The Armour Archive

Gustovic

I've seen plenty of high resolution photos of vervelles from the Metropolitan, Goll, etc. and it looks like there were multiple ways of making them. Can you post links? I think we can have a more meaningful discussion about the making of vervelles if we are all looking at the same things. Mac I nev...

Gustovic

Also, project for next fall (September/October), is gonna be to build a working bench on which I would sit for filing and cleaning the pieces, since holding helmets between my legs is not the most suitable of ideas (even though it worked, so far =) ).

Gustovic

It was not my idea. It was a suggestion from a friend of mine here at Uni. I came to the conclusion that this is not the case, since if they were forge welded the hole would be drop shaped, while the examples I managed to examine have a quite sharp hole. Edit: basically the operation would be this: ...

Gustovic

Yes, the round ones. Of course they could be done by hand and after a while one could become pretty efficient at making them, but having a set of simple dies is not out of the realm of possibility from medieval blacksmithing technology. Just making the rough shape with a single hammer hit and then f...

Gustovic

wcallen, I read Dupras' thesis and Williams' analysis, so at least the basics are covered =). Unfortunately I can't right away have a perfectly historically accurate XIVth century workshop, but I'm getting there. Slowly but steadily I'm building my own tools, trying to get as close as possible to th...

Gustovic

See "bench leg vise" or "woodworking bench vise" and you will probably find some that work by pressing a bar with your foot, as well as many that seem to blend into the bench leg to which they are mounted and on which they depend for their mechanism to work. You would quite be able to come up with ...

Gustovic

Thomas Powers wrote:Why do you need a metal screw when a wedge, (Known in Antiquity!), will work?

What ere you referring to? Using workbenches and holdfasts to keep the pieces on place? Or actual "vices" using wedges to clamp down the pieces?

Gustovic

From what I know, metal screws get developed in the XVth century. Also, I never seen a vise in medieval artwork nor seen them mentioned in armouries inventories of the time.

Gustovic

Tomorrow or on Monday I'll try with the sticks and the sand. I'll let you know how it goes.

Gustovic

Oh yes, I should have specified that I won't be using any modern tool. This means anything post 1400 won't do. Not even a vice

.

And I'd prefer to stick with iron, as it seems (at least from the surviving pieces) it was far more common than latten.

Gustovic

Good day everyone. I'm in the process of making vervelles for a small bascinet, and encountered some problems. My first thought was to create a pair of dies and then take a rod and but it between them and hammer it down. That would create the shape of the head and partly punch the hole. But then a f...

Gustovic

Oh yeah, I remember those, but I thought they were only for mirror polishing. What shall I use for grit? Sand?

Gustovic

Thanks. It has been all filed by hand.

It lacks the last finishing pass though, as I'm trying to find a substitute for sandpaper, using sandstones. I managed to find some old sharpening stones, but I need finer ones. Any suggestion where to find suitable ones?

Gustovic

All the holes have been punched and filed by hand, of course.

Now I only have to find a way to forge vervelles. Any suggestion?

Gustovic

A shop rate of $100/hr. seems excessive for all but the highest skilled armourers. Some examples of hourly rates: Machine shops have shop rates of $65 to $75/hr. Construction: $50 to $75/hr. Software engineer: $37.50/hr. (No overhead in this figure) These are based on how much overhead you carry co...

Gustovic

Filing time!

Gustovic

Take into account that a suit of that kind would have been very likely gilt in gold (very expensive) and/or polished (which, by dr. Capwell, constitutes 75% of an armour's cost). We are talking about A LOT of decoration. Kingly stuff was weird and super fancy. A suit of armour of the same protective...

Gustovic

So, in which economical context are we? North American? Southern European? Northern European? Asian?

Gustovic

And finally, after 7 months, I managed to produce a helmet without cracks, thin areas and other aberrations. http://i.imgur.com/UpWwS6u.jpg http://i.imgur.com/PFtycyz.jpg http://i.imgur.com/BUFI6dP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/b6guUxI.jpg Also thanks to this big boy http://i.imgur.com/vB4OUe3.jpg http://i...

Gustovic

Last stage of shaping.

Gustovic

The bascinet coming along

Gustovic

....the upper back defense still confuses me We're all confused. Someone (not me) needs to make up a pinterest page of every image that can be found of early back defenses as well as all extant plates. Perhaps then we can come to a better understanding of them. Ask and you shall receive. https://ww...

Gustovic

No, that book is out of print. But you can find it in other ways (ahem)...

Gustovic

Here it is with the adjusted measurements

Gustovic

This guy, 1377
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/894/2606/

Gustovic

I had little fun with the light table (Mac, I'm looking at you) while sketching for my first commission (yay!). The client wants a late XIVth century sugarloaf paired with a small secret. So I had to improvise and use the Pembridge helm as a starting point to male the pointy top. The front view has ...

Gustovic

For the original pieces, I would suggest you to check out our facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/576077609195451/

which basically contains the pictures from my pinterest pages, plus some stats (weight, material, thickness, size, etc...)
https://www.pinterest.com/aboerbront/

Gustovic

I will try mac, but I can't assure you anything =).

Gustovic

Be careful, these pictures shouldn't exist in the first place, so hush hush. Very nice details here https://plus.google.com/photos/+FrancescoDeCassai/albums/6156891843301688705?authkey=CIbejLSJ3-PDVw Straps on the side for the faulds of a corazzina http://i.imgur.com/3zQ1de3.jpg And just very nice d...

Gustovic

This should be useful http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~dispater/ ... 2b2mpovr7n

Gustovic

Hello. Good and bad news. On my fifth attempt I found out that material in the back area is very thin, leading to a hole while filing away the cracks. So I decided to cut the helm open and see what happened. This is the top half http://i.imgur.com/oVZSOJO.jpg This is the skull front left http://i.im...

Gustovic

I'd love to have one, one day, but unfortunately my pockets are empty.

Perhaps I can tempt you to trade with pieces of armour

?

Gustovic

No, I didn't.

But I think I should, as in the beginning the heavy hammering leaves marks that eventually will become compression cracks.

So I think I'll have to round the edges of the peen a little bit, so it bites less into the metal.

Gustovic

I use a 1.5 Kg hammer.
It's a swedish hammer.

After the first hours you get used to it. 3mm is not that much, actually. Next step I want to try is 3mm spring steel. Now that's gonna be interesting =).

Gustovic

Well, mine is a bascinet and I'm starting from 3mm flat sheet. And I'm working alone.
Is that sallet one of those pre-raised pieces you did in the batch?

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