Native Breastplate

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Native Breastplate

Postby Thumbs » Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:08 pm

So my buddy Turkeyfeathers wants to make a Native American breast plate for his garb. Here is an example of what he's looking at
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Now what I'm wondering here is first of all legality. would the little open bits between the bones (in this case probably plastic, but originally bone) be a safety hazard?
also, IF there's a way to make this legal, is there any way we can adapt it into armor?
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Tiercel » Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:30 pm

What culture did the original piece come from, and was it even intended to take a blow?
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Thumbs » Sat Jun 19, 2010 12:02 am

Lakota tribe. and to be honest we don't know. the important part is can we do this? the other bit was more out of curiosity
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Caleidah » Sat Jun 19, 2010 12:16 am

So long as it doesn't look flagrantly modern and doesn't pose entanglement issues, there's no trouble. I would be concerned about the pieces breaking. It seems like it would serve better as a piece of garb to wear around outside of battles, specifically for feast.
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Phrix » Sat Jun 19, 2010 5:56 am

if you make it out of armor grade leather you won't have an "is it armor" issue it can be done and it would probably look alot closer to the real thing than if you tried with plastics
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Teej » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:01 am

Phrix wrote:if you make it out of armor grade leather you won't have an "is it armor" issue it can be done and it would probably look alot closer to the real thing than if you tried with plastics


Agreed. It's probably made with a frail string or fishing line; looks like wires are holding the horizontal lines together... I don't think it would hold for one battle, let alone an event. He would be better off making something unique and durable. As far as Native American cultures go... I've been waiting to see someone try it in Belegarth; best of luck to him.
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Phrix » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:14 am

to hold it all together you could again just use leather, leather strips are pretty strong, if that isnt available to you/can't cut them you could always use some thin bailing twine for it

-- it would be awesome to see somebody take on a native culture persona make a tomahawk and a small buckler IMO would look pretty badass

now if only the tomahawk could be made -missile legal-
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Thumbs » Sat Jun 19, 2010 2:30 pm

I once had someone try and throw an axe at me like a tomahawk, the non strike edge hit me in the nuts. Now i'm not so keen on throwing axes.
These things were actually worn in battle in olden times, i dunno if they were used as armor back then or just decoration, but when built properly they're pretty strong.
unfortunately Turkeyfeathers is not going to run purely native. he tends to play with single blue sword or a long handled red. so it's going to be an amalgam of that and some pretty basic european cultur as far as i know. get both his heritages in there
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Teej » Sat Jun 19, 2010 3:30 pm

Thumbs wrote:I once had someone try and throw an axe at me like a tomahawk, the non strike edge hit me in the nuts. Now i'm not so keen on throwing axes.


lol, the rules aren't BS; we had an arrow hit a weapon in the air and tumble... it struck To'Gur's shield backwards (hitting so hard that you could hear the arrow punch through all the foam and hit the wood HARD) the arrow stuck out his his shield like a raging... well, you get the point. We got pictures, true story. The scary part is, he was holding the shield up near his nose, the arrow stuck near the top by his head.

Anyway, swinging this back on-topic for you. I'm pretty sure they were more decorative/ceremonial than they were protective in battle. I do have a few thick texts on Native American culture (having some heavily-watered down Blackfoot blood in me). I'll try to see if there's any hard facts on these for you within the next hour or so.
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Teej » Sat Jun 19, 2010 3:45 pm

I checked under 'warfare' and 'shields' chapters... nothing. I was flipping back to the front and ran into these listed under 'Hair Styles, Jewelry, and Headdresses.'

"A bone breastplate was a popular chest ornament. The long bones called hair-pipes, were manufactured by the Whites, and the Indians[sic] assembled them into breastplates. The bones were ingeniously held in place by use of thick hide straps and beads which fixed them together like a lattice-type window blind. Ornaments such as sea shells and colorful trade ribbons were attached to the front of the breastplates. The top of the plate was tied around the neck with a thong, and other thongs at the bottom secured it around the waist. Since the hair-pipe bones were difficult and expensive to obtain, the numbers of bones in the plate often indicated the wealth of a warrior. Such breastplates were worn on occasion in battles, but since they could be penetrated easily by an arrow or a bullet they were mainly a decorative or medicine item."

Thomas E. Mails. The Mystic Warriors of the Plains. Marlowe & Company. 1995.
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Cade » Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:28 pm

The only American Indian cultures that wore any sort of armor that im aware of were the Mayans and Aztecs. I am pretty sure that the American Indian tribes didn't wear armor.

They did have shields though, small hide ones. No swords to speak of (excluding the Aztecs), but a nice assortment of axes, hammers, clubs, spears, and bows.

A nice flanking / skirmisher unit could be put together quite effectively using Indian dress, weapons, and combat tactics.
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Thumbs » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:52 pm

The small hide shield were largely ceremonial, but not a bad idea
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Forkbeard » Sun Jun 27, 2010 9:47 am

Thumbs, here what you need to know.
Plastic cannot be armor, so you HAVE to use armor grade materials to make it. This means real bones and leather. Ask Soo what to use.
You do not have to use natual string to hold it together. You could use fire wire fishing line. That high test **** will cut off your head before it breaks.
You cannot have gaps biger than 1/2", or it will fail.
This is to make it armor. I don't think you should. This is not an armor peice historicly, so I wouldn't go that way. Just wear it for looks.
If it's just for looks, you just need to make sure it won't catch figners. Do it how you want, make it cheap and use plastic, but still fire wire(you don't want it to break.
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Tiercel » Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:08 pm

(edited out the beginning of post)

Just wanna know how long he's been using the name Turkeyfeathers and if you've had any issues with it?
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Soo Ma Tai » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:59 am

He hasn't been fighting very long, so no the name hasn't been around too long to my knowledge. We call him Feathers in regular conversation and on the field. Why would there be an issue with it?
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Re: Native Breastplate

Postby Thumbs » Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:39 pm

Feathers is about a season in, i started teaching him last fall. And no so far the name hasn't been a problem at all.
Also thanks for the info FB. the finger catching this is one of the things i was concerned about. It currently looks like he'll be making it for feast garb
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