[Nathaniel C.]

Hi all, it’s been a very long time.

After too long of a break I’ve come back to hobby of armouring. I’m working on a 16th century cuirass for theatrical stage use. However I’m having a really hard time finding internal reference photos of 16th century pauldrons, specifically where the lames are overlapping in a downward manner. I’m not specifically copying this armour but it’s a good example of what trying to imitate.

So, are the rivets on the descending lames ornamental? They don’t appear to be sliding rivets. They can’t be articulated on leathers because the plates overlap right where the rivets are…. My guess is the lames are articulated on sliding rivets in the back and leathers on the front which would make these visible rivets purely ornamental, probably added to match the visible sliding rivets on the back. But I can’t find any images of extant examples to prove this theory.

[Sean Manning]

If you can't afford the Wallace Collection catalogue with the Iron Key (and if you make a 15th/16th/17th century armour its worth the money) Wade Allen's collection is a good source for photos of the insides of armour https://www.european-armour.com/Armour-Arms-Collection.html Click on the photos to see his pages for the individual items.

[Nathaniel C.]

Thanks! That’s very helpful.
As much as I’d like the Iron Key, I’m just a hobbyist at this point so it’s not really worth the cost.
The photos Wade Allen provides are exactly what I needed though. It appears my assumption was correct and they are indeed ornamental rivets. He has one example that doesn’t have them at all, which looks like a more munitions grade piece.
I’m using fairly thin stainless for weight/practical considerations since this is for stage. I’ve never done sliding rivets before and I’m not sure how well they’d work in the thinner metal. At the very least I want to understand how the originals articulated before I make any modifications or simplifications for practical considerations.