Gorgets,
spaudlers...individual
pieces.
(I will honour all prices for six months from date posted on the
price
column, after which prices may change without notice)
Prices checked for accuracy 1 January 2010, so will be honoured until
31 Dec 2010.
A Safety Note
(click on pic to enlarge)
Jousters tend to wear their gorgets under their breast-back plate cuirass. Certainly the person with this armour (click HERE) wears his gorget inside. And it does make for greater safety against the lance. However, considering the above pictures, the picadills (leather chafing strips) are riveted onto the underside of the gorget, to keep the gorget from scratching the armour...these ones are clearly made to fit outside the cuirass. As far as I can make out, this may be a personal choice! I think that the gorget shown above looks best when worn over a chain mail shirt or maybe a brigantine. A gorget should be a little big on you...so you can fit lots of padding between your neck and the collar. How big? Well, as long as it can fit under the helm, it is fine.
13a...Collarbone Gorget
Parade
Grade
I make these in many incarnations. This one links closed with
simple key and slot, and has a leather collar. The leather can be
hardened if desired, or steel may be substituted. I wear this gorget
UNDER
my breast-backplate combo, and the leather keeps the steel breastplate
from digging into my neck. The tabs on the sides are eyeletted to
provide an anchor to lace on the arms and spaulders. A decorative
gorget
like this one is good for "showing off", well, like for parades.
The gorget in the picture has an interesting brass trim on it,
interesting
in that the rolled edge is actually on the inside of the trim for
texture.
I can make it with rolled edges all around, just as in the period
pieces
above if you like.
Click here
to see this armour from the back...I rolled the edges on the back.
Please note, most SCA, JFof C, JF of A, or
AEMMA Marshals will not pass a leather collar even if you harden
it with wax, but it looks nice enough for parade. They like the battle
ready one below.
13b...Heavy Gorget...Battle Ready.
Called "Heavy" because it is made for "Heavy Fighting", not because
it weighs a lot, this armour has steel instead of leather, and is held
together with a leather belt against an interlock as well as a simple
key
and slot fastener. This one is guaranteed to be "SCA Legal", and
I rather like it myself. As you can see from the pictures, I
riveted
on a couple of leather tabs on the side to hold your shoulder harness
and
arm harness...this is standard, and it helps to add mass to the gorget
if it actually gets hit. On this particular gorget, I got a
little fancy and laced in little leather laces to hold the belt in
place,
and left the knots on the outside as decorative "points". I
have built in a good half to three quarters inch all around for
padding...and
I STILL have to caution you to not depend totally on this armour for
your
safety...use it in conjunction with a chain mail drape off your helm,
and
make sure your helm comes down enough to stop the majority of the
shots.
Remember, the gorget is the last line of defense...like a safety belt,
you don't want to actually have to use it! But it is nice when
things
go pear shaped. The belts are generally considered disposable,
and
replaceable, and are easy to find at the Sally Ann. Rolled edges are
period,
but not absolutely necessary.
Available in sixteen gauge only.
#13-c
Simple Spaudlers
#13-e
Old style South
Tower Spaudlers
not quite pauldrons, a little more than spaudlers
This is the new spaudler we make for the upgraded number two
armour.
This shows the "pointy" French style, the English style is the same but
straight across. The sketch is of the German multiple
scallops....they
are all equally easy to make, and they set off an otherwise plain
armour.
This shows three lames. More lames are of course easy to make.
The pic below shows a four lame spaulder with five points.
click
here to see a larger pic of me wearing this armour.
variations on a theme....a little fluting, a little torching....much the same price.
Gentleman from Norway in South Tower armour and his own beautiful red aketon....if you click on the picture, you can see that he is fighting a not so gentle man from Norway. Looks like fun!
13F
South Tower pauldrons
(click on image to enlarge)
These are my new design. They are later period, and seem to fit
really
well over the breast and back plate combinations on the previous
page.
I think they are hanging just a bit high on the above picture...the
bottom
lame should be riding about an inch lower. The spaulders are
laced
onto tabs on the gorget, or some people even lace them directly onto
the
gorget itself. Eyelets are provided for that purpose. Note the
holes
in the bottom lame...these provide a bit of adjustment for the one
piece
elbow cop. The big flanged one-piece elbow cop is perfect for
this
shoulder set up.
(click on image to enlarge)
This shows how large and sweeping it is in back. I flanged the
back since I could not stand such a large outside roll! It rolls
properly when it comes down and touches the shoulder blades in back.
(click on image to enlarge)
close up shot of the lames. You can see the mate in the background.
(click on image to enlarge)
Close up of the armour. As you can see on this particular
version,
the top lame is actually a false lame...riveted into place. It
fills
a gap which formed when the arm was bent way down. You can
clearly see the rolled edge which goes up against
your neck.
(click on image to enlarge)
Here is me doing a cross hand movement. The spaulder folds up like a fan in front, keeping it from digging me in the neck.
(click on image to enlarge)
This last picture is from the Palace Museum in Malta, and shows my inspiration.
One size pretty much fits all. Customizing would include fences, points on the lames and so forth. Since they get hit a lot, I think they should be made from 16 gauge. There would not be much savings in time or material to make them in 18 gauge, but 18 gauge spaulders WOULD be half the weight. These weigh in at a fairly hefty 4 pounds per side in 16 gauge. But no cracked collar bones!!
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