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Pauldrons catching breastplate
Sir William:
merc, you're learning what I learned a few years ago w/regard to how armor should 'sit' on the body. If your pauldrons were set up for points (think laces) rather than straps, this would be easier to accomplish, in my opinion. Sure, you could also punch more holes in the top strap to get the pauldrons to sit higher...and they should sit in front of/on top of the breastplate edge there...it looks like you have it underneath instead.
Rule of thumb- do what Allan tells you...he's the guy behind Mercenary's Tailor and he knows his stuff when it comes to armor. Fit is everything.
merc3065:
Thanks for the description of what I need to try.
I have tried connecting the pauldrons at their tightest point in the past to the gorget but they don't allow any movement. I'll try it under the breastplate
I may have to drill and lace the pauldrons instead of the straps as one of the rivets on the gorget is starting to work it's way through the leather strap. I just noticed this last night.
The breastplate/backplate was built with someone who is twice my size in terms of belly size. (XXL painted on inside lol) I had to punch holes that were almost 6" away from the "factory" holes on the shoulder straps. I wear the side straps at their tightest point to give a comfortable fit.
But maybe that 1" or so that will be pushed up by the gorget assembly will move things up a little more.
I'll let you know how it fits tonight after I get home from work. Also, the gorget I have was just a single piece of metal that was cut either side so it's not really properly formed for the round of my collarbone/shoulders. It's something i'll be fixing tonight as well.
Thanks for the help!
Sir Wolf:
ya i would stop attaching the pauldrons to the gorget. it seems right but i do not think it's historical nor does it allow the pauldrons to sit properly. i did this on my full suit of armour to before i knew about correctly pointing the pieces to the arming jacket.
i like to put point holes in the arming jacket pretty far up on the shoulder. maybe even close to the neck seem. then lace them accordingly. you can even put in multiple holes so you can fit it as the day goes on (material stretches)
your gorget (while it looks awesome) really has no protection value for you. any hit you take should be glanced off your breastplate. I would look to either attach some sort of ridged neck protection onto your existing gorget or get another one made like the examples I showed earlier. always wear it under the BnB. this allows all blows to glace off and not go under it (aiming at the lower neck)
who made you armour? the animi look is pretty cool (layered) I think the one thing (the photos show) that it is missing is dishing in the stomach area. mine is done the same way. the metal is bent and has a shallow dish from the bending, but is not body shaped. causing tightness in some areas yet has gaps in others. still i like the look you are going for!
Sir James A:
--- Quote from: Sir William on 2012-01-18, 15:59:01 ---Rule of thumb- do what Allan tells you...he's the guy behind Mercenary's Tailor and he knows his stuff when it comes to armor. Fit is everything.
--- End quote ---
Yep, this is by far the most important. From my experience, with full-sized pauldrons like that, the large part of the pauldron should be wider than the breastplate to minimize it catching and going under the breastplate. Flaring the edges will definitely help, but do it carefully.
The pauldrons should sit slightly "forward" on your arms. Same thing for mail. Our arms are naturally slightly forward, and armor will fit and move better if it sits natural on us. I think the inherit little nuances of pauldrons are why they were used (from what I've seen) mostly with polearms or mounted jousting, and spaulders (pauldrons with smaller main plates) were common for non-polearm foot combat.
merc3065:
Thanks for all the help!
I moved the gorget under the BnB (awesome shortform by the way!) and it resolved 90% of the issues I was having.
I agree that the gorget has no protective value except to stop any sort of pierce to the area just below the collarbone but nothing for the neck at all. I definitely need something to go up my neck to just under my jawbone.
The gorget seems to be holding everything correctly for now but I will have to get some examples of pointing with the leather cord and maybe a "how to" on how to do this for when the strap on the one side finally lets go.
In the mean time I have to bend the gorget's curves to fit my shoulders properly as right now the cuts that were made between the 2 pieces are poking me on those little shoulder knobbies that everyone has on their collar bone. Even through my gambeson I can feel it poking which I can see as a major comfort issue for any length of time.
The leading corner that contacts the breastplate on the front needs to be flared out maybe 5-10mm max so it clears the fluting on the upper half of the breastplate. The back portion of the pauldron doesn't even catch anymore. It makes me wish more and more this suit had an instruction manual.
Also, placing the gorget underneath the BnB it raised the whole thing up a little bit as I thought it would and it sits a lot more comfortably and snugly than before. The shoulder straps sit right on top of the gorget.
How are those straps protected from cutting blows? Is that what the aventail or coif would have done from the helmet?
As for who made the stuff? No clue. www.swords4you.com is the website store front. I am assuming it's someone over in Europe as the guy who I purchased it from in Milton, ON was European and he's modelling the armor on his website. I was trying to go for something that was English style 14th-15th century but the more I look at the Greenwich armour, the more I find this is definitely a fantasy style more than anything.
I'll eventually get the "proper" battle harness considering I DID get the green light from the better half :)
Once again, thanks for all your help and any help with the pointing is appeciated!
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