Nervous.

We leave for Crown in half an hour. I just hope I'm not a 2-and-out chump today. An amazing win would be awesome; I just hope it's not an amazing loss.

EDITED TO ADD:

Final 8. Not terrible for my first Crown in more than a decade, I guess. I just wish I had made it one round more. Lots of people had nice things to say to me, which is appreciated. I didn't make a fool of myself or Serena. Guess that's all that matters. In six months, we do it all again.

Final Crown prep

My helmet is currently drying in the garage (I repainted the bars black). I took the wire wheel to the dome earlier today. It's certainly not a mirror finish, but it's much better than it was. It had some rust on a few spots, but most of it was just patina. And I know it sounds like BS from someone just too lazy to keep their kit spotless... but I like the patina. That's why I think I'm sold on getting a mild helmet, not stainless (and the cost savings, too).

The trip to Tandy Leather today was a big success. They had everything I needed (and much more). After the sad trip to Cleveland Leather, it's nice to go to a fully stocked, well organized and well lit store. It lacks the charm of Cleveland Leather, of course, but that's a price I'll gladly pay to actually be able to pick up what I need.

Right now Serena is in the basement painting the household device on my shield. It's going to look sharp. She also needs to mend my fighting pants; tonight, I hope.

I need to dye the straps on my body armor tonight. Tomorrow I'll finish that second sword (or tonight, if I get ambitious). And that's it. Except for the fightin'.

Armor is a go

Fought in my re-strapped elbows tonight, and they felt good. And my sword felt good. Matter of fact, everything felt good tonight. So I'm as ready for Crown this weekend as I can be.

Came across these photos recently of the last time I fought in Crown.

Look at that squire belt! So new and shiny! And dig the thrusting tip on my sword... no such thing as "low profile" tips back then. This was about 14 years ago, I think. I made that basket hilt myself, if you can believe it.

Fearsome! I bartered for that chainmail drape, and it lasted maybe a couple months after Crown. It was some soft metal (brass?) that just couldn't hold up. And I didn't know how to knit chain to fix it (still don't). And check out that giant leaderboard in the background. They trooped that monster out for several Crowns, then it went away. Too bad, it was really impressive. They did up your name in fancy script on a slip of cardboard for the slots... I still have mine in a box somewhere.

Me and Sir Amaranth. He killed me shortly after this photo was taken, knocking me out of the tourney, I believe.

So, yeah, it's been a long time since I've fought in a Crown. Had no real desire to... until now. I'd love to make my wife Queen of the Middle Kingdom. Man, she'd be a great queen.

Only four days to go.

Elbow update

I hadn't intended on tearing apart my elbows, but after Baron Wars I needed to replace both straps... and when I looked at the leather "articulation" on both, I saw the leather was starting to fail. so I popped out all the rivets and redid it. And while I had it in pieces, I dyed the leather black. Put everything back together last night, and it looks good.

But it doesn't feel good.

I was worried about the buckles, so I replaced them with newer, slightly larger ones. When I put then on in my basement they felt clunky, like there was a lot of stuff bunching up in the inside bend of my elbow. That might also just be the new elbow pads I bought (for the first time in maybe 8 years). I suspect it's the pads. Tonight I'm going to go with my old pads, I think, see how it feels. But these new pads will work great with my new naruchi, when they're built.

I also cut a length of rattan for a second sword. I'll get that finished Friday, I think. All that's left is painting my shield (which my lovely lady has volunteered to do) and scraping the rust off my helmet (probably a bigger job than I think). Oh, and I also fixed the thumb on my new gaunts. I pounded the crap out of the rivet, so I don't think it's going anywhere.

I'm happy to report that last night's repairs involved drills, boxcutters, razor blades, screwdrivers and hammers... and I managed to get everything done without hurting myself in any way! Now that I've written that, I'm sure I'll tear off a hunk of my arm while I'm buffing my helmet.

Notes on Baron Wars

Fought in my new (or more properly, improved) gaunts... and managed to pop off a thumb the very first battle. I don't know how it happened; I was in a bad spot in the first field battle--which isn't uncommon, because I'm a rather weak open-field spear--and I was pushed back over a pile of bodies. I went down hard, and there were immediately three guys (the same ones chasing me down) helping me up and saying "Your gauntlets broke--here's your thumb.") I was pissed, but managed to affect a repair and get back before the next battle began. And naturally, when I say repair, I mean I wrapped a bunch of duct tape around the damn thing. I really wanted to avoid duct tape on these things, but I even more so wanted to keep fighting. I see what happened--the rivet on the thumb cap wasn't peened down as much as it should be. My bad. I'll clean them up tonight and pound the crap out of it.

I also broke straps on both elbows. Since my elbows are only held on with one strap, I again had to wrap duct tape all around to keep them on. Fortunately, the second one broke just as fighting was ending for the day. Regardless, now I have to replace both straps. But, better to happen at Baron Wars than this weekend at Crown.

And making naruchi has gone to the top of my to-do list; mostly because I got the shit beat out of my forearms this weekend. I'm going to take the leather I had earmarked for greaves and turn them into arm protection. I also need to look for a smaller metal buckler to wear on my left hand when I'm fighting spear. I'll try to pick one up at Pennsic.

Last things to do before Crown: cut a second sword, and grind the rust off my helmet. I’m also going to try to get to Tandy Leather and buy some brown dye and dye all the straps on my body armor. And replace the shoulder straps with prettier ones, if I have time. And that's as good as it's going to get, I'm afraid.

Cool

"The Knight at the Crossroads" by Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov; 1882

Note the big red spear. Awesome.

Tandy Leather

Open Saturdays, 9-4.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/

Photo reference

When (or if) I ever get that custom helm, I'd like it to look something like this:








Two stills from the movie "Alexander Nevsky," which I've not seen, but have been told it's so bad it's almost good; and a photo of a statue of the Russian hero.

Body armor -- DONE!

Finished strapping the lamellar last night. I'm happy with the fit. I still need to twist around a little awkwardly to get the thing on, but I can do it by myself.

Looking for supplies to finish it last night was a big bust. Since Cleveland Leather didn't have the dye I wanted, I stopped at both Pat Catan's and Michael's, neither had any leather dye. Then I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a few more brass washers and they were sold out of the size I wanted. So the straps are just oiled, and they look pale. I got galvanized washers instead of brass. These are (hopefully) little details that only I notice. Because honestly, I'm happy with the overall appearance... if you don't look too closely, it's a good-looking rig. It's a great Mark I version.

I also cut a new sword last night. After struggling with fitting the lamellar, I was happily surprised at how quick and easy it was to make a sword. The big difference is experience, I guess... I'm never worn lamellar before, but I've been making swords for 20 years. I fitted it with a new basket hilt I've had floating around in my basement forever; the old basket will become my left-handed sword, which is yet to be made.

So, as far as my previous Crown-prep to-do list:

Finish my gauntlets: DONE
Revisit my body armor: DONE
Cut new swords: 50% done
Recover my shield: DONE
Revisit my helmet: I've done nothing with this, but I have some ideas. And I have enough time that I don't need to rush on this.
Make new greaves: Not done. Cleveland Leather didn't have the leather I wanted for this, but I think I have some leftovers that can work. This isn't critical, but it would really improve the appearance of my kit.
Make naruchi: This isn't going to happen before Crown. Maybe before Pennsic, if I really stay focused.

All in all, not bad progress at all, especially when you consider how lazy I am.

Armor update

Took off work yesterday to work on armor. First, I drove down to Cleveland Leather. Now, anyone who has ever gone there knows that Cleveland Leather is a shithole. Decaying boxes of old rubber boot heels and leather scraps and dried up bottle of leather dye litter the aisles. A thick layer of grey dust coats everything. However, it has its charm. The old man (I never shopped there enough to learn anyone's name) who ran it was pretty knowledgeable about leather, and seemed to be a really nice guy, to boot.

One time I walked in there and asked for a double shoulder of tooling leather. As he walked me back into the dank bowels of the place he said, over his should, "So, what kind of armor are you making?" I have no idea how he knew I was buying leather for armor, I hadn't said anything about the SCA or fighting. I guess that after decades of selling hides he could just tell.

Sadly, when I was there on Monday there was a framed photo of him on the wall, with the words "In Memoriam" underneath.

This time, the dilapidated state of the place was even worse than usual. There was only one guy working there (the deliverance guy, you know who I'm talking about) and he had a total of three natural hides in the place. Three. In the past I've been there and they have dozens of different weights; this time? Three total, all eight ounce. He took a call while I was there and said something about "going out of business." That, and the big "CLEARANCE!" sign on the front door leads me to believe that Cleveland Leather isn't long for this world. It's a pity, really... I'll have to go to some modern leather store (if I can find one) and shop their brightly lit, well-stocked aisles; which will be more convenient, but no where near as interesting as pawing through shelves stacked ceiling high with leather scraps, mis-matched buckles and other peculiar odds and ends.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about armor.

I took apart my lamellar and removed about 40 plates. These were overlap on the sides, so I think I can get away with it (I really need to get a lightly padded gambeson to wear under it to soak up some of the sting, though). I moved the buckles forward, and I think I'll be able to dress myself now. I didn't end up riveting anything on yet, I still need to dye the straps. Something I would have done yesterday, but the leather place didn't have any brown dye.

I did pick up some soft brown lambskin, and started edging the lamellar with it. I'm really not happy at all with how it turned out, but it's good enough for the Mark I version. And, considering I was up until 2:30am lacing the damn thing, it's going to stay on for now.

I figured out how to attach my existing leather paldrons to the shoulder straps; again, not the optimal look, but good enough for now.

Tonight I'll pick up some leather dye and finish and attach the straps. I need to get this damn body armor working so I can fight in it at the Wednesday night fight practice. Lord knows I can't afford to miss another practice this close to Crown.

I also painted my basket hilt and put the entire shield back together. I have to say, my shield has never looked more professional; I'm thrilled with how it looks. My wife wants to wait until it's closer to Crown before painting the household arms on it; once that's done it will look amazing.

Next up: cut out two new swords. I'm going to try to get that done tonight, too. My current sword is broomed out something fierce.

Gauntlets are done!

Progress! I finished up my gauntlets yesterday. The work wasn't hard, but I had to fiddle with getting the straps just so, and it took longer than it should have. But now that they're done, I hope I don't have to mess with them for another eight years. And, by the way, I think they look fantastic!


You can't really tell from this photo, but the fabric I used to cover them is a snazzy brocade. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. So much so, that I think I'm much less likely to just slap a bunch of duct tape on them if something breaks.

In other Crown armor notes, I covered my shield with fabric. It's a green "bottomweight" (whatever that means) but it's sorta like trigger, I guess. Or maybe it is a kind of trigger. I dunno. It looks like durable stuff. The only problem was that the contact cement I used bled through the fabric, leaving ugly white adhesive marks on the visible side. So, I'm going to have to paint the entire thing green anyway. And I have to get on that right away, because my wife is going to paint the household arms on my shield. She's rather talented, so I'm sure it'll look great.

Finally, I had a bit of downtime between projects, so I cut some rattan for my Pennsic hold-out weapon. But not just any rattan, it was the FORK OF EVIL!

Here's the story: years ago, when I was group marshal for the Marche of Tirnewydd, I ran a "Good vs. Evil" tourney at our traditional end-of-the-month mini-event. Basically, before each bout the fighters had to randomly draw from a bucket to see if they were "good" or "evil" for the fight. The "good" fighters got to use "The Hammer of Righteousness" and the "evil" fighters got to use the above pitchfork. Which, I should add, is in no way a legal weapon in the SCA. It was a good time (and once again, just for the record, I had nothing to do with Lord Tigernach (mundanely, a Catholic priest) having to use the "Fork of Evil" -- the list mistress rigged it, because she though it would be funny; which it was).

So this thing has been sitting in my basement for years. It's a big, fat stick, and will be perfect for the axe I want to make (I'll be able to shave down one side considerably so I can tell the orientation of the head without having to look).

Rivets

Just ordered more rivets online (05/11, order #010943). I'll need them to add some sparkle to my body armor and, eventually, my new arm/elbow armor.

R.J. Leahy Co.
www.rjleahy.com

Garb to be

Once the armor is done (or done enough for now) I want to make a linen shirt for Pennsic. Some links for on-line sellers of linen:

http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/

http://www.denverfabrics.com/ ("Up to 5 swatches (3x4") for 1 cent each, each additional swatch $1 each." WTF? )

http://www.fabrics-store.com/

I priced linen at JoAnn Fabrics and it was around $14/yard. The sites above list linen for half that price. Can it really be that much cheaper to buy online?

Crown prep

I received confirmation yesterday that I will be part of the 32-man list for Their Majesties, Dag and AnneMarie's Crown Tournament.

That's 17 days from today. I need to get my poop in a group and make sure I'm ready. Appearance-wise, that is. There's not a lot I can do in two weeks to skyrocket my prowess (but I do need to practice with this smaller shield some more).

Here's what absolutely needs to be done with my kit before the tourney:

>Finish my gauntlets.

I'd say I'm 90% done already; one is completely together except for the thumb, and I just need to put the other one back together. This has been a little fiddly and time consuming, but certainly not difficult.

>Revist my body armor.

The lamellar is completely funtional right now, but there's two issues: one is that the straps are still raw leather and are a little ugly; and the other thing--the big thing--is that the way it's strapped right now I can't get into it by myself. It's always been a personal rule that I can get into and out of my armor completely by myself, without any outside assistance. So I'm going to re-strap them. I think all I need to do is bring the buckles forward a bit. I like the profile better when the buckles are far in the back, but I'd rather have a slightly clunky profile than have to bug people to strap me up before every practice.

I also have to do something about the paldrons. I don't have any right now, and I haven't paid the price for that yet, but it's only a matter of time. I need something covering my shoulders. I like what Sir Dilan has done, I may do something similar. The paldrons are actually optional for Crown, I can do fine without; but I'd rather not. Finally, I need to finish the edges of the lamellar with some thin leather; it presents such a nice finished look.

>Cut new swords.

My sword is mush at the end right now. I've strapped it down as hard as I could to get a few more swings out of it, but no way that'll cut it for Crown. And, since it's possible that I'll have to fight 2-sword at some point, I'll cut a second sword, too. I already have a matching basket.

>Recover my shield.

It's all strapped up, I just need to cover it with fabric. This is a quick and easy job.

And that's really all that's mandatory. Other things I'd like to do, if there's time:

>Revisit my helmet.

This damn helmet. It's a low-rent spun top bar grill, nothing fancy at all. As a Knight I really should be wearing something better. I've tried to commission a custom helm but, apparently, every armorer in the SCA is a big fucking flake (or, I'm just sour since the last two armorers I dealt with each gave me the big "oh yeah, no problem, this will be great!" rah-rah than fed me two years of excuses and fell off the face of the earth, respectfully).

Anyway, now I'm thinking that I just make the best of what I have: add some simple brasswork, maybe add a fabric drape... I already have the brass knob on the top. It could work.

>Make new greaves.

I'd like to make something that better stays in place (my current greaves are forever twisting around my leg) and mimics the look of a tall Russian boot. I think this will be a simple project, really, I just need to get to it.

>Make bazubands.

Or, more properly, a pair of naruch.




As the illustrations demonstrate, naruches naruchi can be really fancy-pants. I'm going to make them out of leather. I always assumed I'd wax the leather, but lately I've started to re-consider. I think I could just water-harden them and they would be fine. My concern is this: I plan on decorating them with the same fat brass rivets I have in my gauntlets (which look awesome, by the way) and if I wax the leather, I'll have to re-wax it every now and again... meaning I either have to pull all those rivets, or risk burning the leather as the rivets heat up in the oven. This happened to me before with my wax-hardened paldrons.

But, the chances that I'll remake my arm armor in a way I've never done before just two weeks before Crown is very, very slim. I'm already fighting with a shield that's 2" shorter in both directions, I don't need to be figuring out new arms at the same time.

So that's all I need to do for Crown. Oh, and win.

Future footware

Footware project for down the road:


Image here: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=343055

These shoes might just pass as low turnshoes. Especially when wore with leg wraps (assuming the the costume shown here is accurate). I just wish they weren't in black. Wait a minute...


Image here: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=343081

Cool! And they're Doc's! Also, the rounded toe is closer to what I've seen in period shoes (closer than the slip-ons above, at least). Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to remove the bungee cord and replace it with leather cord. Or maybe a leather band with latchet closure. The fabric heel is a little obnoxious, but if I could make leg wraps in the same color, they might not be noticeable. I bet those things would be comfortable as hell to walk around Pennsic in.

Gauntlet rework

I've had a pair of black plastic Egg Armory mitten gauntlets forever. They've served me well, even if they've never looked that great. I didn't strap them especially well when I first got them, and have repaired them with layer after layer of duct tape ever since. This didn't particularly bother me... they continued to protect my hands well, and that's the sole reason I bought them. But my squires began to ride my ass about how crappy they looked and, finally, I began to listen.

You will find this to be a continuing theme on this blog: I was pretty happy with the status quo until I got squires. I’ve really lucky to have these guys; they push me to improve in practically every way. I mean, I can’t very well let my squires look better than I do on the field, right?

Anyway, my trusty gauntlets gave up the ghost at Blackstone Raids (2007). That is to say, the originally nylon strapping finally rotted away. The kydex itself is still solid. So I undertook the project of fixing them right (i.e., no duct tape!)

First, I had to remove all the rivets. This was a pain in the ass. Generally with a project like this I just grind off the heads using my bench grinder and pop them out. But since the guants are made of plastic, I had to be careful not to heat up the rivet so much that the plastic melted.

I tried dipping them in water every couple of seconds, and even sat them in a shallow pan of ice water while I used my dremel tool tool on them. Finally, I got frustrated with the slow pace and went ahead and let them get hot and just yanked the entire rivet (burr included) out. This damaged the hole a bit, but I’m not too worried since I have to drill out those holes anyway to accept the bigger brass rivets I’m going to use to put them all back together. I’m a little concerned that I’ve weakened the plastic at those holes and the plastic will crack. Time will tell, I suppose.

Before I started taking them apart (actually, long before the nylon finally died) I was thinking of ways I could make my ugly plastic gaunts look decent. My meager research into Rus arms and armor yielded a very interesting item: the Rukavitsa.



They are described as mittens or gauntlets, and were made of leather or quilted padding, sometimes augmented with “metal fishnet” (I’m assuming that’s equivalent to chain mail?) or metal plates. And, as is obvious from the above illustrations, they are elaborated decorated. Very cool.

So I had to decide how to recreate that with my plastic guants. My first thought was to just make fabric mittens and slip them over the (repaired) gauntlets. With a lightweight suede for the palm, perhaps? However, I had afraid they would look bulky and wouldn’t work well -- and, I image they would be really hot. My hands get sweaty enough without adding another layer of non-breatheable fabric. So, I decided to simply cover the individual plates with fabric.

Last night I thoroughly washed everything and got all the duct tape residue I could off, then cut out fabric to cover them. I was lucky in that my wife, Serena, had cool fabric in the scrap box I could use. I choose a nice red brocade-like fabric (I honestly have no idea with it really is). The Rus loved the color red, and that will made a nice dramatic color highlight to the rest of my rig. I also choose a patterned green to cover just the cuffs--I’m hoping this makes them look a little more rich and fancy.

After getting everything ready, I covered the first piece with glue (I was using Gorilla Glue for it’s toughness and waterproof qualities) then stretched the fabric over the first piece (the plate covering the fingertips). It was a disaster. The glue is really tough once it dries, but it has to be clamped in place to bond. I had hoped to stretch the fabric taut over the plastic and have it stick there, but it just peeled back. I gave up for the night.

Tonight, I will buy some contact cement and try that. I think that will give me the instant stick I want and, I believe, it is also waterproof. I might then cover them a tough outer coat--a polyurethane maybe?

But first, I’ll drill out all the holes to the larger bore I need to drop in the rivets--something I forgot to do last night. I’d love to get these things done in time for tomorrow night’s fight practice… but I’d rather go slow and do them right then hurry and screw it up.

Links

Rus Male Costume (http://users.bigpond.net.au/quarfwa/miklagard/Costume/Rus/Trader/Rus_description.htm)

Detailed information (including citations) concerning a single costume researched and made by Austrian Peter Beatson (p.beatson@unsw.edu.au) This link really motivated me... the main photo has no visible anachronisms (at least that I can see, I've only just started my real research, though) and I want to look like that guy! I also want the helmet next to him, but that's a different topic.

Sofya la Rus' Medieval Russian Life (http://www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/)

Great source of detailed information about the culture, the history and the garb of Russia (the last is especially important to me, because I want to look good RIGHT NOW and I don't want to wait!) I haven't even begun to tackle the information here, but I have poured over the patterns. Master Mordok (Rus clothes whore and good friend) has told me on many occasions that Russian clothing is simple in that it's all straight lines. But I never really bought into the "you can do eet!" mindset before, even after making a fighting kaftan of my own (with a lot of help from Mordok). But now I'm looking at the patterns with a more motivated eye, and y'know what? I think I can do it.

Rus helm front piece (http://www.dospex.com/foto/sudak2005/p115.jpg)

That's St. Michael, and it is full-on awesome. Buy this for me, please?

Electrolytic Etching of Brass (http://www.steampunkworkshop.com/electroetch.shtml)

I have it in my head that I can do this... even though I am in no way handy or technically adept, and this project involves electricity and the potential to hurt or main me. But, it really seems like once all the fiddly bits are figured out, that I could make some pretty awesome brass work for my helm and other armor. Also see the page for an alternative method of making the needed print-outs.

Kick to butt

"Have you considered being Russian?"

That's how it all started. I was a freshman at Ohio State and had been attending SCA meetings for several months. I managed to cobble together some armor (most of it made out of discarded carpet) and borrow a helmet so I could start fighting. The combat was all I really cared about; my biggest aspiration was to kill "that fat bastard" who made us all look so stupid on the field (little did I know at the time that I would end up squired to "that fat bastard." This is, of course, Comar gyr Mirand, who, shortly after I first crossed swords with him, would become Sir Comar, then quickly after that Count, then Duke Comar).

But, people wiser than I (namely Sir Otto von Schwartzkatz, now living in Atlantia) told me I needed to decide on a personna. He threated to start calling me "Homoculous" if I didn't come up with something on my own.

While I bemoaned the over-abundance of Normans and Norse in the Marche, a squire by the name of Ruric asked the question quoted above. Yeah, Russian sounds cool, I thought. I didn't know much about the culture, but it was certainly off the beaten path, and that appealed. So Russian it was.

Twenty years later, I honestly don't know a whole lot more about my personna than I did then. I'm a much better fighter though, and I long ago discarded the carpet armor. I was elevated to the Order of the Chivalry amost nine years ago. It's high time I start looking the part of a Knight.

Thus, this blog. I intend to use it as a dumping ground as I do the research I should have started a decade ago. And, with something staring me in the face, reminding me not to be such a slob any more, I'm hoping it's just the kick to the butt I need to get motivated.

Let's hope it doesn't take another 20 years.