Planishing and making slots for straps and hinges
The anneal on the back of the left greave wasn't consistent. I tried doing some dishing to make the calf deeper and the steel just laughed at me. I was able to planish out the dents though, and the edges were malleable enough to get what I wanted done. A note for the next greave though, the edge curves of the front and the back need to match up, so they should be formed in roughly the same way. It's not too hard to use the various curves on the swedge to get the basic curves I want and use the kettle stake to smooth them out.
I punched and filed the slots for the straps and one of the hinges tonight. This is from a vambrace from Chartres but it gives a good feel for the slots that were most likely used for straps in this era. The end of the strap goes through the slot and rivets to the inside of the piece. Either the buckle plate or a small length of strap does the same thing on the opposing piece. It's pretty elegant, but it's time consuming and leaves a rough edge against the wearer which I don't like. Those are probably reasons they generally took a different approach in the 15th century
Here you see the insets where the hinges should go, and the rivet placements for those hinges.
Santa was good to me this Christmas, so I have some great books to read. There's an outstanding one about the Valios dukes of Burgundy and the culture they created, one about The Unconquered Knight, and another about Bertrand du Guesclin, whose armour I've used as inspiration here.
I had a great practice on Tuesday which highlighted some things I'd like to change. There are some things I just can't do well because my helmet is both too heavy and too long. I really do like the mass, but it's leading to some issues with balance in my more challenging fights. Since I need to tear out the lining anyway to make a new one now's probably a good time to trim a bit off the bottom edge of the hat. It will mean making new holes for the avantail and liner and tinkering with the avantail leather a bit. It's all stuff that's long overdue.
I punched and filed the slots for the straps and one of the hinges tonight. This is from a vambrace from Chartres but it gives a good feel for the slots that were most likely used for straps in this era. The end of the strap goes through the slot and rivets to the inside of the piece. Either the buckle plate or a small length of strap does the same thing on the opposing piece. It's pretty elegant, but it's time consuming and leaves a rough edge against the wearer which I don't like. Those are probably reasons they generally took a different approach in the 15th centuryHere you see the insets where the hinges should go, and the rivet placements for those hinges.
Santa was good to me this Christmas, so I have some great books to read. There's an outstanding one about the Valios dukes of Burgundy and the culture they created, one about The Unconquered Knight, and another about Bertrand du Guesclin, whose armour I've used as inspiration here.
I had a great practice on Tuesday which highlighted some things I'd like to change. There are some things I just can't do well because my helmet is both too heavy and too long. I really do like the mass, but it's leading to some issues with balance in my more challenging fights. Since I need to tear out the lining anyway to make a new one now's probably a good time to trim a bit off the bottom edge of the hat. It will mean making new holes for the avantail and liner and tinkering with the avantail leather a bit. It's all stuff that's long overdue.
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