The Armour Archive

RalphS

A reducing fire burns much calmer than an oxidising one. Typical are long faint bluish flames or flametips, which is carbonmonoxide burning to carbondioxide. Dan, your suggestion about the point-heating is a good one, it just strikes me as a bit awkward (seen from an armouring point of view) to igno...

RalphS

There seems to be quite a big difference between "european" and "american" blacksmithing. Over here in Europe (in particular Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany) I have never seen the "cupola" fire which seems to be mandatory for US smithing. I guess it's just a different tradition. What I hav...

RalphS

Yes, I agree. But the proposed method with the brass pin is something I've never seen on mediaeval knives (which doesn't mean it never happened though). If you're worried about the blade coming loose, the protruding tang is a method which can be documented, though not common till some 100 years late...

RalphS

A better way would be to have a long tang protruding through the entire handle, add a butt-plate with hole, a washer, and rivet the tang through the washer.

RalphS

Hal, did you miss this picture? Gives an idea of how you can tie it if you're just transporting it. I don't recall seeing any pictures showing how it would be tied when worn.

RalphS

Yeah, must be because there's nobody around any more who can make good armour

I guess it's all about what the filmmakers expect the audience to expect.
We should take it upon ourselves to educate the masses!!!

RalphS

I'll start the bidding at $40 dollars. $40 you must be joking!!! What I see in this helmet is agony. Not just hours of it, but days. Waking at night with a scream, a glint of hope that this method may work to get the brim to sit where it's supposed to. I see mismatched rivet holes, dispite the fact...

RalphS

Beware of sharpening places that are not too experienced. I've seen "professionally" sharpened kitchen knives, which were horribly butchered. When sharpening them myself, I realised that the steel behaved in an unusual way, which just required a lot of patience. Apparently, the pro who tried to shar...

RalphS

Yep: make it in one piece, and raise it. Leave plenty of margin on the inside, I found it stretched quite a lot. If you don't mind welding, and can get a perfect weld, weld a truncated cone section and do the final raising to make it fit. Here's a picture of a brim done without a weld. I'd pick this...

RalphS

I have them on the shelf, last time I looked in them was several years ago. I think I paid $20 for the set of them, 10+ years ago, which I consider worth the money. It's a collection of articles, some outdated by now, others still relevant and interesting. There's a whole lot I just glanced over, bu...

RalphS

Hi Laurie, when you only "anneal" part way, it's tempering. I base my terminology on every conversation I've ever had with bladesmiths. I was under the impression that these terms are standard. Perhaps Thomas can clear this up. Nowadays, that is the accepted term. I've seen the use of the word "tem...

RalphS

As James already pointed out, many of the relatively modern alloying elements which give steel better properties, would not reduce at the relatively low temperatures obtained in a bloomery. Only with the advent of the blast furnace, where liquid (cast) iron was produced, would other elements like ma...

RalphS

Yeah, let's brand him with a mushroom stake!!!

RalphS

Use the flare to press the curve in the right shape. You'll have to stretch the flared part evenly over the entire length if you want to get an even curve. If you want a tighter curve, or even a bend, stretch the flare over a shorter distance. It's not easy to describe, but simply demonstrated. Prac...

RalphS

Thanks James for those comments. Yep, I'm asking for it, trying to learn something here!

Any other takers?

A few more pictures (whithout the shirt!!!):

RalphS

High gothic from Gotscha Lagidse. And I'd take the chance to help with the construction, press the price a bit, and learn a whole lot along the way.

RalphS

m m Tools: Various raising hammers, raising stakes Material: 2 mm mild steel, and 2 mm 1045 steel Pattern: octagonal, about 60 cm wide, trim as needed when coarse formed Some tips: Know what you want to make. Make a sketch, or have an image at hand. When raising, I always have a few profiles to chec...

RalphS

The bellows looks a bit odd. The bottom board is fixed but there seems to be a linkage to the top board so it would look a bit like the single action ones---but the lever seems to have another linkage as well and the middle board has a tab on it like it would be a solid board that gets pumped---per...

RalphS

With the shirt, it's difficult to judge. Better take some new pictures, but topless this time. Hmm... My very own Mandy... It looks like the bottom sections hang down a bit low which would prevent bending at the waist without the bottom digging into the stomach region, or the top coming up to the n...

RalphS

Thanks for the comments AB, exactly what I'm looking for! The waste was not wide enough, thus causing the angle up the side to point back to far. The shirt happened to fold over the metal when the pictures were taken. If (in the sideview picture) the line of the rivets is extended downwards, the end...

RalphS

http://www2.picard-hammer.de/
http://www.peddinghaus.de/
http://www.luna.se/
just to name a few places.

Contact a good hardware store (the oldfashioned kind that actually carries tools, they're pretty common in Europe at least), and talk with them about your needs. They have plenty of catalogs and should be able to find just the tools you need.

RalphS

The parts are temporarily attached with nuts and bolts, which are inserted and removed a lot during the fitting and forming stage. The central points (all 3 of them) will be cut and pierced into some nice pattern, the shape there now is just a placeholder. The fauld edge doesn't pinch, we tested thi...

RalphS

Erik (and Brian and Doug), may I make the proposal to consider funding of needy students by the ARS, in order to attend the conference? Let those who feel they have insufficient funds write a short proposal to the board of directors of the ARS, explaining why they would like to attend and what they ...

RalphS

The above combined with the fact that students don't make much money- let alone enough to travel, get a room, and pay what looks to be an exorbitantly high rate for one day's worth of talks is pretty outrageous. Strictly speaking, the only students "worthy" of such a discount, the ones who could co...

RalphS

However, I find it infuriating that an academic work such as this sells for $300 or more. That puts it out of the reach of most amateurs. I presume that there is much more to it than just printing costs. A few months ago I got my copy of Williams' book from Amazon. I knew more or less what to expec...

RalphS

Just a few thoughts and questions. You seem to strive for as authentic methods and results as possible. What about materials? I have no doubt that you know the difference between modern and mediaeval steel. Have you ever had the chance to work wrought iron (WI)? If so, you would also know that hotwo...

RalphS

It's fun to teach armouring! Look at what my new pupil has managed the past few days, her first project. I've learned almost as much as she has on this one, one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it Please hit me with your comments, in particular for the top part where there's quite a b...

RalphS

One thing to remember when comparing originals with modern reconstructions is the quality of the steel. I have worked a little bit with 19th c wrought iron, which should be quite similar to the mediaeval equivalent. Wrought iron (WI) will not raise easily. I have not tried this yet, but given the be...

RalphS

I bought a cheapish version of a rotary shear a couple of months ago, rated for 2 mm. I took a piece of mild steel to the shop where they sold it and tested it. No problem! So I went ahead nd bought it. After having used it for some time I found out some pros and cons: * both inside and outside curv...

RalphS

I've built my own knife heat-treating kiln/oven, electrically powered, with a simple pyrometer to keep an eye on the temperature. It's small and top-loading, since I want to be able to hang the knives to minimise warping. I've found that for this kiln, opening and closing doesn't remove much heat. H...

RalphS

Good point Ambrogio! But there are those cases when some kid whithout experience bangs together some piece of armour, spends weeks of time on it, and ends up with a horrible creation (to some degree, we've all been there I think. I have). Applying the math, or even simply taking burger-slinging wage...

RalphS

Here's someone who got a grant, not to make armour, but to break it!

http://www.materials.tudelft.nl/breastplate/index.htm

RalphS

Hmm, sounds a bit like me. Only I usually don't set any delivery dates. When someone orders something (usually a knife, dagger or helmet in my case) and asks how long it will take, I will mention the estimated number of hours, which also sets the price. The next question is usually: when will it be ...

RalphS

Half a stuffed sheep? Ah, no, never mind, you traded that one already, didn't you? No kiddin' Ugo, you'd be more than welcome over here!!! Though we don't have Mandy (tm), we can get you plenty of nice replacement models willing to wear your beautiful creations. I "caught" one last year who turned o...

RalphS

Peter Johnsson designed these swords, and I've had the pleasure to handle some of the swords Peter made, and some which were pre-production prototypes of the solingen sword. All of Peters swords are "alive" in a way. I have too little skill and knowledge to really appreciate a great sword, but it's ...

Female gothic