What is in your armour bag?

Throughout my time in the SCA, I have seen a large variety of approaches to maintenance and care for your armour kit. Some people put a ton of effort into its appearance, and by extension, into maintaining it, while others throw together any group of bits and bobs that they feel might pass inspection and have little interest in how it looks. Even though my armour is mostly hidden, I fall very strongly into the first camp. Not only do I think that your appearance on the field adds/detracts from the atmosphere for everyone, but I strongly believe that part of being a warrior is maintaining your gear properly. You take care of your gear, and it will take care of you. We may not be fighting in life or death situations, but injury is possible and a well maintained kit can save you from that. To me, maintaining your gear starts before you ever get to an event, but what you actually carry in your armour bag is vitally important to keeping you going in case anything goes wrong at the event. This is especially important at longer events like Gulf Wars, where quick fixes might make the difference between having to sit out for the rest of the week or continuing to fight. In my bag, I carry everything that I could need to make minor repairs, and do maintenance and cleaning.

Contents

• Leather Gloves: I wear a set of padded gloves under my gauntlets, and carry a spare set in my bag in case of anything.
• Athletic Cup: This is the only part of my kit that I am going to put on this list specifically. That is because I carry an extra one. It sucks to get to an event and not be able to fight because you forgot your cup.
• Armour: I’ve gone over my armour in a previous post(Here), so I won't go into details here. I will say I double check it the night before an event to make sure I don’t forget anything.
• Favour from Beatrice: My Lady and I were hand-fasted some months ago. Our hand-fasting cloth was embroidered by each of us with runes that symbolize the oaths we made to each other. I use this cloth as her favour. Favours are a nice physical reminder of the person you are fighting for.
• WD40, Brillo Pad, and Oil Rag: These items are my cleaning kit. I use them to remove rust spots and to apply protection to the mild steel elements of my armour.
• Zip Ties: Zip ties are great for repairing buckle breaks or minor popped rivets.
• Duct Tape: Anything you can't zip tie together, you can lash to your body with duct tape. This is an ugly fix, and a last resort, but it it will you allow to finish out the day most of the time.
• Extra Lanyard: Single-handed weapons require a lanyard. Lanyards can snap: prevent having to find a last-minute replacement by carrying an extra in your bag.
• Eyeblack (not pictured): This is what I use for warpaint. I use it for war, and during procession. I wrote an earlier blog about it(Here).
• Extra Fighter's Card (not pictured): I carry a copy of my fighter's card in my pouch, and one in my bag. This is another one of those things that you can’t fight without.

My maintenance routine is pretty straightforward, but it starts before I even leave an event. Preventative measures go a long way to keeping things functional and clean. Before I pack my gear at an event, I make sure that all the pads have dried; if there isn’t enough time at the event, I make sure that the wet things are not packed into the bag. They are then set out to dry when I get home. Keeping the sweaty wet stuff away from the metal helps quite a bit in preventing rust, and keeps the bag from growing mold or anything else. I also spray my helm with WD40 and wipe it down with a rag to make sure that it is lightly coated; this keeps the helm in good working order. If I am not careful, the mild steel that makes up my helm can rust in a matter of hours. Cleaning it off and spraying it down keeps it safe. 

Living in Trimaris and using mild steel means that no matter how much preventative work you do, you WILL get rust, and your leather will need conditioning. This means that in addition to the work done at events before packing up, I have a regimen that I keeps the metal in my kit spotless (or close to it), and the leather well conditioned. This means my armour is always ready to use, and it will last me longer. First step to maintenance is to spread out a protective sheet on the surface I'll be working on, and then laying out my armour so I can inspect each piece. I am looking for anything that might need to be fixed or cleaned. I always make it a point to check the inside of my helmet where the padding is. I am looking for two things: rust that isn't easily visible, and the condition of the padding. Once I have given everything a good looking-over, I start by cleaning the metal parts of the armour. Cleaning is just removing the rust, which calls for WD40, a brillo pad, and plenty of elbow grease. The more regularly you clean your armour, the less effort it is with each cleaning. After all the metal parts have been taken care of, I move on to the leather. This is something that only needs to be done once in a while; I prefer once every three months (usually after each kingdom event): I apply a leather conditioner to keep the leather supple and prevent rot. The conditioner can be bought online, at a leatherworking store, or any place that sells leather products (jackets, saddles, or whatever else your black little heart frequents). When I'm done cleaning everything, I replace any straps or rivets that need attention and pack everything away to make sure it's ready for the next time.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, our armour isn’t a matter of life or death, but it is protective gear. More importantly it is our gear, and we are responsible for keeping it in good working order. Rule number one of the lists says:

Each fighter, recognizing the possibilities of physical injury to themselves in such combat, shall assume unto themselves all risk and liability for harm suffered by means of such combat. No fighter shall engage in combat unless and until they have inspected the field of combat and satisfied themselves that it is suitable for combat. Other participants shall likewise recognize the risks involved in their presence on or near the field of combat and shall assume unto themselves the liabilities thereof.

The basics of it is that you are responsible for yourself. This also comes back to the Nine Noble Virtues, specifically self-reliance. I want to be able to care for all my equipment myself to make sure that the only person I can blame if anything goes wrong is me. It also falls into the virtues of discipline, and industriousness. It sucks to be tired from an event, or rushing to get everything packed, but you still have to do things the right way. If you don’t, it's certainly going to cost you either money to replace the armour, or sweat equity to getting your kit back into proper working order. That is discipline. The work you put into keeping your kit in repair and making sure you have a good kit is industriousness. This is work that keeps your mind healthy and your spirit clean. Doing the work yourself lets you take pride in your labours, and in knowing it has been done right. These are the reasons I'm so big on armour maintenance, a lesson I was taught by the first person that ever trained me, back before I even got authorized. I messed up pretty bad on it at first, which gave me even more reason to make sure I don’t mess up again.

Do you guys have any maintenance tips or tricks? How about some horror stories about not taking care of your kit or seeing someone else not take care of their kit? Please share them in the comments below!

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