The Armour Archive

Armour Design

I agree with Jason. You will find it much easier to rivet the individual pieces to a leather strap and then attach this to a leather glove finally.

Regards,
Mike

Armour Design

Hi there,

I agree with others who have posted. Start with spaulders - the lames are simply curved plates and the shoulder cop is dished and planished.

You can do all this cold.

Mike

Armour Design

Hi chef de chambre, On reflection I think you're right - what I was thinking of, probably incorrectly, as a 'pigeon-breast' was a prominent central keel which made an appearance around 1530 - whereas the peascod was adopted later ( 1570 - 1580 according to the literature ). I agree the image is not ...

Armour Design

I think it's the other way round - the pigeon breasted form pre-dates the peascod. Armour design in the sixteenth century embraced the union of the rounded forms of Italian armour with the technical and structural features of German armour. At the early part of the century the breastplate was rather...

Armour Design

It would probably work - but at 22" diameter it is far bigger than you need. You don't need to be able to fit the whole piece in the dishing form.

Armour Design

Hi Panther, You don't say which side of the work is being 'scuffed up' - the side you are piening or the opposite side. If you rest the round head of the rivet on the flat anvil, that side of the work is protected. The other side shouldn't get damaged if the hammer-work is accurate. Of course restin...

Armour Design

Hi Halberds,

Yes - I used aluminium pop rivets for the initial articulation then drilled them out and replaced with round-head steel rivets.

I didn't have a decent pic showing the finger ends with the finished rivets :-/

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Cassius,

I form the rounded finger ends by hammering into a lead block using a heavy ball-ended hammer -

One or two blows should form a nicely rounded end that needs no planishing and hence no stake.

Mike.

Armour Design

Hi Mark,

I agree with other people, the Wallace collection is probably the best collection of armour in London. However, if you get the opportunity to take the Eurostar train to Paris, the armour collection at Les Invalides is 10 times the size!

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Hal,

Looks like it might work but I think you definitely need to use a curved blade otherwise the right angle ends will give step marks in the flute. Whilst it would make a straight flute I'm not sure it would make a curved one easily. I think it would be easier free-hand.

Mike

Armour Design

It may be old and rather pitted - but it still rings

Mike

Armour Design

This might be worth a look www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/pb01.htm

There is a link to the patterns used if that helps. Will easily support the weight.

Mike

Armour Design

I agree with Matt - I think the fauld would have been made of a number of overlapping lames, it's just that the detail has not been depicted here.

Mike

Armour Design

Once the gold leaf is appied to the adhesive it should no longer feel sticky. If it does either you're applying the leaf too soon or your coverage is not complete. Sheet leaf is the stuff to use not flakes and I find it best to work over the surface with a soft brush to get it evenly applied. Usuall...

Armour Design

Hi Matt,

Very nice work - really impressive!

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Cat, The adhesive for gilding is supposed to stay tacky when 'dry' so that the gold leaf will adhere to it. I use 2 types - one which is water based and has a latex component is ready to apply the leaf in 15 mins. - and another which is spirit / resin based takes 2 hrs. All depends on what you're...

Armour Design

Hi Romulus, Schreiber is right the dishing really doesn't take long - just a few passes with the rawhide into each of the dishes and then some heavier work with the ball-ended into the deepest dish. Probably 10 mins. work dishing but then the planishing can take ages to get a smooth finish. I think ...

Armour Design

Hi Romulus, Sorry to hear you're having a problem dishing your knee cop. I find it's easier to do the shaping in stages starting with a rawhide hammer into the shallowest depression in the stump. I carry out the dishing over the entire piece except the wing. http://www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/cp...

Armour Design

Looks as tho' all it needs is a clean up and perhaps a bit of smoothing of the top. The way to check if an anvil is sound is to hit it with a hammer. If it's OK it rings.

Mike

Armour Design

Hi there, I use a cedar stump with three depressions of varying depth depending on which piece I am working on. Seems to work pretty well and no evidence of cracking to date - altho' I do intend to put a steel band around the top sometime. http://www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/bstu.jpg Cheers, Mike

Armour Design

Hi there,

From what you are saying it's probably my site you were looking at www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com There is a short list of suppliers for metal, leather and buckles, rivets etc. which might be of use.

Mike

Armour Design

In early armours the upper thigh was protected by a number of faulds usually riveted onto leather straps. As time progressed the number of lames or faulds forming the front skirt reduced, protection for the upper thigh being afforded by the tuilles which were fixed by straps to the lowermost lame of...

Armour Design

Hi Icefire, You're doing pretty well but I agree with what others have said - your dishing stump should be as smooth as poss. and you need to take care to cover the entire piece when planishing. In this pic I have started planishing the shoulder cop after dishing. You would do better using a ball st...

Armour Design

Hi Icefire, Yes I started the site about three years ago. I thought I'd chronicle the progress of a full armour construction and it seemed like a good idea to put it on a web site to share it with anyone interested. Just seemed to snowball from then on. Good to hear that it gave you some encourageme...

Armour Design

Hi there,

Go to www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/pb01.htm

I have a page showing the making of a stand and there is a link to a page with the patterns.

Hope it's helpful,
Mike

Armour Design

Hi Luthold,

Here is a pic of the pattern I made

The page showing how I made 'em is at
www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/pc07.htm if it's any help.

Mike

Armour Design

Here are some pointed ones I made recently.

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Setric, The stump I use is cedar and I have made three dishing depressions in it with a central hole to hold a ball stake. http://www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/bstu.jpg I use the stump throughout all my armour projects and it has lasted very well with no cracking. Making it is covered briefly i...

Armour Design

Here is a pic of the most recent armour - finished in January this year.

Progress pics. at www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Nick,

Projects 1 and 2 on my site show shell articulation of the elbow and all 3 show shell articulation of the knee if it's any use.

www.armourdesign.dial.pipex.com/pc05.htm

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Sean,

There are a couple of pages showing construction and fitting of besagues if it's of any help:

www.armourdesign.co.uk/pc12.htm
www.armourdesign.co.uk/proj14.htm

These were cold-worked

Regards,
Mike

Armour Design

Yep it will be life size. Full war armour for man and horse. I've been thinking about how to go about it on and off for about three years. Now it's beginning to take shape in my mind.

Mike

Armour Design

Hi Guy's, Thank you all so much for your appreciative comments - you are all so generous! I might try hot-working for raising - but the next project is to be a full sized war armour on horse-back like the famed exhibit in the Wallace Collection. As it's to stand outside the armour for night and hors...

Armour Design

Hi there,

I iincluded a back plate on the sabatons for my latest project if it's any help

Mike

Armour Design

Well this one has taken me the longest time of them all -

The whole construction from start to finish can be seen at www.armourdesign.co.uk/projc.htm

Always grateful for any comments and criticisms.

Mike

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