My interest in armour began while attending school (
The American School of The Hague) in the Netherlands 1973-75. Those years
were filled with tours of museums; and the armour displayed, stirred my imagination.
I took notes on how chain maille was linked and made my first
coif in 1976.
A series of projects in maille followed, leading to the production of
helms.
The making of plate armour inspired me to design a system of tools. Special anvils and stakes were forged and a heavy maple bench (anvil bench) was built to mount them on.
The anvil bench is the core of the armoury, creating a standard for journeymen to develop and teach their skill.
If you found this page via the gallery, you know that finger gauntlets are a specialty of my armoursmithing. Specialization enabled me to refine the basic design and construction of high quality finger gauntlets..... 1989,.... 1990,.... 1993,.... 1999,.... 2002,.... 2006.
Fine leather work accounts for nearly half the labor in constructing these gauntlets. Three layers of leather separate the hand and fingers from the metal work. Each finger plate is riveted to the leather with two 6.5mm rings. The trank mount is then attached and heavy stiching is carefully run along the edges.
For more info on the gauntlets read the info page before emailing, and keep in mind I have apprentices, so please limit the questions concerning armoursmithing. If you want to learn more about armour and how it is made check the links page for more resources.