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Pain In the Neck!

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Sir William:
I must admit to cheating somewhat...I wear those gel inserts in my boots; that uneven ground about killed my poor dogs the first Faire I ever went to.  That was probably the first addition to my first kit!

I experienced some tightness in the shoulders, but not as much as it used to be, since I started using more than one belt- to redistribute some of the weight.  I think I'm going to end up with a padded gambeson at some point, or folding hand towels and then tying them to my shoulders to help with the press-in of rings as the day goes on.

Oh, there is one problem area for me that I noticed no one else spoke on- wearing greaves.  Since I don't have a full-leg harness, the greaves dig into the mask of the foot and can be quite painful if left unattended.  What I did was get some bootstraps with a thick leather plate at the top that does help in mitigating some of that weight but I can still feel stress in my ankles due to the weight.  What I think I'll do is go with a 3/4 leg harness that terminates into the boot like Sir Edward's and leave it at that.  Maybe rivet some steel plates to the boot if I'm feeling adventurous (just an idea, small chance of that actually happening) - but I don't necessarily want to cobble it from my current greaves.  I'll come up with something.

On another note, it sure would be nice to put that greathelm onto your saddle horn, wouldn't it, Sir Edward?  God help them if they ever let us in on horses!  lol

Dragonlover:
As far as the shoulders, I can relate! Any padding you can apply will help. My 15th cent placard from Ice ( Andre Sinou) has thin leather straps over the shoulder. Used to be, I was almost crippled by the time I left a Faire. My wife cut down some plastic, screen type panels and we slide them in a cotton envelope which we velcro into the shoulders of my jupon. Good as new!

 As for greaves, mine don't have enough of a curve (most don't) to relax on my instep. When I strap on my cuisse, (15th), my wife straps my greave so that it doesn't rest fully on my instep. i.e., she suspends the topmost greave strap from the bottom cuisse strap....makes all the difference after a long day....

Sir Matthew:
Maybe I'm a little stranger than most of you, but I wear my armor all throughout the year to keep myself accustomed to the weight. I play in an RPG group every other Sat. evening and generally will wear it to that. I really don't want to repeat the beating I took when I first started wearing the armor, it was bad enough the last two weekends of this season wearing the Brig after wearing the padded armor almost exclusively. I will say that I noticed this season my ankles and feet bothering me a bit more after a day at Faire, but I think my problem is that the boots I wear have almost no sole left on the bottom of them. I really need to get them resoled before wearing them. Son of Sandler boots are definitely worth the money, I have had a pair of their lace up calf high boots for about 10 years and in that time the only thing I have needed to have done is the laces replaced and now the soles redone. They are probably the most comfortable boots I have ever worn and I will sometimes wear them out even if not in garb.

Sir Edward:

--- Quote from: Paladin on 2010-11-02, 20:25:10 ---On another note, it sure would be nice to put that greathelm onto your saddle horn, wouldn't it, Sir Edward?  God help them if they ever let us in on horses!  lol

--- End quote ---

One of the things they sometimes did in period sounds horrendously uncomfortable. Some of the great helms had holes near the bottom on the front, where they'd run a strap or chain through it and just hang it from their neck such that it hangs on their back. I can't imagine that being comfortable for very long.

Sir Patrick:
I bet that was fun at the canter!  Ouch!

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