How do I clean mustard off of chainmail? First thought was to just wash it off but I don’t want it to rust.

y'know what i hate? what really makes my blood boil? flails. fucking flails. they just do what morningstars do but worse. not only that but your enemy has much more time to prepare because you need to rev up your stupid fucking ball and chain ass excuse for a weapon. alson close-quarters combat in an immediate no. you're fighting a guy who uses swords with a spiky cat toy. literally you had all the materials to make a morningstar but decided to make a stupider, far more dangerous version of it that works half as well and was used half the time. the real reason we call them the Dark Ages is because they were infested with brain-dead idiots who took one look at a fishing pole and decided "mhh omg yesssss." fuck you.

and not only all of that but EVERYONE CONFUSES THEM FOR MACES, AN ACTUALLY USABLE WEAPON.

I really wanna be one of the guys in full plate armor for a ren-faire. I don't need battle ready armor and would prefer not to break the bank, though I know armor that isn't spirit Halloween quality is expensive to begin with.

I want it to look real enough, but don't want or need a specific medieval era specific/accurate set. I just wanna be the coolest guy at the ren-faire. If needed I can get some screenshots of some of my favorite armors in some videogames. And I am a Sallet enjoyer. What are the places I should start looking?

I’m looking for a houndskull for reenactment around 1380 to 1405 with an aventail but I don’t want to break the bank is there anything for 300 or 350

What do you guys know? I’m interested to learn. Thank you.

Edit: I mean specifically during the Middle Ages!

2nd EDIT: to be even more specific. Let’s talk about East Africa(I.e Ethiopia), and West Africa(I.e Mali).

How would you attach an aventail to a bascinet with a chin plate? The plate leaves no space for the usual arrangement of vervelles. I haven't seen any manuscripts that depict them with sufficient detail and I can't find any surviving helmets either.

Secondly, a question for anyone who has this specific helmet from GDFB. The pins securing the visor are welded in but seemingly only at the top. Has anyone tried grinding them down to make the visor removable?

https://preview.redd.it/9s8gla4hr0md1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13d3f72eef2374f197bffef9fcfc2ea6c0c0ae42

I want to get myself a good set of armour that actually fits (not the amazon... stuff) however I don't really know where to look to get that kind of stuff/how much that stuff would cost. I'm looking for info on either what kind of financial target I'm looking for, or a seller. Either would be appreciated. (For information on the type of armour I'm looking for, I'm thinking maximilian/gothic/Schott-Sonnenberg armour type deal.)

I thought you'd like that

Hi folks!

I want to recreate a kit from the late 12th/early 13th century, with enclosed helmet, mail, coat-of-plates and gambeson, from south Germany or Italy if area is relevant.

Does anyone have a good pattern for a gambeson? Thickness, how to make it possible to move in, the like. Many gambesons I have worn have been hard to bend the arms in, and that seems... wrong somehow.

Any and all advice is appreciated!

Hi folks!

I made a simple Wisby harness, a coat-of-plates based on the Wisby I finding from Thordemans (1940) work.

It is only inspired by the findings. I have one more "front-plate" than the original finding, and I freestyled a bit on the upper chest pieces. I am also not wholly satisfied with the sewing between the side and the front - it was a solution to the problem that it was difficult to attach the side plates when the front plates were in place. This is for historical larping, so I felt that total accuracy wasn't necessary.

I made it from 1mm mild steel plates. I made paper mockup parts from cereal box cardboard, drew every piece on my sheet metal and cut them out with an angle grinder. I drilled the holes with a pillar drill, around 3mm - 2.5 would have been better since the rivets were slightly to small for the holes. I highly recommend using as small holes as possible! A few later holes were made with 2.5mm, and they were much better.

The rivets are simple roofing nails, de-galvanized by leaving them in a bucket full of cheap, pesticide vinegar overnight (Ogräsättika, for us Swedes). The washers are very thin leather, punched one by one. If you can buy these, do so! They were awfully boring to make. I whole-heartedly recommend using at least 1mm thick leather, mine was only 0.5 or so - annoyingly thin to work with. The canvas is a coarse linen canvas, used for medieval tents. I should have used a thicker canvas, this one was slightly too weak.

I ended up not using all holes in the front plates. I made too many. 9 on top were enough.

I'll happily take any critique - and all unsolicited praise I can get! It was a fun make, but I'll probably make one with thicker plates and canvas next time. And, as you can see, it sits too low on me, the plates are too far from my neck - I messed up on the head hole. But that can be fixed!

The full armour.

Cereal box cardboard cutouts

My pen-and-paper sketch. Invaluable!

Front plats with holes. 8 centimeters tall, 40 centimeters wide.

The side plates, carefully labeled (v and h stands for \"vänster\" and \"höger\", or \"left\" and \"right\")

The full armour, laid out in its platey glory!

I ordered a custom-tailored arming doublet. However, it is too loose around the waist/mid-torso. It could be because i lost weight over the time it took to make the doublet. I lost something like 10cm around my waist. As a result, all the weight of my leg harness is all on my shoulders and it's very uncomfortable. Any suggestions for how to fix this? Should i try bringing it to a tailor? It's certainly beyond my meagre sewing skills.

Hi friends,

So I recently picked up a war pick from a renaissance faire for about $160, and after smacking it a couple times into a piece of plywood the head full came off the shaft. Can someone recommend me a brand or site that will sell me something that isn't a piece of shit?

Like did knights use Halberds, bill hooks, or poleaxes’ along with their lances, and would they use war-hammers or maces as backups or main weapons? Thanks.

Hello guys I’ve been wanting to buy a Milanese brigandine are these two option good and which is better for re enactment https://forgeofsvan.com/product/brigandine-hohenaschau-1380-1400/

https://armours.pro/brigandine-munich

Wanting to know if plate mittens were used it the time period above or if the only came around later on. trying to get together a transitional period fighting harness but want some more protective gauntlets than what fingered ones provide. my other option is demo gauntlets, mail mittens underneath and a butt load of padding. thanks.