HOT F.A.Q.s!
YES! Armor and the underlayers of padding bring the internal temperature to about 30 degrees F higher than the air around me. It is worse if the sun is beating down on me. After a while my sweat wicks to the outer most layer and the padding becomes a type of “swamp cooler”. On dry days this works well.
My armor is a little heavier than the originals. This is mostly because I have a heavier helmet. The extra mass of the helmet helps to reduce my chanced of getting a concussion when I get hit. It is about twice as heave as the originals. My helm is about 18 pounds. My whole armor kit is about 75 pounds. When I travel with it I but an extra checked luggage piece and pack light in terms of non-armor items.
If you want to know if it is a medieval original, no. My armor is a reproduction based on many examples. I have a “3/4 suit” of late 16th century armor I sometimes break out. I currently fight in either a “composite” suit based on French examples and illustrations from about 1390-1440. I have another “composite” suit on order to be build based off a composite suite in the Metropolitan Museum In New York. The original is northern Italian from roughly 1465. I also have a simpler suit for specific types of fighting reproducing the later part of the 13th century based off English examples. Is it real vs is it just a costume? It is very much real and does offer comparable protection to the originals it is based off.
I am an aspiring knight. That means I’m on the journey to try to become as much of a knight as I can. This means different things to different people. To me, I do not claim the title of “knight”. I have not been knighted by any organization nor person entitled to convey that accolade. I aspire to live a life worthy of knighthood in all aspects.