Fighting Wednesday Night

Robert called and said he would like to stop by last night around 6:30. I contacted Ervon to see if he would like to have a fighting practice and help get Robert ready for his authorization. We started at about 7pm and the three of us fought until dark. Robert did much better than his last practice and was working in thrusts a bit more. I think a couple more practices should see him ready to authorize.
Ervon loaned Robert a sword and some body armor for the practice. Robert also used Ervon’s round shield and decided he liked that style better. It may have helped that the shield was a bit lighter than the one he had been using.
Robert needs a gambeson because the chain he is wearing is leaving small round spots where he is getting hit. He seems to be stuck on using chain so we will have to make sure we get it padded better.

Last week

Last week proved much busier than I expected.

Robert was ill for our practice so instead of practicing, I ended up working on Colleen’s box lid and replacing a couple straps on my armor. I also had to reshape part of the armor for my right leg. Somehow I ended up with a twist to my knee making it difficult to walk. That took quite a bit of work to straighten out and make it work properly again.

I did not make very much progress on the chainmail. I closed up another 5 inches on the front patch but need to do another 5-6 inches to finish up and then close in the neck opening. Hopefully I will find more time this week. To finish the box and the chainmail

Working on Projects

Well I finished installing the new back panel of the hauberk, split the front and attached the first 5” of the front panel. Now that the panels have been added I can tell I will have to add several inches to close in the neck of the hauberk as it nearly falls off the shoulders now. Later in the week I will finish up the front panel and probably start on the neck over the weekend.

At that point I went into the basement and did some sanding on a box lid I am putting together for Eron. Her original lid had split at Pennsic last year and I am finally getting around to finishing a new lid for her. I should have this wrapped up over the weekend as well.

Making an early period armor kit.

A couple weeks ago I decided to add an early period fighting kit to my list of SCA things to do. I would like the kit to be somewhere between 950 to the first Crusade. I think this would compliment my current 14th Century kit and allow me to be work on a couple different styles of fighting. So I have pulled out my old butted chain hauberk and started working on setting up the early period armor. I made this hauberk back in the mid 1980’s and I must have worn a much thinner gambeson back then because I remember it fitting and actually having a decent amount of room. Now when I put it on I look like a sausage in a chain mail casing. So I started working on panels that I will add to the front and back of the hauberk. Last night I finished the panels and split the front of the hauberk to start adding in the first rectangle of mail. I should be able to finish up the front panel tonight after work.

Getting Robert in Armor

Robert has been dropping in irregularly this summer and we have been working on getting him armored up. He now has all the armor necessary to practice in!!!! He may need to upgrade his body armor a little and we will lengthen his aventail to make the barrel helm he is wearing legal. Or I should say its “legal” now but I am not happy with the possibility of the current aventail moving up and exposing some of the back of his neck. So our next armory sessions will be to correct that.

To celebrate his armor being ready, we went out into my front yard and had an impromptu practice. We started about ½ speed and I had Robert hit me to get a good idea of how hard he should be hitting. Next I struck him and we worked on what was a good blow for him to receive. Next some basics about sword swings and blocking with the shield. Since he wanted to mix it up a bit more we spent the last ½ of the practice sparing. Robert did quite well but will have to work on thrusting if he is to prepare for his authorization bout.

We discussed the possibility of running a fighting practice each week until he was ready to authorize. So I think we will meet each Tuesday or Thursday to practice until dusk. After that we will work on armor or weapons. I will send a couple e-mails to check if there will be authorizations at the next few upcoming events. These events will be Havoc at Hastings, Procrastinators Brawl and Vikings Come Home and I hope to get Robert to one to authorize.