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Author
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Topic: Brigandine question
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McIntosh
Member
Member # 166
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posted 06-22-2001 02:24 PM
  
I was wandering if anybody has any inventory or artifact evidence for brigs with a base of leather. I am just a touch nervous about doing all this in cloth.
Also has anyone seen the use of washers under the heads of brig nails. If so was it a repair or part of the original design?
Brig nails that have had their heads soldered on- did these use lead alloy solders or silver solders? Was the head flat underneath or convex like a modern upholstery nail? If convex was it filled with something to prevent being flattened? Was the stem soldered to the underside or did it pass through the head first?
Sorry for all the questions but the more I think on it the more I want to find out!Thank You -------------------- McIntosh
Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged
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chef de chambre
Admin & Advocatus Diaboli
Member # 4
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posted 06-22-2001 06:05 PM
 
Hi McIntosh,Almost every surviving brigandine fragment has a backing entirely of cloth. Every surviving intact one is. There is no inventory evidence to the best of my knowledge about brigandines made with a leather backing. No, there are no need for washers, the nails peen or clench right to the back of the plate. The fragments we have examined seem to have had square holes for the nails to pass through, and the shafts seem to have been slightly square. Most brigandine nails did not have soldered on heads. On the examples that have soldered decoraytion, they are caps soldered to an existing head (just a decorative cover of a precious metal), they are not soldered to a shaft. I have never seen a study on how they soldered the heads on, or the composition of solder. The extant examples with this very rare feature (I believe Maximilianabrigandine suit falls into this catagory, and I don't know of any other extant example, although I heave seen references to the type in period sources), the VAST majority of surviving nails are 1. made of iron 2. have a simple design stamped directly onto the head, and 3. were tinned (the majority), or gilded (the minority). I have only seen one fragment with brass nails, and they are so rare that I had been told by those who work in European Armour museums that such a thing did not occur(read that there may only be one surviving example, which is located in the Higgins reserve collection, and they are unaware of it). I hope this helps.  -------------------- Bob R.
Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged
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chef de chambre
Admin & Advocatus Diaboli
Member # 4
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posted 06-22-2001 06:13 PM
I m ight add, they are nail heads, and not decorative tacks, so they are not hollow and soldered on.If the brigandines as made were tough enough to have multiple examples, some that have seen action (one of the Royal Armouries collections has had a plate penetrated by a bodkin point, but the plate overlapping underneath stopped the shot) survive 500 years into the present, then it should be tough enough for our purposes. 1. Don't use crappy cloth, a dense heavy weight hemp twill will do wonders for the foundation (hemp is rot resistant, more so than linen, and there were multiple twill examples of foundation cloth in the Higgins reserve collection). 2. Make the cover from a cloth almost as heavy wieght, but prettier, perhaps a heavyweight dyed linen. when you sew the foundation and the cover together before you start putting the plates in, you will find you are starting out with something tough to begin with. 3. Make darn sure you either tin orvarnish black the plates so they are rust resistant. Hope this helps. -------------------- Bob R.
Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged
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McIntosh
Member
Member # 166
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posted 06-22-2001 10:35 PM
Dear Chef,
Thanks for the clarifications. Now for one from me. The washer idea was for the out side of the brig as a way to spread the stress over more fabric with out spending an inordinate amount of time swaging larger heads on nails. This particularly for brigs not using the trefoil pattern of three rivets. There seems to be upper limits to what even modern heading equipment can do with a given diameter of stock so I wandered about augmenting the holding power of the nail against the cloth. Your survey of the brigs would suggest that washers were not used on the outside either. What does one do to repair a tear through? Is there evidence for a period answer?Thanks for the info it is certainly helpful. -------------------- McIntosh
Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged
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chef de chambre
Admin & Advocatus Diaboli
Member # 4
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posted 06-23-2001 11:07 AM
Hi McIntosh,The triple (and sometimes quadruple) grouping of nail heads seems to spread the stress out evenly. The groupings are very tight, and on examples we handled, and have seen photographs of the heads sometimes overlap at the edge. It isn't as neat a job as a modern armourer would do. -------------------- Bob R.
Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged
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