least until recently, his primary buisness was his maille. And I also know that Steve's maille is second to none in the production world, and only a handfull of maille makers in the custom world can exceed the quality of his work. It is emminently suitable for living history. He's the go-to guy for earlier-period armor needs. If there's a flaw with his work, it's that it's too perfect to be perfectly authentic. Eric Schmidt can go into this far better than I, if he happens to run across this thread.
You cannot go wrong with Steve's work -not the maille, anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Patrick Kelly
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | | Dang, everything's out of stock! I wonder if he's okay... Here's hoping that Christmas buisness was good to him and he's just temporarily sold out of stock . |
In our last e-mail communique he stated that he'd have some things back in stock in january or febuary.
"In valor there is hope.".................. Tacitus
|
|
|
|
|
Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| David R. Glier wrote: | Dang, everything's out of stock! I wonder if he's okay... Here's hoping that Christmas buisness was good to him and he's just temporarily sold out of stock .
|
Actually, quite a bit is in stock, including 6 helms and a pair of gauntlets. The maille is out of stock, though.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
|
|
|
|
|
|
David R. Glier
|
| Posted: Sun 09 Jan, 2005 5:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
bah, for a maillemaker who -at the time- seemed to get into selling helms only because he was able to sell more aventails that way, he's "out of stock." 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kel Rekuta
|
| Posted: Mon 10 Jan, 2005 12:47 pm Post subject: Re: Opinions on Forth Armory? |
|
|
| Chad Arnow wrote: | Do folks out there have experience with Forth Armory? Here's a link: http://www.forth-armoury.com/.
Jouster/forum member Lloyd Clark had this to say:
| Quote: | If you want a tough pig-face, and don't care for authenticity, Forth Armory has SS ones for $250 (in 14ga!). They also have SS Sugarloafs and Great Helms as well.
Very good helms for "live" steel practice and jousting.
|
Anyone else have experience with them? |
Forth Armoury has a good reputation for service. The chief instructor at AEMMA purchased their riveted mail recently. I keep trying, but haven't been successful. Its out of stock whenever I check.
As to the rest of it, I recently repaired a pair of the scale gauntlets. Pretty good value for $150. They are fine for aluminum waster training or bouting, but I wouldn't use them in armoured combat with steel weapons. The helmets are totally oriented to heavy stick fighting. Occularia are quite wide and the construction is unnecessarily heavy for armoured combat on foot. Lloyd thinks they'd be great for jousting, so I will defer to his experience.
In all, I've never heard a bad word about Forth Armoury or its staff. Just that they're always out of stock of what I want!!!! 
|
|
|
|
|
Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
|
| Posted: Tue 11 Jan, 2005 6:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for the info, everyone. Stainless steel aside, how historically accurate is the design of the hounskull bascinet?
The eyeslits are listed as .375". Are the proportions of that and the rest of the helm historically plausible?
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
|
|
|
|
|
Elling Polden
|
| Posted: Tue 11 Jan, 2005 8:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
You can buy very similar maile from http://www.gdfb.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
They are based in england,but are cheaper than Fourth.
I own a hauberk from Fourth, which I'm quite happy with... It need some customization, though, especialy on the sleeves, which are very wide.
BDFB also sells lose pannels of riveted chain mail....
And, oh, I belive they are in stock 
Yours
Elling
|
|
 |
|
|
Nathan Bell
|
| Posted: Tue 11 Jan, 2005 9:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Elling Polden wrote: | You can buy very similar maile from http://www.gdfb.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
They are based in england,but are cheaper than Fourth.
I own a hauberk from Fourth, which I'm quite happy with... It need some customization, though, especialy on the sleeves, which are very wide.
BDFB also sells lose pannels of riveted chain mail....
And, oh, I belive they are in stock
Yours
Elling |
GDFB has an exclusive dealer for the US, I don't believe that they will sell direct? At least that is the impression I get from e-mails with Stephen Brown of GDFB. Contact Jeff Hedgecock @ Historic Enterprises---HE is selling GDFB maille as their US dealer.
Since Chad is virtually my neighbor (rather than just a "virtual neighbor") I knew he would need the USA info for any maille orders
|
|
|
|
|
|
Patrick Kelly
|
| Posted: Tue 11 Jan, 2005 9:59 am Post subject: |
|
|
One thing to remember is that, here in the USA, we live on the other side of the planet from GDFB. I just shipped a 28 pound hauberk off to the northwest part of this country and the shipping was considerable. Dealing direct with a vendor, and avoiding the retailer, may save you some money in many cases. However, in the case of international shipping of heavy and/or large products and perceived savings can be eaten up pretty quickly.
"In valor there is hope.".................. Tacitus
|
|
|
|
|
Alexi Goranov
myArmoury Alumni
|
| Posted: Tue 11 Jan, 2005 11:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Chad Arnow wrote: | Thanks for the info, everyone. Stainless steel aside, how historically accurate is the design of the hounskull bascinet?
The eyeslits are listed as .375". Are the proportions of that and the rest of the helm historically plausible? |
Hi Chad,
I wish someone more experienced will chime in but I have several issues with the helmet.
First off I think it is still a decent helmet for the money, and most proportions are close to where they need to be IMO.
However:
I'd have expected the skull to be taller. At lest most examples that I have seen are.
The visor hinges are not quite accurate, as most basinets had the visor easily removable with the help of pins (see attached links). And that screw head is just bugging the hell out of me.
the "vervailles" (little staples for aventail attachment) need to reach much further up . This will allow the aventail to cover most of the face (see links).
I think that it is heavier than many historical pieces (most are around 6-7lb) at lest in part due to the thicker steel used in production.
The eye slits are around 8mm on many historical originals, but I think 9.5mm is not that bad. There also appears to be some grin on the visor which is necessary to allow downward visibility. and is a nice addition. I do feel that the occulars are not as "elegant" in shape as on originals but that is just a feel and does not mean much.
There might be more blatant problems with the basinet, but that is all I can see.
There are several higher-end basinets available but they start at $590 and go up to almost $2000, but I'd much rather get one of high quality and accuracy.
Check:
Historical enterprises (~$900)
Valentine armouries (~$590)
www.medievalrepro.com (~$1300)
http://www.living-history.no (~$1700)
Robert MacPherson (unknown, but expensive)
Royal Armouries basinet
Royal Armouries Basinet, different view
Hope that helps. I can post more pictures of originals if interested, as I have been collecting them for a while.
The visored basinets are my favroite helmets.
Alexi
|
|
|
|
|
|
Heath Robinette
|
| Posted: Wed 12 Jan, 2005 8:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I just purchased the pair of scaled gauntlets. Steven's response was immediate and the service was very good. As for the quality we shall have to see what we have to see.
HRR
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a standard topic