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Bill's Harness

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Das Bill:

--- Quote from: Sir Edward on 2008-05-05, 18:31:07 ---
Are you sure on the price? That looks like pounds to me. Ouch.


--- End quote ---

Whoops, I hadn't paid attention. That means that instead of $734 USD, they are $937 USD. Meaning I'm further removed from actually making the purchase (but not further removed from dreaming of making the purchase). I particularly like the finger buckler/rondel on the left hand... that might actually be my favorite part. You don't see too many modern armourers do that. I'm not sure of any surviving examples of period hand bucklers, but it is definately seen in period iconography.

Das Bill:
So it's been a few years since I talked about my harness, but all this talk of armoured combat in the other thread got me to browsing back to this thread. My harness has not seen major updates since then, but there are a few (some of which I'm still waiting on).

First off, I still use the same celeta, but I've also picked up one of these from Armour and Castings:

http://armourandcastings.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=56

I needed a closed face helm for bouting, as I was previously cheating and using my fencing mask (which seemed sad, considering the rest of my harness was so pretty). It doesn't completely match my harness, but it's in the ballpark. It also has a somewhat modernish look to it, but it isn't too shabby. Functionally, it's fantastic. I still use the celeta for teaching, as I can see, breath and hear better with it on, but the armet will be for actual armoured fencing.

Second, these are in the mail from Czech Republic via BestArmour:

http://www.bestarmour.com/gauntlets_6.html

I received word that they were sent a little over a month ago, but you never know how long shipping is going to take from foreign countries, so I'm just waiting around. These were made with hardened spring steel, so they should be nice and light.

I've changed from a black arming cotte to a red one, but it is still by Revival Clothing, which is the same maker as the previous one.

I now use the MRL legs:

http://www.museumreplicas.com/p-28-german-gothic-leg-armor.aspx

Like all of MRL's gothic armour, these turned out to be more pretty than functional. Whoever was saying that these are pretty good is either a liar or has never worn real armour before, because these were pretty bad out of the box, despite being beautiful. Allan at Merc Tailor did some of his magic to them and turned them into functional armour again, though they still weigh a ton (nothing Allan could have done about that).

I've also comissioned some spring steel pauldrons from a guy named Josh Davis, who is an up and coming armorer. He is one of the employees at Arms and Armor, and his work is really, really good. He said he's ready to start them, and just needs my measurements, so it shouldn't take to long at this point. They should look somewhat similar to the attached photo. I'm pretty psyched about these.

Sir Edward:

That's looking really good! It'll be nice when the gauntlets arrive finally. I'm looking forward to seeing those.

Sir Rodney:
I'm glad my question prompted you to post in this thread as I would have never found it otherwise.  What an outstanding kit you have! 8)

I'm envious of you commissioning a piece from Josh Davis.  His is a rapidly rising star in our little corner of the expensive hobby universe.

(edited to add)

Here's a thread that contains links to some of Josh's stunning work: http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=21184

Das Bill:

--- Quote from: Rodney on 2011-01-28, 03:14:28 ---I'm glad my question prompted you to post in this thread as I would have never found it otherwise.  What an outstanding kit you have! 8)
--- End quote ---

Thank you! It's taken many years, and still isn't where I want it yet, but I'm pretty happy with it!


--- Quote ---I'm envious of you commissioning a piece from Josh Davis.  His is a rapidly rising star in our little corner of the expensive hobby universe.
--- End quote ---

Yeah, my friend Theresa has a 14th century harness commissioned by him and I got to see it up close. He has a tremendous talent for being able to get the subtle shapes right. A lot of armourers are good at metal work, but not all of them have the eye for shaping that Josh clearly has.

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