A Squire's path to Knighthood : The trice armed bench

Monday, 28 December 2015

The trice armed bench

The Bench,

It started off so simply, to make a chair that would be strong enough to sit on in armour... Then came the additional requirements...

Wouldn't it be nice not to just make a chair, but a bench in case others need a respite.
Wouldn't It be nice if it had no pegs or pins to be lost
Wouldn't it be nice it to folded up for easier transport
Strong, very strong so up to 3 fully armoured fighter's could sit on it.

So naturally it needed to be made from wood, but not just any wood, that would be too easy... I decided on making it from Knotty wood (wood unsuitable to general sales as it has lots of knots (which look great) but also not straight and with an uneven surface. (which increases the "fun")

May I present the bench.

6 comments:

Unknown30 December 2015 at 23:30
Oh wow! that is stunning!
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Unknown31 December 2015 at 01:34
Apparently I can woodwork, who knew? Last woodworking I did was in High school 20 years ago.. now if only I can learn to carve.
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Anonymous22 April 2016 at 10:44
Nice design. How do you keep the cross braces from simply dropping out? I see you have a rabbit joint in there to eliminate the issue of pegs and such but what keeps them from falling vertically?
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Unknown22 April 2016 at 11:45
The cross braces are very snug and the pressure from the legs keeps them in place even with heavy use (the bench was used at a week long event, with no issues in our dining area, had 3 -4 people on it most nights and no issues even when moving it)The next design I may change for a non/braced version by cutting the legs to sit at an angle away from the bench like this: /----\ but the braced version will still be better for heavy armour usage.
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Unknown1 January 2017 at 10:02
This is a very cool thing and I would like to make on. Do you have plans beyond the pics? Not having to reinvent the bench would be great!
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My name is Lord Leonhart Hunt, A Doppelsöldner sworn to service as a Landsknecht (servant of the land), I studied customs of the landsknecht the ways of the Pike and sword, the mysteries of the Great Sword and new inventions to come from our noble artisans the aquabus. "these were heady times" Ranks upon ranks of brother in arms marching for the greater glory of the Germanic empire, But all good things must come to an end, After Georg von Frundsberg death the Landsknechts ranks fell into disrepute.
Alas hard times were ahead, work was sparse due to a very successful misinformation campaign by the spanish, we were relegated to protecting caravans, while still necessary work it was not the landsknechts I was born into.
In service of a Dutch nobleman, our position was betrayed and a trap laid for us. Our noble employer wishing to deny us our due payment made a deal with our Spanish adversaries. The baggage train and camp followers were decimated while we faced off against a diversionary force. We broke off to come to their aid.... Too late. We all swore to fight to the last, surrounded, low of supplies and greatly outnumbered we drove the treacherous Spanish off but at great cost.
The cost was lasting and telling, my unit destroyed, Hopes dashed I journeyed to Lochac to begin again and hopefully find better fortunes in this new land.

I am a member of the incipient canton of Wildmoor a part of the Barony of Southron Gaard in the Kingdom of Lochac.

My platitudes include Squire to Philippe de Tourney, Henksman of the Court for the Barony of Southron Gaard, Award of arms, Order of the Silver Helm, Heavy Marshal, Target Archery Marshal and Baronal Cheesemaker.

I hope to one day earn the honor of being recognised as a Knight in the society for creative anachronism.