Phalera constructions

[Renatus]

I am not considering that anyone is complaining about my work

Good. I thought that I detected a somewhat aggrieved tone in your post. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

. . . some on this web site who are re-enactors are prepared to pay for a Ford then cry why is it not a cadilac. then spend more money and time trying to make a silk purse from a sows ear.

Now, that I did understand. On the other hand, I am not a re-enactor but it looks as if it could be a pretty expensive pastime, so I suspect that some re-enactors will do what the Roman soldier did: take what he could afford or what was issued to him and then upgrade or replace it as finances permitted. There are papyri from Egypt in which the soldier writes home asking for pieces of kit to be sent to him, evidently trying to improve on what he had.

Indeed when we look at some original Roman gear we find that many soldiers invested their whole carrier and money into their equipment

You will have examined much more Roman equipment than I have but I get the impression that, in many cases, the Romans went for bling, rather than quality. No doubt, we could argue about this till the cows come home without arriving at a consensus.

. . . there are many who try to think too much about how the Romans performed but then life then was as much as it is today the only thing that ever changes is time itself.

Here I have to disagree with you. Surely what we are trying to do in this forum is to understand how the Romans lived and thought. Times and attitudes change. You and I, I think, are of a similar age and, if so, will have been brought up in an time of make do and mend, not the throw-away society of today (Does anyone darn socks anymore?). I suspect that life was very much like that for the average Roman.