The Armour Archive

Thomas Powers

The bucket and well sweep is the "traditional" way to get water from a well. A bucket on a rope or chain and a crank to draw it up. My great Grandmother's house had one for a drilled well. The bucket looked like a section of round downspout with a hinged flaper on the bottom so it would fill when dr...

Thomas Powers

The baking process might draw temper to a softer value; but it will not re-normalize as I know of no paint or powder coating that requires you to heat the steel till it glows to bake it. This note brought to you by the "let's keep our jargon straight so as to not confuse new people" committee Thomas

Thomas Powers

From the osmund furnace no doubt...I think we are talking a bit earlier than that though. I've seen some african chunks of bloomery iron that were a roundish ball with two opposing projections drawn out long and thin---demonstrates it's not cast iron as it can be forged out. There were for sale at a...

Thomas Powers

How deep and large is the well? The bucket and well sweep was a common method.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

While white oak is somewhat close to the european oaks, black walnut is quite a bit different from the european walnuts---and is quite expensive. I would not suggest spening the extra money to look less like what was actually used.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Boy are you lucky! "De Re Metallica", Agricola, from the 1500's must have a dozen or so different types of pumps that were used to drain mines. All very neatly drawn so that they could be easily duplicated. For a bit earlier I believe our good leonardo Da Vinci sketched some pumps. There are several...

Thomas Powers

Just a quibble "ingots" are cast and they were not casting iron at that period in Europe. Billets are forged though the term blooms may also be used as these were the product of Bloomeries. I'm wracking my brains for a good source. Williams book on the history of technology for the Greenwich armouri...

Thomas Powers

As dobbies or stock on hand to make stuff from? (Most of my library is still packed from the move)

If it's the latter then there is some info in "The Royal Armoury at Greenwich 1515-1649: a History of Its Technology" Williams, Alan & De Rueck, Anthony

IIRC

Thomas, no harm no foul!

Thomas Powers

and most of it was in nice usable and storable sizes too---right?

I've mentioned several times getting more stock than I could use from a ornamental iron Fab shop for free. Of course if your name isn't "Thomas" they may charge for it...

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Yup it's a personal bugaboo hearing people say that their armour is made out of the same stuff as medieval and renaissance armour, but in reality it didn't come around till a generation *after* levi jeans did...especially in groups that make a big fuss over the purity of garb materials. Feel free to...

Thomas Powers

One other aspect: cloth was expensive! The time it takes to make it far exceeds the time to sew clothes from it. Poor sewing can result in easily damaged clothing, in general you would expect them to try to do as good of work as possible. I visited the Apollo project headquarters in Houston back in ...

Thomas Powers

There are quite a few of them on abe books for under $10.

Thomas

Thomas Powers

I think you are still pushing modern sensabilities back on them. If he was benighted on the road and not staying at an inn or monestery I would assume that they would just "rent" a local farm house and stay there. (Note the noble lady sharing a fire in a farm house in the "tres riches heures, Feb II...

Thomas Powers

Well to start with you need to be using wrought iron; mild steel wasn't commercially important till after the american civil war. You can find those large sheet metal shears still around, I have two pair that I bought for about US$5 a piece over the years. mine have the the leg for the hardy hole ra...

Thomas Powers

Quite a while back in Ansteorra, I was watching a tourney and one of the fighters was getting too wound up---he was often throwing more than 1 blow *after* his opponent had accepted one as in while they were on their way down "dead". The gentleman next to me noticed this too and he was muttering "so...

Thomas Powers

I stopped by the local fleamarket this morning, small town, small fleamarket I usually get through it in 10 minutes as I have no interest in new chinese made junk. This time there was a person selling mainly clothes but had a couple of ratty gun digests stacked up over something else. Don't know why...

Thomas Powers

One thing to think about is that medieval patterns *work*---if it doesn't "work" then you've done it wrong.. .Medieval swords were generally in a wooden scabbard and that covered with an exterior covering of leather, cloth or thin sheet metal. An easy carving wood like tulip popular is a good one to...

Thomas Powers

It's presenting it formally *smoking* with a rapid retreat that completes the picture...I think it would even top the4 "Magic Eight-Ball" Orb---which is at least usefull in curia meetings...

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Nicolai, perhaps *reading* rather than skimming his post would explain things to you; in particular this quote "The grenade was invented in the late 1400's and remained virtually unchanged until the U.S. Civil War. A round ceramic or steel ball filled with powder, with slow match for an ignition sys...

Thomas Powers

Long, Long Ago in a kingdom Far, Far Away I watched the final round of a crown tourney with two respected peers fighting. neither one would call a blow (as in armour denting blows!) and it fianlly went on till neither one could throw a decent blow due to tiredness. I knew both of them and had previo...

Thomas Powers

This is material from the *old* Ohio Pennitentiary that they tore down in Columbus several years ago. It is weathered and oversized, (3/16" and 5/16" thick) It will need to be worked down hot. If you go to a MOB meeting at Don's they can probably cut circles for you. (If Don gets his triphammer work...

Thomas Powers

I have two brats (and two kinder for that matter) One is a piece of heavy wool, 60 inches wide and about 6' long the other is the same only about twice that long and I double it for cold weather. Also use it as a blanket or pillow when camping, sun shade, wind break, etc. very useful thing a brat is...

Thomas Powers

Would he have camped rather than staying in a local house?

Thomas

Thomas Powers

steel balls???? I might believe the originals were cast iron (in renaissance times) or wrought iron but never steel---can you provide a cite for that?

Thomas

Thomas Powers

Long answer, carbon dating using the carbon in the metal or perhaps entrapped charcoal in the wrought iron is a very iffy thing. Some people are claiming fairly good results, others are sceptical. It is currently an area of research in archological metallurgy. It would cost several times what the pi...

Thomas Powers

Basic jewelry techniques. He did a lot of forming on hard maple shapes that matched the poplar scabbards, chapes were done in halves+ and then ground on a 6x48 flat platen grinder until the meeting edges were flat and flush when tried against each other, then hard soldered. Getting the right solder ...

Thomas Powers

Cast iron has so much carbon in it, over 2%!, that as it cools from the melt some of the carbon has a tendency to solidify as lenticular graphite inclusions---so basically what you have is a material with built in cracks and stress concentrators---just the thing for armour intended as a gift...to yo...

Thomas Powers

About 25 years ago I attended a middle kingdom armourers guild meeting and saw a ring cutting set up that was interesting. A fellow had taken an old lawn mower engine and mounted a commercial dryer pully on the shaft and had a small electirc motor v belted to this. he removed the head of the engine ...

Thomas Powers

The loss of my job after 14 years, the search for another, the move 1600 miles from my equipment for 6 months and the subsequent move of that equipment (took more than a flat bed semi load!) has put that project on hold for a while...(I'm sure you recall that it was a 3 helmet project, I finished th...

Thomas Powers

When I worked with Tom maringer he did a lot of twisted wire wrapped grips. The metal end caps were just to hide the wire fastening which he did by drilling two holes at 90 deg to each other and threading the wire through them. he would then use a thin layer of slow set epoxy on the wooden grip and ...

Thomas Powers

Two words: Offsite Backups!

Thomas

Thomas Powers

I did a day long smithing demo at a Jr High in Columbus OH where the principal *asked* me to bring a selection of historical swords. Get it in *WRITING*. I didn't have any problems but the zero tolerance laws may not allow for you to take "weapons" even with permission! I'm now in Socorro NM, I forg...

Thomas Powers

Well you could always get sheet from "The Real Wrought Iron Company LTD" a bit pricy and it's shipped from England but if you are not willing to take some 3/16" Wi plate to the battermill...

Thomas

Thomas Powers

The most important tool(s) in the shop are the brain and the eyes, followed by the hands. The basics are: designing, cutting, shaping, fastening and finishing Best tools for designing: a good research library and access to the internet Best tool for cutting: The B2 beverly shear Best tool for shapin...

Thomas Powers

"Treasures from the Kremlin" Abrams; Metropolitan Museum of Art, has a good shot of Boris Gudonovs shirt with each ring stamped with a motto, late 16th century.

Thomas

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