Armor

North Star Armoury started out as (surprise!), an armoury. Although we we have expanded our focus armouring is still an important aspect of what we do. Of course "making armour" is such a broad description as to be almost meaningless. Some armours make museum quality replicas of historical pieces, others turn out large quantities of simple, sometimes functional, armour for beginning fighters, with everything in between to be found on someone's shelf. Materials range from titanium, to spring steel, through a variety of unhardened steels and leather to pickle barrels. Each of these has its place and the continued success of armourers in all of these categories attests to this. No one armourer, however, does all of this. Everyone has a comfort zone, an area where their skills, tools, ambitions, and experience overlap. North Star Armoury has two areas of interest. The first is function; no one does better articulation than we do. This reflect our interest in the way armour moves and the demands of the modern martial art of heavy weapons combat. Our goal in this area is to produce the best functioning armour possible for a reasonable price, without sacrificing a generally period appearance. In other words our combat armour is not a perfect replica of period designs but, instead, driven by the needs of modern armoured combat as a martial art. We are unwilling to forsake a period appearance in doing this but neither do we strive to make perfect replics for combat use. This compromise, along with 25 years of pattern and skill development allows us to produce very effective armour at a reasonable price. At the same time, however, 25 years of practice and study does prepare one for the sort of difficult work required to produce replicas of period pieces. Many trips to museums, an extensive library, the development of a period "eye", and a well equipped shop are all essential to the production of replica armour (whether for combat or not). As a result we also produce armour in which periodicity is the highest priority. As you peruse this website you will find that the descriptions of the items for sale will tell you what sort of intent went into a piece (whether armour or any other item). They will make clear the degree to which it was our intent to create a replica and to what degree of authenticity we aspired. While we can not tell you what you need, we will try to let you know if the item in question will fill you particular set of requirements. Feel free to contact use if you have questions.