Thickness of a bronze bell cuirass

[ARudling]

Its a noticeable thing that greaves made from modern 1mm or thereabouts sheet brass / bronze tend to be far to stiff to 'spring open' around the leg - ergo the thicknesses that seem scarily thin to us are almost certainly correct.

One thing about making reproductions & comments like 'they are so small, they must be for children' is that very often modern people expect a cuirass for example to cover further down the body than they where intended too. Also remember that many modern peoples are quite possibly significantly fatter than many ancient warriors - self definately included ! If you get someone wiry thin like a fit athlete many of the extant armours will actually fit quite nicely ..... now if only I was wiry thin again

The armours themselves remember are really a secondary defence too the shield & or moving out of the way, as such they are designed to defeat a spear or sword edge but are probably going to collapse or be pierced by a very heavily made square hit.

Adam

ps 1.2mm thick gladiator greaves I have made are almost too strong & certainly 1mm fully hammer hardened is plenty over a bit of padding