The Armour Archive

The Iron Dwarf

normally round head nails are quite soft, try using a ball pein hammer and hitting each side of the end down straight, dont try to do it in one or two blows and you should get a nice mushroom head. practice on scrap metal first. the holes should be a close fit on the rivet shank most riveting tools ...

The Iron Dwarf

great work Matt

The Iron Dwarf

that is a nice large 'clevis grab hook', used to shorten chains and slings.
most I see are only half as big

The Iron Dwarf

I may actually have tea and crumpets tonite

but now it is early morning here so soon time to put on the bowler hat and carrying a copy of the times to read during a tea break and a brolly in case of inclement weather, to head off to work.

The Iron Dwarf

I know of one reenactor who lives there who may be able to help, he posts on the living history.co.uk forum and has been to a few events here.
other than that I cant help much.

The Iron Dwarf

testing, can I now post here?

The Iron Dwarf

I dont use it often as im more into fabrication and presswork than forging but it has saved me a lot of work on a few jobs. others use it more often specially Alun. on another point the next course will be on the 17th april if anyone is interested. please contact Alunwalker@mac.com for more details

The Iron Dwarf

it is a sahindler (sp) sm50, think it is turkish but am not sure, it belongs to Alun

The Iron Dwarf

it is a stake you hammer into the ground with a socket or rings on it so a pole for a banner or anything else can be put in it I make some 4' tall with 2 rings in a choice of sizes but I am on the wrong continent for most people here. http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/banner-stake-medieval-re-enactment-fl...

The Iron Dwarf

training minions can be hard and finding the right ones in the first place ( and some of them actually expect to be paid in some form or other ) which of course is against your religion just like those in yorkshire. as the old saying goes.... it is easier for a camel to pass water through the eye of...

The Iron Dwarf

I was not anything to do with the course, alun would have offered them all the gear I expect and it is up to people what they wear.
also most anvils there are not that loud ( but we do have to complain about the noise from the recording studio in the same building quite often

).

The Iron Dwarf

Suzerain wrote:Damn, pics like this make me wish I had hands that bloody well worked properly... :/

lots of envy.

we do not always hammer things by hand ( not when we have the power hammer ) or maybe you need to train someone to assist you who can do the things you cant

The Iron Dwarf

PB look at the forges I list on ebid, with those I easily get a fire 12" diameter ( and that is not counting the bits of it below 1500c ) could spread it further if I wanted. with the standard tue with a single hole just under 1/2" and fuel to level with the top of the forge is what I reco...

The Iron Dwarf

hrolf wrote:Nice setup.

why are you wrecking your ears?

I am not, im not even in the pix.

The Iron Dwarf

the forge you see is the second forge I ever made, it is the same design as the 24" square ones but a bigger tray. it is just over 8' long with a single tue at each end and a triple in the middle for a really big fire. it is constructed like the rest from 3mm thick steel ( about 1/8" ) but...

The Iron Dwarf

you would both be welcome anytime, I would get the beer and bacon in

the green thing on the right in the last pic is our powerhammer, 50kg / 120lb and 220 strokes per min, may get a few pix of it working next time

The Iron Dwarf

for such specialist armour as webbed sabs I can recommend another armourer, try pitbull as he has armoured a squirrel before and several dogs.

you may need to use stainless or Ti as otherwise rust could be a major problem

The Iron Dwarf

A pm I sent recently was replied to so maybe there is a problem somewhere else

The Iron Dwarf

this weekend we had some people round to use the forge, one of them was Nick from here in the pictures you will see Alun, the blacksmith I share the place with ( mostly in an orange jacket ) and Nick with the brown apron, also some of the time we were joined by Russel from another forum in the grey ...

The Iron Dwarf

there are cast dishing forms an sale on this forum LLewlyn gododin I think is the name of the maker but they may require some finishing. there are Halberds dishing donuts that are ready to use and Hal also does hammers. if you were this side of the pond I can supply a range of dishing forms but ship...

The Iron Dwarf

there must be enough SCA people here to look out for armour like this at events that if there has not been a thread showing it or mentioning it since I joined this forum that there is probably none of it in use at SCA events and maybe none in use for other sorts of fighting either. maybe we should a...

The Iron Dwarf

+ lots

at least it is good for a laugh though

wonder what other sage advice they have for metalworking

The Iron Dwarf

I use one of the blue hand tools as well as a much thinner brass handled one, depending on which blade you fit you can do both sides on that too.
as im left handed I use the S30 hd blade for most things

The Iron Dwarf

maybe due to weight you should try titanium

The Iron Dwarf

I am thinking a very large radius would be desirable, may ask a friend with a cnc lathe small stuff in steel I have done by holding an angle grinder fitted with a flap disc to the work in my lathe though I can see that melting the nylon, think I will ask my sister who is into wood turning. got a pip...

The Iron Dwarf

I have a lathe though would have to do a dome by hand on it and am no expert

The Iron Dwarf

I have some suitable fittings for maybe a large hide mallet and may have a go at it.
next need to find some rawhide for the faces of it or will maybe try wood or nylon, in fact this could make of mallets with extra weight if needed added inside

The Iron Dwarf

I doubt we will be able to get that here, is it online too.

a malleable iron ( i presume ) unequal T with the smaller thread being the handle and you could screw in one side of the head then fill with shot I expect before fitting the other side

The Iron Dwarf

this weekend 12th and 13th march, contact alunwalker@mac.com now for more details

The Iron Dwarf

I am going to try something for tool protection in storage and transit I will mix some microcrystalline wax with oil and either dip or paint on hot the result onto working parts of tools so they should get an oily coating with a wax shell that can be peeled off. similar to the wax used on cutting to...

The Iron Dwarf

ask Mad Matt, am sure he would know of a supplier

The Iron Dwarf

I will try to document it here, it will be summer before I even get it and the reason for restoring this one is I think it is quite old even by anvil terms am collecting a few now have a 100lb peter wright ( forged ) a 15lb record ( modern cast iron rubbish ) a 10lb forged one and 2 of my home made ...

The Iron Dwarf

I have just rehomed an abused anvil, will be restoring it later when it arrives, will be a while as I am too mean to pay for all the fuel to drive right to the south west tip of this country to collect it so in the summer a friend from there is coming here and he will bring it http://parristractors....

The Iron Dwarf

cheer up Hal, bet you dont envy the amount of work needed on that anvil. at a guess it weighs about 150 pounds. first I will grind off the 2 big lumps welded on to the sides. then grind out the weld where it is cracked at least an inch and probably more in depth and width. then I will try with some ...

The Iron Dwarf

nice, we have 2 like that about 4 foot long at work, got them for about 60 uk pounds ( $ 110 maybe ) each a couple of years ago but they are not in as good condition. I have just bought another small anvil to restore, think it is quite old but needs some major work on it. it has a crack in the middl...

Re: rivets

Re: 1470's German Cuirass commission completed, lotsa pics!

Re: New tool possibility

Re: it works ( I hope )

Re: Anything to see in Prague?

it works ( I hope )

a few pix from my place