FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Below is information from our most frequently asked questions, if we have not covered your question, please feel free to email us.  

PRICES on our web page are the current prices.   If you are not sure of your math when placing an order, we will automatically adjust it when we send you an invoice, or you can send us an email and we will be happy to check the math for you.

DELIVERY TIMES are listed on our home page.  

IN STOCK ITEMS  All in stock items are posted on our web page.  You will find an IN STOCK button and it will show you our stock items.  If it is not on our in stock page, it is not in stock.  We update the in stock page as often as we can.  Please see the In Stock page for the special rules of ordering in stock items.

SHIPPING PRICES in the United States are listed on our Ordering page.  Please email us for all international shipping prices.

DISCOUNTS  We are happy to offer discounts.  All our suit combinations show a discount price.  We also offer discounts on any order of 5 or more "like" items. 

WHOLESALE PRICES  We do not offer wholesale prices.

FULL SUIT COMBO’S can be CHANGED.  If you send in your order along with an approximately 1/2 down payment, we will adjust the discount for you and send you an invoice.  If you CREATE YOUR OWN FULL SUIT COMBO, we do offer a discount, and will be happy to offer you a price quote.  We do not offer discounts on full suits bought piece by piece.  Full suits can be purchased on a layaway.

LAYAWAY  requires a 20% down payment.  Layaway's work basically the same as any other order with one exception.  If we have not received a full 1/2 down payment by one month prior to the completion date, we will not start on the order and we will reassign the completion date.  Any layaway orders in which we have not received either a payment or contact from the customer in three months from the final completion date will be cancelled.

SCA LEGAL:  All munition grade armor is SCA legal.  Period Grade armor can be made SCA legal upon request, however, there may be a charge on certain items.  No Roman helmets will be made SCA legal.

STEEL WEAPON re-enactment groups:  Our armor is legal for most steel weapon reenactment groups, but if you require a thicker gauge metal, the price will increase, as does a special face plate on the helmet.

ORDER FORMS:  We understand that some printers do not print out our order forms.  We do NOT need an official order form when you place your order.  A simple hand written order is sufficient for our needs, however, please remember to include your name address and phone number and any measurements that are needed.

MEASUREMENTS:  Please always send us height and weight along with at least the measurements needed for your purchase.  If you prefer to fill in the entire measurement chart, we keep it on file for future orders.  GAUNTLETS require a tracing of your hand on a separate sheet of paper (fingers closed is best).  SABATONS require a tracing of the shoe you will be wearing with them (no bare feet please). 

We require that the measurements you send us do NOT have padding included.  If you are more comfortable letting us know the measurements with padding, please send us two sets of measurements.  It never hurts to send more information.

PAYMENTS:  We do not accept credit cards or wire transfers, so we do not accept phone or email orders.  We do accept checks and money orders.  We consider an order received when we have a 1/2 down payment in our office and we will send out an invoice.  When the order is completed we will contact you right away for the balance due.

STRAPPING is an additional cost over the listed price on our armor.  We will be happy to drill holes in your armor for an additional cost of $5.00 per item, not to exceed $20.00 for a full suit, however, we will not place the holes in custom places for you, we will drill standard holes only.  It is not a difficult task to strap your own armor, we do not offer instructions, but you can call your local leather store, and they will be happy to explain it all to you.  It is also a good idea to have the tools and the know-how so that you can make quick repairs between battles.

We do not offer PADDING.

We do not sell CHAIN MAILLE.

We do not accept BARTERS or TRADES of any kind, period.

ADVICE  We realize that it's not everyday a person buys a suit of armor, so we are more than happy to answer any and all questions you may have.  The problem is that we cannot tell you what suit would please you most.  That would be as difficult for us as trying to tell you what type of vehicle to purchase.  We can help you with questions about time periods and use of the armor which can help you to make your decision.

CUSTOM:  We are not accepting custom work or slight alterations of any kind at this time.

CATALOG:  If you are requesting a catalog for more or better information than on our web page then please understand that OUR WEB SITE IS THE BEST CATALOG that we offer.  We do not have paper catalogs at this time.

SHARE PATTERNS:  We don't share our patterns because we feel that's the most difficult part of making the armor and also calls for the most time and skill.  I can tell you that we start with a basic shape and then refine, refine, refine.  Sometimes it takes weeks or even years and several sheets of steel just to make one part of the pattern look right.

CASE HARDENING:  We do not offer case hardening at this time.
 
BLACK OXIDE:   I'm sorry, but we can no longer offer black oxide.  We have lost our supplier.

STEEL, STAINLESS or ALUMINUM?  

Steel is most economical, and is almost identical to stainless in weight.  It does rust and we won't lie to you here, it requires a great deal of maintenance to keep it looking nice if that's what's important to you. 

Stainless steel does not rust and is stronger than steel, if you want to look nice on the battlefield this is the metal to use, it will always look nice, doesn’t show scratches as easily as aluminum and is more sturdy than steel.  18g stainless is about as strong as 16g steel; 16g stainless is about as strong as 14g steel etc.  So if you are looking for strength, then stainless might be the best choice for you.

Aluminum is a very lightweight metal approximately half the weight of steel or stainless of equivalent thickness, however it is not as pretty to look at especially after some abuse on the battlefield.  It shows scratches very easily and has a white appearance which makes it very obvious it is not steel.  It is not what we would recommend if you are trying to look nice, but it is highly sought after from folks who like the obvious weight advantage in battle and it does not show rust.  The one other downfall to aluminum is that it does not last as long as steel or stainless because if it gets a small tear in the metal it is not ‘mendable’.  To weld the aluminum would mean it would lose it’s temper and be no better than an aluminum pop can.  It also shows wear very noticeably in the rivet holes which wallow out with time and eventually no longer hold the rivets.  This wallowing out takes a good deal of time, and depends entirely on how much use it gets.

 HAND MADE

"Hand made" means different things to different people.   There are many tools that we use to help us with this process,  hammers, forming stakes, dishes, cutting tools, etc., but each piece of our armor is made individually by hand.  If you are asking is our  armor made exactly the way it was in medieval times the answer is no.  We purchase machined sheets of steel, machined  rivets, machined washers and use modern electronic polishing equipment and such.  With that said, yes, every piece of   armor is cut by hand, formed by hand, polished by hand, assembled by hand and fitted to your specific measurements. 

HORSE ARMOR
Prices are for horse armor photoed on home page
$  850 Chanfron (helmet)
$  600 Crinet (neck)
$1350 Peytral (breast)
$1550 Crupper (butt plates)
$  230 Stirrups
$  350 Reins
 
FURTHER QUESTIONS: If you have any further questions for us, please email us at mail@illusionarmoring.com 

 
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