The Armour Archive

Kase Villand

To the original poster - the trouble with the billiard balls is that they'll shatter. Not the first time, but it won't take long. Wood has more "give" to it, so while they'll deform pretty fast, they won't turn into powder. Same thing for steel. You can use the bowling ball, but since it'll "squish"...

Kase Villand

Another agreement with Red. Your anvil will spend more time being used to hold up the stakes you'll be using. They're nice to have, but there's other stuff you'll be using more. There's a couple things in particular I'd specify... The horn of an anvil is a very useful shape, but if you have your fri...

Kase Villand

I'd recommend gluing leather to the grip-surface of the pliers. Grinding and sanding the teeth off the pliers will make their grip on the rings slip a lot, and you will be inventing curse words. Leather won't scratch, but will still provide a good grip. The other thing you will notice is that over t...

Kase Villand

I peel back the skin of the tube and apply it right to the wheel. Makes a huge mess. Then it only takes a minute or so for it to dry. I do have to apply it a couple times when polishing a larger piece, but it's no big deal. The other thing I've noticed about this product - If you're using it for mor...

Kase Villand

I used this product on the buckler I made for Sir Vitus. The thread is close to the top, so you can find the pics easy enough. Granted, that was mild steel, but the steps are the same. I started with wire wheel, then went to 80, 120, 200, 400 grit. It was pretty shiny after that. After the 400 pass,...

Kase Villand

The inside is painted matte black. Outside finish was wire-wheel, then buffing wheel with polishing compound working from 80 grit up to 400. After that, Formax's Black Magic. I was surprised that it achieved that shine, despite the repousse work.

Kase

Kase Villand

Raito - yep, that's it.

Kase Villand

*ahem* you got the thing, right? I'm not blowing the surprise? Good. Tvetree here commissioned a buckler for Sir Vitus, and it was delivered to him late last week. Tvetree was very patient with me - the agreement was set in November, but fortunately he understood when I told him I honestly didn't kn...

Kase Villand

Re-read what Caladin said. Every piece looks like crap at some point in the process, and it's usually sooner rather than later. There are 'how-to' videos posted here, and progress pics series. Have a look at them- it makes you feel a lot better when you see a master post progress pics and they look ...

Kase Villand

If you have a flat hammering surface, you can dish on it some, as Raito said - it'll take some practice, but there's a few threads that talk about it. Run a search if you're interested. A couple guys here think that helmet bowls were formed on a flat hammering surface, but I'm not quite good enough ...

Kase Villand

I agree with above. The shaping of a complex curve of a breastplate- even if it is just a gentle dish- will be hard to achieve with a rolled edge. You'll flatten your roll out while you're dishing. The vambrace, on the other hand, is a good example of when rolling the edge first won't be so bad. One...

Kase Villand

Inspirational.

Kase

Kase Villand

Great work so far! Working with leather and cloth is still a weak point for me- I plan on trying to build a coat of plates or a piece like yours to learn how to conquer the materials. ... and by the way, when your title said "punching plate" the first image I had was of you duct-taping a failed atte...

Kase Villand

I second the half-ball mushroom thoughts. Giles has one in his shop, and it's a hassle to manouver around as it is. I can't imagine it being twice as heavy.

It's a handy thing to have around, though. Makes rough-forming helmets a breeze.

Kase

Kase Villand

Jiri, someday you'll have to build something that is NOT beautiful, so we can be sure you are still human. Very impressive work. Can't wait to see the finished kit!

Kase

Kase Villand

I picked up a little ThermalArc 95S after finishing my night-course on welding, and it works great. The box is not much larger than an auto-battery charger, weighs 10lbs or so, and it'll do SMAW as well as TIG. I'd recommend TIG for maille, stainless or not (just not galvanized, please!) It'll weld ...

Kase Villand

At our shop, there's an old Mattock head that we drop into the hardy hole of an anvil. Works wonders.

Kase Villand

This happens to me quite a bit. If your intention is to continue doming until the workpiece has the same amount of curve as your doming form- bottoming it out, as it were- then you can continue doing your pass and it will straighten your piece out. What is happening (at least, this is what happens t...

Kase Villand

How do we contact you to arrange a meet? I'm not acquainted with Gruber, and don't know how to get ahold of him... I live in Madison, and would kick myself for passing up a chance to meet!

Kase

Kase Villand

Basic dishing can be done in two ways, and one may not bother yor wrist at all. The first way is to use a large, rounded, possibly soft face hammer the way you'd think of swinging any other hammer. This will incur at least a little bit of impact stress, although it you practice at it, you can do it ...

Kase Villand

Someone once told me field medics in Vietnam made a lot of use of super glue. My old band's drummer thought I was nuts when I used it- he was sure I'd get gangrene or something- but it never happened.

Kase Villand

My own non-pro-armorer thought; If you're planning on making production-level armor, you'll have to find something that sets you apart from the other guys who are doing it. Stonekeep, for example, is very efficient at it. You'll be going head-to-head with guys like him. If you're making higher-end s...

Kase Villand

I suppose I could cut a 30" diameter blank and recreate the shields from 300. Wouldn't want to do those out of 18ga though, I wouldn't think. Anyone know off-hand about how thick those greeks (the real ones) made their shields? Or if they were bronze instead of wood? I've spent so much time studying...

Kase Villand

These are 10" diameter.

Kase Villand

Aethelmearc~ http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/dymaxian/FencingShield-Aethelmearc01b.jpg Atlantia~ (my daughter's favorite- she says he looks cute and angry) http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/dymaxian/FencingShield-Atlantia01b.jpg Caid~ http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/dymaxian...

Kase Villand

MadMatt- that's a good idea! I've been wrestling w/ how to keep it from looking croc-like... making it look like a bearded dragon was my best idea so far, but I like yours better. I won't be working on him for a bit, got another 12 shields to build before Pennsic. Thanks for the kind words, all! Kase

Kase Villand

OXX - yes, I do sell these with the help of a friend of mine. He'll have a bunch of his own stuff for sale at Pennsic, and has asked me to make one for each kingdom. I'll be making one for Gleann Abhan soon, but I can crank out an extra one for you if you like. PM me if you're interested.

Kase Villand

Greetings all! Went on vacation, and apparently the camera battery charger was a casualty of our trip... we had just enough juice in it to get a couple pictures snapped off. Here's the shield for An Tir. http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/dymaxian/AnTirFencingShield01b.jpg http://i298.photobuc...

Kase Villand

I think you're doing great. Certainly looks cleaner than my first attempt. One thing I find myself doing when working from the back, getting the depth I need, is to push the metal a little farther than I need to. This way I can se a planishing hammer on the next pass from the front, and get a much m...

Kase Villand

Nakos- My plan with Giles was to make a 16ga buckler for heavy combat with what I would guess you refer to as the Calatrava image chased into it. I think it'll be one of the more elegant in the set- can't skip it just because they don't recognize the fencing rules. Also... you think there'd be inter...

Kase Villand

I've had some success on other projects using a length of wire inside the roll. It really only takes 16ga to keep the sheet metal from going completely flat. Anything bigger than that, I fear, would add too much weight and make the piece clumsy to use. As far as the auto body hammers go, I know how ...

Kase Villand

aegidius- don't feel bad. When Raito saw the compass rose shield I had done first, his initial reaction was "Wow! You finished something!" sfDuck - The rolled edges on these are tricky, mainly because you're compressing the metal all the way around the shield and it's trying really hard to wrinkle t...

Kase Villand

Thanks all for the compliments! Losthelm and Hal: It's 18ga mild steel, starting life as a 10" diameter disk, getting about 10 minutes of dishing with the bowling ball and then a rolled edge. After that, it's all about the chasing punches. I'll try to get a back picture- Giles is working on getting ...

Kase Villand

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/dymaxian/FencingShield-Midrealm-01.jpg http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/dymaxian/FencingShield-Midrealm-02.jpg This one ended up having almost no work from the back, so I can't honestly call it repousse... but it still turned out pretty cool. Using t...

Kase Villand

Greetings! My family will be taking a bit of a road trip in May, down near Jonesboro, AK and ending up with relatives in Memphis. Any archivers within range of there?

Kase

Buckler for Sir Vitus

More repousse shields! - added a few more- 03Jul09

Chased fencing shield for the Midrealm folks...

armourers near Memphis/Jonesboro?