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N Cioran




Location: Toronto
Joined: 21 Nov 2010

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PostPosted: Mon 13 Dec, 2010 5:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Its also worth saying that if you have more time but less money, standing in front of a polishing wheel can be rewarding Happy
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Sean Flynt




Location: Birmingham, Alabama
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PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 11:03 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'll be making a separate post later this week but I wanted to go ahead and chime in again. I just got my MT breast and fauld. What a bargain! Not only did Allan nail the design brief I gave him, he also managed to fit me perfectly based on a few key measures. There are very nice little details here that I never would have expected from sub-$200 kit. Perfect fit and articulation in the fauld, good weight, properly rolled edges (even on the fauld) sliding rivets, stout straps, painted interior....

The finish is excellent. As others have noted above, historical finishes vary greatly. What I have here is an almost perfect surface with what I'd classify as a medium polish. There are what I guess are rotary polish marks over the whole surface, and I think that's what makes these pieces hard to photograph well. If you want to do serious living history I think you'd want to lightly finish the surface by hand with a sanding sponge or something to remove those, but very few folks will be bothered by the finish as-is. For just under $200 I have functional, made-to-measure armour that gives me the option of leaving it as-is or doing any amount of further refinement to suit my taste, usage and collection.

My dilemma now is whether to pair it with my (bright) GDFB sallet project or go all-in, disassembling, polishing, bluing and re-assembling to match my north Italian/Austrian sallet. The brass buckles and rivets would look mighty nice on a blued surface...maybe over a red jack or livery coat. Big Grin

-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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Robert S. Haile





Joined: 16 Dec 2007

Posts: 126

PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 1:36 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I too can vouche for the quality of Allan's armor. I use his legs, greaves, and integrated arms with a bascinet, breastplate, besagews, and from Wild Armoury. As can be seen, it is not all rough from the hammer in finish, and the articulation is smooth as could be asked for. The armor certainly achieves what it is designed to do.

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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 1:43 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Sean Flynt wrote:

My dilemma now is whether to pair it with my (bright) GDFB sallet project or go all-in, disassembling, polishing, bluing and re-assembling to match my north Italian/Austrian sallet. The brass buckles and rivets would look mighty nice on a blued surface...maybe over a red jack or livery coat. Big Grin


There are two ways to go with the GDFB sallet if one wants the finished to match more closely although in period one might well have mismatched kit: One way is to polish up the Mercenary Tailor's armour, the other way is to use the same sanding sponge to get the same finish, more or less depending on how much work, on the helm and the rest of the armour.

Now a completely different finish like bluing both could be a third option.

The main thing about Allan's armour even if living history people can certainly find anachronisms like buckles and rivets being modern is that it " FITS & FUNCTIONS " like real using armour and Allan is very good as tweaking even his " off the shelf " armour to fit very well. It's also good that one need not get a heart attack at the first small scratch on a $5000 blued and gilded breast plate. Wink Big Grin Cool

The great and reliable customer service is certainly a big bonus of dealing with Allan ...... yes, I'm giving him another well deserved plug here because of years of being a satisfied customer and a friend ( Just being up front about my favourable bias here about Allan ).

NOTE: As I write this I think there is still a bit of time to qualify for his January contest, or if not the February one if he gets enough business to afford to have a February contest.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=21950

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Christian G. Cameron




Location: Toronto, Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 2:52 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I like a bright finish--because I wear my harness in all weathers and the higher the polish is, the more it resists rust. This is not an old wives tale...

However, while I know very little about how Medieval armour was maintained, I know a bit about swords and guns in the mid-late 18th c. and most of those were kept bright by burnishing. I burnish my armour with a polished chain mail palm (US Navy issue 1925).

A side story--a few years ago, I purchased an original, bright burnished British flintlock military pistorl (about 1760) in very nice condition. --on the way to an event. I arrived, a biddy of mine asked to see it, I handed it to him, and then went off to be the captain... next thing I knew, I was packing up on Sunday, and to everyone's chagrin found my original horse pistol in the wet grass. It had lain there Thursday night until Sunday... in rain and freezing cold.

No rust at all. Not a speck. In find original blades doing the same thing, although I try to avoid quite the same level of testing...

My conclusion is that regular burnishing knocks the burs down so that there are few points for an H2O molecule to attach. I'd be delighted for a metalsmith professional to tell me if there's any science to back the observation.

In the meantime, I like burnishing....

Christian G. Cameron

Qui plus fait, miex vault

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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 3:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Christian G. Cameron wrote:
I like a bright finish--because I wear my harness in all weathers and the higher the polish is, the more it resists rust. This is not an old wives tale...

However, while I know very little about how Medieval armour was maintained, I know a bit about swords and guns in the mid-late 18th c. and most of those were kept bright by burnishing. I burnish my armour with a polished chain mail palm (US Navy issue 1925).

A side story--a few years ago, I purchased an original, bright burnished British flintlock military pistorl (about 1760) in very nice condition. --on the way to an event. I arrived, a biddy of mine asked to see it, I handed it to him, and then went off to be the captain... next thing I knew, I was packing up on Sunday, and to everyone's chagrin found my original horse pistol in the wet grass. It had lain there Thursday night until Sunday... in rain and freezing cold.

No rust at all. Not a speck. In find original blades doing the same thing, although I try to avoid quite the same level of testing...

My conclusion is that regular burnishing knocks the burs down so that there are few points for an H2O molecule to attach. I'd be delighted for a metalsmith professional to tell me if there's any science to back the observation.

In the meantime, I like burnishing....


That sound very interesting and it would seem like a good idea to have a piece of scrap maille to use as a burnishing tool: I'm really curious to try this out and see what kind of finish one gets and maybe burnishing in itself has an effect as suggested on the surface molecules of the steel making it less likely to rust.

HMMMMM: Might order this maille knickknack from MT as it should work well for this application.
http://www.merctailor.com/catalog/product_inf...ucts_id=85

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!


Last edited by Jean Thibodeau on Mon 31 Jan, 2011 9:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Allan Senefelder
Industry Professional



Location: Upstate NY
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PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 3:58 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Quote:
I burnish my armour with a polished chain mail palm (US Navy issue 1925).




I have been told by some folks who are wood workers that burnishing with maille is an old school woodworking technique.
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Christian G. Cameron




Location: Toronto, Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 31 Jan, 2011 8:16 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Allan, my grandfather told me that the cavalry used it on their sabers--that's the US cavalry in WWI. Certainly was the US Navy's tool of choice for polishing steel in 1925...

BTW, since this is a thread devoted to the subject, I LOVE the finish on the Merc Tailor stuff. And suddenly there's quite a lot of it around.... Happy

Christian G. Cameron

Qui plus fait, miex vault

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N Cioran




Location: Toronto
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PostPosted: Tue 01 Feb, 2011 4:20 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Great kit Robert!

Cole
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Christian G. Cameron




Location: Toronto, Canada
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PostPosted: Tue 01 Feb, 2011 5:22 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Let me echo Cole, Robert. excellent look!
Christian G. Cameron

Qui plus fait, miex vault

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Allan Senefelder
Industry Professional



Location: Upstate NY
Joined: 18 Oct 2003

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PostPosted: Tue 01 Feb, 2011 5:49 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Christian, you might actually know the woodworker, its a local guy's shoppe Wendell Castle http://www.wendellcastlecollection.com/index...._furniture . He was in Scottville for years. The reason they called me out was to make some maille squares for them for burnishing wood.

If you ever snap a pic of the maille polishing glove i'd dig seeing what it looks like.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Tue 01 Feb, 2011 9:36 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Allan Senefelder wrote:
Christian, you might actually know the woodworker, its a local guy's shoppe Wendell Castle http://www.wendellcastlecollection.com/index...._furniture . He was in Scottville for years. The reason they called me out was to make some maille squares for them for burnishing wood.

If you ever snap a pic of the maille polishing glove i'd dig seeing what it looks like.


Hmmmmm: Another reason why I think I want some of those maille squares. Wink I occasionally make my own walking sticks and getting a nice burnished oiled surface is something I'm interested in doing in addition to trying out the maille squares on my armour to scour/burnish off rust spots as well as getting rid of any modern tool marks.

( Sent an e-mail to confirm an order for the maille squares. Wink )

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Robert S. Haile





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PostPosted: Wed 02 Feb, 2011 12:47 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Thank you kindly, gentlemen!
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Sean Flynt




Location: Birmingham, Alabama
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PostPosted: Thu 03 Feb, 2011 7:30 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here's the finish on mine. More here: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=213877#213877


 Attachment: 198.78 KB
breast3.gif


-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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