Ed's other kit, 15th century

[Sir William]

Looking good, Sir Edward.  Loved how you put the voiders together.

[Joshua Santana]

From what I can tell of Sir Edward's voiders, the best way to create voiders (or to use them) is to lace the mail to the arming cotte/gambeson/doublet so that if fits with your shoulder pits (also depending on what the size of the gambeson or arming coat, don't trust eyelets immediately unless it is custom made)

This is helpful for me because when I order my mail for my voiders, I know how to do the job right.

[Joshua Santana]

One more thing Sir Edward, did you use these to help make the voiders?

The Historic Enterprises link states that the product you chose was not available.

http://historicenterprises.com/loose-rings-rivets-steel-1-lb-wedgeriveted-mail-9mm-diam-p-684.html?cPath=101_141

[Sir Edward]

Nope, I put them on nearly unaltered. I say "nearly", because what I did was take a little excess off near the wrists, where it would have overlapped and wrapped around more than once. Realistically I should have removed more material and shaped them more. I'm also regretting not getting them in stainless (which wasn't an option at the time, but Icefalcon has them now), because they're rusting around the forearm and wrist area.

While they're laced on, it's difficult to clean both them AND the arming cotte. And if I take the time to unlace and re-lace, it'll take almost as long as the first time around, and that was a slow and tedious process. Very historical though, if you ignore the fact that I used cheap metal eyelets.

There's a part of me that wants to get some stainless voiders, attach some heavy-duty velcro, and use that to quickly take them on and off. It's cheating, I know.

[Joshua Santana]

Ah I see now, this is most helpful.  Thank you Sir Edward!

There's a part of me that wants to get some stainless voiders, attach some heavy-duty velcro, and use that to quickly take them on and off. It's cheating, I know.

I don't consider it cheating, I consider it less time consuming especially when you have a busy schedule. 

[Sir James A]

Nope, I put them on nearly unaltered. I say "nearly", because what I did was take a little excess off near the wrists, where it would have overlapped and wrapped around more than once. Realistically I should have removed more material and shaped them more. I'm also regretting not getting them in stainless (which wasn't an option at the time, but Icefalcon has them now), because they're rusting around the forearm and wrist area.

While they're laced on, it's difficult to clean both them AND the arming cotte. And if I take the time to unlace and re-lace, it'll take almost as long as the first time around, and that was a slow and tedious process. Very historical though, if you ignore the fact that I used cheap metal eyelets.

There's a part of me that wants to get some stainless voiders, attach some heavy-duty velcro, and use that to quickly take them on and off. It's cheating, I know.

Edging the voiders with leather and pointing the leather to the eyelets might be a faster way; still not lightning fast by any means, but if you left multiple shorter points in the eyelets, and punched holes in the leather .... I'll let you know how it goes.

[Lord Dane]

Well, on Saturday, I got to test-drive my armor at faire for the first time since Sir Wolf and I made some adjustments, and after buying the Revival Clothing arming doublet, joined hose, and the Historic Enterprises fauld.

I didn't get a chance to try to attach the voiders.

(clicky)

Here's how it turned out...

The fauld worked well, but the way I attached it was a last-minute hack that morning. I fashioned four hooks to hang it from a waist belt like my old one. What I should have done is make this complete loops, and have more of them. I had a "malfunction" where two hooks (the ones in the rear) came off, letting the top edge slip down over my butt, while I was headed to the car in the parking lot to get something. It's quite difficult to reach up under your own back-plate, but somehow I managed to put it back together myself. Ugh. Must make sure that doesn't happen again.

The pauldrons gave me some minor trouble, but mostly because I'm just learning how to work with them with the points on the arming doublet. I think I see what I need to do differently to make them comfortable. You'll see in the picture they're not sitting the same as each other. One kept shifting too low, and getting caught on the cuirass. This is fixable by tying them differently.

The new tassets and extra lame worked great!

The new pointing for the legs worked really nicely. One of them untied itself over the course of the day, but the other three held, and it remained comfortable, and moved with me better than the old straps did.

I never got around to adding points for the arms, which I clearly need to do. The arms never used to move around on my or slide down, just due to the thickness of my old (crappy) gambeson. The arming doublet is thinner and smoother, so now it's become necessary. Even so, the right arm stayed comfortable and didn't really move on me. I had a slight issue with the left.

And then there's the cuirass itself... what a pain, literally. Before we adjusted the angle of the plackart/breastplate, it used to sit unnaturally on the corners of the pelvis (thus causing blisters there, since it has rivets right at that spot). Now, it contours to my shape much better. Why is this bad? Well, it's designed to be too long in the torso. With it sitting lower, the spots that used to squeeze the corners of the pelvis now squeeze the muscle directly beneath. I could hardly walk by the end of the day. Total trade-off. I could try tightening up the shoulder straps, but I don't think that'll gain me much due to the shape and curvature of the metal up there. The thing is just too long. The only fix may be an eventual replacement of the whole thing.

... and of course I forgot my hat.

So... still a work in progress.

Little late but roaming the forum.....
I like this look of your harness, Sir Edward. I tried not to but I gave in and bolted my tassets to my harness breast plate but I covered it up nicely. LOL Did you ever try anything from Armstreet for your kits?? I bought one of their gorgets for my stainless harness & it fit perfectly even without sizing. I know you use a bevor instead.

[Sir Edward]

Nope, I don't have anything from Armstreet.

Yeah, with this kit I use a Sallet + Bevor. I think that photo is before I had Allan take a look at it and make further adjustments. It's still not fantastic, but every time we work with it, it gets a little better. I also now have the voiders on it, and I use the GDFB legs with it as well now.

[Sir Wolf]

the lady Kat sent me a new picture of this years kit.

[Ian]

lol

[Sir Brian]

Arrr! There isn’t enough bleach to cleanse my eyes! 

[Sir Edward]

Hey, if I had that armor, I could totally rock that... I'm sure. Maybe. Maybe not.

[SirNathanQ]

That awkward moment when your eyes go Oedipus....

[Lord Dane]

That awkward moment when your eyes go Oedipus....

Hey now!! What's mom got to do with this??? 

[Sir William]

I don't think he should've been allowed in.  lol