How do you handle your equipment/kit?

[superonyxfire]

Hello everyone!
I am so new to handling equipment that most of you may cringe at how I handle it, so instead of possibly torturing the poor metal, I made this thread on how equipment is handled.

The main thing I wanted to know is how you wear armor, such as the lorica segmentata, when alone or with a friend, what way is the best and does not harm it? I use to do some insanely stupid way and it was putting stress in the hinges near the shoulders, had to hammer it back in shape, I was a bit upset about it.
What is a good way to lace the loops when you sadly, only have one string of leather for it? I know from another thread that this is not only uncommon for a legionary, as it meant if cut, the armor would open, but also harder to do than with seperate pieces for each pair of loops.

Primarily though, I would love to hear how people with lorica hamata and lorica squamata handle their armor, not just people with segmentata, and any other equipment from weapons to shields. I think this is the hardest to find online for me, and can also help anybody else like me who was being very silly with their armor for a while until they learned the hard way and had to repair their armor.

[Crispvs]

As to donning segmentata, the easiest way to put it on is to get someone else to help you, by holding it up for you to get into and doing up the strap and buckle attached to the upper back plates while you do up the strap and buckle on the breast plates an begin to lace the tie loops together. When the other person is holding it for you, it is better for him to hold it by the two collar plates than by the shoulder guards, as it wil cause less stress to the fittings. Also, you need to remember to wear a subarmalis underneath which has well padded shoulders. If the shoulders are not sufficiently padded, the shoulder guards will slope down, pulling the breast plates out at an angle and causing damage to the strap and buckle jioning the breast plates.
It is possible to put segmentata on on your own but I have always found this difficult to do. In my experience, to put it on without the help of anyone else, you need to do up th rear strap first, as it is very difficult to do once the armour is on, as the shoulder guards will keep slipping to the sides and pulling the straps away from each other.
If I understand correctly, you are also sying that you use a single long lace to do up the front of your armour. It would be far better to tie a separate piece of leather seven or eight inches long to one of each pair of tie loops. If you tie it to the loop so that you are left with two long ends, you can pass one through the other tie ring and then tie the two ends together. This is what most people do and has the advantage that if one lace breaks or comes undone, it does not compromise the rest.

For putting on lorica squamata, you will normally require the assistance of another person, as it is unlikely you will be able to lace it up on your own. In fact, you probably will not even be able to see or reach the lacing points highest up your side. If you operate alone, without someone else to help you to kit up, scale is not the armour for you.

Mail, on the other hand, is relatively easy to put on and take off on your own and is probably te best choice for the sole operator.

Crispvs