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 Breast and back plates, cuirass with faulds.
Table of Contents
Considerations when pricing armours and important measurements
Vocabulary of the armour maker

Canadian prices are fixed, but US prices may fluctuate a bit.  Please check here for latest currency conversion rates.

This page has been reviewed for accurate pricing on January 2013, and will be honoured until end of December 2013

The galleries are all below....please scroll down past the table of contents and stuff.
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Table of Contents

Page one....Table of contents, and an introduction to armour on this site, pricing notes and so forth. Breast and backplates single, double and triple piece suits and their prices.

Page one (supplementary) examples of various suits, lady armour, anime armour, (a sort of archive of work I have done in the past.) (Careful though, prices in the archive may be out of date.  However if you are seriously planning to have me make an armour, you should oughta check me out!  Go here ...and do just that!)

Page two...Gorgets, Spaulders, and variations on them.

Page three...Basket Hilts, Gothic elbow cop, vambrace and full arms.

Page four...Articulated elbow cops and full arms.

Page five...Gauntlets, Half gauntlets, goatskin and deerskin gloves.

Page six...Greaves, articulated legs, single piece English style elbow cops

Page seven...Cuisses, hinged and plain.  Articulated Leg Armour, single piece and articulated knee cops.

Page eight....Fur cloaks, sheepskins, gambesons, aketons, shields.
 

 


Pricing

          All required strapping and lacing is included in the price...that is to say, two robust buckles over the shoulders and buckles on the sides.   Faulds are laced onto the breastplates, and tassets are laced onto the faulds unless you want to pay extra for straps. (roughly 12 bucks extra per buckle and strap)
          Sliding rivets may replace any strap at no charge. Note that straps provide better mobility.
         All breast and back plates are hammer rolled at the neck and arm hole openings as standard features.
         Some variation on the basic patterns are easily accomodated without extra charge....for instance, changing the top edge of a 2 or 3 piece breastplate from plain to scalloped edges, or I could build you a custom tasset from your fax drawing. Since the whole look of the armour can change according to how the tassets look, this would be a good way to customize your armour without paying big customizing fees.
         You can upgrade to handmade forged buckles at  22 dollars extra each, specify brass or forged steel.
         Although I am based in Canada, US orders are shipped  from Ogdensburg, New York, and any returns must be done in the US.
        Further shipping and payment options are available HERE.
        Prices may change without notice, the Candian price rules, the US price might fluctuate a bit depending upon international currency prices.    Credit card orders are processed in Canada, and will be done in Canadian Dollars.  This is generally favorable to US customers.  I use this currency converter..............   http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic?user=WilliamFedun   (Keep an eye on your bank statement though... sometimes your bank's currency conversion is a little different!)


  Sizing your armour
...I will need to know the following information....breath fully inhaled, with all padding included
a...waist size at navel
b...chest size at maximum inhale
c...waist to knuckles when standing at attention
d...distance from join of collarbones to navel in front (vertical front measurement)
e...distance from waist up to as high in back as you want it (vertical back measurement)
f...distance from waist to under the arm.(vertical side measurement)
g...amount of overlap requested on each side (an extra inch on each piece is standard for a two inch overlap)
h...a picture of you from the front and side will greatly assist me to make an armour which looks good.

Manequin Drawing

(right click on the above image and go to "save as", print it out, fill in the blanks, and fax it to me at 613-821-9947)

Vocabulary of the Armourer

A dictionary of armour....Milanese style Equestrian armour diagram from Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight by David Edge & John Paddock. ISBN 0-517-64468-1. Excellent book on history and construction of armour. Click the picture to see larger and complete view. This is the nomenclature used on this web site.  See note 1 at bottom.

Hot rolled steel...a mill blackened metal, looks quite authentic, available in 16 and heavier gauge only.
Cold rolled steel,...shiny  metal, what you normally see in a museum.
Gauge sizes....the usual gauge we use is American Wire Gauge, known as AWG.  It works like this...how many pieces do you stack up to make an inch.  Clearly, 16 gauge would be heavier than, say, 20 gauge.  Suggested gauges would be 18 for parade and parts you want to keep light, 16 gauge for combat.  18 is normally good enough if you don't mind banging the dents out every week, and was most common back in the day.  16 gauge tends to be a little clumsier looking,  harder to work and therefore a little more expensive up front. Helmets should never be lighter than 14 gauge.
Picadills
....leather chaff guards on armour...prevents the metal from scratching itself .  I expand their use to protect men and horses from sharp edges and corners as required.
Two piece or three piece suit...how many pieces make up the breastplate.  Normally, the more pieces, the more flexibility, and easier to make.  (that is to say, more pieces get you cheaper armour, to a point)
Points (arming points) ... laces which hold the armour into place. Sometimes attached to a gambeson.  Often fancy aiglettes are attached to the ends of points...they can be decorative elements in their own right.
Gambeson....the padded suit you wear under your armour to prevent chaffing and armour "bites".
Lames...small pieces added to the edge of an armour to allow for flexibility.
Articulation...the movement of lames past each other....to allow for flexibility.
Blueing....the art of colouring the armour with torches or chemicals to make it blue-black, perhaps purplish.
Fluting....A stiffening ridge in the armour, often more decorative than otherwise.
Strap Work....decorative ends on leather straps 
Leathering....the interior leather on armour which holds it all together.  Leather stretches, rots, tears, and needs replacement regularly, so it behooves you to learn how to replace it.  Fitting problems are often resolved by re-leathering. 
Keepers...those little leather or metal loops which keep the ends of the belts from flopping around.
SCA approved...meets or exceeds minimum armour standards of the Society for Creative Anachronism
AEMMA approved...meets or exceeds minimum armour standards of  the American European Military Marshal Arts society
CJF approved...meets or exceeds minimum armour standards of the Canadian Jousting Federation


There, now that THATS out of the way...we can proceed on to the galleries...

 SOUTHTOWER ARMOURING GUILD
ARMOUR CATALOGUE
Page one
BREAST AND BACKPLATE COMBOS

Ladies have their own page for armour...click here



#12-b
(faulds and tassets sold separately)



click on the above pics for full size versions.
  Shown is the heavy 14 gauge12-b1 as they were being manufactured.

picture of one piece
            armour
(above is a painting of the inspiration for this armour)

The above armour is shown without straps, picadills and faulds. Some re-enactors, like the Pikemen, do not use faulds, just the armoured breast plate.  To make this breastplate, I need the distance from your throat to your lap when you are sitting down.
(you MUST specify if this armour is for horseback...because it will need to be made much shorter if you want to ride with it.).  For horseback riding, some find that the two and three piece cuirass to be much more suitable.  You don't want your own breastplate riding up and hitting you in the throat after all! )
Please click HERE to see a museum picture of the single piece breastplate.
and HERE to see it all put together in the Palace Museum in Malta.
and HERE to see museum pictures of the single piece back plate.
     What you don't see with this armour is the "picadills".  That is to say, the leather which is riveted onto the underside of the steel to keep it from digging into your neck and sides.  These are normally is standard on all South Tower Cuirasses.

#12-b
 
Single Piece Cuirass front and back plates

(not including faulds and tassets)

12b....Lighter (18 gauge) version for foot combat
............................................12b light  -  $455.00 CAN


12b-1  medium weight (16 gauge) one piece single breast-back plate
12b-1 battle gauge front and back...  $555.00 CAN
faulds and tassets not included in this price...some folks don't want them  or want different ones like in the picture.

16 ga. Fauld and tassets attached to this armour...standard style
$125.00 Can, buckles extra.
16 gauge tasset faulds (like in the picture) with buckles
$150.00 Canadian dollars

(prices will be honoured during the dates shown at the top of the page)
If you wish to see the above prices in another currency than Canadian Dollars, please click on this currency converter


#12-b2
 
(shorter in the body, and
heavy enough for the joust)


Heavy 14 gauge single piece breastplate 16 ga. solid backplate
Re-enforced over left breast and at lance rest.  See link.
(Upon taking advise, we will now make all the backplates for jousting solid.  There are a couple ways to do this. Riveting works)
$1150.00 Can
faulds and tassets NOT included in this price, some folks don't want 'em.

Fauld and tassets attached to this armour...
Heavy 14 gauge faulds and tassets.......$165.00 Can

(prices will be honoured during the dates shown at the top of the page)
If you wish to see the above prices in another currency than Canadian Dollars, please click on this currency converter





#12-c
Two piece Gothic Cuirass
(price does not include faulds and tassets)

2 piece armour thumbnail
2 piece w. handmade buckles

2 piece armour backplate
            thumbnail
back plate showing lots of shoulder blade room

faulds thumbnail
standard three piece faulds w. eyeletted
holes for lacing onto breastplate and tassets

tassetts thunbnail
rounded tassets to comply with the "no sharp corners" regulations of
  some re-enactment groups.  pointy ones (illustrated below in12-c-2)
are the same price...so you choose.

The two piece French Style Cuirass.  Rather pretty...I quite like it.  It is more robust than the three piece, and more flexible than the single piece...to be expected I suppose.  I have made many versions of this "2 piece suit", and have put a few here on this web site.      In the above armour, I have scalloped the breast and backplate...some prefer it more plain like in the illustraions below.  Let me know....its your armour....

  Below are some period illustrations of this style of armour. 


2 piece armour illustration

       This design is pretty much what Joan of Arc (played by Mila Javovich) wore in the movie "The Messenger", except she wore a chain mail shirt instead of the upper breastplate, as you can see in the pictures below. Please see note 2 at the bottom.  (With predicable results...the chain didn't deflect that arrow!)  Chain would cost extra....of course.

(And a couple more here, here and here for those Mila fans who can't get enough!)

The part of this armour which people often don't like is the buckle in front.  It can go from the plackart to the gorget (as in the picture of Mila above) or it can attach to the upper part of the breastplate.  A sliding rivet can replace the buckle at no extra cost.


Style Variations

Of course there are several variations on this design. Obviously it would be a piece of cake to make the chain-plackart combo illustrated HERE.  Or the one I made below with a sliding rivet in front instead of a centre strap.  It also has the top fauld riveted onto the plackart instead of being laced on, plus the plackart has a "keel" instead of being simply rounded.  Just goes to show the variations I can do...these were in response to customer request.   Jousters seem to prefer the two piece armour....since it is less likely to slide up under your chin when you lean into the impact, and a lot easier to fit a newbie.  Here is a jouster's armour I built. (http://southtowerarmouringguild.blogspot.com/2011/09/breast-and-back-plate-two-piece.html in case that link doesn't work.)  That armour is fire blued.  I will make it in stainless steel, but you can pretty much double the price for stainless!

 


#12-c-2
Two Piece Gothic Cuirass
sliding rivets and keel plackart


 
.................................#12-c -light parade 18 gauge  - $450.00  Canadian Dollars
faulds and tassets included but tasset buckles are optional.
over the shoulder buckles and side buckles included.

#12-c-1 16 gauge, battle armour............$475.00 Canadian Dollars
faulds and tassets included but tasset buckles are optional.
over the shoulder buckles and side buckles included.

#12-c-2  16 gauge  keeled  horseman's armour.....$485.00 Canadian Dollars
faulds and tassets included but tasset buckles are optional.
over the shoulder buckles and side buckles included.

#12-c-3, 14ga breast, 16 ga back 2 piece jousters armour with
 extra rolled edges, specify if you want a keel...$750.00 Canadian Dollars
(Jousters rivet the back plates together.  I'll do it, just make sure you tell me. See link

faulds and tassets included but they are laced on.  Buckles would be 10 bucks each extra.
If you want a sliding rivet instead of that center strap, add 20 bucks and make sure I know up front.


If you wish to see the above prices in another currency than Canadian Dollars, please click on this currency converter

(note, jousters battle armour includes heavy duty homemade buckles,
torch stress relieved rolled edges, and leather chafeguards everywhere,
steel side buckle mounts, double riveted straps, min. 3/4 inch tasset buckles when specified, and emergency
backup eyeleted lace holes to allow the show to go on even when I am not there to fix things.)

(prices will be honoured during the dates shown at the top of the page)

 



(closeup of any of the cuirasse shoulders)
(This just happens to be one of my handmade buckles!)
(This is the way I make them all now...with a lace point for shoulder cops, besagues, or whatever)
click on the images to enlarge.
 

Moreover, for the heavy jouster's armour, I also decided to strengthen these 1 inch buckle mounts with steel mounts.  Have not had any of them fail yet!

For more variations on my lovely 2 piece armour, check out the archival supplement here.

 

12d
Three Piece Gothic Cuirass

3 piece armour
          thumbnail
three piece gothic cuirass

I call this one my "three piece suit"  because it has three pieces in the breast plate, three pieces in the back plate, and three pieces in the faulds. These faulds "telescope" up so that you can sit down on a horse, and they are robust enough to take a beating and simple enough to straighten out in the field if required. I think Karen looks like the woman in the picture below, don't you?


(my inspiration for the above three piece armour)

Below is the armour I made for Jason in the summer of '04.  It has a three piece back plate as well as the three piece breastplate and I used straps on the sides instead of the more usual laces.  Notice the deeply dished lower plates which are so similar to the 2 piece breast plate, the keepers over the shoulders, and the leather pads at the top of the breast and backplate.  Also the front is plain, single pointed instead of triple pointed like in the sample above.  click HERE to see a pic of this armour all put together.



Jason's armour
like me, Jason has some ballast which I make look good.


Korey's armour....a little fancier
note the picadills...those leather rub strips which protect the armour
click on the above pics to seem them full size

From the back, this armour looks really spiffy.   Looks not so bad...and it gives the wearer a lot of mobility and freedom.  


backplate
          thumbnail
three piece back plate
w. Maltese style shoulder flutes


         Below is the armour I made for Brent in the summer of 2011.  Click on any of the below pictures to enlarge.


Brent's backplate  Brent's Breastplate  From the side

Brent's Three Piece 18 gauge Larping Armour

This armour is a fairly standard back plate but Brent wanted a more developed fauld, with sliding rivets in the front instead of a strap.
The faulds are a bit longer...he wanted a full ten inches, which necessitated an extra lame.
As an interesting variation, I put the buckles on the breast plate instead of on the back plate so that he can
get into and out of this armour by himself.



Buckles

The buckles we chose for him were solid brass one inch harness buckles on buffalo hide belts.
These are standard unless otherwise specified


Tassets  buckle shoulder keeper

And the tassets were repousse'd "Wakefield" style.
They cost a bit extra...20 inches of repousse @ 5 bucks an inch.
You can see the leather "keepers" and the tongue underneath
 to protect his body from the corners








 
.......Breast, backplate, tasset and fauld set..
12d...18  gauge parade armour....$410.00 Canadian Dollars
(please note....faulds and tassets will be made from heavier metal as a matter of course.)

12d1.....16 gauge front,  battle armour ....$430.00 Canadian Dollars

(normally the back is made of lighter and easier to wear, 18 gauge steel.)
  Please add 40 bucks if you want the back plate to
 be made from 16 guage instead of 18 gauge)
Over the shoulder buckles included. 
Side buckles included.
tasset buckles, add 40 bucks, otherwise they are just laced on.
sliding rivets instead of front centre strap...add $40.00.

(prices will be honoured during the dates shown at the top of the page)

 
12d2...14 guage 3 piece steel breastplate Backplate ready for jousting
(I see no reason WHY a three piece armour cannot be used for jousing.  Its all overlapping 14 gauge plates.

(note, this armour includes heavy duty homemade buckles, faulds, tassets,
torch stress relieved rolled edges, and leather chafeguards everywhere,
steel side buckle mounts, double riveted straps, minimum 3/4 inch tasset buckles, and emergency
backup eyeleted lace holes to allow the show to go on even when I am not there to fix things.)
(prices will be honoured during the dates shown at the top of the page)

$750.00  Canadian Dollars
includes faulds and tassets.



If you wish to see the above prices in another currency than Canadian Dollars, please click on this currency converter



All rolled edges on heavy battle rated pieces are fired.  Rolling severely stresses the metal, and it might crack under use unless it is heated to a blue colour with the torch.  Firing the rolled edges softens the metal, removes work hardening, and prevents cracks from starting.  I have made a virtue out of a necessity and left the torch marks on the metal of some of the armour above just for show.  Let me know if you want me to leave the edges fired as proof that I did it, otherwise I will most likely sand it all clean
 (price includes the faulds and tassets).

    
For more variations on the three piece armour, check out the archival supplement here.

note 1.  Please also see "beautiful iron's" web site here for more diagrams in different languages...http://www.beautifuliron.com/armour_diagrams.htm

note 2. My research seems to indicate that her costumer's configuration of this quite lovely suit was perfectly period.  Here is a pic from her web site....http://www.millaj.com/film/joan.shtml which shows the armour really nicely.  This armour is so well made and so accurate I just had to show it here.

note 3.  The Milanese style was called a "splinted" armour and was not made like this at all.  Click here to see the difference.


 

prices will be honoured during the dates shown at the top of the page, after which they may be subject to change without notice.
Prices do not include
GST (Canada), PST (Ontario), or shipping from
Metcalfe, Ontario. E-mail for quote on shipping
price (please specify armour type).
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