The Armour Archive

Thomas Powers

It's a lot easier to repair a seam than to patch a rip, the thread should be *weaker* than the cloth!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Back from my business trip to Germany and Italy, I'll see about getting some pics.

it looked a lot more impressive with the double lunged bellows but I had to give that away as shipping my shop was closing in on US$5000.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

That's not a forge weld in the picture of the guard. Forge welds of pieces like that come down into tight "slits" as they go to the weld not some lumpy mass.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Foot powered grinders are really only good for minor ammounts of stock removal. The ones that were so popular on farms were used to sharpen stuff rather than "gind" stuff. The factories of 200 years ago used *large* (8' diameter or more) grinding wheels run by waterwheels for their grinding to get t...

Thomas Powers

The work hardened area is only where it is deformed by the chisel, most of this will disappear when you clean up the edge with file or grinder, it should not affect rolling the edge unless you are trying to bend the very outside of the edge, say the last mm or two. Which is not done in the rolling I...

Thomas Powers

Their check clearing the bank?

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Ahh like my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's axe we've replaced the handle 15 times and the head 3 times but it an heirloom! A side point is that many folks think of medieval stuff as heavy and crude because that's what survived! The delicate ladies chair sho...

Thomas Powers

"The Knight and the Blast Furnace", Alan Williams very important *recently* published work on the metallurgy of armour Not medieval but "THE ROYAL ARMOURY AT GREENWICH 1515-1649: A HISTORY OF ITS TECHNOLOGY" Williams, A. & Reuck, A. is another work on how it was made How about Heroic Armor of the It...

Thomas Powers

May I commend to your attention "Masterpieces" a book on building furniture as shown in paintings. Most of the paintings are medieval and renaissance and each project comes with plans cutting list and order of work. Note the methods used are modern so don't be afraid. MASTERPIECES. Making Furniture ...

Thomas Powers

Does the term "Natural gas forge" cause any neurons to fire? Cheaper than propane to run but built in much the same way. A blown version is simpliest to build.

If your gas piping is steel and you have checked for leaks there is no reason not to have gas in the shop along with a forge.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

That's the one! I had a friend who wore one like that for an 'early" photo shoot. I would think that the twiki encyclopedia may be in error there... in general when folks document stuff off the net my reply is "Give me 1/2 and hour and I'll have documentation that you're pregnant with Elvis' baby" T...

Thomas Powers

Fleamarkets, junkstores, garage sales. learn to re-handle and buy handles at the same locations when they are cheap---lear to judge a handle for flaws. I have bought a lot of $1 handles that had only minor cosmetic flaws---and turned down a lot that looked great but had bad grain run-out. Learn how ...

Thomas Powers

Cause the "tourists" expect it to look old, IIRC

Sort of like folks making pieces for SCA A&S and then distressing them to look just like the ones in the museum rather than the one their 'persona" bought last week at the market.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

There is an example of the "knot" on one of the bog finds. I ran across it lately while shelving books in our library---less than 100 boxes left to go! (then we get to arrange them in a sembelance of order rather than "medieval", Spinning, Metalworking, house building, etc) I can probably dig out th...

Thomas Powers

For some of the new folk I'd just like to point out that the horned helmet and the piece with the eyes in the "bat wings" *are* based on period pieces---I bet that most folk here can identify the ones they are based on. Very impressive, after reading the Negroli book I was more inclined to slitting ...

Thomas Powers

Doesn't have to be a steel I beam---James the butcher's was fastened into the massive wooden crossbeam in his basement.... If I was building my shop around one I would cast a tube into the floor that an english wheel with a "foot" could mount in to both make it stable under lateral loads and movable...

Thomas Powers

The pitches used to line wine skins made the 'traditional" way in Spain and Greece, smell and taste of the pine tars they are made from---may take a decade or two to tone it down for use by folks without the liking for tarry wine... I believe that modern "brewer's pitch" is an artificial item made t...

Thomas Powers

What Kind of armour work do you want to use the anvil for? If it's just for a flat plate get one from the scrapyard that you can keep mirrored polished. In general grinding can take off too much of the plate but you can "smooth the surface" with a belt sander. Many old anvils have some sway to them ...

Thomas Powers

Re you interested in the Conquest of the Americas or the Reconquista---driving the "moors" out of Spain that ended in 1492?

If the first have you seen "Dogs of the Conquest" a book from the OK Univ press on the use of dogs in warfare in the Americas.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Ralph, the bit about chromium in mineral pills is not germain as it's the *form* it takes that may make a difference. Take Hydrogen, Carbon and Nitrogen all nice elements we have in our bodies and part of what we eat. So would you be willing to consume a bunch of HCN???? If so will you put in your w...

Thomas Powers

Strongbow; perhaps the structure of the metal could reflect if it had been heated to high temps for a considerable ammount of time *after* forging was over---grain growth. Josh, most armour is found in armouries, nicely storred. most arrowheads are found in the ground well corroded. I don't recall a...

Thomas Powers

Ashgate has been a bit slow in publishing proceedings. I was at that ICMS, (37th IIRC) and am eagerly waiting for the proceedings to be published.

iron bodkins, iron armour---btw mild steel is *not* "hard steel" but rather soft, "mild" steel.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Pictures mon we must have pictures!!!!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Maeryk, there is an example of a wheeled toy used by american indians; but with the lack of roads it did not seem to catch on for larger use.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Well you *want* your cannonballs to shatter on impact doing a lot more damage than one neat hole through a piece of wood. I was once asked to remove a structure (an old outhouse) with my falconette and found that we had nice neat opposing holes until we hit a corner brace of heavier woods *then* we ...

Thomas Powers

Don't use treated lumber for anything that will come in contact with human skin!!!!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

IIRC "Cathedral Forge and Waterwheel", Gies and Gies, mentions smiths starting to use coal rather than charcoal in the high to late middle ages, *however* charcoal was not supersceeded and even today is one of the most popular fuels for smithing---think 3rd world. (Coal had been used previously for ...

Thomas Powers

Justin, is this the Royal Armoury in Leeds; or the one in Madrid; or the one in ...

(I know, but theyre are folks who don't out there...)

Thomas

Thomas Powers

The ones I've seen home built for armour work are a *lot* beefier in construction. That one looks like it's based on the "light gauge car panel" english wheels.

I think the frame for the last one I saw was made from 4-6" sq tubing heavily welded with gussets. It used steel wheels too.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

I don't recall if snowmen are in it but there are several renaissance pictures of winter scenes in the low countries with children playing games in the snow---I do remember throwing snowballs was one of them. Unfortunatley I just got back from visiting my parents who amassed a good colection of book...

Thomas Powers

First of all you need to remove any modern tooling marks, (circular saw marks, planer marks, etc) This is best done by working over all surfaces of the wood using period tools. For my mastermyr chest I foiund an old oak barn board in a creek and then adzed the sides clean. Next leave to weather, you...

Thomas Powers

it works very well, I use it for both charcoal and coal, hand crank blower and double lunged bellows. The legs are pipe with a bend on the end and can be removed for transport. The two open ends have pieces of metal that drop into holders to act as ends and fire control or can be removed for working...

Thomas Powers

If you can build your own I think that the pre-made one is overpriced by about $250. I've been smithing for over 20 years now and my current portable forge is made from a rectangular piece of 14 ga sheetmetal with the long two edges folded up a couple of inches. My firepot is towards one end and was...

Thomas Powers

Bitumeous cokes up nicely holding the heat in the fire, it doesnpot require a constant blast and so is easier to use in a reducing fire set up which helps keep the work from scaling up. Anthracite is harder to light and to keep burning. No it is NOT lignite that smith's use. However smiths being an ...

Thomas Powers

I have eaten crow enough that I try not to make ex cathedra statements, (pause to let laughter subside) there is always that 1 new find that opens a loophole---like the crucible steel found in a saxon context. One small find vs literally tons of other stuff but now we can't say it was *never* there....