[Boris Bedrosov]

First, in the beginning of my re-enactor carrier, I used this sabre



but it was until the time, I realized it was not Ottoman, neither period at all.

Now I use a pallash, which I made in 2008 - robust and reliable "event"-weapon. This summer I even re-worked its hilt, adding finger-rings on the guard.
Here is a picture from this-year event, where I used mixture of styles - my Second Bulgarian Empire's clothes and armour and Ottoman weaponry, in order to represent the mid 15th C. voynuk (In the early Ottoman Empire, the voynuk was a local man-at-arms of non-Muslim descend, serving on garrison and militia duties in exchange for some profits - lower taxes, private land-ownership, etc.). So, my pallash is well visible here



As a side arm, I usually use this mace



A period weapon which caught my eye, is Sultan Mehmed's Fatih kilij

this link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...api082.jpg here

and I plan to make its replica (may be next year) of course, without the gold inlay.

[Boris Bedrosov]

The padding was riveted on the plates of the bazuband

* inside


** inside back


*** inside front


and **** outside


What was left is to trim the maile section and to sew it to the padding.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Meanwhile, the greaves were sanded and polished



Now, I am trying to figure out how to decorate them, i.e. what technique to apply.
My mind is drifting between repousse (almost completely discounted), engraving and etching; or some combination of engraving and etching.

[Boris Bedrosov]

As you perhaps remember, after seeing the result of the 'Zulfiquar'-shield, I decided to use it as a parade one, while making another dedicated especially for combat.

This



is my new combat shield, decorated in relatively simple (and easy to repair) pattern with traditional eight- and six-pointed stars. Here, I kept already known shapes, just the dimension are a little bit smaller.
The shield is still without its rawhide edging, but using already shown procedure this will be done soon.

An important feature of the new shield is its increased curvature. I managed to achieve this by using another form while the glue was drying - in this case this was a drum, almost three feet in diameter.
Here



you can compare by yourself two shields and clearly see the difference between them.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Meanwhile, the infantry greaves were marked for engraving (actually, on the picture only the left one is completely ready, while the other one is still in the process)



And more detailed one



I took this 'flower'-design from original 16th C Ottoman gold-plated copper chamfron, which could be seen in Askeri Muze in Istanbul, Turkey.
The design on the smaller plates was taken from another Ottoman greave in possession of Royal Armouries, Leeds.

[Lukas Schramm]

This really looks like great progress!

I'm looking forward to seeing this kit finished. I'd love to have the material, time and skill to produce something just slightly similar to this!

Greetings
Lukas

[Dave Carter]

New member to this site and mostly because of this thread. This is amazing work. I am in the SCA and am trying to improve on my Ottoman Kit.
This is what my dream kit would look like with the yushman.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us Boris.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Unbelievable!
In the beginning I just couldn't imagine that this topic would be visited more than 50,000 times.

Thanks a lot, guys! It's a great honour for me to be a part of this community.
Thank you very much indeed!

[Gregory J. Liebau]

The internet is a marvelous tool, Boris, but it's only as good as the contributions made by people in the real world. Your project has been very inspirational and extremely well-executed. Keep it up. Cheers!

-Gregory

[Boris Bedrosov]

The infantry greaves after engraving, but before blackening



Note that the blueish spot on the left one is from test-heating - I wanted to check how the grooves will look like after the heating.
And the greaves after blackening



Closer



and even more closer image

[William P]

i am going to SO enjoy looking ast you wearing the finished product.. im just a tiny bit bummed that those armoured boots arnt part of your time period but oh well if they were you would be as well armoured as any europea knight of the same period.

the blueing adds a very nice effect to the blackened surface... i have no criticcisms of the piece, im sure someone who knows a ton more mght be able to point out a flaw SOMEWHERE but from me, nothing but praise for an absolutely beautiful kit.

btw, what did the ottomans use as heavy weapons, large axes like the tabar, halberds? or even long handled maces?

[Boris Bedrosov]

BTW, William, blue on the blackened surface is by itself a flaw, or at least in heat-blackening technology that I used. The blueish spots mean that I didn't manage to heat the surface evenly, but it doesn't matter - I think this looks very, very cool.

Regarding your other question, my humble opinion is that the Ottoman strongly relied on, and respectively used, such heavy weapons, especially when dealing with heavily armoured European counterparts.
Here some of their weapons, which I managed to shot in different museums:

* Some tabars (or teber in modern Turkish) and battle-axes:

Note the dimensions of the tabars - they are typical "armour-crushers"

** Another tabar (in the middle) surrounded with a bunch of battle-axes:


*** Three bardiche-like weapons - also with enormous sizes (the blade of the left one is longer than a meter):


I have no evidence of usage of long handled maces (I have not seen such), but freely quoting Ewart Oakeshott - a lack of an artifact is not proof for non-existence.

[Boris Bedrosov]

This autumn I started studying for my second master degree and during the last two weeks I did little progress on the project.

In the hours "stolen" from the lessons I was preparing the cavalry greaves for etching.
Everything starts with pattern - in this case the pattern for the contour. The motif is the same as the one on the bazubands:



The pattern was stuck over the central plate



and I started carefully to apply tar in the holes.
Over the smaller plates the tar was applied by hand (without a pattern) and this is the result of the work before the end:



When the tar dried off, the pattern was removed, leaving a surface with a lot of unwanted tar



which should be removed with a painstaking process



working only with sharpened wooden sticks.

[William P]

[Boris Bedrosov]

First picture is from Slovakian State Historical Museum in Bratislava; the last is from Askeri Muze in Istanbul, Turkey; the second one - I'm not quite sure where I took it - it's more likely from Askeri (again), but it might be from Topkapi Palace (again in Istanbul).

Regarding the size of the tabars in Slovakian Museum - on the picture they appear bigger than in the reality - I think this effect is due to the strange angle of the picture. Yes - they are big indeed, but not so big that it might look.
From the other hand, I also think that upper two are more likely parade/ceremonial ones; but the last, which appears to be extremely heavy and clumsy, actually was relatively crude made, which is more typical for combat weapons, not for parade or ceremonial ones.

[Julien M]

[Boris Bedrosov]

[Boris Bedrosov]

The edges of the new combat shield were trimmed with rawhide and padding added.

*front








and ** back




What is left to be done is only the adding of the carrying straps.

Meanwhile, the shield was successfully tasted in battle during one of ours annual events

http://bbedrosov.snimka.bg/hobby/varna-05-11-2011.632647

where it got nice and real ''combat'' appearance.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Impressive in every way Boris but just out of curiosity, how many hours of work do you estimate you put into this project ?

Just thinking how much this would have cost if you had it made by a custom armour maker ? Although I don't think such a project can be valued using just what the costs of having it made would have been, I tend to think that one could have easily spent $30,000 or even more to have it made.

But it's value is much greater for you in experience and pride of workmanship i.e. priceless.

[Boris Bedrosov]

I have never made such estimate, but I think it's not less than 1200-1300 working hours so far; in this is not included the time for research and initial planning.