Master Ket- Barbute Helm
Oct 11, 2008 4:47:52 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2008 4:47:52 GMT
I have been fighting in my new armor for a few months now and I have it all tweaked and working well together.
I decided to get my armor from Master Ket.
roughfromthehammer.com/
Ket lives an hour from me in Southern NJ. He was highly recommended as someone who did both low-end practical armor for SCA fighting and high end historical work. He is one of the few armorers near by who as a large enough furnace to temper breastplates. It was important to me that I could meet with him in person and he could console me for what would be best for me.
What I wanted was maximum coverage at the lowest possible weight for high performance fighting. I was prepared to sacrifice some historical accuracy for more speed and easier maintenance. That was my choice and he set to work to satisfy that.
First we talked about helmet design. That was not difficult because I had an Idea what I wanted. Knew the shape. I wanted it with a bar-lift so I could wear my prescription sports glasses.
This is what he made me for $475
The helm is 13 and 14 gage in various places. It weighs 7 lbs 14 oz. Historically this would have been an open face design with perhaps a "T" face. I opted for maximum visibility. The Grill itself add considerable weight to the helm at 2.5 lbs. This helm would have had an aventail which is mail draped off the helm on to the shoulders. I preferred a simple gorget (not pictured) to protect the neck. This style is very similar to bascinets. Its back point shape is very good for glancing shots.
We decided that the body armor would use a gambson as a foundation. This was the most important advice I believe I received as it gave me so many options. Master Ket recommended I buy the one from Revival Clothing and attach the arms and shoulder to that. I had to have eyelets tailored so I could tie the armor on to the gambeson which now serves as an arming coat too.
We decided to go with a coat of plates over it. Master ket had a good design for the Coat but I fouled it up by second guessing him and instructing him to make the make the coat extra long and have extra plates. I ended up with a coat of plates that was too heavy. I then used his design ideas to make one on my own. This is the one in the photo I now fight with. His design used aluminum plates in a few key areas. I went even lighter with plastic plates.
He made me a great set of legs out of a large piece of aluminum which he curved around and added a leg wrap. The leg shots tend to be one of the hardest shots to take because people are striking down. These legs give me great protection.
Lastly he ordered some plastic greaves from House of the Wolf, padded the inside and covered the outside with leather. Steel Greaves need to be fitted to the calf and can be the most expensive armor to buy.
houseofthewolf.com/
I still did a little tweaking. This is common with armor as the leather stretches and the armor bites here and there. One of the things I did was replace the original elbow cops I got from Ket for articulated joints from Bakalos Armory.
bokalosarmoury.com/
I had articulated ones before in mild steel which where too heavy. These aluminum ones in the photo are very light. All the mettle on me now except the helmet is aluminum. I have reduced my armor weight from about 45 lbs to about 25 lbs. I am so much faster and move more fluidly. The coolest thing is that all the body armor just ties to the gambeson so I can easily change out pieces in the future if I want.
All in all spent about $2,000 on this armor. I paid top price back in July 08 as commodity price reached their peak. You should be able to negotiate down with armorers now. For me, any price is worth fighting the best I can. This armor works well for me.
I decided to get my armor from Master Ket.
roughfromthehammer.com/
Ket lives an hour from me in Southern NJ. He was highly recommended as someone who did both low-end practical armor for SCA fighting and high end historical work. He is one of the few armorers near by who as a large enough furnace to temper breastplates. It was important to me that I could meet with him in person and he could console me for what would be best for me.
What I wanted was maximum coverage at the lowest possible weight for high performance fighting. I was prepared to sacrifice some historical accuracy for more speed and easier maintenance. That was my choice and he set to work to satisfy that.
First we talked about helmet design. That was not difficult because I had an Idea what I wanted. Knew the shape. I wanted it with a bar-lift so I could wear my prescription sports glasses.
This is what he made me for $475
The helm is 13 and 14 gage in various places. It weighs 7 lbs 14 oz. Historically this would have been an open face design with perhaps a "T" face. I opted for maximum visibility. The Grill itself add considerable weight to the helm at 2.5 lbs. This helm would have had an aventail which is mail draped off the helm on to the shoulders. I preferred a simple gorget (not pictured) to protect the neck. This style is very similar to bascinets. Its back point shape is very good for glancing shots.
We decided that the body armor would use a gambson as a foundation. This was the most important advice I believe I received as it gave me so many options. Master Ket recommended I buy the one from Revival Clothing and attach the arms and shoulder to that. I had to have eyelets tailored so I could tie the armor on to the gambeson which now serves as an arming coat too.
We decided to go with a coat of plates over it. Master ket had a good design for the Coat but I fouled it up by second guessing him and instructing him to make the make the coat extra long and have extra plates. I ended up with a coat of plates that was too heavy. I then used his design ideas to make one on my own. This is the one in the photo I now fight with. His design used aluminum plates in a few key areas. I went even lighter with plastic plates.
He made me a great set of legs out of a large piece of aluminum which he curved around and added a leg wrap. The leg shots tend to be one of the hardest shots to take because people are striking down. These legs give me great protection.
Lastly he ordered some plastic greaves from House of the Wolf, padded the inside and covered the outside with leather. Steel Greaves need to be fitted to the calf and can be the most expensive armor to buy.
houseofthewolf.com/
I still did a little tweaking. This is common with armor as the leather stretches and the armor bites here and there. One of the things I did was replace the original elbow cops I got from Ket for articulated joints from Bakalos Armory.
bokalosarmoury.com/
I had articulated ones before in mild steel which where too heavy. These aluminum ones in the photo are very light. All the mettle on me now except the helmet is aluminum. I have reduced my armor weight from about 45 lbs to about 25 lbs. I am so much faster and move more fluidly. The coolest thing is that all the body armor just ties to the gambeson so I can easily change out pieces in the future if I want.
All in all spent about $2,000 on this armor. I paid top price back in July 08 as commodity price reached their peak. You should be able to negotiate down with armorers now. For me, any price is worth fighting the best I can. This armor works well for me.