KEEP YOUR TOURNAMENT BEAUTIFUL
After spending fifteen years heavy fighting and looking like roadkill, I finally decided to own some real armor. I wanted it to look great, be functional and easy to get out of in a hurry, lightweight, inexpensive and something that I could actually make myself. The last part was the toughest since I have never been much of a craftsman and I absolutely refuse to pound on metal. I also wanted it to resemble something off of a swords-and-sorcery book cover, rather than anything I have ever seen in a library book. So where to start?
Using the guide to heavy fighting which outlines all armor requirements, I first picked up a pair of simple steel knees and steel elbows since these areas are so exposed, and they are readily available from many armorers in the SCA at great prices. As for the rest, I decided on leather and began looking at a lot of book covers, finally piecing together an overall image I wanted to duplicate. I bought a good pattern for gauntlets for only $5 and as for the legs, body and vambraces, I first gathered together several corrugated cardboard boxes, a roll of wide freezer tape, a punch, a sharp knife, contact cement, some shears, pencils, and a box of long, inexpensive brads available from any office supply store. I also rounded up an electric drill and metal bits, a saber saw, sandpaper, leather dye, closed cell foam, rivets and rivet tool, leather hole punch, a large pot, an inexpensive foam rubber paint brush from Walmart along with a quart of polyurethane used for woodworking and finally one patient friend.
To hold everything together, I used 3 buckles and some 1" wide velcro, since laces are a real pain when you are in a hurry. Don't forget that a lot of this stuff is readily available from people already in the SCA; you don't necessarily have to buy all of it. With the help of Partha mac Art (Carroll Duhon) we began duplicating with pieces of cardboard what we saw in the pictures like this: At first don't worry overmuch about neatness, as it will not matter until later. Cut the cardboard pieces out similar to what you are trying to copy, and always make them a little bigger than you need since you can trim them as you go. Work and roll the cardboard to shape it and when needed put pieces of rolled up tape, sticky side out, on the back to stick them to you as you try to get an idea of what they will look like.
Once you have an idea of where connection and pivot points will be with the various pieces of cardboard-armor, punch holes and use the brads to hold them together. Keep experimenting and trimming until the entire thing starts to look and act like what you want, and be sure to (slowly!) move through various fighting postures to insure that the pivot points are in the right places. Also make sure that all areas are protected that need to be, either from SCA rules or by your own desire. Once your cardboard armor pattern is finished, mark on each piece "inside/outside" and "left/right" to prevent mistakes later, then disassemble it. Now it's time to trace the patterns of both the body armor and the gauntlets onto leather, and as of this writing, stiff, oak-tanned leather 1/4" thick leather is the right weight to meet kingdom requirements.
Start with the larger body armor pieces before you try the gauntlet pattern so you can get used to the procedure with easier to handle sections. Place the pattern with the "outside" facing up, "inside" against the smooth side of the leather and trace it out. Next instead of a leather cutting tool I used a saber saw with a fine-tooth blade for cutting metal. It works great and saves a lot of hours and cramped fingers. I also used fine-medium sandpaper afterwards to smooth and round out the edges, since leather this stiff and thick is like wood anyway. Punch the necessary holes next, using the electric drill for the metal knees and elbows, and then fill the pot with COLD water to get ready to soak and shape the pieces. If you try to boil it you've only got one chance, whereas by soaking it in cold water if the pattern dries in the wrong shape you can merely wet it and try again.
Soak the parts that you will be immediately working with (in other words, take one section at a time and work with the parts that attach to each other) for 3-4 minutes, until the leather turns a darker brown and gets softer. Take them out and mold them over your body to get the shape you want and insert the brads to hold them together. Also this is the time to stamp anything into the leather that you might want as far as any designs, etc. Then place the pieces in a warm (NOT HOT!) spot to dry. This will take an entire day, so don't get in a hurry. Upper bookshelves, etc., are great in winter months because your home's heating keeps the ceiling warmer, or out in the sun on warmer days. You may need to use small cans of paint or other weighty objects to wedge around the leather and force it to stay in the shape you want.
After they have dried, now is the time to make sure they are still in the right shape, so take time to reassemble and put them on, moving through your fighting postures again. If they are not just right, soak and mold them again. Next you should once again disassemble the pieces and then dye the leather if you want a color other than brown, and it may or may not take more than one application. After the dye has dried (a couple of hours at most) it will be time to apply the polyurethane. Do not soak the leather in a pot full of poly since it gets brittle, but instead paint it on so the inside will stay somewhat pliable while the outside gets hard. Be sure to paint not only the smooth outside of the leather, but also the rough inside as well as the edges. Do not let the coated pieces stick to any newspaper or to each other! The poly coating will usually dry in less than an hour and I like to apply at least two coats.
Next use the punch to open up the holes covered with poly, then rivet the parts together. After you have assembled everything, use contact cement and apply pieces of closed cell foam to the inside of the areas which will receive major blows during combat. Ask experienced veterans for advice during this part! At this point you are finished except for any minor detail work, so put it all on and go admire yourself in a mirror. My own armor came out looking spectacular and works great, and even the hardened leather clamshell gauntlets can stop an anti-tank rocket, so experiment with a little cardboard and some imagination to see what you can create!
Germanicus