Cased greaves by HammerBreaker

[Sir James A]

I've been remiss in getting pictures and posting a thread, but I received my greaves from HammerBreaker (hammerbreaker.com.ua) shortly before Days of Knights. For those who saw the pictures of my harness on there, these are the same greaves. First, pictures:









Where to start? They are wonderful!

They have the proper slant cut. They fit like a glove, a really good fitting glove. The lower edge is rolled, as is the top of the rear plate, but not the front - which is historically accurate. These greaves fit so well, that I don't use any padding over the single-layer linen pants. I supplied measurements wearing the linen pants, and when I tried to wear these greaves over the thicker wool pants at Days of Knights, they wouldn't quite close all the way. What's even more surprising, is HammerBreaker did that without a cast of my leg! I gave him some measurements, and this was the result.

Allan is my "go to guy" for everything I can, and I wore my MercTailor/Allan greaves at the VARF demos. I wanted a single rear plate style greave for my earlier armor (14th Century) since the articulated rear lames are a later style. Very happy with these.

He goes by "HammerBreaker" on the Armour Archive, which is where I contacted him through. I also got a set of gauntlets from him, which he shipped to me for free (since they fit in the greaves box), and of which I will post about in a separate thread.

edit: updated image links

[Sir Ulrich]

Those look quite nice. I always wanted a set of greaves myself especially after wearing chausses the first time but whats always stopped me from buying some is people say they're uncomfortable unless you custom fit them to your own leg.

[Sir James A]

Those look quite nice. I always wanted a set of greaves myself especially after wearing chausses the first time but whats always stopped me from buying some is people say they're uncomfortable unless you custom fit them to your own leg.

You can have a *little* bit off, and still workable with padding, but greaves are one of the least size-difference tolerant pieces of armor in a harness. Aside from the helmet, they're usually the most expensive, too.

[Ian]

My greaves were hands down the most expensive piece of my harness, even more than me HE spring bascinet. If you're looking to save money and not need super custom fit, you can get away with shovel greaves (just the fronts) for a while in to the 14th C Sir Ulrich.

[Sir James A]

My greaves were hands down the most expensive piece of my harness, even more than me HE spring bascinet. If you're looking to save money and not need super custom fit, you can get away with shovel greaves (just the fronts) for a while in to the 14th C Sir Ulrich.

And seeing them up close, the pictures don't do them justice. Jeff does fantastic work, as expected!

[Thorsteinn]

Nice!

[Sir William]

Those look quite nice. I always wanted a set of greaves myself especially after wearing chausses the first time but whats always stopped me from buying some is people say they're uncomfortable unless you custom fit them to your own leg.

I have heard the same...but I think that'll ring true for just about any piece of armor- its true, we make do with off-the-rack stuff but it doesn't always fit well.  Custom made is the way to go, I'm slowly coming to realize that.