Technical ? about great helm
About how tall (top-to-bottom) is the occular opening. I realize there is going to be variations between helm types, but on average, what's your estimate. I have the front plates cut out, but now I'm thinking there is too much space which would allow a spear-point or sword to penetrate. My helm won't be used for fighting or such, but I would like it to be in correct proportions.
Re: Technical ? about great helm
Bob K. wrote:
About how tall (top-to-bottom) is the occular opening. I realize there is going to be variations between helm types, but on average, what's your estimate. I have the front plates cut out, but now I'm thinking there is too much space which would allow a spear-point or sword to penetrate. My helm won't be used for fighting or such, but I would like it to be in correct proportions.


Just a thought but trying to make the ocular too narrow for a sword to fit through the opening would be difficult to do as most blades are less than 1/4" or even closer to 1/8".

On the other hand getting a blade perfectly angled to go though and ocular means that even a much wide ocular is hard to get through if the blade is even slightly canted to one side.

Oh, there are interrupted oculars that would be more like a series of small rectangular opening side by side rather than being one long slit. ( Not an option for every type of Great Helm as not every Helm would look good or have this style of ocular ).

My estimate would be between 1/8" for extremely narrow oculars but the average might be closer to 1/2", at least based on oculars on my repro Helms.

The closer the occular is to the eyes the narrower it can be and still give a decent field of view and apart from what historical helms can tell us the desigh compromises between best protection and best vision is always going to be the same I think.

I assume that others will chime in with more facts than just opinion.
1/2 or under should be correct. A good idea would be to start smaller and grind the opening until you have a decent field of vision.You might want to talk to the armorer in your local adrian chapter. At least down in florida, there willing to help out like minded non-members (like me) with everthing from cutting the steel to riveting the whole mess together.
Thanks for the replies! The first plate (bottom front) looked as though it would be too narrow so I made a second larger one. Now I'm thinking the first one will work better after all. Again, thanks.

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