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The Good German Armor Stand: How to Make a Portable, Folding Wood Armor Stand in Less Than Three Hours
 At our first Pennsic four years ago, we attempted our first armor stand. It was a bunch of 2x4s screwed into the semblance of an armor stand on site. Sadly, it couldn’t hold the full plate armor Gregor had brought with him and it had a tendency to fall over.

The next year at Pennsic, Gregor noticed Baron Jasen Irenfest’s gorgeous (and functional) armor stand and asked how he made it. It turns out Jasen’s armor stand was based on a 1990 article that appeared in Tournament Illuminated, “A Barbarian Armor Stand,” by Sir Timoch of Nordhem. So, armed with the plans and materials, we set out to make a Barbarian Armor Stand. We found Sir Timoch’s general design to be good, but made our own improvements to key design details, as well as corrected the material list and modified some instructions. We updated the original plans to our liking and present them here with steps and photos. Many thanks to Sir Timoch, wherever he may be, for the original idea!

Notes: These plans will produce a custom armor stand that will fold down for easy transport. It can be setup inside or outside, and optional stakes can be inserted in the base when used outside for windy conditions. The stand will support most parts of your armor, and, so far, is quite sturdy and stable. We’ve used the armor stand at Pennsic for two years, as well as at various events around the Middle Kingdom. It’s continuing to work great! Armor Stand Materials:

Armor Stand Tools:

Armor Stand Instructions:

Step 1. Take the measurements of the person whose armor will hang on the stand. You need three measurements:

Step 2. Cut your 2x4s down to the following dimensions: Tip: If you intend to sand, stain, and/seal your armor stand, you may wish to do this now before you begin assembling it. It will be easier and the finished stand will look better if you complete sanding, staining, and/or sealing before assembly.

Good German Option: We recently bought a table saw with the ability to do angled cuts, so when Gregor made a second version of this armor stand recently he made fancy beveled edges. It looks sweet. If you want to do this, do it now, before assembly! Step 3. Take board A, find the exact center of the board lengthwise, and drill a hole all the way through the board using the 1/2″ bit. On one side of this board, use the 11/2” spade bit to create a recess about 3/4” deep around the hole you just drilled. (This will accommodate your washer and wing nut.) Step 4. Take board B, find the exact center of the board lengthwise, and drill a hole all the way through the board using the 1/2″ bit. On one side of this board, use the 11/2” spade bit to create a shallow recess (deep enough to accommodate your bolt tip and the other washer) around the hole you just drilled. Step 5. Attach board A to board B using the bolt, washers, and wingnut. Note: You can choose to put the bolt downward or upward through the holes — what’s important is that hardware be recessed into the bottom of board B so that it can sit flat on the ground. Bolt recessed into the bottom of board B. Top of board A, with bolt and wingnut accessible.

Step 6. Apply wood glue to the underside of the two C boards and attach them to the ends of the A board, making sure that you can swivel and rotate the attached B board without hitting the C boards. Clamp and nail (or screw) C to A. These are now the feet of your armor stand. Step 7: Attach a hinge between the end of board A and the end of one of your D boards. You’ll want to position the plates so that the hinge itself sits just beyond the edge of the boards — this allows you to fold it more compactly. Step 8: Remove the pin from another hinge (insert a nail into the bottom hole of the hinge and hammer it down a bit to release the pin). Put the pin back into the hinge loosely, then repeat step 7 by attaching the hinge between the other end of board A and the second board D. Removing the hinge pin Hinge with pin removed

Step 9: Remove the pin again from the same hinge as in step 7 and tie a piece of string around the pin, then attach the string to board A. This ensures you never loose that pin. Re-insert the pin for now and set this assembly aside.

Step 10: Now that you have the base and two legs assembled, lay them flat on the ground and place board E (the torso board) in between at the top, flanked on either side by the H boards (joint boards). Lay them in a position relative to the legs as though it were all set up. Do not mount or attach hinges to boards E or H yet, but check their placement to insure no other screws will block the pre-drilled holes in the hinge plates. Now mark on the H joint boards the appropriate angle where the legs meet the H boards. A typical angle is 24°, but yours may vary if you significantly changed the measurements of your boards or with the placement of your hinges. Step 11: Cut the joint boards (H) at the angle you determined in step 10 and attach them to the bottom of board (E). Step 12: Attach the hinges to the joint boards (H). Make sure that when everything comes together that it fits snugly — if it is too loose, your armor stand will have a tendency to sway. Do not yet attach the other side of those hinges to your leg boards — it’ll be easier if you do that at the end. Step 13: Attach the hinges between the hip boards (F) and the torso board (E), making sure to test fit them first. Leave about a 1/4″ between the F hip board and the H joint board, allowing the F board to fold down without being obstructed. Step 14: Attach the hinges between the shoulder boards (G) and the torso board (E). Step 15: Now finally attach the hinges at the joint boards (H) to the leg boards (E). Step 16: Fold down your armor stand to make sure it folds neatly. If the bolt gets in the way of folding, as shown in the photo below, you may wish to drill a small recess in one of the leg boards so it folds flatter. Voila! You have an armor stand. Gregor’s armor stand made in 2012 The armor stand Gregor made for Baron Ermenrich in 2015

Optional: Consider putting holes in the baseboards so you can stake it to the ground in windy weather. You may also want to add holes in the hip boards or shoulder boards if you have things you need to need to hang from your stand.

If you have questions, please let us know! The armor stand will be on display, along with handouts on how to make it, at Gregor’s “Enhance Your Camp” class on Thursday, July 30 at 4:00-5:00 pm, located in Camp Cynnabar (W02). Here’s the actual class description:

“Join us at our camp to learn about how to make personal camp improvements that can enhance both its appearance as well as your own quality of life. Most projects are made from wood with basic tools and do not require special knowledge, skills, or equipment. Handouts will be available for each camp project ($1/handout), including our camp cart, kitchen worktable, sink with foot pump, trestle table, benches, chairs, clothes rack, armor stand, canvas organizer, and more.”

Build Your Own Camp Sink With Running Water: Materials and Plans
 Our SCA camp sink

This year’s new SCA camp project was a wood and metal sink with “running” water. We wanted to be able to wash hands and faces, brush teeth, and wash dishes at our personal camp. The brushing teeth part was particularly important! So we made ourselves a relatively simple wooden stand that held a “sink” with “running water.” We didn’t actually have direct access to running water, though, which is what makes this a cool project. We did a test-run of our sink at a weekend event and then used it for two weeks at Pennsic. It worked like a charm, perhaps even better than we thought it would! So now we feel confident to share our plans with the world so you can make one yourself.


Fresh water is kept in a 5-gallon pail, which is then transferred up (with a foot pump) to a simple spigot from which the water flows. The waste water falls into the bowl, down a simple drain, and into a gray (waste) water pail. Very little water is used with this method. We only had to re-fill our fresh water bucket every 4-5 days. Yet thanks to the foot pump, we had a hands-free faucet to get water whenever we needed it. And the nice thing is that our modern pails were hidden by our wooden basin stand — the enclosed stand part is optional, as the wood will definitely add to your cargo load, but it made for a prettier camp.



All told, the camp sink cost us about $100 in materials. If you choose not to use the optional materials, specifically the wood stand, it’s only about $60-$65 and your metal bowl rests right in the top of your gray water pail (without the pail’s lid on).


The Sink Plans:

First, you need to put together the sink and get the water to flow up through the tube. We used the basic instructions at http://www.instructables.com/id/Field-Sink/ for assembling the tubes, pump, and pails. Changes we made were at steps 4-6 (we didn’t use another pail as our basin, but a metal bowl with a hole drilled in the bottom into which we fit the kitchen sink drain). Steps 8-9 were also skipped in favor of our wood stand (see below). Step 10 was also changed — we attached pipes to the top of our wood stand and then fed the clear plastic tubing up into the pipes (all the way to the end of the last pipe).

The Stand Plans:

We made the wood stand to disguise all the modern bits. It packs flat (with the exception of the pipes, pails, and bowl) and is assembled with mortise and tenon keys. Here is the cutting plan for one 4’x8′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood: Cutting diagram for wood sink stand (click to see closer)

And here is a PDF (CampSinkSImple) for a clearer view. We are also happy to send you the Adobe Illustrator file with all the vectors, if you want a better look or want to use it on a CNC router. E-mail genoveva (dot) von (dot) lubeck [at] gmail (dot} com.

The pieces go together quite simply. Use the tenon keys in the mortise holes to keep it all together securely. It is very stable — the sink actually went through a huge storm with 60+ mph winds and suffered no harm at all (it didn’t even tip over).

Here we are trying our camp sink for the first time at Baron Wars: The camp sink in action!

And here’s the pails and pump underneath: Blue pail is freshwater; gray pail is dirty water

And here is our camp sink as set up at Pennsic 42, after about a week or so of use. Camp sink under our shade fly at Pennsic

Things to Consider:

If you need more photos of any part of our sink, or details on where we found something, just ask! And if you make a camp sink, tell us about it — we’d love to hear what you did. Many thanks to hpstoutarrow at Instructables.com for posting the water pump idea!

Note: Our wood plans are free to anyone who freely distributes them (no selling please) — we ask only that we be notified and credited.

Portable Clothes Rack for Events, Camping, and Gold Key (Wood Garment Rack)
 An easy-to-make, wooden clothes rack!

When Queen AnneMarie mentioned She’d like to have a clothes rack in Her royalty rooms during Her reign, Gregor and I came up with an idea of a wooden break-down A-frame rack made of simple materials. We made it for less than $40 in less than an hour, and it works great!

In addition to holding royal garb, we use it at SCA events for holding gold key (loaner garb) for newcomers, we used it to hold clothes (and provide some privacy) in a crowded cabin at Gulf Wars, and we use it in our pavilion at Pennsic. You could also use it as a frame for some sort of privacy screen.

September 2014 Update: We’ve made several of these clothes racks now. The reign is long over, and we now use them at Pennsic in our pavilions as well as for holding Gold Key loaner garb at our local events. The key is making sure the holes into which you put the dowels are as snug as possible. The sturdiest one we made was of whitewood (poplar), while the pine versions seems to want to shift around a bit. None of them are intended for a lot of heavy stuff — this is just a simple, lightweight solution that was originally meant to hold just two garments (the King’s and the Queen’s). In practice, though, I load ours up at Pennsic with a LOT of clothing — it leans a bit to one side under the enormous weight of our garb (I’m a costumer), but otherwise stands and keeps our stuff up off the ground. Here’s a picture of it in use last year at Pennsic: Anyone can make this with a few tools and a quick trip to your local home improvement store. Here’s what you need to make your own clothes rack:
 Materials and tools needed to make your own clothes rack

4 (four) – 1″ x 3″ x 6′ Poplar boards (avoid pine or softer woods) – $6.75 each

2 (two) – 3/4″ x 48″ Poplar dowels – $3 each

1 (one) – 1 1/8″ x 48″ Poplar dowel – $4 each

1 (one) – 4′ length of rope

Saw, drill with a 7/8″ bit and a  1 1/4″ bit, pencil, and ruler

(optional) stain, primer, paint, and/or varnish


1. With your pencil, mark a 15° angle at the end of each of your four 6′ boards and use your saw to cut them. (The angles are to allow the legs of the rack to rest level on the floor. You can change this angle a bit — a larger angle will mean a wider base, a smaller angle will mean a narrower base.) Step 1: Cut angles at bottoms of all four boards

2. Make a mark about 4″ up from the bottom of each board, centered. Using your 7/8″ drill bit, drill holes at the spots you marked. (This is where your bottom dowels will enter.) Step 2: Drill a 7/8″ hole four inches up from the bottom of each board.

3. Flip your boards over to the other end (the top) and make a mark about 2″ down from the top of each board, centered. Drill one hole in each board using the 1 1/4″ drill bit. (This is where your top dowel will enter.) Step 3: Drill a 1 1/4 hole 2″ from the top of each board.

4. Now assemble your rack by placing cris-crossing the tops of two boards and putting the larger dowel through both holes, then repeat with the other two boards on the other end of the dowel. Now slide the smaller dowels into the holes at the bottom of the legs. (You may need to tap the dowels and/or boards to get them all to slide through the holes — you want it to be pretty snug for stability.) Step 4: Assemble your rack!

5. Tie your rope between the two smaller dowels. (This keeps the rack from spreading apart.)

That’s it! You can use the rope to keep the boards bundled together when it’s broken down. You can stain or paint your clothes rack. I’ll admit I haven’t bothered to do it yet, but it still works and looks great. The rack breaks down for easy transport

Gothic Wooden Breakdown Camp Chair – Version 2

2 November 2012

It’s been more than a year since I made my first camp chairs, so Gregor and I went back to the drawing board to make a couple of minor improvements. Changes include a slightly lower back (less weight, less bulk, less “throne-like”), a personalized nameplate, personalized device in the top back, and more precise construction. So far we’ve cut out four chairs and finished one — the prize for Cynnabar’s Grand Tourney tomorrow (see photo below). Our new gothic camp chair design

For this prize chair, we chose to put “Draco Invictus” on the nameplate and then allow the winner to choose another name for a new plate if s/he wishes.

For the new chair, we also tried a different staining method as we weren’t really pleased with the staining on the last chairs. This chair has a coat of stain (traditional cherry) and a separate coat of polyurethane. We like this better.

The three other chairs are for Gregor, Alexander, and myself, and they are all personalized with our device in the back (horse, crystal, and winged heart respectively) and a plate with our names at the bottom. They are sanded and ready for staining.

These chairs are made of sturdy plywood and break down completely flat. The wood was cut out on a CNC Router ShopBot so everything is precise — this is one of my favorite aspects of this chair. I am happy to share the files I created for the Shopbot– I’ve linked them below. This chair can also be made with a jigsaw hand tool, as I did that with version 1 (and those chairs are still holding up great — I just wanted to make new versions). You can use the PDF or Adobe Illustrator files below to see how to cut the wood out, either by CNC Router or by hand tool.


Saline Celtic Festival: Demonstrating the Gentler Arts of the SCA


Today my son and I attended the Saline Celtic Festival with other members of the Barony of Cynnabar. Our mission? To demonstrate many of the wonderful aspects and arts of living in the “current middle ages.” I’d been preparing to attend this event for much of the week, finishing off our camp chairs and my new Flemish Gown. I arrived early this morning to set up our chairs — which I’d just finished staining and gilding yesterday — and my large loom showing a tablet-woven band in progress. Here was our little corner of the Cynnabar tent: Our gothic camp chairs and my large loom

The chairs were WONDERFUL! Easy to put together and take down, they looked great, they felt comfortable, and I received many comments on them. I’m really happy I made them! Oh, and I did make that “cupholder” for Alexander — you can sort of see it in the above photo.

Also “in action” today is my new Flemish Gown. It wore well, and I received many compliments on it. Nothing ripped or fell apart — always a bonus! Only problem is that I really should have lined the kirtle — it just felt too flimsy with one layer of linen. So I’ll be doing that, as I loved it otherwise, and it was a remarkably comfortable outfit. Alas, I was pretty hot in all those layers. If it gets that hot at Pennsic (it was 95°F today), I’ll probably have to wear just the chemise/smock and kirtle, or I’ll exhaust myself from heat early in the trip! Also, I need to make myself a caul (headscarf) to keep my hair up and off my neck — my hair was just making me feel hotter! But thank goodness for that old straw hat I had! My new Flemish Gown was very comfortable!

I had a great time talking about, demonstrating, and teaching the tablet weaving. Even my son Alexander got in on the action and showed off his “Golden Path of Fire” band to others — in fact, a woman from one of the local news organizations took his photo and name while he was demonstrating his weaving. Maybe he’ll show up in an article or something! Update: Yes, indeed — a photo of both Alexander and I appeared in the article about the Celtic Festival on AnnArbor.com today! Here we are: As we appear in AnnArbor.com's article!

Update 7/13/11: Turns out Alexander made the local news again! Here’s a video posted at Saline-Milan.Patch.com — in it you can see Alexander with Alex the Blacksmyth (around 1:04). Cool! My son in his red linen Bocksten tunic

Speaking of my son, he “bought” me this pretty, sterling silver ring. He spent all of his own spending money on it, and I made up the rest. It was completely his idea. He chose the heart because that’s always been an important symbol between he and I — we draw hearts on notes for each other all the time. He didn’t even know that the Claddaugh ring is traditionally given as a token of love, and that I’ve always wanted one. I haven’t worn rings in years, but I used to love them. I will always cherish this ring from him! My Claddaugh ring from my son!

All in all, a great day! Notes for my next event …

A Pint-Sized Gothic Chair

5 July 2011

So after I made my Gothic Chair for camping, my son asked for one of his own. And it’s a good idea, because if he doesn’t have a chair, I’ll be constantly shooing him out of mine. So I made him one, but sized it down for him. It’s four inches shorter and two inches narrower. Here’s what it looks like so far… Pint-Sized Gothic Chair

My son designed the backrest with the three circles and curved-top panels — I like how it looks similar but different from the other one. What’s left to do? Cut out the designs in the sides, woodburn a diamond symbol (my son’s choice) in the top circle, sand everything, and stain it. And I also have to do the same to my own.

Oh! And my son asked for, get this, a cupholder. I’m thinking about that one.

 

A Table for Pennsic: St. Jerome’s Trestle Table


It’s time to make a camp table. I’ve been thinking about it a lot — and researching ideas online — and I would like to make a trestle table so it’s easy to take apart and put together. Specifically, I want to make one that looks like this: 
The above engraving is by a German artist (Albrecht Dürer) in 1514. It is a great, period table that would fit well with our personas. And it looks pretty easy to build. I’ve found several plans for it online:

The Peacock Table (made from common wood stock)

St. Jerome Trestle Table (made from plywood)

I’m torn between using plywood and non-plywood. I want to use the table on a regular basis as a sewing table, so I’m leaning toward non-plywood. But it’s expensive and I’m finding it hard to find 2″ thick wood that the first plans call for.

I am considering using a door slab (a door without paneling or a hole for a handle) for the tabletop. I used to have a table from IKEA that was essentially built like that and I never had a problem with it. And door slabs are only about $25. So I’d just need to find the wood for the legs and braces.

Tomorrow morning I am going to a place we have here called Reuse Center. They sell reclaimed lumber and old doors. Maybe I can find something interesting and affordable there that I can use in lieu of plywood.




