Armourers, Armouries and Smiths

Off-topic
#1

Hey guys,

Given our natural pretense for all things medieval, I thought I’d start up this thread on Armourers and Smiths. Just by way of some background, I’ve been looking to get some armour pieces commissioned myself for as long as I can remember (not for any HEMA activities per say, but I do tend to have a preference for ‘battle ready’ pieces, so I’m good to go when the inevitable zombie apocalypse strikes); however due to the lack of seemingly easily accessible and contemporary information, it’s become rather difficult to find an accurate list of quality armourers and smiths (especially here in Australia) for reproduction work.

So I thought I’d canvas the community to help put together a list of quality skilled armourers and smiths, for both armour and weapon reproductions. For your own region or geographical location is fine, and if you’re aware and have used others, then even better.

It’d be nice to get detail on what people have got commissioned and when, how the experience was overall and obviously whether or not they’d recommend them or not.

Pics of your projects / pieces are more than welcome :smile:

Cheers

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#2

Most of the stuff you can buy online is costume grade. If you really want to find something usable, try to find a local Battle of Nations style group. Australia has them. Here is an interesting article about it: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/story/medieval-fight-club-australians-fighting-back-time You’ll find a lot of them make the armor themselves.

#3

Luke Binks is your man. Red Hart Reproductions
He makes really good stuff.

Then there is Manning Imperial, if you ask me, his (or their?) stuff is VERY pricey, too expensive in my opinion and doesn’t look too good. I could make out some mistakes or issues with parts of the armor shown on the homepage, where the armor probably won’t work too well.

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#4

You could look at the Australian dollar - Euro exchange rate and shipping cost and see if cost involved make it worthwhile to get an Eastern European armorer to make some pieces for you.

#5

I’ve been flirting with this idea… shipping costs would be the killer though. But in saying that I don’t mind forking out the coin for quality stuff.

Anybody had any experience with Steel Mastery before?

@Plattnerlehrling thanks for the tip on Red Hart Reproductions. His stuff looks pretty impressive. You had them commission anything for you?

#6

Off-topic, but yaaaaay!

We’re both in Australia:P

2 Likes
#7

There’s a pretty sizable Aussie representation on here I reckon :smile:

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#8

Fellow Australian here as well.

From deep in the Western lands do i hail… :wink:

I wouldn’t mind having my own suit of armour as well, but i don’t think that it is possible for me to achieve in the near future… being 19 and all :disappointed:

But, i do check around the internet for armour, for the future of course!

#9

I’m an armorer myself, I make my own stuff :wink:
So, no I didn’t order armor from Luke. But he 's a famous solid lance jouster and my boss has seen some of his work in person. And it is really good, I’d say he’s the best in Australia… but I only know about him and Manning Imperial… Here 's a video about Luke from 2012, don’t worry he lives in Australia again.

If you search for an good Eastern European armorer I can recommend you:
Roman Tereschenko, high quality and compared to german standards his prices are about the 50%-70% we charge here.

Art Armor is also from ukraine. The Maximilian Armor shown on the left side of the homepage is VERY good and the price of ~11.000$ is really cheap for that amount of work. However the rest of their stuff doesn’t look too good :confused:

Jiri Klepac definitely as good as Roman Tereschenko, however I believe he charges a higher price. Also he 's from the Czech Republic, where everything is more expensive as in Ukraine.

About steel mastery, well you CAN order armor there. But you won’t be happy. For example the Avant Armor, they charge 2400€, where I would charge about 20.000€ - 24.000€, and other cheaper armorers would also charge at least 60% of my price. So about 12.000€ - 14.400€, and they want a tenth of the price.
This can’t work.
If you want good stuff, talk to an armorer. Tell him what you want, like an reproduction of an effigy, or something put together from genuine parts. Once you got everything, you think about the financial stuff. (How much money can you give away for armor per year?) So you can finally say start with the head (most important), next is the cuirass, arms or legs etc. pp. and buy the armor after longer time. This is how most people do it. It is very rare to have someone walk into your workshop telling you, make this whole suit of armor at one go. It happens. But it 's really rare.

#10

Dude get a job and start saving money! I 'm 20 and the only finished part of my armor is the breastplate. But in 2 years the whole set will be done, good stuff always takes time, but it 's worth it :wink:

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#11

Well, i do plan to join the Navy… so my armouring days won’t be until i am at least 30…

But by then, i will probably be flowing in cash and benefits :smile:

#12

I never said you should make it yourself. I meant you should earn money to buy one :wink:
Good luck at the navy, I respect soldiers. (y)

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#13

Plate armour and the open ocean haha :laughing:

I can picture it now

@Plattnerlehrling thanks for the tips fella. I’ll definitely look into those other armourers. And you hit the nail on the proverbial armoured head, the first piece I’d get commissioned would be a helmet.

I’m still blown away by Luke’s work, it’s really incredible. I was trawling through his photos again last night, and man the guy is a proper artisan. Certainly the best I’ve seen coming out of Oz as well. I think I’ll be dropping him a line in the not to distant future :wink:

Any pics of your own work you wanna share?

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#14

I’m still an apprentice, there 's not much I can show you right now :wink:

Some other good armorers, which are expensive and not from Australia, you can take a look at are:
Robert Macpherson, USA, he 's been in business since the 80’s, but had health problems in the last years, now he has slowly picked up work again. REALLY good stuff.
Eric Dubé, Canada, good stuff, films his work. Look at the videos they are good.
John Gruber, USA, started to work as an armorer a few years ago, he 's getting good.
Jeffrey Hedgecock, USA, good stuff, but has high prices, too high if you ask me…
Robert of Stokewood, USA, can’t say anything about his work, neither about his prices.
Peter Fuller, Canada, good stuff, high price. The Clifford armor is pure porn!
Dr. Peter Müller, that 's my boss, the homepage is quite old and only in german available. A few pictures of his work are those: Hartmut, Burgundian 1, Burgundian 2, Burgundian 3, and this guy’s armor, except for the leg harness.

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