How Much does all that Weigh? Weighing my Harness

[@theCodyReeder]

That moment you realize just your mail shirt weighs almost as much as a full suit of armor. I might have made it too heavy...

[@insanecamo]

Maybe a bit

[@MrEvanfriend]

That's significantly lighter than a combat load circa 2005.

[@mps81a]

Thank you very much for the metric conversion :D

[@dextrodemon]

+Ægir Bladeworks i wish everyone would just start using metric already..13 and 7/8th, sounds like the 19th century or something :p

[@sid.h]

+Torc Handsomeson At this point, use of the imperial system is just infuriating for any logical mind.

[@ferreus]

+Torc Handsomeson it's easier to divide the imperial, and the metric just smacks of revolutionary calendar. /metric user

[@Jossandoval]

+Szilárd Hompoth The metrical is, in fact, pretty nice to use and that fractions help a lot doing daily things like shopping meat or estimating the weight of a cake slice. It's when you try to do anything that connects two distinct units that everything goes to hell and the Imperial System demonstrate his uselessness. Seriously, try to connect at a glance freaking slugs with pounds and cubic feet.

[@sid.h]

***** Uhmm, that was my point also ?

[@Koshmar-13]

I swear to god you have to some how be related to Ian from Forgotten Weapons

[@theangrycheeto]

Kraken hahaha yea

[@Spider-Too-Too]

medieval jesus

[@JohnRaptor]

I have to admit, I giggled when you said, "It goes up to 11."

[@KnyghtErrant]

+John Erickson Most blokes are just weighing their armor on 10 lb scales. When you're already at 10 lbs, where do you go from there? Our scales go to 11.

[@jonmakar5646]

+Knyght Errant - Spinal Tap Scale FTW

[@matilija]

This makes me understand why I always felt my chain hauberk was prohibitively heavy...it weighs just over 15 kilo's(just over 33 lbs)…..now I know I need to look for a better quality lighter one, because dang.....

[@LordSplendid]

Nothing get done half-assed on this channel! Great work!

[@tasatort9778]

I have an uncle that does Scarborough Fair in Waxahachie TX every year, and he mentioned that a typical harness weighs around 50-60 lbs. When I was in the army, just my ruck-sack alone weighed 50 lbs.; that does not include the rifle, helmet, gas mask, boots, extra ammunition, grenades, and canteen. So fully loaded my gear was 70+ lbs.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+TAsatorT Yes. Modern soldiers routinely carry at least the weight of medieval harness on their backs day in and day out. Long range patrols can easily push double the weight of medieval harness. The other aspect is the ruck is not nearly as well distributed over the entire body as the medieval harness is. I'd much rather wear my armor than have to carry the weight of it in a pack.

[@tasatort9778]

I've never worn medieval armor myself; but I've been told that due to the way the weight is distributed, it is hardly noticeable.

[@davidrivera9743]

TAsatorT true. done right it is quietly a certain amount of weight that at the end it's a wait a minute amount of weight.

[@reaperwithnoname]

I always find myself coming back to this video. It's such a great resource.

[@feldwebel999]

Great work again, Ian. I would think for a relatively fit individual, the heat would be worse than the weight - well-distributed as it is with your harness.

[@almusquotch9872]

I was surprised that the mail shirt was more than twice the weight of the breastplate.

[@GasMaskTrenchCoat]

It seems in most fantasy settings and popular culture, mail is classified as light armor where plate is classified as heavy. Where, in reality, it appears reversed. but as he said, weight can vary greatly with mail and plate armor in fantasy settings is often ridiculously thick. another thing to consider is that a plate harness is often worn over mail and padded underclothes, so only mail rather than a full coat harness would be lighter. I can't claim any kind of expertise, it's just what I've concluded according to my own research and limited first hand experience.

[@armsandarmour1080]

+Almus Quotch You will probably also be surprised to know that in 15th century mail armour could often cost more or just as much as full plate harness.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

+Arms and Armour Well, it's not really surprising if you think of how much work it takes to make one...

[@JustGrowingUp84]

TheBognordave I agree, nonetheless it still requires much less work. Also, remember that in the past, before the advent of industrialization, the rings also had to be produced by hand by a blacksmith, which would also require a lot of work. It's true that plate armour would require the services of several artisans, some of them quite skilled. High end plate, highly decorated, was obviously quite expensive. Even so, it still was easier to make. In order to produce mail, a lot of man-hours were (and still are) required, time which might have been better invested in making things which were easier and faster to make, which would bring better profit/hour of work. Thus, in order for mail to remain profitable for its makers, it had to be expensive enough for them to forgo making horse shoes or whatever.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+TheFilthyCasual It's important to not think of medieval labor costs in modern terms with modern free-market concepts. Unskilled labor and time didn't really cost much at all in the middle ages, it was the materials that were the significant factor in cost. Plate armor on the other hand not only required high quality materials, it also required the employ of several different specialty highly skilled craftspeople to produce.

[@sagapoetic8990]

Just discovered your channel through Shadiversity - thank you - I am finding your historical analyses and themes very interesting and educational

[@KnyghtErrant]

Thanks for checking out the channel!

[@sagapoetic8990]

@@KnyghtErrant Thank you for you wonderful videos

[@MaverickCulp]

Very interesting and surprising to me, but man Ian! That beard is growing more glorious every day!

[@KnyghtErrant]

+mavmanish One day the mustache will properly drape over the aventail of my bascinet, and my kit will finally be complete. Hahaha...

[@MaverickCulp]

Knyght Errant YES!! It'll be like all the period artwork I've been seeing!

[@klyanadkmorr]

+mavmanish More FLAVOR savored by the weeks!

[@MaverickCulp]

Al-Malik Al-Ashraf Khalil That's true, but his patience has paid off.

[@MaverickCulp]

Al-Malik Al-Ashraf Khalil Haha I'd quite like to see that.

[@The_Gallowglass]

I would think having the weight distributed over your body would make it much less encumbering than wearing 60lbs on your shoulders; however, a knight would also have his polearm and sidearms (sword and dagger), shield (depending on the century) and possibly carrying supplies; although, his horse, squire or attendant would deal with all of that if he could afford it. I think for the most part it would be much less of a pain than going out as a modern soldier with kit and weapon systems. From what I hear they routinely carry around 100lbs of kit every day. I've gone out in a full harness with a poleaxe and sword and it's not too terrible, all things considered. The main think that bothers me and I'd wager it bothers many others is the breathe-ability and limited vision while the visor is down.

[@The_Gallowglass]

***** I know.

[@7dayspking]

Polearm = around 2-2.5 kilograms (8 lbs?) Dagger is less than 1lb......you don't use a shield with Plate armour. Early 15th Century plate armour weighs in the range of 15-20 kilograms, 16th century up to 25 kilograms (probably due to musket proofing.)

[@7dayspking]

People don't seem to realize that Modern marines and infantry actually often wear a full body of armour....covering the shoulders, thigh, arms, chest/back and the helmet...the armour alone weighs more than historical plate harness.

[@BigPuddin]

Not necessarily true. As a machine gunner, I would carry upwards of 100 lbs of gear on patrols and expected to keep pace with riflemen. SAPI plates. Spare barrels. Extra belts. A-gunners are considered obsolete, so the gunner himself would have to carry the majority of his kit plus his weapon. It's actually not all that bad, though. Just get in shape, and it's not really a problem. People who don't lift weights seem to have the worst time fathoming how a man could easily do this, but it's completely practical.

[@mjaster78]

Great explanation and details. Very well presented. Thank you!

[@KnyghtErrant]

Thank you, and it's my pleasure!

[@twotonanchor]

A very interesting comparison, sir. Looking forward to the next video.

[@lkvideos7181]

Tried a German bascinet on a medieval festival and yeah you realy feel the weight. It isn't realy uncomfortable or something, it's rather making you feel protected, but you do feel the weight and it will wear you down carrying it longer then say for just a battle / skirmish etc. Mail is much heavier than plate. I can understand why knights in full plate armor wore mail only where they were exposed, or none at all. Everything additional to plates may offer more protection to the wearer against blunt trauma but you'll get exhausted in battle, not just by the sheer weight, but your sweating your ass off.

[@lebarosky]

In thinking about a man armed cap a pie, and what he was capable of, one must take into account the fact that these men trained for years in their harness. It would be analogous to someone who did manual labor using the entire body for long periods of time. If one has ever spent any time with such people, one realizes their body strength becomes immense. I doubt such harness impeded a man from getting up after falling down, or mounting and dismounting a horse, and certainly a trained man in harness had no trouble engaging in combat for a protracted period. Thanks for the video.

[@samchaleau]

I love seeing videos from fans of history! I've seen a few of your vids, and really hope you keep up the good work. Subbed and dinged.

[@kylesutliff8258]

Do you wear some from of padding underneath your mail, such as a gambeson? I ask because it might be worth including that in the overall weight. I would guess a wool gambeson could add a bit of weight.

[@adrianj402]

+kyle sutliff He covers the gambeson and other undergarments in previous videos. Can't remember if he actually notes the weight of the gambeson, but I should think it can't be much heavier than a modern cold weather jacket.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+kyle sutliff You can see my doublet here (kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6DXf5-PnL1nm6Mm), but it only weighs 2lb 10z, or 1.2 kilos. The hooded sweatshirt I'm wearing right now is 0.9 kilos. So it doesn't really add anything because it's serving as my normal outer layer of clothing anyway. An arming doublet for wear under a close fitted plate harness doesn't need to be thick or heavily padded / layered like the stuff worn under a mail harness.

[@kylesutliff8258]

+Knyght Errant Thanks. I suspected it would be closer to 5lbs but I didn't know they were made lighter when designed to be used in conjunction with plate. Good to know.

[@binozia-old-2031]

A heavy gamberson weighs about 4kg

[@VanZooben]

Thank you, I had been wondering about how modern armor and historical armor's weights would compare

[@KnyghtErrant]

+hunter VanZeben A lot of this is specific to my armor. Many modern reproductions are very 'over-built' to withstand repeated blunt trauma which is not how the historical stuff was made. So your mileage may vary when comparing other modern reproductions to historical armor weights. Just something to keep in mind.

[@foowashere]

+Knyght Errant I imagine that the variation in weight of pieces made for persons of different sizes would be in the order of 30% or even more. I guess the selection of historical pieces of known weight isn't so large that you can pick you reference to match your size? Thanks for the video, thorough and informative!

[@Jarozila]

Great video. Curious to know what people think about the use of 6mm vs 9mm mail. When a gambeson and mail was the armour (no plate) would one have been better to have had smaller rings? With more plate being worn would mail rings have become larger - to conserve weight? Cost of course is another factor...

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Jarozila A lot of mail garments also used different sizes of rings within the same piece of equipment. Many mail collars for example use smaller rings to grant a tighter / stiffer weave around the throat, and then use larger rings for the mantle. But the real answer is a lot of this stuff varied dramatically in period. You would have purchased the best protective equipment you could afford.

[@brized]

I was really surprised at the weight of headwear. A bascinet seems like it'd weigh almost as much as a breast and back plate! Crazy! That's so different from today where soldiers wear helmets weighing 1.6-2.75 lb. plus an optional ~3 lb. for nightvision goggles + a counterweight. Thanks for doing all these videos! They're a great service.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

+brized Yes, but please notice that the bascinet protects the entire head + neck + upper torso (did you notice how heavy the visors are, for such a small piece of equipment?). Also, at least some of that weight would rest on/be transferred to the torso, though that's especially true of later types of head-gear.

[@Baker_7498]

+brized While most modern infantry helmets are lighter, there are Russian titanium helmets like the Altyn helmet which are a similar shape to a bascinet and weight 4.3kg (9.5lbs) with a visor - that is probably comparible in weight to the 14th century bascinet without the aventail.

[@Dolemite993]

Awesome as all of your other videos Keep them coming!

[@swansman2007]

Don't forget that size of the armour can add/subtract to the weight. Those extant maille shirts could have also been bigger than yours.

[@lykigos]

excellent video, best of its kind

[@CharlesOffdensen]

In the British journal of military history there was an artical, in which people argue whether the armor that the French wore аt Agincourt made them so tired that the lost the battle because of it. I was wondering about your opinion, Ian. How much does an early 14. century tire you and how much does that actually mathers in batle? Also, was there a big difference between the armor that the French wore and the British one?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+CharlesOffdensen While I'm sure the weight of the French armor was a contributing factor I think the primary cause of the exhaustion they may have experienced was the fact that they had to traverse a massive mud pit, that had just been trampled by waves of cavalry whilst wading through an arrow storm and getting shoved on by several thousand of their closest friends. The English armor at Agincourt was likely just as heavy, if not heavier since the English seemed to favor more complete plate coverage as their tactical preference was to fight on foot. The English were able to force a defensive fight, which took advantage of those environmental factors. The option of wearing less armor for the dismounted French may have spelled equal doom for them since they wouldn't have been as protected during the archer's barrage before making contact with the English line.

[@ville307]

The voice is good now. Nothing to complain about anymore.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+ville307 OK good, I boosted the levels, glad it improved things. Thanks for following up.

[@MoonlightDawnMoolightDawn]

WOW Thank you. I've been wondering about the approximate weights - very informative video.

[@HeavensBladeTM]

Good video, I've been interested in this subject for a long time.

[@GalanisEucharthus]

Great informative vid.

[@StygianEmperor]

the latin singing is pretty good but i liked the old endplates where all the audio from the four videos was overlapping

[@7dayspking]

Interestingly a composite harness of the original pieces ranges from 21 kg (I think it's 21435) to roughly 25 kilograms...this is with the full mail shirt and the heavy Bascinet. If we replace the 4 kilogram (lightest bascinet.) with the lightest Kettle hat (was it 1.3 kg??) we get a 18735 grams (18.7 kilograms) Without the mail shirt (7.45 kg or 8 kilograms.) we have a lightest harness sitting at roughly 10.7 kilograms or 11.25 kilograms. If we add a backplate and assume it's at least 3 kilograms we have the lightest harnesses sitting at 13.7 and 14.25 kg respectively, if we assume 3 kilograms of arming clothing we have 16.7 and 17.25 kg....we now bump that Kettlehat up to a Sallet (assumed weight 3.5 kilograms.) we now have 18.9 and 19.45 kilograms for a full harness with an arming doublet instead of mail. It seems odd to me that people assert Plate armour starts at 60 lbs (without mail, without arming clothing.).....the plate armour alone here with the addition of a 3 kg backplate and 3.5 kg sallet given these specific pieces would weigh roughly 16.7 kilograms or 36 lbs.

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

the larger weight assumptions for armour come from jousting armour and later period harnesses built for protection against guns, however battlefield armour from those periods generally is missing sections to reduce weight however full suits still exist.

[@7dayspking]

bmxriderforlife1234 .....Huh? I think you missed the point of my comment. I was referring to a composite between the pieces discussed in the video....we have a minimum of about 17 kilograms for full harness with mail shirt and roughly 11-12 kilograms without mail

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

7dayspking last paragraph......the reason why many assume the 60 pound start

[@7dayspking]

bmxriderforlife1234 Oh thanks ok. Actually Jousting armour generally easily exceeds 60 lbs.....this 60 lb start is even peddled by KnyghtlyErrant.

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

7dayspking yes jousting armour can be heavier then 60 lbs however there are other tournament armours and earlier forms of jousting armour were lighter, sort of depends on what era youre talking about.

[@grendelgrendelsson5493]

Thanks for this video mate, very informative. I've always wanted my own harness but I can't afford it; I have a 55 inch chest!

[@fightgar13]

It would be super interesting to hear about spanganhelms or burgonets

[@NoahWeisbrod]

I have an earlier style hauberk (knee length,) and it weighs almost 30 pounds.

[@7dayspking]

..... Full hauberks generally range from about 8 kilograms to 13 kilograms....

[@JETWTF]

60 pounds of kit evenly distributed across the whole body and wearing it almost everyday all day... you wouldn't even notice the weight. if you only wore it on the weekends it would be far less noticeable than 60 pounds in a backpack even if the pack is suspended by the shoulders and the waist. The pack would put allot more strain on the abdominal muscles and the shoulders.

[@Finkeren]

Very interesting but very much in line with what I've read and seen so far. Am I right in assuming, that late 14th/early 15th century full armour was about as heavy as armour ever got? Or was an early 14th cen. coat of plates over maille with cervelliere and great helm heavier? 26kg is really not a lot, and if that's the worst it ever got, that's surely impressive. Oh. and btw: Your maille is really, really light, much lighter than it looks. Having made a butted maille hauberk back in my LARP days (which weighed a ridiculous 17kg - much, much too heavy to be practical) I can only stand in awe of the craftmansship.

[@Nighti88]

+Finkeren I think most soldiers equipment through history is under 30kg in all, cause more weight decrease your ability to fight more than it can benefit you. So most war armor is about that 25kg. Mail is heavier by covered area, but if your plate armor is so light, why not make it stronger so its nearly as heavy than the mail armor?

[@Finkeren]

***** That's what I was hinting at, when I said, that the so called "transitioning" armours of the 14th and early 15th centuries were propably the heaviest (save for later jousting armour) When you look at a late 15th cen. gothing plate harness, it really doesn't look heavy at all.

[@Finkeren]

Nighti88 Are you sure about that, maille being heavier per covered area? Ians hauberk weighs less than 7 kg and is covering a much bigger area than the corresponding breastplate and armplates (the brestplate has no back and the armpits and inside of the elbow joints are left unprotected by the plate). I'd argue, that maille gives you by far the lightest weight per area of any metal armour.

[@Nighti88]

+Finkeren Maybe we are both generalising too much in this point. It is possible to make verry light Mail and very heavy plate and vice versa. Moust Mail i have used until now was much heavier than this one. About 10kg up to 14kg

[@bubbleman2002]

Full armour was likely heavier when plates were first being investigated, mail armour isn't light, and is, generally speaking heavier than plate.

[@gianlucafalzon5868]

Hi Ian, this is a question on thickness rather than weight, but at the end of the day I'm asking it since I don't want to feel too overburdened with armour in the future. That's because I'm hoping to invest in a mid-15th century Milanese style harness. Which portions of your harness are the thickest, and which are the thinnest? I would assume the helmet would be the thickest and the leg protection the thinnest, but I want to make sure. As a side note, my group regularly does small battles, so I do need a fair amount of protection, although this is mostly required with regards to the helmet and gauntlets (I plan on getting mitten gauntlets). Also, I am going to supplement the protection with maille voiders and skirt, or a haubergeon. Many thanks in advance, and keep it up with these videos. I always enjoy watching them.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Gianluca Falzon Real historical armor was variably thick on the same plates. So a breastplate for example could be forged out to 3mm in the center and maybe 0.5 mm by the edges, since the wearer needed more protection at their center of mass than at the edges of the plate. Helmets could be pretty thick as well. Limb armor, much less so. Modern reproductions are mostly made with modernly manufactured steel, so they're starting with a plate of perfect uniform thickness. Most people recommend a 16 gauge helmet at the very minimum (14 gauge more commonly recommended, ((about 2mm)) for fighting in. On my personal harness, my helmet is about 2mm thick, the breastplate is probably closer to 1.5 mm, and everything else gets lighter and lighter, down to the lames on the sabatons which are fractions of a mm.

[@TheFeanor74]

Great video, thumbs up! Is there a chance that you can make an episode about the weight of an early middle ages full mail "norman style" armor?

[@JZBai]

What are the weight estimates for later century plate armors (i.e. 16th and early 17th century armors)? Were those armors made significantly heavier compared to earlier centuries due to the prevalence of firearms?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+JZBai I don't have numbers immediately available, but breastplates in particular started to get ridiculously thick and heavy as limb armor started to wane in use. Eventually the breastplates were too thick and heavy to be practical and stopped being worn.

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

I have a question regarding the mail collars, voiders and skirts. Where are the buckles typically located? I have seen Jeff Watson with buckles of his skirt on the back side (IIRC) and seen some art where the buckles are on one of the sides.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+DushinSC On most collars the buckles or hooks or whatever mechanism they use to close them are generally in the back. With mail shirts they either have no closure (like mine) or from survivals, buckle in the front. I'm not 100% certain on skirts of mail, but I would prefer a back closure. On skirts of plate, and even many cuirasses it seems like there was a decent variation between side-buckling and back-buckling.

[@MrPix3lzz]

fighting in full armour is probably the best workout there is lol

[@99IronDuke]

Interesting. Not much difference to the weight a modern infantry solder carriers.

[@klyanadkmorr]

Kettle Hats weren't worn with partial or full Bascinets were they? I like seeing factual discussion displays of this topic. I do more fantasy created armour cosplay and was a fire firefighter and in the military with gear, so I get into 'GEAR' worn for protection.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+klyana130 Kettle Hats would have been worn as an alternative to the bascinet, not with one. Kettle hats are usually depicted worn with a mail collar or mail coif. I totally understand the 'gear' interest (military for 10 years).

[@klyanadkmorr]

Knyght Errant I've watched your channel and then subscribed after Scholagladiatoria's Matt Easton linked to your vids. Thanks, for answering. I knew my question was kinda stupid as I had been watching most of these and looking at other medieval armour vids. The Kettle seemed simple over mail or just leather scalp/head protection pure headcover. That's how you've shown it. But then seeing the shape of the Kettle and right after showing the Aventail with it's skull fit, I suddenly thought 'they could fit together? they did odd things back then assuming it would work'.

[@klyanadkmorr]

Knyght Errant Oh yeah the other reason to think the question valid not too silly, are the 2D flat drawings not that realistic and rethinking the mail under the Kettle helmets they show, I thought could be HIDING the top half of the Aventail metal plates. But I'm wrong.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+klyana130 So I was totally wrong in my initial answer! Here are over 70 examples of kettle hats being worn over what appear to other helmets and many of them are clearly bascinets! manuscriptminiatures.com/search/?tags=%22chapel%20over%20bascinet%22

[@klyanadkmorr]

Knyght Errant DOH! =) I just thought well those drawings are so incorrect at times and I was just imagining things.

[@MrHusang23]

It's interesting how the helmet is the heaviest piece of all. In a different style/purpose, probably the torso armor is the heaviest.

[@juanperezwar8748]

Did a ballpark estimate for 60lbs before you weighed them. Overall its like lugging around a sack of cement on you. Which is an acceptable burden considering the distribution of said weight.

[@theangrycheeto]

Ian, if you could possibly remember what the music you used in this video was called I would be forever indebted to you. It's stuck in my head at this point.

[@KnyghtErrant]

Guillaume de Machaut- Puis qu'en oubli

[@theangrycheeto]

Knyght Errant Thank you so much, Ian. I gotta ask you though, I've seen your guitar playing and I was curious to know if you're still playing these days. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover your earliest uploads, you're a fantastic player. Thanks again for the prompt response, I'm really looking forward to your next upload. :)

[@KnyghtErrant]

Thank you! I still play on occasion, but not nearly as much as I used to :)

[@theangrycheeto]

Knyght Errant Well, I'm glad to hear that you're still playing from time to time. Your content has really inspired me to look for lute/classical guitar music that is contemporary to the Hundred Years' War. As of yet, I haven't been able to find too much music any earlier than the works of John Dowland but thanks to you, I actually just discovered that Machaut has a few notable arrangements for the guitar so I may just have found exactly what I was looking for. Cheers, Ian.

[@Skeptic2006]

I know this is a ridiculous question but as I'm world building a fantasy game inspired from the medieval times, could you estimate the armors Clo-value or the insulation of a particular piece of armor? I doubt there is any research done like this. I haven't found any. Besides, it's not important to get super accurate values for my purposes. I'm just trying to make it semi realistic and have no idea what would for example just a mail coif feel like in the freezing weather. I would think bare metal would be horrible but ofc they would wear some textile garments in between. It is a strange subject to get into. Linen shirt 0.5 Wool tunic 2.5 Great Helm, uhm.. Armet with visor? Padded Coif? I think quite warm. I have no idea what Clo-value or R-rating would an ornate codpiece have. Christ, what am I doing with my life. But seriously anything related would be useful.

[@junglejim7664]

55 -60 lbs well distributed is still a fair load to be lugging around, especially as a fraction of your body weight. If it is 50% of you body weight this kind of weight is no fun. At 25% it is pretty much a non-issue but you would know it when you take it off at the end of the day. 33% would represent a load that tough but one that can be dealt with through training and living in the load.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Jungle Jim It's definitely an encumbrance, but it's well within the norms of soldier combat loads both historically and modernly. Especially in the high and late medieval, the people who were able to afford full armor, were people whose social standing also afforded them the opportunity (and more importantly, the societal expectation) to train in it and be competent moving and fighting in it. Modern combat loads, while of comparable (and in many cases heavier) weights are also not nearly so nicely distributed over the body.

[@andreasbachlindsmann1610]

Knyght Errant Great videos, very informative and inlightening. How ever, I have been wondering about the apparent lack of sufficient groin/crotch armour? Were there no specific consideration give to this rather sensitive area? I mean, besides the prospect of loosing ones gentlemans bits, there are two main arteries, that seem woefully unprotected, either of wich would cause a fast death if severed. Or am I missing something blatantly obvious? Sincerely, A.B. LINDSMANN

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Andreas Bach Lindsmann The first thing I'd like to point out is that all armor inevitably has vulnerabilities and it's intended purpose is not to make you invulnerable, but to make you more likely to survive an activity that has a good chance of killing you. Now if you think about how our lower body moves, it's almost impossible to be mobile while restricting the motion through our groin and pelvis in general, so armoring the groin is very difficult without severely restricting lower body mobility. So your choices are to surround the area with plate, or rely on mail. And remember, a mail skirt and padded textile are armor, it's not entirely undefended when on foot. The plate fauld would get pretty long in some cases and cover the groin (but it starts to restrict leg mobility). We also have a few examples of mail shirts with a flap in the back that is drawn up through the legs and secured in the front. Later in the 15th century they would start to use mail brayettes (think a 'diaper' of mail). We'd also see things like tonlett armor which is a really broad skirt of plate, and some later 16th century tournament armors that have fully enclosed pelvises, but again at the cost of mobility. So in warfare, it might be more advantageous to retain your lower body mobility and not present your vulnerabilities to your opponent rather than try to enclose your groin in rigid defense.

[@joerlendien4569]

You forgot metric on the basinet

[@10THPROPHET]

Tfw the mail shirt weighs the most...

[@jakebaldwin3726]

Where are places or who are people to go to if one would want to get a harness made. How much should one expect to pay for a passable harness?

[@siouxsettewerks]

+Jake Baldwin It really depends on what constitutes a "passable harness", what period is it, is it meant to represent munition grade stuff with minimal finish, or if it is meant to "be" armor for a high status guy? Does it involve lots of research and travel to study a precise artefact, or is it a rehash of stuff well known to the guy you commission it from? Dr Tobias Capwell had an armor made to a style that had no surviving examples, but was wastly documented through mortuary effigies, it had to be quite costly, whereas having a churburg inspired harness is more commonplace, and wont involve as much time and research to pattern the pieces! Daniel Jacquet also had an armour made in a very precise, later style, not often seen reproduced (and had really high constraints on how historically correct processes should be involved, due to his harness beeing made not only for personal enjoyment, but for writing a thesis on foot combat in armor, (He had his university pay part of it, iirc) The style of builds, even though unadorned can cost as much as a decent car, whereas more common styles can be much more reasonable! Then, there's high end 16th century stuff!!!! Although munition armor was often left with mill scale and painted (seen on earlier stuff too), higher end stuff was polished, higher end still, might be blued, etched, gilt, or a combination of the three... But before those finishing touches, some 16th century armor was "sculpted" using repoussé techniques, then detaield using chiselling, making high relief sculptures, helmet like the head of a gorgon, or having a crest made in the shape of a mermaid, lion head pauldrons, etc (and that was definitely polished, at least, and often blued or partially gilt Depending on what "guy" you want to armor up,who you are supposed to be representing, you could look forward to maybe as high as six digits figures (or just in the lower four digits) www.pinterest.com/pin/5699937000550754/ Among these are various helmets from Spain's Charles V's, imagine the price of a full harness like this! Then there was Felipe Negroli (and some others) twitter.com/metmuseum/status/621222677638856704 I really don't know if there currently are armourers able to replicate Felipo Negroli's work in a timely manner, (or people enough well off, and willing to patronize promising armourers to let them try their hand and get to this level of skill) Even without gilding, I'd bet it would cost much more than a Charle V helmet replica, (yet some of negroli's work was gilt) It also depends of the degree of accuracy you want, it was fire gilt, ie, a mercury gold amalgam was deposited on the piece, where gilding was sought, and mercury was evaporated by fire, this allowed far thicker deposits than it is practical to do via electroplating, it was also much more hazardous... Would, a relatively cheap, but inaccurate plating be well enough, or would you wish for the "real deal", wich means many times more gold, and finding an artisan either mad enough, or well equipped enough to do fire gilding, in a controlled, safe environment... In a way, the sky is the limit, that isn't so different from what it was (as long as you watch out for authenticity of reproduction), Unfitted cheap munition grade piece commissionnded by your liege or your city, (not much reproed, sazdly, )to 2nd hand old fashionned and/or battlefield loots (ie correct potentially nicely finished stuff, but unfitted at least to you) to as costly than a castle if you could afford it, as diplomatic gifts. And then as now, if having a harness tailored to you was within your means, and fitting your function, the adventages over ill fitted stuff was such that pretty much every professional solider gaining enough dough, be it a commoner or a noble, man at arms or knights, had at least the essential parts commissioned as soon as he could afford it! (with the adventage that in a campaigning army, the better equipped you where, the better pay you received, triple incentive, easier time stating alive, better pay, and if the worst happens, a bargaining chip for being ransomed instead of disposed of in the nearest ditch!)

[@jakebaldwin3726]

Thank you for that. I was just curious about the topic and you actually gave me a lot to go on.

[@JC-Denton]

Mighty interesting. Thanks. And for the metric numbers, too. Sounds heavy to me at first glance, but you don't carry it around in a pack in front of you, right?! Would be interesting so see 1.) what it really feels like, to actually wear it and 2.) if modern materials could provide the same/better protection at lower weight, meaning more comfort. :-)

[@KnyghtErrant]

+JC Denton I'd much rather wear my armor than have to carry it in a backpack or in a chest. Carrying my armor in a tub down the stairs to film this video was much harder than walking down the stairs wearing it :) I will discuss the other things in future videos! :)

[@melchaios]

+JC Denton I once found an article of some guys that measured energy expenditure on reenactors wearing full plate armour (can't find the article for the life of me, so you'll have to put blind trust in what I'm about to say). The results were that the guys in armor had twice the energy expenditure doing the same tasks as the guys without any armour. At the end they made a very wild conclusion, that I don't agree with because I believe it's very biased. But they compared the energy expenditure of the armoured guys and compared it with the energy expenditure of modern soldiers in a previous study. They discovered the guys in armor had a little more energy expenditure doing a 50m dash, and pointed that this was because the armour was distributed in the whole body (putting more stress in more muscles at the same time), while the soldiers with backpack used mainly their back and arms. HOWEVER, they never took into account that both of those dudes take part in different types of warfare.......... the armoured soldier is supposed to go into melee and hence he's expected to be very mobile, dodging, moving his sword around, etc, etc. While the modern soldier will spend most of his time running in a linear fashion, going from cover to cover, and shotting from a sitting position. Under this circumstance, I believe the use of the plate armour is justified even if it means marginally higher energy expenditure.

[@JC-Denton]

melchaios Thanks. Very informative indeed! :-)

[@JC-Denton]

Knyght Errant Cool. You might want to take a look as well at melchaios' comment here about the comparison modern vs. ancient... :-)

[@WHJeffB]

Another well done and informative video Ian... When wearing your harness, how long (time) on average is it before you start to fatigue or get tired from wearing all that weight? I'm sure this is temperature, exertion, etc. dependent, I'm just looking for a rough idea. JB

[@KnyghtErrant]

+WHJeffB I can wear my leg harness all day. When you start to add the upper body it becomes more fatiguing. If you stay active in it you notice it less, but standing around doing nothing in full harness can become annoying after just 45 minutes or so if not sooner.

[@oaooo8691]

O man you are lucky my entire armor ways nearly 50 kg (do have an antlered helmet and much more plate as well as banners on the cuirass)

[@mlentzner]

What about the arming doublet? Do you not consider that part of the armor (I would)? Would love to know how much that piece weighs. I love the channel and your videos by the way.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+mlentzner Thanks! The arming doublet only weighs 2lbs 10 oz, or about 1.2 kilos. The Navy sweatshirt I wear in some of my videos is 0.9 kilos, so we're only talking a 0.3 kg (about 11 ounces) difference. This type of close-fitted and relatively lightly-padded arming doublet doesn't really add much significant weight compared to what a normal outer layer of clothing would anyway. A stand-alone piece of padded or heavily layered textile armor would probably be a lot heavier than what I wear.

[@mlentzner]

+Knyght Errant Interesting. I would have expected it to weigh considerably more than that so that's good information. And good point that the piece is nowhere the same thing as a jack meant to worn as an outer layer.

[@protonruffy12]

I really wonder about one thing when i see all of this thick armor. How do you fight a such well armored guy with a sword ? And can you even do much and lethal damage to it with a sword ?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+protonruffy12 It becomes a martial art rather focused on exploiting the weaknesses in armor, especially the gaps and places only protected by mail (like armpits, groin, etc.). Some weapons, like poleaxes (especially the hammer side) can still deliver quite a substantial blow to a person in armor. If you can stun or injure the person inside the armor without necessarily defeating the armor, you can still take the fight.

[@charlesw5919]

+protonruffy12 Half-swording with the long sword.

[@lucasriley874]

+protonruffy12 In warfare you'd really not be using a sword against an enemy armoured in this way, it is posible, and techniques exist for it (like half swording mentioned by Charles W) but some form of mace/hammer, pollaxe or other pole weapon would just do the job better.. which is why your primary weapon would probably be one of those rather than a sword. You would still carry a sword as a secondary or tertiary weapon, but only use it if you'd lost/droppped or broken your primary.. or were facing lightly armoured or unarmoured opponents. At least, thats my non-expert take on things.

[@mrgoob76]

yup armor of armor is pretty much 60ish pounds, i AM very curious how heavy a Maximilian suit is i would assume that it would be pretty similar or close

[@KnyghtErrant]

Here are two examples - Met 26.92.1 (61 lb. 6 oz. (27.85 kg)) - www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/22905 RA II.179 (50 lb 12 oz) - collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-39838.html

[@mrgoob76]

Knyght Errant ah ya its pretty much the same

[@xinfinity8532]

Nice video

[@samahell29]

Would it be possible to know where this armor comes from exactly?

[@fanofshrimp]

Would you recommend a GDFB mail hauberk? I was looking into the "earl grade" type which made of flat steel rings with domed rivets.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Reed Noss I don't personally like dome rivets that much because modern Indian-made dome rivets tend to catch on everything, including other rings, and your clothing. Modern wedge rivets are a lot smoother. This is a problem of modern mass-produced mail, not historical mail. I've never been too impressed with GDFB mail, it usually sheds rings / rivets and has a lot of inconsistency in rivet placement and quality of the rings.

[@fanofshrimp]

Knyght Errant Thanks for the input, where did you get you mail shirt. You previously mentioned Jeff Wasson, does he make mail as well?

[@KnyghtErrant]

My shirt is Indian mail as well, but it's made to measure by a company called www.customchainmail.com

[@fanofshrimp]

Knyght Errant Thank you for the help :)

[@faenrir11]

The helmets seem really heavy. Any idea/estimation how much of that weight actually sits on a person's head, and how much of the mail would be supported on shoulders?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+ilzen ver'khaan Well, a decent chunk of that weight is in the mail aventail, which inevitably rests on the shoulders a bit. But mass is an important factor in shock absorption, so a stout helmet will protect you better, but it can literally become a 'pain in the neck' after a long time. If you're not fighting or in immediate danger, it's easily removable though, which is nice.

[@faenrir11]

+Knyght Errant thank you for the reply, I had no idea headwear was an issue before I watched this video. I guess it is easy to forget steel is quite a heavy material :)

[@Lokarsh21]

Isn't 9mm mail a little wide compared to historical pieces? I always found reports of mail rings measuring around 6mm Also, would you be able to indicate a site or manufacturer that sells full hauberks rather than mail shirts?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Lokarsh21 Historical mail varied widely, from even larger than that to much smaller, depending on when, where and in what object (and even to some degree what part of what object).

[@Lokarsh21]

Knyght Errant I've seen museum examples with different diameters within the same piece of aventail, with much smaller rings around the face and slightly wider ones over the shoulders. I didn't know they went wider than roughly 6mm, though. That's quite interesting. I'd love to own a hauberk, myself, but never had the time to put one together. Wish there was an equivalent of Albion for armours; a shop that reenactors would point to when asked for the top-of-the-line products. I greatly enjoy your videos, though! They're always very informative. Thank you for uploading them and for the reply

[@johndumbeltion1693]

I find it interesting that people make the comment that the distributed weight of armor makes it easier to carry than a similar weight on the back ? Really the worst thing you can do , is carry weight on the limbs , especially legs or feet ! Any backpacker will tell you this !

[@KnyghtErrant]

The weight on the limbs is pretty low though (and obviously by the nature of armor, some weight on the limbs is unavoidable since your trying to protect them). What most people say when they talk about weight distribution of armor is that it's NOT primarily on the shoulders. A good portion of that weight is borne on the hips and waist, which is where those same backpackers will tell you is where you want to load up.

[@None38389]

Actually the majority of the armor weight sits right on the pelvis instead of all over the limbs.

[@B.D.E.]

What's the music you use for your intro?

[@OzzyCrescat]

Your armour is very light compared to most reenactors, but like you explained in other videos, it is a matter of security (thick armor vs heavy blunt weapons) yet how do you explain the weight of your mail shirt? i mean most shirt i see in reenactment are 13-15 kg!

[@KnyghtErrant]

+OzzyCrescat Steel gauge, ring size, flat vs round, riveted vs butted. All of these things will be a factor in weight. Consider that my shirt only goes to mid forearm, and upper to mid thigh. It's 9mm rings (which are medium to large rings, so less overall material). It's also tapered in the in the arms. Most re-enactors use mail that is just giant straight tubes for sleeves, so by the time you get the wrist, you have tons of excess mail hanging off of the arm. All those things cumulatively save you weight. Same thing goes for plate armor, it's not just a matter of thickness, it's also a matter of proper shaping. Poorly shaped armor that doesn't carefully fit the anatomy uses more overall material. A lot of people don't take into account good close fit and tailoring.

[@OzzyCrescat]

+Knyght Errant Thanks a lot for your quick and informative answer. Your videos made me understand a lot about proper shaping. Altough i'm an archeologist (neolithic period), i still have a lot research to do about XIV-XV century and your good advice helps a lot! Yet it means lot of my reenactment stuff needs to be replaced or modified.

[@OzzyCrescat]

I'm also curious of the weight of your pourpoint. Did you weigh it?

[@KnyghtErrant]

I did, and I forget the exact amount, but it was roughly the same as the hooded sweatshirt I wear in a lot of my videos. In other words, not any heavier than other pieces of standard outer wear.

[@OzzyCrescat]

gosh, my gambeson, altough flexible, weighs 5kg. Full contact gear at it's finest...

[@r3771-n2r]

Another great post. Quick question about your size... Aren't you significantly taller than the average medieval man?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+russell timmerman I'm 5'10'', so I may be a couple inches taller than the average European medieval man, but when it comes to individual components of armor you're talking about differences on average in the range of a couple centimeters.

[@boredphysicist]

Do you know Ian from Forgotten weapons? Are you the same person?

[@Cavouku]

May I ask your height? And do you feel that size differences might play any significant part in weight differences by necessity of covering more surface area? I don't have a source on me, but I've often heard the average medieval man, if well fed, was about 5'6"-5'7". The knights may have been taller on average, though, I'm uncertain.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Cavouku I'm 5'10'', so even if we assume the lower end of your average at 5'6'' that's a 4'' difference over the entire length of the body. So when it comes to individual components of armor we'd be talking about differences in size of plates on the order of centimeters, if not less. I don't think it would make a considerable difference when we're talking about a few inches of overall height.

[@Cavouku]

+Knyght Errant That sounds fair. If you were coming up far past 6' I might think the length would account for a couple extra ounces per piece, but even then I guess that wouldn't be more than a pound or two. All good data. As an aside, what does your gambeson and harness weigh? A couple pounds, maybe?

[@cannedsnow4511]

Thank you very much for this series of videos. Would you know any recommendable, places to commission/buy armour in north america. I'm in canada specifically, and shipping armour from Europe will add a significant amount to my final bill.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+canned snow Some very well known and highly sought after armorers in Canada are Eric Dube (facebook.com/armuredube/) and Jeffrey Hildebrandt (www.royaloakarmoury.com/).

[@GregTom2]

As a non-american. What the heck is an ounce; I thought it was a unit of volume = 30 mL.

[@KnyghtErrant]

There are two types of ounces, _fluid ounces_ which are a unit of volume, and _ounces_ which are a unit of weight = 1/16th of a lb or 28g.

[@davidatkinson47]

The cool thing is that with water, the ounces agree (roughly). 16 fluid oz. ofwater is roughly equal to a pound in weight, much like a ml of water is equal to a gram.

[@XtreeM_FaiL]

Whitch weights more? An ounce of gold or an ounce of lead?

[@davidatkinson47]

GregTom2 An "ounce" is both. A little bit less than you said. It is one eighth of a cup in volume (one sixteenth of a pint), it is also one-sixteenth of a pound in weight. It depends on context: is one speaking of weight/mass (similar at sea level), or of volume? Language comprehension is of great importance. One with such poor language comprehension as to not easily be able to tell the difference between volume and mass, I would not trust any other thing that that one says. XtreeM FaiL: Trolls must learn to Google. Basic information is basic. I will next respond to you when you can tell me how many joules it takes to convert 7.62 liters of ice (water) at absolute zero to vapor (water) at 500 degrees Kelvin. You can look all of the numbers up very easily. I find that trolls like to try to screw people up, but their IQ's are rarely above 90. What I asked only takes about 80 (which is about where one can follow basic instructions, which are given.) So, give it a shot. Impress me.

[@squashedeyeball]

Wow, this is nothing! Wore vests+magazine+ceramic armor+a huge bag which wight twice as much (At least).

[@petercolivet]

How tall and heavy are you? Just out of interest, as I'm much heavier (245lbs or 111kg.) but pretty short at 6 foot. Was just wondering how much heavier the equipment would be to cover the mass of someone built like me. (Clearly my build matters, but this is just for simple calculations on my part.)

[@eddard9442]

In what world is 6ft short?

[@josephdolbear8292]

What kinds of armor would be worn around the year 1450 ish

[@KnyghtErrant]

Where specifically?

[@josephdolbear8292]

England

[@KnyghtErrant]

Mid 15th century England would most commonly see two predominant styles of armor. Italian export armors and English style armors. For a mid-century Italian export harness, look at something like the Earl of Warwick's funeral monument (he died in 1439, but the effigy itself was built a decade later and the armor is reflective of the time it was built) - effigiesandbrasses.com/2386/2312/ For something more natively English you'd be looking at a harness more like this - effigiesandbrasses.com/3618/3166/ or this - effigiesandbrasses.com/3621/3204/

[@josephdolbear8292]

Thank you that is very helpful and very much appreciated

[@nindger4270]

I'll just be that one nit-picking, infuriating tosspot: the leather straps of the chest plate were touching the table, you're cheatiiiiiii...yeah okay no, as if it makes a difference.Very interesting to see this, thank you!

[@Xill-rpg]

How much does the arming doublet weigh?

[@KnyghtErrant]

2.5 lbs (1.1 kg)

[@bobmilaplace3816]

I know it would ruin your cool panoply but can you swim in it? I know some Japanese armors can be swam in, with armor swimming a real sport in Japan. So did Man at Arms swim in armor?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Bob MiLaplace I've seen it attempted on video and it didn't go well. :)

[@charlesw5919]

+Bob MiLaplace Saw some of the Japanese armor swimming footage, not sure about the quality and consistency of the armor sets in question. A proper set of do-maru armor made of iron or steel lamellar construction can go up to 50+ lbs, don't see anyone can properly swim when weighed down with 50+ lbs of armor. If the do-maru is made from hardened leather plates, sure.

[@Plumjelly]

+Charles W Keep in mind that it's overall density that counts for buoyancy, not mass (steel ships/subs have no problem floating) . If some heavy metal armour had low density components and/or places with air pockets, it could make the wearer MORE buoyant in water.

[@samuelbhend2521]

you've got a mouse with pollen allergy on your shelf! oh wait, nevermind. it's a bscinet.....

[@ektho_-2782]

Hello, can you tell me what steel is used for your armour, please ?

[@KnyghtErrant]

My armor is heat treated 1050.

[@ektho_-2782]

@@KnyghtErrant Thank you

[@Anakunus]

This video was very informative and I appreciate that you converted your results to grams and kilograms in the table, Knyght Errant. However, I do not understand why you used the word "metric" in it. When you are showing numbers of weight, it has nothing to do with metres. So, why "metric" instead of "SI"?

[@KnyghtErrant]

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume we're not playing a pedantics game here, but even though technically the SI is just a subtype of mksa-based metric system, the term 'metric system' and more specifically _The_ metric system is used interchangeably with and far more commonly in place of SI in at least American English, and commonly within other English-speaking nations. That being said, 'metric,' while literally referring to the meter, includes standard units for other measurements as well in almost all variants of what are collectively called _metric_ systems, including the SI.

[@Anakunus]

@@KnyghtErrant Huh, so it seems. Interesting. I did not even know that there are one other systems than SI in use that include metres and kilograms. Thank you for responding.

[@saxonberserker2087]

We're do you buy your armour ?

[@KnyghtErrant]

Most of it was made for me by armorer Jeffrey Wasson. The bascinet is the work of Piotr Feret.

[@saxonberserker2087]

Knyght Errant ok thanks.

[@louiscyfer6944]

how about the total weight, gambeson, belts, sword worn, etc. just step on the scale fully dressed and without anything. you'll have the total weight carried.

[@niapet]

I don't think this is the best way to measure the weight. You should weigh yourself on the bathroom scale, with and without the armor, and take the difference. when we measure things in the lab we use the tool that can handle the entire entity being measuresd, even if it is less precise. I don't use a very accurete pipette that is precise to the milliliter 1000 times to get a measure of a liter. instead I use a 1 liter volumetric flask. This is because the measuring errors of 1000 measurements with be far worse than the +/- 1 or 2 ml that using the larger device will cause. You have compounded your error on the small and large scales. it would be better, and easier, just to weigh it all on the larger scale.

[@KnyghtErrant]

I agree with you, but I needed to be able to compare against individual pieces of historical armor which are weighed as individual components, not as an entire harness. I'm not _just_ trying to show the weight of the whole thing, but to compare the weights of individual components of armor to their historical analogues in order to establish that the modern reproductions are not appreciably lighter or heavier than the real thing, component by component. I would imagine that with errors on the order of a few oz per component, it would likely compound to result in an error of only a few pounds over the entirety of the armor since we're talking about 10 or so total measurements . When it comes to the overall load on the human body, the difference between 55 or 60 lbs is still well within historical norms. I will compare the results the next time I'm in harness and have the opportunity to weigh it on my body.

[@donparkvideos]

How much does your gambeson weigh? Not trying to be pedantic, just curious.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+donparkvideos My arming doublet weighs 2lbs 10 oz, or about 1.2 kilos. The Navy sweatshirt I wear in some of my videos is 0.9 kilos. So as an outer layer of clothing, the arming doublet doesn't really add anything to the harness, since I'd still need an outer layer. We're talking on the order of fractions of a kilo.

[@thegreatkhanofwestgeorgiaj7083]

Can you plez tell me the average detentions of a doublet

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Nosy Villager I'm not sure I understand what you're asking for? Are you wondering about the weight of my doublet? It's 2 lbs 10 oz, or 1.2 kilos. The sweatshirt I wear in several of my videos is 0.9 kilos, so the doublet doesn't add much weight since it's the outer layer of clothing anyway.

[@thegreatkhanofwestgeorgiaj7083]

Whoops I meant Lendenerr

[@KnyghtErrant]

What information are you looking for exactly?

[@zoesdada8923]

I'm guessing about sixty five or seventy pounds before I watch the video

[@shadowblaster124]

Wow, the kettle hat's weight is comparable to the breastplate. I didn't expect that.

[@ianmoore2850]

i told my dm chainmaille didnt weigh 55 pounds

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Ian Moore A shirt alone definitely wouldn't weight that much. A full hauberk + mail leggings (basically a complete mail harness from head to toe) certainly could weight that much.

[@ianmoore2850]

ok i looked at the description of the armor and it pretty much is just hubark and gambeson

[@PieterBreda]

Nearly 5 kgs on your head in case of the Bascinet. That must hurt at the end of the day. On a different note. Calculating in your emperial system must be very hard. There seems to be no logic at all.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Pieter Batenburg Unless you're in immediate danger, there's really no reason to walk around with your helmet on. I certainly don't :)

[@PieterBreda]

+Knyght Errant Good point. Could somebody right for a long time in warm Sunny weather without heatstroke.

[@siouxsettewerks]

+Knyght Errant The odd low door lintel or treacherous chimney mantle piece might be good enough reasons for clumsy me!

[@OzzyCrescat]

+Pieter Batenburg from my experience, you put your helmet on just before the fight (for heat and breathing reasons, especiall if you haven't a mobile visor. in addition, the weight is with the aventail and a part of the weight is on your shoulders, not your neck, so it's not that bad ;)

[@TheHonestL1ar]

There isn't any logic in it. At all.

[@chickensandwich1589]

You did not add in the twenty pounds worth of clothes under the armor, or the weapons.

[@cmasonw]

A very old comment I know, but the clothing would be nowhere near 20lbs. 2-3lbs maybe. Keep in mind they used linen and wool and not very thick layers at that. A sword would be 3-4lbs, dagger another 1lb, A polearm another maybe 5-6lbs. At most you could only reasonably add another 12-15lbs of weight depending on how many weapons you carried.

[@keesjanhoeksema9575]

Great stuff! But please, Can You give weights in kilogram as well? Lb, and ounce is like A cricket games rules to non British Commonwealth people! Sorry did not see Your spread sheet, Preemptive strike!

[@DrGreenfun]

what gauge thickness is good for reproduction?

[@KnyghtErrant]

The appropriate thickness of steel is a function of the specific component, the specific material (mild vs spring steels etc.,) and the intended use of the armor. For example, a mild steel helmet might be roughly 14g in places (often drawn out thinner toward the edges) whereas a sabaton might be as thin as 20 or even 22g. If it's a hardened medium carbon steel, you might be able to get away with thinner starting material in certain components. If the armor is intended for jousting, breastplates might be as thick as 4+mm in the center and jousting helms might be even thicker. Real historical armor is differentially thick, since the construction of the plates was controlled by hand at every stage of manufacture, so edges could be thinner than the center, whereas modern steels are rolled in perfectly uniform sheets, but the differential thickness can be mimicked to some degree.

[@DrGreenfun]

Knyght Errant thanks I'm looking into getting armor I found a 12 gauge sallet. I thought that was good but I couldn't find any other 12 gauge armour.

[@vedymin1]

Why no backplate :-) ?

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Mozoto There's no evidence for solid backplates prior to the 15th century. Rigid back defense comes in the form of smaller plates as found on coats of plates and corrazinas, or possibly wrapping plates like on Churburg #13, but no solid backplates. There's plenty of evidence for wearing a solid breastplate with no backplate at all though. Since my harness needs to be appropriate for late 1300s, I don't wear a backplate.

[@Dave-qy4zm]

jesus, the steel gloves weigh less than the average muay thai boxing gloves!

[@tomdaigon8707]

I find it interesting that your head is so well groomed and your face isnt ;)

[@ericstoverink6579]

16 lbs 18 oz? So...17 lbs 2 oz.

[@KnyghtErrant]

It was a typo, should have read 16lbs 8oz

[@Ragamuffyn]

These comparisons become very inaccurate without taking into consideration the size of the person wearing it. The armor of a skinny man at 170 cm height and a chubby/muscular guy at 190 cm will be wildly different.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Ragamuffyn Wildly might be a bit of an overstatement, we're not talking about the difference between The Mountain and Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones. But you're right, everything is a range, however I would wager to say thickness and type of material (be it iron, or hardened steel or everything in between) make more of a contribution to weights than a couple inches of added length on a cuisse. Like I said in the video, this data is really only useful when looking at my specific harness in my specific configuration, as it's one of the most common questions I get. I wanted to show historical examples to put my armor in context, because otherwise the weights of my pieces are meaningless without at least getting an idea of what some historical examples weigh.

[@Ragamuffyn]

+Knyght Errant It's not an understatement. When something is upsized only 10 percent in, when you do this in three dimensions this gives you an actual 33% increase in mass. And that's assuming they use same plate thickness, which is something you might want to increase as well as it's easier to dent a large plate, than a small plate of the same thickness due to leverage on the surface. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square-cube_law for physics To give you a modern practical example, I wear rather large shoes; size 13 US. It is the upper scale of the spectrum, but it's not that uncommon. Generally, my shoes will be about twice as heavy as someone wearing size 9 which is on the other side of the spectrum.

[@KnyghtErrant]

+Ragamuffyn We happen to know the range of extant armor weights though, and every surviving full harness (excluding jousting / tournament armors which are intentionally built thick and heavy) from the late medieval period (including composite harnesses) tends to fall in the 20-30kg (44 - 66lbs) range. All are of various dimensions, different configurations and different styles for different sizes of people. Now each of those totals is obviously the result of the individually contributed masses of each component. Some contribute more than others. Some of the heaviest individual components, like the helmet for example, only account for about 20% of that total mass when talking about particularly heavy helmet styles. So we're talking about a 3-4 lb difference for the heaviest components over that 44-66 lb range of lighter to heavier armors. Less substantial components (which inevitably make up the bulk of components) like cuisses, or arms could be expected to show differences closer to 1 or 2 lbs on average (sometimes less) over the range of extant examples (and this tends to be supported by the survivals we have access to). So as long as my armor is not wildly outside of these expected ranges of historical pieces, the overall implication of the comparisons in this video aren't quite so meaningless. Scaling armor for a larger person is not as simple as a blanket increase in all dimensions. Length is disproportionately affected by changes in height. When talking about the magnitude of the changes for individual pieces, they are relatively small. For example, the longest bone in the body, the femur, is on average 1/4 of your overall height. So I'm 70'' tall, let's assume my femur is 17.5 inches long. For the sake of argument I wear a cuisse that's 17.5'' long (the cuisse is also the longest single plate in the entire harness). Let's now take a person 6'' shorter than me and 6'' taller than me (so a 5' 4'' tall man and a 6'4'' tall man, pretty big difference as far as human height ranges go). The 64'' person has a 16'' femur and the 76'' tall person has a 19'' femur. So a 12'' difference in height from 5'4'' to 6'4'' results in only a 3'' difference on the longest plate in the harness.

[@gregoryrogalsky6937]

60 pounds.. that's a lot of weight..

[@KnyghtErrant]

To put it in perspective - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHelYZqledZmbrM