Swan knights

[athanaric]

Edit; Also, from what I have read, the quality of the metal used in plate armor declined (most likely the craftsmanship too due to high demand) as it increased in common usage. So it was not as good as time went on and by the time it would be the common equipment used by many. I have never researched this myself, I would imagine they tested the metals from different dates to notice this.

What you're referring to is munitions grade armour.
I'm pretty sure though that hand-crafted, custom-fitted plate armour didn't decline in quality. That wouldn't make much sense. It's just that the latter would only be available to very wealthy customers. After all, top quality, custom-tailored clothing is also still around, despite mechanical mass production.

[alreadyded]

It declined on average, I was referring to common usage, the highest quality wouldn't be common to begin with regardless of the time. Of course there was still really good quality to those that could afford it, but on average the good was not as good or it cost way more to get it as good is what I was referring too. Supply and demand, if demand is high than quality doesn't have to be as good to sell as much or more.

Kind of like speakers and a whole host of other electronics, parts, etc. today, you can still get good ones if you pay an arm and leg but back in the 90's and before (before they all started being mass produced in China at lower quality purposely) they were all better quality, even the cheaper ones (which were not as cheap).

Comparing clothing made from plants and animals to metal that is far harder to obtain large amounts of high quality and craft is kinda silly though. No shortage of sheep to make wool is there? The quality of wool has more to do with the weave not impurities or lack of supply. Tailors use machines to make the work easier (even back then they had looms, etc.), even I know how to make clothes (by hand it just takes longer, machines do a better job than the steadiest hand or keenest eye), I can't make armor.

Today we use machines to obtain and manufacture metals, this saves time/money/etc. increasing quality and lowering prices as time went on. We also found that mixing glass, ceramics and a whole host of other things in as "impurities" (just like mixing in tin with copper to make bronze) actually strengthens the metal so that helps.