The Armour Archive

Keegan Ingrassia

Ma'am, if I may...most C.O.P.s need little, if any, modification. Solid breastplates shouldn't need any modification at all, unless you are very amply gifted. The globose shape of breastplates put air space precisely where you'll need it, if it's made with any quality at all.

Keegan Ingrassia

What, no handy-dandy vector illustration?

Keegan Ingrassia

Didn't see it...is the shield wooden or aluminum?

Keegan Ingrassia

Sure. Any sufficient heat source...if you have it.

Keegan Ingrassia

For those of us who will be unable to attend, will the sessions be recorded and made available for purchase?

Keegan Ingrassia

Hey, welcome back to it! :D You could probably get away with some Weiss snips for light gauge metal, but I'd want a throatless shear for cutting anything out of stainless. Benefit of the shear, besides it's all-out usefulness, is that it's the quietest way to cut metal. If you don't want to sacrific...

Keegan Ingrassia

It'll be 16g. I have a similar set of arms and spaulders from the same armorer.

Keegan Ingrassia

Yessir. If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can simply select the images, right click, and save them as jpegs, then attach them here in the usual manner. If you have Adobe Reader, you can try to copy and paste the image into a program like Paint or Photoshop, then save as an image and attach here. Ho...

Keegan Ingrassia

Here you go, Mac.

: Figure 1; Figure I.jpg (52.05 KiB) Viewed 693 times

: Figure 2; Figure 2.jpg (65.55 KiB) Viewed 5 times

: Figure 3; Figure 3.jpg (16.31 KiB) Viewed 5 times

Keegan Ingrassia

Mac, you might not need to worry about the width of the key bow in relation to the toggle. Looking at the first two images, it's more a relation between the toggle and the major link at the head of the chain. As long as the toggle is secure through that, the keys can safely jangle along the loop of ...

Keegan Ingrassia

No worries, Shojuro.

Welcome, and great work on your first attempt.

Sadly, Effingham is no longer around to give you feedback, but you might find his website helpful.
http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/

Keegan Ingrassia

Shojuro, you need to realize that if we give you feedback that isn't glowing with praise, we're trying to help you improve your kit and make it even better. It's not a knock on your current efforts, which are excellent.

Keegan Ingrassia

You certainly can. That or a small slab of sheet steel lying around, reshaped a bit with a grinder.

Keegan Ingrassia

Mm...looks like a complete set, including the turnkey. There's a punch and die out, but they're in the frame of the 5Jr.

Keegan Ingrassia

Wade, do you think that exact problem in reproduction helmets is very likely a byproduct of their dished and welded construction? After all, it's much easier to have the wide spot higher when you start from a flat sheet and work down and around, than trying to push and stretch the metal outwards to ...

Keegan Ingrassia

True. There's a used 5Jr on eBay right now, with all its punch and die set, sitting at $10 bucks.

Keegan Ingrassia

Honestly, given the options, I would take the money you would spend on the benchtop Grizzly-brand knockoff model, and buy an actual Roper Whitney #5jr. It will last you the rest of your life if you take care of it. Anything that it can't punch safely, use a drill and some cutting oil. If you find yo...

Keegan Ingrassia

Isn't the bycocket just the perfect shape for a napping shade?

Love it!

Keegan Ingrassia

That was quite well done! Very nice quality to both the audio and the video. I think it gave a good overview for the running time. Personally, I missed having a better shot of your foundation garments, and then a full-body shot showcasing your range of movement, but I don't think that the lack of th...

Keegan Ingrassia

If you're going with the grizzly, get the heavier, table-top version. I can guarantee you that the handheld version will not do the same tonnage as the whitney. I have one, and can attest to that.

Keegan Ingrassia

Hey! This is the knockoff punch that Harbor Freight used to carry! Same paint and everything.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Portabl ... unch/G8780

That thing will do 16g. all day. The larger one, I don't have any experience with.

Keegan Ingrassia

Well, here's a link to kaowool. https://secure.anvilfire.com/page.php?theLocation=/Resources/Product/Thermal_Ceramics/Kaowool_RT.xml/ And refractory bricks. https://secure.anvilfire.com/page.php?theLocation=/Resources/Product/Forge_Parts/Split_Refractory_Bricks.xml/ Oh, and here's a thread on buildi...

Keegan Ingrassia

Yes. I've done it. It doesn't like it, but it can do it. However, when you punch over its limit, you run a greater risk of damaging the punch or its dies. For instance, I haven't blunted any dies, but I have bent the frame of my knockoff R-W 5jr.

Keegan Ingrassia

Oh, not at all. Punches are glorious to use: the hole is knocked out instantly, and its clean . Hands-down the best tool for the job. But you have to make sure you don't try to punch a metal thicker than it can bear, or you risk blunting or cracking your punch dies. With the knockoff R-W 5 jr. (from...

Keegan Ingrassia

A punch that can handle 14 gauge will take care of everything except heavy-duty helmets. Gorgets, cuirass, legs, spaulders, arms, gauntlets...all fall within the 14-22g. range.

Keegan Ingrassia

Minimum of 16g. A 12 gauge limit would get you through all limb armor, most body armor, and a good portion of helmet edges.

Keegan Ingrassia

He'll peddle it off elsewhere to some unfortunate, uninformed buyer. Either on someplace like eBay, or in his local meatspace.

Keegan Ingrassia

Harbor Freight used to sell a knockoff Roper, but they don't carry them anymore. Not for the last couple years, now. Oddly enough, Michael's art store has a knockoff in their jewelry making section. I can't attest to its quality, but it looks exactly like the HF version. For 40 bucks, not a bad inve...

Keegan Ingrassia

Hm? No, I made my own. But Eff made pretty much every other good-looking avatar of arms.

Oh, critch, for pictures of people's kits, do a search for Show Us Your Kit 2014. There are also previous years.

Keegan Ingrassia

A green scotch-brite scrubbie pad, a bit of oil (or WD40) and moving in little polishing circles. The longer you do it, the deeper the finish looks. Initially it just looks like a bunch of scratches and scrapes, but it smoothes out into a very nice non-directional satin finish.

Keegan Ingrassia

The SCA has a very extensive set of guidelines for making armor and weapons. www.sca.org/officers/marshal/docs/marshal_handbook.pdf The SCA is also a group focused on recreating history. The full statement reads: "The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international organization dedicated to res...

Keegan Ingrassia

Whoo, lots of questions. Lesse... As to plate armor being more protective than splint. Absolutely. Moving through the 14th century from one end to another, you can actually see the evolution from full mail to full plate. A medieval arms race, also spurred on by the ability to successfully make large...

Keegan Ingrassia

Small update this morning; all the finger lames and brass gadlings for the right gauntlet have received their final polish. Need to sand and polish the fingertips and thumbs. I am also going to go back and refinish the metacarpal plates. I was being lazy, and had skipped straight from an 80 grit to ...

Keegan Ingrassia

Thanks for the clarification, Wade! My brain wasn't putting my thoughts into words all that well this morning. I couldn't bring to mind specific examples...my focus is generally earlier than the advent of gorgets...but I was pretty sure that the order shifted through the centuries.

Keegan Ingrassia

critch wrote:You put the neck piece on before the cuirass and back? Is it supposed to go under the chest piece or sit on the top of the chest?

Now that you ask, most plate armor that comes to mind has the plate gorget over the cuirass. Sorry about that.

Re: Getting back on the field (armor ideas)

Re: Rawhide or leather shield edging?

Re: Rawhide or leather shield edging?

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: Dr. Toby Capwell Lectures on Arms and Armor in So Cal

Re: New, old member getting back into armouring...

Re: Mild Steel 14th Century Arms

Re: Fingers on mid 14th Gauntlets

Re: Fingers on mid 14th Gauntlets

Re: Experiments in key chains/rings.

Re: First attempts

Re: First attempts

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: Milanese harness in progress, currently making an armet

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: Pics that would inspire new guys. (UPDATE 8/31/2011)

Re: How a man shall be armed: New video for your considerati

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: propane forge or OA torch hot work

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: Whitney Hole Punch

Re: Pig Face Bascinet

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: Mild steel mirror finish to satin finish?

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: Some new tools, and a new project - hourglass gauntlets

Re: First Helmet Tips

Re: First Helmet Tips