WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT BLANKENSHIELD ARMOUR!

this is a personal portrait of mathew cross, setting in one of his suits of armours, one that he has fight in many of times

First and foremost Blankenshield armour is made to fulfill the original mission of armour. It must be a protective garment that optimizes the wearers performance in fields of war and tournament. Within that context we try to maintain several important things.

(1) Of course we try to maintain similarity to historical models. What is different is that our research goes beyond the usual half hearted attempt to look like museum examples. We have essays here that attempt to explain exactly what is involved in examination of museum examples. In the technical section under "museum display pitfalls" where we pose the thesis and in the section titled "advanced study materials" where we show exactly what study material was used to come to this conclusion so that the advanced student of armour can read for themselves. We specialize in articulations that work. We have tried to study and experiment with a large number of articulations so that we can offer any combination of these when designing the clients armour. We can take any armour or any combination of armours and incorporate the desired components into a single full armour that will protect and function well.
(2) Blankenshield armour is safety equipment. This means that the armour is designed so that the armour itself is not going to injure the wearer. To achieve this we do several things very differently.
(3) We roll all the edges on all pieces all the way around. This adds tremendously to the strength of each plate. On smaller plates the crush factor is increased five fold. Besides this the most important function of all is to protect the wearer from the inside edges of each plate. There are several armour smiths that recently have started rolling the outside edges of some plates but none but Blankenshield rolls the dangerous edges that face the flesh of the wearer inside the armour. No matter how well a pair of plates fit together when new in the shop they will be sprung after a decade of use and the exposed edges will have wear on them. Wear to any unrolled edge sharpens it. We have found that even parade armour gets sharp at the edges after many years of use so we don’t even make costume and parade armour any more because the only way to cut those corners is to not roll key edges. Something we consider dangerous and will not do!
(4) Our backplate is distinctive two ways. We make these configurations to protect the spine and neck from the backplate. The most common way the backplate could injure the neck is when the wearer falls backwards. The backplate is forced up by the impact and the neck forced back by the momentum. This can be especially dangerous for those involved in jousting. To minimize the potential for these injuries the top of our backplates has a special flare to it rather like a section of trumpet bell where the neck meets it. This configuration is difficult to make . This feature was found on many ancient backplates. Some gothic armours even had a wedge shaped piece set into the neck to really flare it. The flare at the neck descends into a channel that is embossed down the back over the spine. This holds the backplate off of the spine. This means that any impact to the back area is transmitted to either side of the spine. This feature is our invention but it is only really an exaggeration of the space between the scapular embossing's found on many armours.
(5) Crush injuries are common in equestrian sports. Blankenshield cuirasses are specifically designed to provide an extra degree of protection in the event the wearer is subject to potentially injurious or deadly crushing force. There are heavy pins at the armpits that keep the breast and back from collapsing into each other. The holes that contain these pins are actually rolled in the round to strengthen them as the simple drilled holes that we started with tore out in testing. These cuirasses were tested by having a large Appaloosa actually trample men laying on the ground. (He didn't like it much but he was a good boy and finally walked on the guys.) We even have video of two different incidents where guys got trampled in jousting contexts wearing our old twenty gauge ultralight's with no injuries.
(6) Flexibility, Blankenshield armour is designed to be used in activities. Those activities require movement. Equestrian activities particularly require a lot of flexibility for safety reasons. While not suggested I test all equestrian designs by personally doing tuck and shoulder roll exercises.

(7) Exact fit is a very big deal at Blankenshield. Size replicas of antiques are invariably for smaller people and several studies have noted that armour seems to mostly be for smaller people those of now. Large men need large armour and we eagerly accept any size or shape of person. Whatever the size of person they will get a product that is designed with their measurements as the determining factor. Every single Blankenshield is a different size because every single customer is different. The size of our helmets are based on O.S.H.A. minimum standards and all other components are designed with extensive hands on high impact testing to determine the proper fit when engaged in high speed full contact martial arts.
(7) Blankenshield has been making, testing and selling armour for around thirty years. When we started there was the early S.C.A. and one renfair with no armour and a few foils. First with live steel sport fights and first with public armour smithing demonstrations. It has been a long road to get here from there. We are dedicated to offering a safer product and detailed friendly customer service.

CHANGES FOR 2002

We adopted a whole new approach with Blankenshield products in 2002. New products are available and the product line has been highly simplified. We now offer basic complete suits rather than piecing out armours from catalog components. We have also improved our turners to the point where we can offer them to the retail customer. Made entirely by hand like all Blankenshield products these units allow the arm to rotate. Previously we had made arms that achieved that flexibility by having a large elbow like the Swiss and German models that is articulated on leather straps rather than being riveted directly to the upper and lower cannons. We call these German style. It is important to realize that the armour for the arm must have a turner if the elbow is riveted to the vanbrace and rerebrace even if small interstaciary lames are used. We call these Italian style. If this sort of elbow has no turner above it, it cannot allow the arm to rotate. However one change that we have made at Blankenshield is the discontinuation of the German style elbows. This has been purely to satisfy the esthetic requirements of the American customer who is rapidly developing a definably American taste in armour. We now offer only Italian elbows and strongly suggest the addition of turners. Many customers seem satisfied however with the limited mobility offered by Italian style arms without turners. After all that is the standard with all major modern armour smiths. We are put in the position of offering what we consider a slightly compromised product, but if that's what the people want that's what they get. With the proper addition of turners these arms become totally flexible, allowing the arms full rotation. The German style elbows were also very difficult to maintain and most users let them stretch and hang badly. After eight or ten years of use these units usually look unacceptably untidy so we have discontinued them. After all our goal is to produce armour that will wear effectively and be protective equipment for as long as it is cared for. We have armour that was used as tournament equipment shared by as many as forty fighters for over twenty years. Another product that we have discontinued is what we call butterfly elbows. Upon careful examination the elbows of many armours have a seam on the inside. The piece used to make these elbows looks rather like a butterfly when flat. Even many small Italian style elbows have this seam held by one or two rivets. The reasons for this construction seem to have been based on ease of making deep elbows and guild regulations that insisted that only certain guild members be allowed to pound over two fingers of depth into a plate. In any case the modern customer does not like these seams so we have discontinued the use of butterfly elbows as well. Our finish has changed also. We no longer offer a painted armour option like we used to. We file, sand, and lightly polish the piece then oil it. Just plain metal. Perhaps a little dark from hardening but no finish is applied. We suggest a historically accurate rust prevention method rather than excessive polishing. Please refer to the accompanying pages on armour finishes. One thing that Blankenshield will never do no matter how the modern “taste” in armour dictates things is make heavy gauge armour. Our helmets have 16 or 14 gauge crowns depending on the customer and 16 or 14 gauge visors and attached plates. The rest of the armour is 18 gauge with a few 16 gauge pieces and options scattered throughout. This is as heavy as the originals we are basing our designs on and our product is just as hard and strong. We know there are late bullet proof pieces far heavier than these armours designed for sword and lance. In the sixteenth century these armours were called "good and sufficient" The use of 14 gauge for complete body and limb armour while actually required by some organizations is, in a practical sense unsafe The weights that result are dangerous to man and beast alike.