Advantages of MIRROR WHITE Armour

Why did medieval knights value shiny white armor, as opposed to the other options available to them, such as black, blue, gold or painted armour?
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#medieval #knight #armor

[@lindybeige]

I well recall one of our men at Tewkesbury saying that his foe told him that fighting him in his mirror armour was like being attacked by a disco ball.

[@mdexterc2894]

Back then, being fabulous and slaying was literal, but they'd still look fabulous and slay on the runway

[@angryeliteultragree6329]

That got quite the laugh out of me lindy😂

[@mortache]

What's more terrifying than a dangerous foe is a dangerous foe who is also fabulous

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

Well, this is the same time period where bright colors, pointy shoes, small waists and hose manly. Then heels, codpieces, bright slashed doublets, huge flamboyant hats, and rum and leg emphazing tights

[@angryeliteultragree6329]

I wonder what lindybeige thinks about anodized titanium armor?

[@frm_5993]

for reflecting the sun into opponents' eyes, matt would just take his helmet off.

[@Intranetusa]

Just like Saitama.

[@mortache]

Dazzling

[@geovaughan8261]

Solar Flare. :)

[@johndoe70770]

Ooooh brutal

[@CRTCLDSSTR]

Emotional Damage

[@Papadragon18]

Further about the status thing, though maybe less cool: A really shiny armour shouts "Don't kill me! Ransom me!"

[@mindmedic9435]

Battlefield Bling.

[@farkasmactavish]

Or, alternatively, "Look over here, conscripted peasants! I can tell you what to do!"

[@jamesbeeching6138]

Unfortunately didn't really work in the War of the Roses!!💀💀💀💀

[@jamesbeeching6138]

Also high status doesn't always mean scary!! Look what happened to Charles the Bold!!💀💀💀💀😅

[@ronmka8931]

I doubt they did it to get ransomed, probably more for intimidation

[@KowlDoogle]

I imagine in movies they always prefer satin armour because they don't need to hire a guy to edit out the camera crew in post. The only time i've seen reflective armour is in The Mandalorian because they had a guy take a reflection map to make the surroundings accurate

[@digitaljanus]

And otherwise making it harder to control the lighting on set. But probably also the persistent perception that the medieval period was dirty and grey and only cowardly ponces would have fancy armour and weapons.

[@leonardomarquesbellini]

Shiny things don't look good on camera, and at least IMO they don't look that good in person either. Satin is nicer to look at all around.

[@Daveed56]

@@leonardomarquesbellini I'd check out the old EXCALIBUR movie form 1981, lots of high polished armor that looked great on film.

[@phantomcaptain13]

The Gondorian soldiers, at least Aragorn and the Tower Guard, from memory, in the Lord of the Rings also wore shiny white armor. Just one that immediately popped into my head in addition to the mentioned Excalibur.

[@leonardomarquesbellini]

@@Daveed56 yeah, that was going to be my example of shiny armor looking real bad. Honestly can't stand it.

[@billygnosis8820]

Another thing, which might be part and parcel to #1, is that you become a big shining point of reference to your soldiers. Where do we retreat to? Just find Sir Shinybottom. Need help trying to execute this tactic? Just keep the big shiny dude to your left and you're halfway there. Also, having a very visible boss, may help with morale, much like a standard or unit flag. As long as Sir Shinybottom can be seen, we keep pushing.

[@dongleseon8785]

Wouldn't that be a flag bearer's job? Would be hard to see a guy through bunch of crowd with similar height no matter what hideous outfit that guy might wear. Another thing that might or might not be a thing, Maybe mirror finish makes the distance and posture of wearer more confusing? Mirror finish doesn't cast shadow on itself and just reflect surroundings with distorted perspective. Not exactly a camouflage but might just be enough to confuse how far that breastplate or gauntlet is.

[@kchortu]

I honestly think it would be harder to spot the mirror in the throng of other soldiers as you would be reflecting them the grass trees... kind of like the mirrors used in magic tricks to make things look like they are floating.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

_"Where do we retreat to? Just find Sir Shinybottom."_ ... just learning now that I picked the wrong name and character for my KZbin account

[@firstlast6398]

Because the drip would have been immaculate!

[@D.S.handle]

One should never underestimate the drip factor.

[@ernomakkonen5200]

I knew the 5th one because in kingdom come delivarance the perk knight in shining armour. In sunny weather your plate armor dazzles everybody and also you get a charisma bonus. Very realistic indeed😅

[@granityseis104]

same

[@LeonM4c]

Jesus Christ be praised!

[@ernomakkonen5200]

@@LeonM4c Henry has come to see us

[@quartqwertbudisgood]

Who’s there?

[@TheTdw2000]

Gone weak at the knees have you?

[@laurenceperkins7468]

One final reason for a mirror polish: It shows off the quality and consistency of the steel. If you have bad steel with inconsistent grain sizes or inclusions, the variation will be immediately visible in a mirror polish. For that matter, so will any inconsistencies in the curvature from like hammer marks and such. So it not only shows off that you're wealthy enough to pay for the labor to polish it up that much, it also shows off just how good a quality the armor really is. (And lets you detect if the smith tried to cheat you...) You won't see that as much on modern reproductions since even the poorest modern steels are of a quality that a mediaeval blacksmith would have killed for, and modern tools make it way easier to get the shape exactly right.

[@samheasmanwhite]

As a metalworker I can confirm that high polish has no effect at all on whether a harder cutting tip will bite in, but can have slightly lower friction with softer materials like wood so I guess it could have some small effect on a glancing club strike. Ripples in the surface though, like dents or a roughly hammered surface, will have some effect depending on the depth. It can absolutely helps with rust though, materials that you would expect to corrode rapidly can become more resistant by polishing to a mirror finish, but in easily corroded steel it must still have some tiny amount of oil for protection in humidity (I think I have heard of oiling being frequent? I'm not familiar though).

[@nuancedhistory]

The Romans and Byzantines do mention that the sight of men in polished iron was a huge intimidating factor. In most cultures at that time most people couldn't afford armor, and to see a force of Roman soldiers in shining scale, maille, lamellar, or during the classical period Lorica Segmentata advancing where most or all of them have armor would have been terrifying because to any force it communicates "they sent an army of their best, most experienced, wealthiest men" based on their own cultural experiences. It was actually a clever deception because the front ranks of Roman soldiers often were the least experienced men.

[@Dejawolfs]

curiously, the romans in the early period were not intimidated by the fancy armour worn by the greeks. the roman generals actually mocked it, saying they had spent their time making their armour look pretty, we had spent our time training to become fierce warriors. or so i 'm paraphrasing.

[@esben181]

​@@DejawolfsCould it be that the mocking was an attempt to suppress their instinctive fear?

[@tfan2222]

@@esben181Implying anything about it is “instinctive” is fucking hilarious.

[@esben181]

@@tfan2222 lul perhaps. I still think addressing the issue by mocking it is a response to the intimidation it could cause

[@aviationenthusiast2002]

fun getting to see your other wall finally because of the reflections of your mirror armor

[@Book-bz8ns]

That polish is making me want to get the car wax out and really buff it up

[@NateMcCarrick-Morgan]

I used to wax my dads motorcycles to earn some money over the summers

[@jojojo9240]

so other drivers will go blind from just one look at your car

[@jojojo9240]

this is actually why I hate the glossy look of most cars - the reflection of the sun can be SO ANNOYING

[@josephvisnovsky1462]

5 reasons why shiny armor was sought after: #1 Lindybeige is in the thumbnail

[@ZacHawkins42]

That's clearly King Arthur from Monty Python's Holy Grail.

[@cagdas135]

@@ZacHawkins42 Who made him king? I thought they were an autonomous collective.

[@TheBayru]

​@@cagdas135 Probably because he has the biggest coconuts.

[@Beefonweck]

You are correct that polishing makes it harder for a blade to make good contact. Machine parts are frequently polished to reduce friction when moving.

[@lexxonn]

I think about everyone thought of the light reflection haha

[@laurenceperkins7468]

So the color in the visible spectrum will matter less than how absorptive the surface finish is in the infrared spectrum, since the latter is where the vast majority of the heat comes in. Some things you might use to darken the surface in the visible spectrum will actually reflect quite a lot in the infrared and might end up cooler than lighter colors. The surface polish of things though does make a pretty big difference. I haven't tested with armor specifically, but back to those scratches and troughs you were talking about in the satin polish, when a photon goes into one of those it can bounce back and forth a few times before it exits, which gives it that many more chances to be absorbed and heat the metal. Kind of like how smooth aluminum foil can be used safely in a microwave to do things like make different parts of your TV dinner all get hot at the same time, despite having different levels of absorption. (The dark patch in the bottom of a bag of microwave popcorn is a piece of aluminum foil to concentrate the heat on the unpopped kernels for another example.) But a crinkled piece of aluminum foil will arc, spark, and maybe burst into flames.

[@Kylesuperk]

I disagree that the IR spectrum determines how hot the armor will get. I'm a thermal engineer, so this is kinda my bread and butter. How much of the sunlight (mainly in the visible spectrum) gets absorbed is called absorptivity and depends on how dark the material looks. Blackened armor has a high absorptivity and will get super hot in the sun whereas polished armor will reflect more sunlight (low absorptivity) and stay cooler. That's why radiators on satellites are either painted white or are mirrors (both do not absorb sunlight well). Another example is that the hood of a black painted car will be hotter than the hood of a white car when left in the sun. On the other hand, the darkness in the infrared (IR) spectrum is called emissivity and determines how much heat the armor will absorb and also how much heat it will radiate away. Typically, polished surfaces have lower emissivity and are not as good as weathered or rough surfaces at radiating heat away. But, for most things close to room temperature (like armor), the heat lost through convection is usually multiple times greater than the heat lost through radiation. The convection for both armors will be similar, so the one that absorbs less sun (ie. the polished one with low absorptivity) should be cooler.

[@kadoj]

One of my favorite finishes for plate armor which is almost universally overlooked and very rarely mentioned anywhere is russet finish (or "russeting," which is a brownish-red to reddish-purple coloring) which is a variation on fire bluing. As we know, during the process of heat bluing, the color of the steel actually changes through a spectrum of colors dependant on the temperature it reaches, going from natural finish to begin with, then a weird yellow tinge, then kindof brownish, russet , purple, blue, then eventually dull graphite if you over-do it, as well as all the "in between" shades along the way. By arresting the heating process at very precisely controlled temperatures/times, one can effect a color finish anywhere along that spectrum. "Russeting" was most popular, I think, during the 16th and 17th centuries, when metallurgy and fine control of heat during creation was at its most advanced and precise, as before then it would've been extremely difficult or even impossible to stop the process accurately enough to reliably achieve an even coloring across the whole of a component, let alone an entire harness, especially for the more "transitional" shades that occur before reaching the final dark blue/violet color. But yeah, russeting is almost never talked about anywhere, to the point where it has even been confused in artistic renditions (such as Durer's catalogue of armor) as being a substituted color for something else (even on this channel at one point I think, if im remembering correctly). So yeah, i just wanted to show it some love because its really pretty (especially, in my opinion, when in combination with some tastefully understated detail gilding or silvering) and once it became feasible to reliably achieve it, it was actually a reasonably commonly requested finish, at least among those who could afford such things at the time.

[@Dejawolfs]

russeting is still largely forgotten.

[@kadoj]

@@Dejawolfs yeah, I know... its sad, really. Such a classy, aesthetically pleasing look when it's done well. Some of the russeted Greenwich armors ive seen are among the most gorgeously decorated harmesses im aware of.

[@kchortu]

Its not just reflecting the sun it will also help you blend in to your surroundings by reflecting the other soldiers, grass, trees... making you harder to identify or target.

[@joostdriesens3984]

I agree, it's a (primitive) type of optical camouflage as well.

[@braddbradd5671]

I just found out most people didnt even buy there own cloths back then it was given to them buy there landlord or boss as part of there wages and they had to be made for them there were no shops or anything so to see some one turn up with polished armor and swords would seem like a super hero to them

[@davidsachs4883]

Back in high school we did an experiment with steel cans. We placed them the same distance from a light bulb (incandescent) as a heat source. There was a thermometer in each can. The dark colored can had its inside temperature raise quicker than the lighter colored can. After the light bulb was turned off the darker can lost heat faster. Both were still slightly above room temperature when we had to end the experiment for the next class.

[@Zobeid]

Your comments about high polish and resistance to rust is exactly what I was always taught about firearm metal finishes. The traditional blueing process only provided moderate rust resistance, and it was highly dependent on the polish level. High quality guns were glossy. Unfortunately (to my mind, at least) almost all gun makers now have moved away from that costly polishing, to more advanced chemical finishes that are very tough and allow them to leave the surface rough. They're functional, cost-effective, but to me they're rather ugly.

[@Leftyotism]

Can't wait for the thermal camera footage!

[@capnceltblood5347]

Another reason you have overlooked... And this comes back to status and wealth. A person wearing this armour is obviously wealthy. So knowing that, one would wear it knowing that he would be highly visible on the field and would be a highly sought after captive. Knowing that the wearer would be worth his weight in gold as ransom. Minimizing his chance of being killed. If you capture him you get the ransom and the armour, if you kill him you get nothing but damaged armour.

[@TheGoldenBear79]

Thank you Matt! I was just getting ready to ask your opinion about it when you gave the last point answering my question. I greatly appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us Sir. Your content is amazing. Fun, entertaining, informative, helpful, and I’m sure plenty more than I can quickly list. Thanks again Matt. Best wishes to you and your family. ✌️

[@robertusaugustus2003]

I know that visor!! Going by that the rest of the harness will be glorious, can’t wait to see it!

[@thossi09]

The ad is still playing so I'm going to venture a guess: Is it because a shiny armour symbolises status, as in "Ha ha! I'm so filthy rich I can afford to have a gang of retainers always buffing and polishing my armour, getting dented pieces replaced, etc!"

[@Theduckwebcomics]

Not at all. Labour was much, much cheaper then, it really wouldn't have been much of a flex.

[@davidkertesz3723]

Labor was cheap but it was also scarce (that was the reason for serfdom, to lock a rare commodity onto your land)

[@SuperFunkmachine]

@@Theduckwebcomics Cheaper but far from free.

[@Loromir17]

@@Theduckwebcomics was it really that cheaper though? Take into account that each of your retainers had to have at least a place to sleep, rationed well-enough that they aren't slowly dying of malnourishment (in a time when food was much more scarce, ergo expensive) and clothed well-enough that they aren't slowly dying of hypothermia (and if you think hand-sewn natural fabrics are expensive today, boy were they then). Sure, in comparison to a modern minimum wage worker, a servant boy was destitute - but that destitution did not come cheap to their owner either.

[@joschafinger126]

​@@TheduckwebcomicsCheap, yes, but not very productive. Getting a mirror finish right with modern machines and a single person operating them is easy and fast, once you've got those machines. What might have taken a fortnight then, can now be done in minutes. Under such circumstances, an hourly wage of £30, say, is actually cheaper than one of £3.

[@Joe___R]

It is not just the surface being smoother on polished armor that helps it resist rusting. Traditionally, the metal would have been burnished before polishing it with fine stones or charcoal. Burnishing helps to close off the micro pours in the metal, preventing anything from getting into them and starting the rusting process.

[@legion162]

I would have thought that a highly reflective mirror like armour would be distracting to the opponent, especially as mirror like surfaces were rare.

[@badart3204]

Yeah but it can distract your buddies too

[@TheBayru]

​@@badart3204All the better for your reputation if you are so much better than your retinue.

[@piokul]

The temperature question is tricky, because reflective surfaces will absorb less heat, but also radiate less heat. Black things absorb more but radiate more as well. On a sunny day I would expect the black armour to get hotter inside. But on a cloudy day I would expect the opposite. I would be interested in seeing your test results.

[@ryanphillips9657]

From doing SCA fighting in Arizona. A black surcoat definitely is much hotter to wear than blue

[@kenanacampora]

I would think mirrored armor is cooler than black armor on a hot and sunny day.

[@Specter_1125]

The finish of the metal doesn’t matter all that much for heat in armor. The biggest factor is what you’re wearing with it. A gambeson and breastplate is going to be significantly hotter than any finish of full plate with an arming doublet (much thinner than a gambeson).

[@psycomutt]

I polished my trigger components in my race pistol because metal on metal is much smoother with a high shine.

[@joedoe5079]

glad you mention in the end my first thought about reflecting light . good thing i watched the whole video .

[@valandil7454]

One thing I don't think anyone's really talked about when it comes to how to mitigate the hot or cold when wearing plated armour is the Jupon, the outer garment worn over your breastplate that shows up in a lot of accounts and iconography but never really turns up in re-enactments. Tod touched on it when he was introducing the brigandine, he said that the fabric was stopping the arrow from shattering and maybe causing more harm and would keep you warm in the winter but he didn't go into it 🤔 I'd love to find out more if you're getting one with your latest suit Matt, when and why they were used and why they're apparently not so common anymore? 🙂

[@rogerlafrance6355]

Cloaks with hoods seems to also been a thing. Protection from the odd English rain or cold, not to mention shining like a torch in the moonlight. Reenacting weeks of Knights Service marching across England or guarding a nice wet salty castle like Dover, would be interesting experimental archeology. Also, the more posh the Knights kit, the more valuable for ransom.

[@valandil7454]

​​@@rogerlafrance6355but a cloak wasn't a piece of protective equipment and they can get in the way if you're wearing one while you're trying to fight, I've tried it it's even harder with a sword and dagger at your hip. The reason I think of the Jupon's because I can see it not being so much of a hinderance, and we have plenty of evidence of other cultures having their own versions like the Japanese Horo which like the Jupon was more armour than garment

[@rogerlafrance6355]

@@valandil7454 A clasp and its off and ready to fight. Much like the Great Coat in later times.

[@alowry2002]

The jupon is certainly in the late 14th C and into the 15th C but eventually we see just white harness in the art. I fight in a jupon. It is pretty. It has saved me being killed by friends as they see my arms and it covers any defects in my torso armour.

[@williamshafer9110]

I have read that with the jupon on the heat inside the armor is less than the heat outside the armor. Of course the person was in a dessert at the time. I don't know if that's true though.

[@kaoskronostyche9939]

Another great discussion. Thank you.

[@jefo2405]

Another glorious video by Matte Easton.

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the video 👍🏻

[@gjzgodd]

Your fifth suggestion was my first thought! Makes a lotta sense

[@MrBobsmithers]

this was awesome. Well spoken

[@level98bearhuntingarmor]

I must admit near the beginning I thought of blinding thing as a joke and then you actually said it lol

[@patrickdix772]

Well, it does make sense as a factor. If your opponent can't see as well, it's harder for them to fight you. This is still a thing in many modern sports, where the teams switch sides halfway through a match so each side gets the sun in their eyes or a prevailing wind to help / hinder them.

[@mallison117]

I'd be curious to see a test on the "camouflaging" qualities of different armour finishes. I've noticed on a handful of occasions that shiny mirror polished objects that call attention to themselves in direct sunlight, will sometimes fade away in the shade of trees or bushes. It was my assumption that the object was reflecting it's immediate surroundings (leaves, twigs, rocks...) sort of like sci-fi active camo. It'd be cool to see different armour finishes tested in different environments.

[@Zbigniew_Nowak]

In fact, this fifth reason - reflecting the sun into the opponents' eyes - is the first and main reason that came to my mind - because I heard that this trick was used already in ancient Greece (shields polished like a mirror). But if it was really that effective at blinding an enemy, why wasn't it widely used?

[@SuperFunkmachine]

you need to have the sun to at just the right angle and out.

[@MaaZeus]

Yeah it is hard to control. The enemy may not be attacking at the time and from the direction where that can utilized effectively. It is effective but not a reliable one and definetly not something you can build all your tactics around. All it takes is a cloudy day and that idea goes out of the window.

[@Zbigniew_Nowak]

@@MaaZeus Of course. But in Greece it probably could have worked well. It's often sunny there. However, most of them did not make their shields from bronze "like mirrors". So... hmm... it would probably be necessary to experimentally check how effective it is.

[@blackoak4978]

Regarding rust prevention, a smoother surface will resist corrosion more(aside from the lower surface area) because there is less electrical differential across the surface. Ions of metal are less likely to move and react with oxygen if they are firmly in the crystal lattice. Peaks and valleys have an electrical differential between them that causes ions to move from one to the other in the presence of a conductive medium, like water, while also increasing the chance of it oxidizing

[@The_Lone_Outlaw]

Could you do a video showing a side by side comparison of all the main finish types? I always thought the satin finish was what mirrored was referring to so seeing them all shown and compared to one another with a general explanation would be really good.

[@COLDMKULTRA]

These are all valid points Matt ! 👍👍👍

[@LeftToWrite006]

The reflectiveness of the armor shining in opponents' eyes was the first thing I thought of as a reason to make it shiny.

[@RheaMainz]

Neat, a reason I mentioned upon the blackened armour video :D

[@mindmedic9435]

Another finish, at least for muzzleloader barrels, is browning. I have this on two. It's a glossy dark brown finish with an almost plum tinge and has a pleasing depth, sort of like a polished rock. I've rinsed barrels with hot water and wipe dry, then just a smidge of oil on them and they resist rust very well.

[@kenfraserjohnston]

Greatly appreciated your statement regarding that whether or not mirror polish armor actually deflects better, it was *perceived* to. That's in the same spirit of the comment by Barbara W. Tuchman in "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century", page 42 second paragraph, "...what people believe about their own time becomes a factor in its history." As usual, context is key...even in (maybe especially in) armor preference!

[@brianphillips7696]

My experience is that bare metal left out in bright sunlight during the summer will scorch you when you grab it but painted metal is safe to touch

[@tortex1]

Probably thermal transfer, the metal heats your hand fast which we interpret as hot, not to mention the actual temperature could reach burn level in the worst case. The paint layer on the other hand would have a lower transfer rate so it heats up slower and doesn't seem as hot to the skin. But that depends on what the paint is based on, and powder coating paint (which is really common nowadays) isn't as high on transfer rates as steel or aluminium.

[@timbarth7850]

I was thinking about an old movie where they polished shields to reflect the sunlight to their enemies and one minute later you talked about the advsntage of blinding your opponents. That was awesome ^^

[@artbonnar239]

Your last point was my first thought. A visor not only defends the eyes from assault but also from the sun. Helmets have visors for a reason. Second, though not necessarily HEMA, Japanese swords were mirror polished to increase cutting abilities. Smoother surface equals less resistance. So as Matt said mirror polished armour, greater deflection

[@6dmiller]

for just a tiny moment I thought you'd say that under a microscope with perfectly mirrored polish you'd see an eyeball.

[@Generic_Username_01]

wow that is VERY shiny indeed 1:03

[@JayCe667]

Adding to the last point: In the heat of battle, reflective armor also blurs out your contours. Thus your shape is harder to focus on, and movement (strikes) on your part is harder to keep track of. While in a 1:1 battle, this effect might be rather minute, but as soon as there are more moving objects on the field, this could turn out to be really confusing. And #6, food for thought: "Stealth". Yes, I actually said it: Stealth. While in normal light, this might pose a disadvantage, but being in obscured environment, the 'I reflect everything around me' might come in handy. In shrubs you're more "shrubbish", while in the dark you are darker, basically matching your environment better than with a set/fixed color. One would have to try to actually find out which scenes - if any - turn out favourable.

[@Dalek-caan-15]

When your armour is done can we please get a video about it like the one you made about your old armour

[@charlottesimonin2551]

How about high polish makes it easier for retainers to keep you in sight for support and tactics.

[@brittakriep2938]

In famous Zwinger collection in Dresden, there is an armour for foot tournament, made of silver.

[@faramund9865]

What stuff did they use to get a mirror polish. As you say there are drawings of watermill powered polishing wheels. But what was on the wheels?

[@davidmacon1138]

That's like...Excalibur levels of shine.. BLING your blind, now you're dead.... properly! Good video, could you possibly make a video of painted and lacquered armors or have you already made one?

[@troppoandante]

As others have pointed out, the thermal behaviour of polished metals is complicated. They have a high coefficent of reflection (in the region of 70% for polished steel) that governs their absorption of sunlight (radiation in the visible spectrum, wavelengths of about 0.5 microns). They have low emissivity, however (in the range of 5% for ideally polished metals and perhaps 15 - 25% for practical mirror polishes) so they emit and absorb radiant heat poorly (wavelength around 20 microns). Think of how young children often get burned by hot irons, they radiate so little heat that one cannot really say how hot they are without touching. Every other material, including painted finishes, has emissivity of 90% or more.

[@carlchong7592]

Is it harder to accurately perceive the placement of your opponents limbs and orientation of the torso if your opponent is wearing shiny armor?

[@user-nf9yj5my8x]

Question, would it be plausible for some knights to rub oil on their armor? Or even polish their own? Thanks for the video.

[@sitrilko]

This is an off question, but could chain mail be particularly shiny, almost mirror finished? Or blackened? Or would the gradual rubbing of the links against each other degreade away either of those? Thank you

[@Red-nn7yu]

maille could be blackened yeah. sometimes maille could be gilded. I don’t think they would be particularly reflective in their finish because it wouldn’t be very practical nor reasonable

[@seanbeckett4019]

Is that a Flemish style armor you are producing? I remember you and Toby Capwell discussing Flemish armor in a Richard III video, and you seemed quite intrigued by it.

[@randyreichert5911]

Hi, I was wondering if you could discuss any theories as to why the British Red Coats wore the color red?

[@stocktonjoans]

are these the same reasons why you shave your head?

[@mountainhobo]

Blinding reflections was actually the first thing I thought about.

[@l.ijspeert9040]

Testing the heat reflection seems like an interesting video! It would be important to make a clear distinction between heat and temperature. Just measuring the temperature of the metal under direct (sun)light does not say anything - it is the heat flux that passes through that we are after. So I imagine a setup where you position a known amount of water behind the armor and measure the time it takes for the water to heat up by a number of degrees. That way you can precisely determine the amount of heat energy deposited in the water over time.

[@hic_tus]

woooow that's a fancy Sir Easton in shiny armor right there! daaaaam!

[@Dethneko]

Reflecting the sun into the opponents eyes was the only advantage I could think of off the top of my head. Don't know how practical it would have been as a tactic, but with so much metal flailing around, they must have figured it'd probably happen naturally at least a few times.

[@olafspetzki]

Since I love using carbon steel kitchen knives and know it is almost impossible to prevent them from darkening over time: Is such a polished finish sustainable in the field?

[@Lowlandlord]

I know about the sun thing because I've watched the OG Lone Wolf and Cub movies, and read the manga for that matter.

[@somecooney5304]

Working on a lvl 3 ballistic shield (under 7 lbs) and trying to figure out how to heat mold mirror-backed plexi glass onto the front and keep the mirror shine. That way, someone shines a weapon light on it they blind themselves; and a mirror finish messes up a sight picture. ;)

[@ivarwind]

I didn't think of the Sun specifically, but I would add that even without reflecting the Sun, mirror-polished armour (just like any mirror-polished object) is confusing to look at. Just looking at the helmet you're showing at various points, it's much harder to get a grasp on its shape and exact position of various elements than with the satin-finished helmet. While it wouldn't prevent someone from figuring out where you are, it might delay them or put off their aim by just that bit extra needed for you to get in the first blow - or get out of there alive rather than dead.

[@vedymin1]

I always wondered...does continuous polishing weaken the protection of the armor overtime ?

[@Theduckwebcomics]

Not at all.

[@WhiteCollarCrimeDNB]

Theoretically yes practically no. You're technically removing metal but at atomically small scales. With modern tools overheating can ruin temper but polishing is still and was also historically done at lower speeds, usually with some sort of medium for the polishing compound.

[@Alpvagabund]

I saw Lindeybeige in the thumbnail and I had to click

[@_-ough-_]

For the last point, couldn't mirror-polished armor just as well reflect the sun towards your allies behind you if the sun was at your back?

[@meanmanturbo]

Actually, I work in gear manufacturing, and polishing metal can give residual stresses in the surface that help prevent formations of cracks and crack propagation. This is mostly about fattigue induced cracks though, but there are mechanical reasons for polishing outside of just surface finish.

[@davehart1027]

Not sure how armour would work, but mirrors were used in magic, would be interesting to see a mirrored suit in say a woodland area, hope this makes sense, but if you put a coloured square and a mirror in exactly the same spot, think the coloured square would be easier to spot, plus there's vids where they use mirrors as camouflage pretty effectively, kinda curious if you could almost make yourself invisible in the right environment. Dunno, if this makes sense, but if you were fighting someone, would it sort of confuse the brain also, like reflected movement on the armour might make you think they're making a move when they're not, aside from the blinding possibility, would it interfere with reading their moves?

[@Moridin74]

What about at night in the dark, will you stand out in the dark? Or will you be harder to see in mirror polish?

[@farkasmactavish]

Another reason, which might be tied into the wealth and status bit, is that said wealthy, high-status individual...is an commander. "Oh, no! The formation is starting to fall apart! What do I do? Aha! The shiny man! He'll tell me!"

[@pirobot668beta]

Reflections. Years back, I was flying model rockets at a sanctioned event. One fellow covered his rocket in metallic tape; perfect mirror surface all over the rocket's body, nose-cone and fins. We spent hours looking for that thing in knee-high grass...the 'finder' had stepped on it by accident! The mirrored surface faithfully reflected the image of the grass surrounding it, making a sort of 'optical Ghillie suit'. Would mirror-bright armor do the same in dense foliage?

[@1248dl]

I've used a light meter to measure the difference in reflectivity between satin/matte finished or highly polished blued and in the white steel, i.e., rifle barrels. The color seemed immaterial to the reflectivity. The level of polish, though, was significant.

[@MrVeryfrost]

Fighting under the sun against mirror armour must have been very difficult, too.

[@koncorde]

I'd be interested to see mirror armours effect at range. Reflecting the immediate environment, turning legs green as grass, the torso reflecting the sky etc I doubt it would be much use against arrows fired en masse but does it break up the outline somehow?

[@MLN-yz4ph]

I was thinking about the refection of the sun or even local lights like torches on this. While I doubt if it had much effect on someone up close and would not care about friend of foe in that case, I could see it causing issues with ranged attacks like bows or spears. It would not be a major protection but I could see it moving the needle a little and if that was happening in training then regardless of how it worked on a real battlefield it would make it a desired trait.

[@michael3088]

can you do a tutorial on polishing armour?

[@squatch2461]

Do you put anything on your armor like beeswax after polishing?

[@thorisrain]

Barely feels like a double entendre to hear Matt talking about shiny helmets on the channel these days... :D

[@BoeserWolf1977]

Hi Mat, a stupid question: You brought up the topic of rust. As there was no stainless steel in this time, and it was called the dark ages and not the dry ages - wouldn't most of the armor and weapons worn in the fields being rusty?

[@DeptalJexus]

Shiny armors = modern day shiny cars

[@Tounushi]

"It can reflect the sun into the opponent's eyes." In a book series I'm following, one swordsman wears a highly polished set of armor precisely for that purpose, to great effect. I don't remember if the text described the armor as rounded or faceted, but the main character referred to the short and stocky fighter as a disco ball. The man's gimmick was overcome by coating him in mud, after which he beat a hasty retreat.

[@konsyjes]

...a shield bedight with bits of broken mirrorglass, reflecting a thousand unpieced suns into the eyes of his enemies..." -Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian

[@TheKrostiman]

I work with thermal imaging and I can confirm that the nature of surface of an object can greatly effect its emissivity. For this the following is relevant Highly polished metallic surfaces have low emissivity and roughened up metallic surfaces have a higher emissivity.

[@brk932]

Agreed but it might be negligible difference. In summer you will overheat very quickly with full plate armour. It's all the padding underneath.

[@TheKrostiman]

@@brk932 makes sense but all little advantages tend to end up. I wonder how he would go about testing this.

[@jolioding_2253]

the reflection should not really change as scattering is still just reflection, except in many directions; NightHawkInLight and Tech Ingredients have had a couple videos about this topic, as far as I remember snow, even though not mirror finished still reflects over 99% of all incoming light (and so does the substance they really tested(Bariumsulfate)). And as you said Metal radiates heat(IR) that is not reflected unchanged as light(UV/VIS). So my hypothesis is that the difference in heat transferral between mirror and satin finish will not be statistically significant. EDIT: I still would very much like to see a video in this regard as nothing beats the experiment.

[@shinjofox]

In the movie "The Unidentified Fly Oddball1979 aka the Spaceman in King Arthur's court" they use mirror polished armor to reflect a laser beam. Silly i know.

[@LuxsDeluxe]

@scholagladiatoria Was it considered dishonorable to attack a horses legs in order to collapse the horse and dismount the rider?

[@stefthorman8548]

Why would it be? Unless you plan to keep the horse for yourself afterwards, it's an no brainer, that you would dismount the knight.

[@f-man3274]

6:30 Wouldn't be it more simple and effective to reduce friction by oiling the armor?

[@althesmith]

Another thing with the highly polished armour and status- if you can afford it, you can certainly afford a decent ransom for your safe return in case of capture!

[@mikecanaday1631]

Polished steel has a higher surface hardness. Harder steel resists corrosion for a variety of reason, some of which you touched on.