The Armour Archive

chaine_maile

Little easily shattered vials of greek-fire.

chaine_maile

I have done a lot of rust browning in the firearms industry as a gunsmith. A while back someone else was talking about how to rust blue and brown in this topic: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=31316&highlight=browning The essay Hew listed gives a pretty good over view, but the...

chaine_maile

Well, most common 6061 seems to come in T6. It a bit harder to find T4 and even then, the T4 slowly age hardens, so it likely isn't T4 unless it is 'fresh'. The point would be to soften the metal, and work it in the soft state, then harden it after the piece is finished. This would allow a lot more ...

chaine_maile

Have been doing a bit of research on this 6061 aluminum. It seems fairly common and not all that bad a choice as a material. Do any of you work with it much? Doing some research I learned that Sir Brand has made armour using this in grade T6, however from what I understand he does all his work cold ...

chaine_maile

Just as a quick reminder, romans appear to have used calvary sport armour, and parade armour as well. No idea on how well documented these armours are. Here is a quick image of a modern piece inspired by them. [img]http://members.aol.com/gijchar/chelm2.gif[/img] Here is one another one, that the sit...

chaine_maile

On the topic of the helm gifted to Henry VIII, do construction discrepancies really mean its not the real thing? Picture yourself in this fictional situation: "You! Armourer! Make me a helm that looks like ____ and I want it yesterday." Would you possibly take things already constructed and modify t...

chaine_maile

I agree with Hew completely. Just because things aren't documented most certainly does not mean it didn't exist. Just look at some of the strange things that have survived or been documented. Surely some things slipped through the cracks. [img]http://www.history-people.co.uk/hornedhelmet.jpg[/img] N...

chaine_maile

Well, remember the purpose is to protect, not to lubricate. In the gunsmithing world, much use has been made of silicon based rust preventers. One small warning, they are the devil to get off. Once you go to this type of coating, there will always be traces of it in small places. Personally, I don't...

chaine_maile

Take an older pair of heavy duty sissors and modify them. They have to be of good quality steel, of course. What I did was take a pair of 6" bladed sissors and reshaped them to 1" blades coming to a point. The leverage and the quality of the steel is enough to shear cut 19g annealed steel. I mostly ...

chaine_maile

Read this article: http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/russeting.shtml The finish created is a whole lot thicker then traditional blackening. By soaking with water-displacing oil, then rubbing the surface with wax, this is by far one of the cheapest and toughest finishes avalible. The color tends to...

chaine_maile

http://www.vertetsable.com/demos_recpants.htm

That is a link to a fairly simple and very useful pair of pants. The site in general is also a very good one.

chaine_maile

Zinc is an element, number 30 on the periodic table. Arsenic is an element, number 33 on the periodic table.

Heating Zinc, or passing electricity through Zinc will not change it into Arsenic.

Heating Zinc creates Zinc fumes, which are bad for you.

chaine_maile

To me, a combination of polymerization and waxing is the choice. I do it much like Damian. Wax is generally a little easier to find then hide glue. Hide glue adds weight as well, just not quite as much. If you do the job 'right' it doesn't soften all that much if heated. If your doing smaller pieces...

chaine_maile

To answer the question, galvanization is a surface finsh. It can be applied to a wide range of steels. While mild steel is often galvanized, being galvanized does not mean the material is mild steel. What being galvanized does mean is that the material is most likely NOT stainless. The zinc coating ...

chaine_maile

I honestly feel the best way to do this from one piece would be a wooden, or plaster and wood frame. If your not much of a carpenter, you could just cast the shape needed in plaster leaving just a wooden base for nails. I would soak the leather and stretch it over the form, holding it down with nail...

chaine_maile

Caustic bluing salts will blacken stainless. Just takes a little longer with a little higher temps. I still don't see why EVERYONE blackens metal with this heating meathod. If your tempering the metal into the blue-grey phase, your removing all your hardness. To test this take a piece of steel, heat...

chaine_maile

Not sure if anyone else has read any of the Robert Jordan 'Wheel of Time' series. Just wanted to point out that a "Heron Marked Sword" was concidered the best of the best in materials, balance, and edge-holding abilities. If I remember correctly, it had a slightly molted look to the metal. To reprod...

chaine_maile

How large is this knife? You don't want it to be file hardness. You just want it hard enough to resist a file somewhat. If you file on a normal piece of cold-rolled mild steel, there is little to no resistance. Also, I notice you are doing not tempering at all. Only a oil quench. While an oil quench...

chaine_maile

Just for the record, thats not an M4. Its an AR-15 carbine model. The AR-15 is a semi-auto civilian weapon based on the M-16 family. Notice the difference in the barrel. It has no mounting point for a M203. It also seems to be a 16 inch barrel instead of the M4's 14.5 inch. Also, the weapon seems to...

chaine_maile

LOL, I like the way Owen thinks. Romans win again. As far as the arrows vs maille, they were not 'true' wooden arrows persay. It was more the reed style arrow. The source was some old 1950's book on archery. And where in God's name did you hear that conquistadors wore maille?!?! I beleive that plate...

chaine_maile

Please remember that the main function of a gladius is to thrust. Cutting and slashing are secondary functions of the weapon. While good quality steel would be a plus, it is not completely needed. Since the templars would be wearing maille, cutting is not much of a threat. A thrust, however, is a th...

chaine_maile

In my personal experience, synthetic is better then natural when sewing leather. This might not come into play till years down the road when the leather accidentally dry-rots, or mildews up. Synthetic just doesn't rot or weaken when the wax vanishes into the leather.

chaine_maile

I know you asked about the cement, but can't answer how that looks. Figured I should note that the rust browning doesn't look like a rusted surface when done. The finished metal looks polished brown, to plum in color. It has a very rich and deep feeling to it.

chaine_maile

Kevlar will cut a lot of things. One of my other hobbies is Indian fighter kites. If we use Kevlar line, we can cut another string without glassing the line. Basically its high friction and high strength. To tie knots we sheathe the Kevlar in a braided nylon tube. On another note, I wouldn't just se...

chaine_maile

If it is a steel that you can get to rust, you can do a really nice, and very period rust browning of the armour. Basically you rust the armour for 8 hours, lightly brush away loose rust, recoat with rusting agent, and hang in a humid 'box' for another 8 hours. After 14 days you have armour colored ...

chaine_maile

Personally, I feel Romans are a lot less likely to suffer from a flight of arrows then a calvary charge of templars. Let the longbows fly all day. When they run out of arrows, or arms get to tired to pull a 150 pound bow the Romans win Maybe they would enlist some longbowmen in their ranks to suppli...

chaine_maile

I would have to say ATLEAST three to one. You don't attempt a frontal attack on a reinforced position unless you have those kinds of numbers in your favor. Even so, I feel the Romans would give one hell of a fight. What was that battle where the Romans were so out numbered they used their pilum as s...

chaine_maile

Could romans beat a heavy calvary charge? It seems to me they learned how to fight elephants, and did so quite effectively. I also feel that given only HOURS 15,000 romans could have incredible positions ready for a calvary charge. I also don't see a situation where templars would be upon the romans...

chaine_maile

Paul Champagne is in northern New York, and smelts his own steel last I heard.

chaine_maile

Just for your info, they use to preasure treat handles of tools (axes, shovels, ect... ) in the days of the lumber jack. The oil allowed the fibers to slip instead of break, and the handles lasted a lot longer.

chaine_maile

A deep oil soaking? Or are you just talking about a surface finish to stop drying out? Honestly don't have much experience with these type of wasters, or I would just make them myself. I am guessing you are talking preasure treating with oil. I have however used maple 'clubs' simular to SCA swords f...

chaine_maile

I am in northern New York, and have all the seasoned sugar maple I could wish for. Also have some nice ash. Most of it has been kiln dried, and been sitting around seasoning for the last 15 years. I always looked at plywood and just thought about how low quality the wood is in the center. Couldn't I...

chaine_maile

Thats what I had ordered, and hoped would be here by now. I could make my own, but I have armour needs making

Thanks for the reply.

chaine_maile

Has anyone had any dealings with: RD Limited/ Wooden Weapons 12168 70th St. N. Largo, FL 33773 727-532-1955 wizzard28@hotmail.com Trying to save a bit of time, I tried to purchase one of their swords a month back. As of yet I haven't gotten a response from them. My emails haven't been answered eithe...

chaine_maile

Standard hot bluing salts as used in gunsmithing will blacken stainless. It just takes a bit longer, and a higher temperature. Temperature is mostly a gauge of concentration in hot bluing. The more salt, the higher the boiling temp. You start with a 'dilute' solution and cooler temperatures, and as ...

6061 strength, forging and heat treatment

Wooden Weapons