Who the hell are you?

['Banastre']

Ok.

As to whether its' rivetted or not, I don't know.

[lidimy]

Oooh, nice one Ban!

Am v. jealous!

[guthrie]

The shirt looks like its butted, to me.
That looks like WHitby abbey in the background.
That sword looks rather large for you, I am afraid.

Finally- do medieval, you get more armour and swords!
(and better technology)

['Banastre']

Yep, these were taken at Whitby abbey- last time I was there I was about 8/9 so it's been a while!
It was alarmingly lightweight for its' size which was a bit of a shock. Tempered steel I *think* is what he said it was made out of.

And Viking or Medieval?
I'd, sadly, go for the former because the runes and art of the time are much more.. 'me'. Aka gruesome like those sagas.

[Zachos]

Its a popular misconception that all that matters is a swords weight when buying one. You also want a sword that is suitable to your height and size of hand. You also want a sword that is heavy enough in the blade to stop other swords, and more especially, axes or pole weapons.

['Banastre']

Thanks.

After talking to a few of the other members there I've decided now that, *if* I do join, I'll probably stick to archery and otherwise being a non-combatant.

[Brother Kevfael]

Here's me and adam the archer at Dudley Castle, (I leave you to guess what I'm analysing), but Adam moved very quickly when I said I'd have to apply the clyster ......

[gregory23b]

That's a wee Jordan.

Oil or stock clyster?

[Maladicta]

I love the dress and the head-dress. What is the dress made of, it's such a lovely rich colour.

The material is silk dupion. I believe there is currently a discussion on another thread as to this materials inappropriateness to reenactment. The only silks available here are dupion, raw (with some difficulty, usually it must be imported) and silk brocade (again, usually imported but normally with an incorrect pattern). Other materials are deemed unusable due to high synthetic content/ incorrect pattern.

Thought I might just insert the above before I was sniffed at.

I made the headdress myself with roses and silk scraps.

[Chris, yclept John Barber]

I found out several things:
-the chainmail weighed 2 1/2 pounds, felt like more on my shoulders
-the sword and shield weighed less than said chainmail
-going without glasses *does not* suit me
-I can pull a 34' bow (and I'm shooting a 20' atm... can't believe it)

I think you missed a digit there - a mail shirt that only weighs two and a half pounds? Mine is about 35lb (though it does have full sleeves and is below knee-length: a short-sleeved bum-freezer would be about half that).

For information, it was clearly a butted-mail shirt, not rivetted. Mail actually weighs less across the shoulders if you wear a tight belt which supports the skirt.

Although you can get authenti-specs for the 15th century, you can't if you want to be a Viking. And it's worth being able to see what you're doing - especially if you want to be an archer. If you can't follow the flight of your arrows, you can't correct the fall. Re-enactment arrows aren't that accurate anyway - if you can't correct your shafts could go anywhere!

Some of our members who don't like wearing contacts all the time get daily disposables and only wear them when re-enacting.

I have known a couple of hand-to-hand fighters who didn't wear either. A typical conversation I had many a time during tournaments:

Marshal: "Sir X will fight Sir Y."

Sir X (aside): "Which one's he?"

Me (aside): "The yellow blur on the left."

[guthrie]

Earliest mention of glasses is the 1290's. They spread out over the next century, but I don't wear them for Lanark or Bannockburn (1297 and 1314) because it is highly unlikely someone like me would have been wearing them, and the only design I have seen for that period is the forked wooden ones.

The thing is, I could fight ok without them, but things are a bit blurry across a battlefield.