The original Lough Henney helmet was discovered on a crannóg close to the western shore of the lake from which it gets its name in the 19th century. The helmet features elements of both the bascinet and barbuta types and may represent a transitional form. Here is a pic of my replica of the helmet made by Dave Hewitt of White Rose Armoury.

Got more than a few pics here. I have all my fighting helms presented here. Note that the unpainted sugar loaf is the before pic of a BudK offering, and the one following is the after. The flat topped great helm is actually aluminum, and was made for me for use as a halloween costume piece back before I started medieval combat. Now it just sits on a shelf and looks nice. The back of the sugar loaf reads " Benedictus Dominus Deus meus qui docet manus meas ad proelium." "Blessed is the Lord my God who teacheth my hands to fight."

Circa mid 7th cent Anglo saxon helm from Northamptonshire, England. Made by Tim Noyes.

My heavily-modified GDFB:

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My new custom late bascinet from Buyans Armoury:







(Pictures courtesy of Buyans Armoury)

This is my new early great helm which was made by Jiri Vanek ( http://www.armour-vanek.cz/ ). The design is inspired by the helmet pictured on the silver seal die of Robert FitzWalter

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Mirek,

Nice helmet! I love how ot flares out so perfectly at the top. It really has the perfect look for the time frame.

RPM

That's beautiful, Marek! Usually, I couldn't care less about great helms but that one is so elegantly formed it makes me want to try one as a project!

Thank you all for your comments. When I was looking for an armourer to make my helmet I came across Mr. Vanek's webpages. I did like his style from the very beginning and I sent him an enquiry. His respond was very fast with an enclosed picture of an early great helm (see attachment ). After seeing this beauty there were no doubts who would be my armourer.

PS. This is not my helm

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Mirek,

That's a very nice helm. I really like the battered appearance. Looks like it's been through a few campaigns at this point. Congratulations.

My turn!!! I just received my new helm from Jiri Klepac (Jiří Klepač). I'm attaching the pics he took of it as I haven't had a chance to take ones myself yet.

Tomás B

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Hi all. New here.
Thought I'd show my new Valsgarde-6 (ish) replica, that I made over the summer. This was my first ever attempt at metalwork, made from B&Q steel. I know it has numerous flaws, but I could never afford to be able to own any of the magnificent work of Thorkil or Dave Roper, so I hope this "will do".

This helmet looks really great! Especially if this is the first time you worked with metal. I wish,I could do this.

Are you planning to fill the holes in the metalwork with something? Leather perhaps?

Greetings
Lukas

Cheers!
I chose the v6 because the framework is visually interesting, and can distract from the fact I couldn't do pressblech or bronze-casting that's typically the mainstay of decoration of these helms.
The original had more of the narrow (I think, bronze) strips that reduced the holes, but even with that, retains this breathable if hole-ridden cap. I don't know if the inside was lined with an organic material or not, but mine is a bit too "well fitting" as it is, so I'm just using a thin leather cap under it. The plus side is it's very light, and deceptively strong.

Here's a larp helmet of an armouring student of mine from a few summers back.

He'd never made a helmet before and had two weeks to make one before a weekend event. I made cardboard templates from measures of his head, taught him how to dish the skull pieces, he did the rough work of cutting and dishing and drilling. Then we put it together with wing nuts to test fit it on him and make necessary adjustments.
Then he ran out of time for the larp he needed it for and had to go home to pack the rest of his kit, so I took over and did the finishing work of about 4 additional hours or so, cuttng out and dual curving the nasal, planishing all the dished parts, polishing and riveting as well as adding the maille and strap. I was going to add padded cheek plates and a padded leather liner but by then he had to pick it up and go to the Larp so it never got finished.

He was stunned speechless when he came in to pick it up. It'd gone from the rough pocked potato he remembered to a shiny hero helmet in a few hours. Me, I was a little miffed I hadn't got to finish it. But also proud of the solid ground work he'd turned out that allowed me to make it this nice.

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