New Dou Jan '09 - IMG HEAVY

[mrcunningham]

At last, just in time for the East Kingdom's largest event (Market Day at Birka), I'm done with my new dou.

Specs:
11lbs
1075, .20" Aluminum
Kanagu Mawari in 12oz leather, egawa made with Deco-color ink
5/8" laces
Initial planning done August 28th, 2008.
Completed January 29th, 2009.

The original inspiration (photos from Rhinohide):









Mine (pictures by my very talented Lady):













Enjoy!

[Saionji Shonagon]

Snazzy! When do we get pics of you IN it?

[bovil]

Jan 30, 2009 11:02:41 GMT -5 mrcunningham said:

At last, just in time for the East Kingdom's largest event (Market Day at Birka), I'm done with my new dou.

Geez... that looks like a museum piece! Wait, that is the museum piece.

Yours looks like a museum piece that hasn't been "aging" for 500 years. It needs a classy stand like the original for when you're not wearing it. All in all, very schweet.

[Kurodachi no Mykaru]

It's spiff.

Now I'll do my job and find areas for improvement. Extend the piano hinge, it will improve the overall profile. Make forms for the non-hinged side and lace them underneath to maintain the profile. I expect from the thickness the choice of egawa stand alone was a conscious one, however the lines would really improve with rigid backing and edging. Find thicker cord for the kohaze. The thin stuff looks like the half-assed "repairs" you often see on antiques.

Color work, excellent. Lacing *A* (bloody close to A+). Two thumbs up.

If you were *my* student I'd be very proud.

[tengumoon]

Excellent work.
The most appropriate words have already been taken... spiffy and snazzy!
So I shall try... "Oiishi desu"

Thank you for the renewed insipiration to complete my armour. It is happening (slowly).
And hey I just noticed that you started in August... it gives me hope, I still have 4 months left!! hehehe

[AJBryant]

What Michael said. NICE work. Personally, I'd like to see some rimming on the leather pieces (are those backed by anything?).

Sweet work, man.

The bar continues to rise.


Effingham

[yoshinaga]

OMG
that is awesome. how did you get the brownish color on the aluminum?
did you do the hammering by your self?

[peterf]

Very, very nice work! I especially like the lacing, wonderful!

[mrcunningham]

Thanks all for the kind words. I hope to post some pictures of it worn soon.

Yeah, the choice of egawa alone was a conscious one, based primarily on the thickness of the leather and problems I've had with previous dou in terms of combat effectiveness.

Nice catch on the kohaze cord. I ran out of thick stuff _just_ before I had to finish those in time for the event this weekend.

Jan 30, 2009 16:25:07 GMT -5 Kurodachi no Mykaru said:

Make forms for the non-hinged side and lace them underneath to maintain the profile.

Mykaru-dono, can you explain this more?

Thank you all again.

[Kurodachi no Mykaru]

Honda-san,

Just as the hinges maintain the shape on the left side, rigid pieces on the ends (underneath) would help it maintain a better shape. They are not traditional, but would help make up for the slack from the shita garami.

[konrad]

Great job! Only 11 pounds? Man my current helmet/aventail weighs in at about 17.

[mrcunningham]

Konrad, there are two factors at work here: 1) I'm a skinny bastard, so there isn't a lot of metal and 2) you see the beauty of aluminum at work. My kit used to weigh 55lbs (my helmet is also about 16/17lbs) and I want that number to go down. (I'm already faster than 95% of the people I fight, and I want that to be 98/99%.)

[konrad]

I hear ya! Nothing wrong with shedding a few pounds here and there. The rest of my armour (body armour, gorget, spaulders, legs, and arms) are about the same weight as my helmet. I'm definetly not the fastest stick in town so any advantage I can pick up by reducing the weight will help me along.

I'll be interested to hear how the shape holds up in regular use. Nice work.

[hiro]

See this is what always brings me up short for creating a 'real' kit for myself. I'm just to damn big around to make it real, because then the kit would weigh a ton!

[calonnihonjin]

Ah to be young and thin again:)
Nice looking gear man!

Hiro