Joke of All Trades

Finally, I have made a worthy home for my beautiful iron age Germanic sword! If you saw my kit photos in my last post, you got a sneak peek-- but here are the close-ups! This scabbard is based off a single piece of artwork recorded in a book by Martin Jahn, in his 1916 work "Die Bewaffnung der Germanen in der älteren Eisenzeit" ("The Armament of the Germans in the Older Iron Age"), which was drawn after excavation of the scabbard's 1st century remains at Harsefeld. There are no photos and very little description-- just this doodle. This book has been out of print longer than I have been alive, but I happened across this photo from his work shortly after starting iron age reenactment in 2019, and I had to know more. Despite the frustratingly overwhelming lack of information, I think I have been able to recreate a modest impression of the original. For the wood, I chose walnut in order to better match the grip of the sword. Starting from a live sawn slab, I cut th...

I thought I would take a moment to share the developing state of my 1st century Germanic kit! The concept behind this kit is a germanic auxiliary/rebel. This has taken a good deal of research, crafting, and tweaking since I began doing this period in 2019. Our annual event is next month and I've had a lot of irons in the fire, so I decided to get it all on and take some photos while out spending some time with John Henry's Hammer! This is mostly soft kit, much of my hard kit was not with me at the time. The biggest news here is the completion of my scabbard, which I handmade with some help from my buddies to fit my custom-made John Sims germanic sword from Asby. See more of his work at Sims Forge, it's worth your time. I posted a full writeup of the sword sometime back but will upload more info to show off the scabbard soon. Enjoy the photos! Here is my kit breakdown as it stands. Most of this I made myself, but not all. HELMET: Batavian Helm from Krefeld, 1st century. Che...

THORSBERG TUNICPART 2: Body Construction and the Transverse Seam Previously we completed the tablet woven starting border which is present on the back panel of the tunic's body. This brings us to an interesting problem: the tunic construction. The tunic was first published in 1863 by Engelhardt following his time working the excavation in the few years before. While Engelhardt's notes and publications are advanced for the age, the field has come a long way, and the techniques and observations of the 19th century are often sorely incorrect. Since its discovery, this tunic has had an incredible number of scholarly eyes on it, and many publications have been made regarding its details-- often conflicting with one another. Furthermore, the pieces have been permanently mounted on display, resulting in the obstruction of research on the sides not facing outward. Engelhardt decided to the best of his ability which side of the tunic was the front, and, based upon his writing, the tuni...

THORSBERG TUNICPART 1: Tablet Weaving the Starting Border This is the beginning of a reproduction project, working from scholarly sources to make a 1:1 reproduction of the Thorsberg tunic as it looked nearly 2000 years ago, according to our best possible understanding. There will be a number of facets in this project that differ from common interpretations, so stay tuned! The body of the tunic is cut into two pieces. At the bottom of the back panel is a very thin tablet woven band, the starting point of the fabric where the warp threads were used as the weft of the tablet weave. Dye analysis performed in 1997 confirmed that the tunic, while faded, was originally madder-dyed; in fact, according to Möller-Wiering, the inside of the tunic is still deep red! For this reason, I selected some madder-dyed 2/2 diamond twill for this project, which is very close to the original. The tablet weave uses the warp threads of the fabric as its weft, which secures the ends of the threads and function...

Photos from our trainer event in Alton, IL, where we met up with another group of veteran reenactors who were interested in what we do! Very laid back event, and lots of fun with great company.