Belegarth

by **jiujitsufighter** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:11 pm

For anyone who is interested or wanted to see the process, I am making a new suit with full lace. So far I'm in it about 150 hours, 120 yards of lace, 1 1/2 sides of 9 ounce leather, 1,200 scales, and 10,000 holes punched. I had to stop making scales because my hand started to swell up so I painted and laced what I had. I'll put up more pics when I get more scales made and put together.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/eddyfastx/Samurai%20Armor/

by **Forkbeard** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:19 pm

Incredibly nice work, man. It looks amazing.
FB

by **american samurai** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:28 am

That is awesome, what are you basing it on, are you using a particular pattern or armor that you have seen?

by **Tiberius Claudius** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:30 am

Absolutely insane and absolutely beautiful. What dedication you have! I'm excited to see the rest of the process and the final product..

Q: Are your lacings dyed shoe laces? Innovative.

by **Cullen of Kells** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:42 am

truly amazing :eek:

by **Cedric** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:21 am

looks pretty good!

by **ahlschwede** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:16 pm

****ing sexy

by **jiujitsufighter** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:24 pm

Thanks guys. I'm not using a pattern since I'm abnormally large for a samurai and couldn't find one. I'm 6'2" so I'm making everything to size. And yes it is shoelace, lol. You can buy the real stuff for the low price of 3.50 a yard, but I went with the shoelace at about 30 cents a yard.

by **american samurai** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:31 pm

I would be interested in knowing how many scales you end up using when you are done, here is a link to another scale samurai armor being made.

http://tousando.proboards.com/index.cgi ... hread=3844

by **Tiberius Claudius** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:48 pm

Such insane amounts of work. What masterpieces.

I'm curious to know how often samurai armor was rendered unusable because of lacings being sliced away in battle?

by **jiujitsufighter** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:47 pm

I've wondered the same thing, but it must have worked out fine otherwise they wouldn't have used it.

by **american samurai** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:51 pm

Tiberius Claudius wrote:Such insane amounts of work. What masterpieces.

I'm curious to know how often samurai armor was rendered unusable because of lacings being sliced away in battle?

During the samurai era if you were well off you would have a replacement armor for just such an occasion, lower status retainers and foot soldiers (ashigaru) would be using borrowed or lent armor owned by the lord they were working for, there would be replacements available and with labor being dirt cheap (or free) repairing armor was no big deal. Samurai armor needed a lot of maintenance anyway even if not used in battle. Chips in the lacquer needed to be filled in as the environment of Japan is very corrosive to metal and un lacquered leather armor would fall apart from moisture. Cloth linings would rip and deteriorate from use. The lace whether leather or silk needed constant maintenance from wear, there were people who did work like this for a living and they had it down to a science.

by **GridPoet** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:06 pm

hey... i'm not sure if it's cheaper, but my buddy and i have been doing some samurai type builds and we used lacrosse lacing (flat laces)... you can buy it for fairly cheap in very large rolls...

might give Google a search...

the pieces look INCREDIBLE!!! hope ours look 1/4 as good ^_^

by **jiujitsufighter** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:23 am

GridPoet wrote:hey... i'm not sure if it's cheaper, but my buddy and i have been doing some samurai type builds and we used lacrosse lacing (flat laces)... you can buy it for fairly cheap in very large rolls...

might give Google a search...

the pieces look INCREDIBLE!!! hope ours look 1/4 as good ^_^

That's exactly what I'm using. I bought about 800 yards of it and the stuff works great.

by **Spork** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:19 am

How long has this project taken you so far? And how much longer do you think you have left?

The samurai look as always intrigued me and I'm looking to invest some time into armor. Figured if I'm going to do it, I'll do it legit, and wanted to know how long it might take me.

Are you using the information from SengokuDaimyo? Or is there another site with information?

by **jiujitsufighter** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:28 pm

I'm using SengokuDaimyo and a whole lot of trial and error. This is probably the tenth suit I've made, but the first in kozane. It has taken me a LONG time. My gf is about going to break up with me. I've been at it for around four weeks now, but I'm not exaggerating when I say I've done nothing but work on armor in my spare time. My best guess is I'm in the 150+ hour range now. So I'd say probably 5 hours a day for the last month. My hand was bruised and swollen from punching holes. I think if I ever do scale again it will be in metal. Leather is just a ton of extra work.

by **Tiberius Claudius** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:11 pm

Thanks for the answer amsam. Fascinating topic this is.

by **GridPoet** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:51 pm

i do all my macro work (cutting, drilling holes, rounding) with metal working tools, i drill all the holes in my leather pieces with a hand drill... the fact that you did all those lames with a hand punch pretty much makes you the champion of the freaking universe!

by **Forkbeard** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:40 am

You can only drill holes in some leather without twisting and tearing it.
If it's too soft, or thin, it does more harm than good.
My scales took for **** EVER. And mine only have 4 holes each and ar bigger and are edge to edge vertically. So about 1/3 the work in this.
You need to learn to switch hands with your punch every 10 minutes or so. It's weird at first, but you get used to it eventually.
I guess you don't want to hear about the places to get steel scales pre cut and punched?

FB

by **Spork** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 10:03 am

jiujitsufighter wrote:I'm using SengokuDaimyo and a whole lot of trial and error. This is probably the tenth suit I've made, but the first in kozane. It has taken me a LONG time. My gf is about going to break up with me. I've been at it for around four weeks now, but I'm not exaggerating when I say I've done nothing but work on armor in my spare time. My best guess is I'm in the 150+ hour range now. So I'd say probably 5 hours a day for the last month. My hand was bruised and swollen from punching holes. I think if I ever do scale again it will be in metal. Leather is just a ton of extra work.

Thanks! Thumbs up on the hardwork. I had made some hip plates a few years ago and that took most of my weekend up, I did barely any lacing on those.

It looks badass, definitely would like to see some pics of the final product in use.

And 10 suits? *, you're inhuman.

by **GridPoet** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:50 pm

Forkbeard wrote:I guess you don't want to hear about the places to get steel scales pre cut and punched?

FB

err... i sure want to hear about that ^_^

by **american samurai** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:25 pm

jiujitsufighter wrote: So far I'm in it about 150 hours, 120 yards of lace, 1 1/2 sides of 9 ounce leather, 1,200 scales, and 10,000 holes punched.

I have read that actual Samurai armors made from individual scales (kozane) like the one you are making can have 2000 scales and could have taken over 200 days to complete. Im interested to see what your totals are when your finished.

by **jiujitsufighter** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:46 am

Here's what I've got done in action at Samhain.

by **Tiberius Claudius** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:00 am

You looked great out there.

by **Cade** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:16 pm

I love the contrast between your gear and the other samurai kit there.

You know how people are always talking about taking it to the next level? Yea, thats the next level right there. Nothing out there proves it more than you standing next to that other samurai armor.

by **Arrakis** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:43 pm

Sick armor, ugly weapon.

Make somebody a couple pieces in exchange for a couple sexy glaives.

Because, honestly: Duct tape?

But yeah, your armor needs to be quarantined. I'd be happy to handle that for you.

by **jiujitsufighter** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:41 pm

Ha, I build 'em to last! Those things are 8 years old now. Nothing holds up like duct tape.

by **Cullen of Kells** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:35 am

AMAZING! that is some beautiful craftmenship. I guaranty that anybody that sees you in that suit won't be making fun of you for playing this game. :eyes:

by **jiujitsufighter** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:55 pm

Mostly done.

by **Caleidah** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:10 pm

Glorious

by **ahlschwede** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:24 pm

Very nice job

by **Solusar** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:57 am

Caleidah wrote:Glorious

by **Arrakis** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:53 am

Lookin' good.

What's up with the bracers?

by **Tiberius Claudius** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:21 am

Beautiful, beautiful work. How much does it all weigh?

And I also dig that deep red paint on the walls. Very Victorian and regal looking with the white trim. Good taste.

by **jiujitsufighter** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:41 am

Arrakis wrote:Lookin' good.

What's up with the bracers?

I did bracers so that they are removable from the kote. I don't always want to wear the kote because they are hot but I always want to wear at least bracers.

It weighs almost 30 pounds now. I still need to add the upper kote, helmet crest, and a few other details, but I don't see it getting much heavier.

And thanks for the compliment on the house, ha! My gf hates my red walls. I bought this Victorian fixer-upper and so I had to go with the red. The gf just doesn't understand. If she had her way my house would be lavenders and baby blues.

by **Slagar** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:59 am

Christ, dude. Looks fantastic. At a rough guess, how many hours and how many dollars have gone into that kit by now? I'm cringing even thinking about it, but I just have to ask.

by **jiujitsufighter** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:44 pm

$120- 1 13oz 21 sq ft side of leather. I got a great deal.
$65- 1 9oz double shoulder 10sq ft
$60- 1 9oz double shoulder 9sq ft
$85- 1 9oz double shoulder 13sq ft
$31- Picked up drapery fabric in the value bin. About 4 yards
$20- Acrylic and spray paint.
$230- 788 yards of lace. Used about half of it.
$30- Special polyester dye for the lace since regular fabric dye didn't work.
$25- 100 pack of Chicago screws for the helmet.
$30- Found two pairs of high quality hole punches for dirt cheap.

$696ish Grand total.... I hadn't added it up until now and kinda wish you hadn't asked. It ended up using way more leather than I thought it would so I got kinda hammered there.

I lost track of how many hours a long time ago. I would guess somewhere around 300 but that's a very rough guess. I can't even imagine making these the old way where you had to make all your lace and other pieces from scratch. I can easily see why it took them a year to make. Even with being able to but everything I needed, it has still taken me almost 3 months so far.

by **Tiberius Claudius** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:06 pm

And now you can sell it for $2-$3k

by **Karne** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:47 am

A Magnum Opus sir. I really, really like it--some of the best armor I seen built, anywhere.

My question for you, what would you do different next time? Anything that didn't turn out quite right? Anything you would want to change?

It really is a great piece dude, I'm a big fan! If you cross-post this on the armourarchive, I'm sure those guys would love to see it!

Thanks again man, what a sweet piece!

by **jiujitsufighter** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:52 am

Karne wrote:A Magnum Opus sir. I really, really like it--some of the best armor I seen built, anywhere.

My question for you, what would you do different next time? Anything that didn't turn out quite right? Anything you would want to change?

It really is a great piece dude, I'm a big fan! If you cross-post this on the armourarchive, I'm sure those guys would love to see it!

Thanks again man, what a sweet piece!

I would use slightly smaller scales. The widest affordable lace I could find was 1/2 inch. I thought I could get away with 7/8 inch wide scales but they were a little too wide for the lace. You will notice that there are some gaps in the lacing where the lace tends to twist. A wider lace or narrower scales would help to prevent this.

I have more done on the kabuto. Enjoy the pics.

More are in my photobucket at the link at the top of the page.

by **Forkbeard** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:16 am

Also, for all of your info, my Samurai armor, done in the larger early style scaly looking scales still took about $150 worth of laces. I did 90% of mine with scrap leather, the laces where the most expensive thing.
Anyone looking at this as a cheap way to make armor need to think again. Solid copper rivets are cheaper than laces.
Not that price should stop anyone from making anything. I've just heard some talk about people trying to do lace together armor to save on materials. Another thing is all your leather ends up being doubled up, so that gets expensive, too.

I love the Helmet, Greyson, the gold crest looks sick.
FB

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