Finished swords.

Having a heck of a time with this repair job. A couple of posts down, you saw how bad the scabbard was bent....it was smashed flat, perhaps by a horse stepping on it.
Now after 20 hours of labour, this is the result. Not perfect, but ready for plating.
I don't normally nickel plate big pieces like this....my tanks are too small, and so it is simply better to just have them plated by the professional plating companies. Unfortuantely, this week, the snow load destroyed the building the professional was in, and I had to step lively to retrieve this job from the wreckage. No further damage, but today, I have to repolish the pieces and send them to yet another plater.
Frustration does not begin to describe the feelings at this time.

Kenjuitsu Grad

A fine group of graduates! This was the spring kenjuitsu class, with Jean Vaillancourt in the centre, surrounded by his crew. I was the assistant instructor and got to hold the camera.

Coralie's Armour redux

This is not looking too bad. David takes really good pictures, and these are his work. (You can see Coralie and David in the picture below.)
There is still shoulders, arm harness, tassets, leg armour, and a host of other things that need to be done. But Coralie is really keen, and a dedicated worker, so she will get it all done with only minimal input from me.

Plant Bath Rec Centre Grad

Bryan--Vincent--Elisabeth--Pierre--Coralie--Katherine--David
Joel---Bill---Shayne---Kim

The Plant Bath Rec Centre is a City of Ottawa facility rebuilt on the site of the old 1901 "natatorium". They kept the delightful brick facade, but installed a real modern pool in an addition in back, and the gym where we work out (and took this picture) is actually built over the old pool. We are taking a break for a week, then going into a fabulous advanced session for the spring season. Should be great fun!

Shoulder Armour...Malta-Milan

Rare to get a look at the inside of the armour! Here you can see the fluting and decoration which goes into this general issue shoulder armour. Points to note is the narrow shoulders...the way the front actually goes inwards, and the back is larger to accomodate a flexed shoulder muscle...such as when you are fighting. The rerebrace goes all around the upper arm, you have to slide your arm into this armour like putting on a shirt. Also note the stunning roped edge. Often there are holes that used to hold picadills...those leather chafe guards which keep the edges from wearing grooves in the breastplates. And come to think of it...in the roped edges of the rather more expensive shoulder spaulders.

You can see the articulations really well in this inside shot! There are two lames, the top one of which laces onto the gorget, a large piece which has those nice generous wings, and four lames which lap down the outer arm to a highly decorated rerebrace ring. Note especially the high raised ring which goes all around the armour....the bottom part of the rerebrace would fit into that, and the two pieces would turn inside one another. You can see the mechanism better in the pic below.

The spaulders in the picture above still have the top and bottom of the rerebrace ring functional and serviceable. I particularly like the flute down the outside of the arm, and the fancy file work at the middle of each bottom piece. The filework "makes" this style of armour.