I believe Lostgaeriel hit it on the nose about Tolkien stinting with the descriptions. Seems to me that JRRT never gave many physical descriptions until he needed them, and then not with much detail.
Seeing as Boromir was a warrior, I believe he wore too Rivendell and on the way back. He was already battle seasoned, was riding in unknown territories where a threat may pop out of the flora without a moments notice. So he wouldn't be taking many chances by not wearing it.
As far as a helm weighing ten pounds. Well some of you need to do some research. A full suit of plate weighed around seventy pounds total. The History Channel (for those of you with cable and get the station) did a wonderful five hour series called Arms and Armor. They had a couple guy's wearing full plate doing cartwheels. This wasn't the cumbersome, engraved and gilded ceremonial crap used for the palace progression, which often weighed more than that intended for field use.
|