Hello all, I've recently started fighting but for a little while I've been practicing leatherworking. I'm currently constructing a breastplate and backplate and before I finish them, I want to make sure I can attach pauldrons.

I'm building a pretty basic renaissance-era breastplate, attaching at the top and sides to the backplate by straps. I want to make pauldons an option, but not attach them permanently to the piece. Historically I'm seeing armor that is build with leatherstaps that lace or tie onto the pauldrons. The issue I'm having is that such straps would get in the way of having adjustable shoulder straps; I can't very well put metal eyelets into a belt that needs, also, to be able to interact with a buckle. I -could-, but I'm hoping someone has some advice on an alternative solution.

Thanks very much.

If you had buckle-attachment points on the top of the shoulders of your breast/back-plate, the attachment point of the pauldron belts could be somewhere in the middle of the pauldron (rather than right at the neck-end of the pauldron). This would allow the strap to be tightened (moving the pauldron closer to your neck), or loosened (moving the pauldron lower on your arm), as you desired.

With buckles at the top and a gorget made of thin leather, it gave an adjustable height option for pauldrons without using crossbody straps. Project was made a while ago.

* that's pretty cool; eventually I need to build a gorget.

* the problem is that if I attach the pauldrons via strap at the top of the shoulder it interferes with an adjustable strap connecting the breast/backplates.
This is what I want (see adjustable shoulder):
http://www.timelesstailors.com/p-2317-l ... -4501.aspx

I just need to figure out a way of attaching pauldrons to that set-up. In the photo there's some harness-sorcerery going on under there to attach the pauldrons, but I'm trying to figure out something that doesn't require me threading straps in and out like that.

I see what you're talking about. If the front/back-plate are only as wide as the buckles, you are in a bit of a pinch. I guess you could rivet some helper plates onto each of the front and back pieces to make them a little wider at the top of the shoulder, and then attach the pauldrons to those.

That's what I'm thinking now, yeah. I could go with narrower straps on the shoulders but I'm still not totally sure how to attach them; getting the angle of attachment to the plates is proving irritating; I'm not sure what exactly is the best angle to go with. I could always use narrower, heavier straps so I have the same sturdiness but less space consumed.

I don't know if it's an option but, if you wear an arming coat or gambeson, there is the historical technique of pointing the shoulders to it like this:



It can also be used for the rest of the arm as well:



and how it can look when it's all done:



There is a big negative in that padding or quilting like that can be extremely stuffy but that's offset by its benefits:

1) You don't have to rely on the tightness of the straps to keep the armor in place.
2) The encumbrance is distributed across a larger area.
3) The arming garment provides padding and prevents armor bites.

I'm familiar with that, yeah. An arming doublet or gambeson or what have you works really well. I just don't have the skills to make one yet.