The Armour Archive

Thomas Powers

Took my daughter to a rock concert once (Stained, Disturbed, Mudvayne,...) I wore industrial 40 db earmuff hearing protectors. wished I had inserted ear plugs first! It was inside in a small venue

Thomas Powers

Wow and nobody even mentioned the way armour was welded on originally---Forge Welding. I forge welded the bands on my spangen project helm. I hope to pick up some really good coal at Quad-State this year to finish welding the billets for the Son of Spangen Project helm---all components save rivets p...

Thomas Powers

My large coal forge has a damaged firepot from when the previous owner was heating a piece of RR rail up to work on it and stepped away to tell a caller that he couldn't talk he had steel in the fire. When he got back he had burnt the railroad rail in two...coal forges are good at the E unum pluribu...

Thomas Powers

IIRC "A Complaint Against Blacksmiths" mentions "deafening with their din"; 14th CE However just like there is little regulation of people deafening themselves with ear plugs on their personal music devices or loud music at concerts, occupational disabilities were rather expected. Wax was a fairly p...

Thomas Powers

I helped a bit on a faering build. Mainly with metallurgical issues.

Thomas Powers

Note to self: *never* *ever* wander into Glen's camp complaining about a thorn in your foot!

Thomas Powers

Well known on these forums as Cap'n Atli

Thomas Powers

If it was in the orange range that looks more like hot short.

Thomas Powers

There was also a fellow on the archaeological metallurgy mailing list looking for some high phosphorus iron for recreating early instruments that preferentially used it for strings. Also From Wiki: "Phosphorus (P) has four major effects on iron: increased hardness and strength, lower solidus tempera...

Thomas Powers

When blacksmiths use the term "cherry red" they of course are referring to the old pie cherries and not the fairly recent cultivar bing cherries so cherry red was an orange colour In general real wrought iron does not like to work cold, yellow to white is generally what is used So not knowing the ex...

Thomas Powers

Not viking but Knives and Scabbards MOL has a couple of folding knives in it.

Also the Deutsches Klingen Museum in Solingen has several Roman examples

(approaching from both ends of the time spectrum...)

Thomas Powers

screw press? Hot working?

Thomas Powers

For heating and cutting but NOT welding I strongly suggest an Oxy Propane rig over Oxy Acetylene; *much cheaper* and easier to deal with propane than Acetylene. You do need the correct tips to use it however. (It is as mentioned in-appropriate for welding.) As for scrap yards my favorite is a quite ...

Thomas Powers

Well the traditional method was to take a piece of newly acquired stock and try forging it and see what temps work and what do not.

If it's hot short: too much sulfur, if it's cold short too much Phosphorus; if it's both....

Thomas Powers

More than 12 points phosphorus makes the iron brittle when worked cold, Cold in blacksmiths terms! Too much sulfur makes for hot short iron---iron/steel that will fall apart when worked too hot. Phosphorus is a hardening element; not as good as carbon but many of the bloomery irons were high phospho...

Thomas Powers

Typically until quite recent times tools were generally made from real wrought iron with steel pieces forge welded onto striking or cutting faces/edges. I have several of such tools purchased at fleamarkets in Ohio and New Mexico, USA and in the UK. Hammers, pincers, even a couple of full sized adze...

Thomas Powers

Well I have a burner-hose-regulator to hand---one of the very nice Gensheimer ones; so needing a small teaching forge I took a party balloon He tank and using my angle grinder cut off one end. Lined with kaowool with 1/2 thick firebrick set atop the kaowool for the bottom. For the burner holder I us...

Thomas Powers

Might check the massive archives of answers to this question on iforgeiron.com too..

Note once you have a good burner forges are rather trivial---I built my last one one Saturday morning for US$2 no welding required fanciest tools were an angle grinder and an electric drill.

Thomas Powers

As I recall they sit in the outbox until the other person reads them and then are marked "sent"

Thomas Powers

Just another "steel-wool" couple....

Thomas Powers

Loud How so? Hitting the chisel is not loud, shearing the rivet isn't loud, the plate is held securely in a large vise so it's not loud---quieter than peening rivets in sheet steel in fact. I have a commercially made rod cutter that deals with a number of different diameters that uses that methodolo...

Thomas Powers

But that typical of a lot of artists. They had apprentices too.

Thomas Powers

"Its Sunday and all the good stores are all closed---quick make a bolt cutter!"

Thomas Powers

Good catch; now to search out cupids' quivers to see if there was a style or if it was specific to a school!

Thomas Powers

The *best* method? "Apprentice trim these rivets!" Anybody ever make a shearing plate? a plate the thickness you want the shaft to be tall with a row of holes drilled through it. Drop the rivets in the holes apply the "keeper" to keep them from dropping out, place in large vise and with a *sharp* *t...

Thomas Powers

No matter how many times you hit it it still won't change the colour! Some of the Flint Ridge OH flint is positively garish!

examples:

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/aliba ... terns.html

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pag ... act6sm.jpg

Thomas Powers

Remember stoutness implied wealth as did a lack of a tan on women---they didn't have to work out in the fields in the sun. It's the paleness of factory work that made tanning an indication of leisure time and thus wealth in more modern times.

Thomas Powers

kind of dull looking for cutting and jewelry making

Thomas Powers

Don't forget burning iron, chisel,...

Thomas Powers

Actually for that time period she's a hottie!

Thomas Powers

I'd wonder about Venus being his mistress and perhaps the painter being one of the folks "working" as well.

Mars certainly looks more like the god of 6 martini lunches than the god of WAR!

Thomas Powers

What ever would you need an air motor for? all the luft hammers I have seen are "direct drive" Air runs the ram. Double action cylinder.

May I suggest searching on the Kinyon air hammer ?

Thomas Powers

Heat source design plays a big part. A propane forge is almost totally enclosed with only the door letting out the IR, A charcoal forge the entire top of the hot spot is emitting and since you are more likely to burn up a piece in a solid fuel forge you will spend more time watching it. A hot workpi...

Thomas Powers

I've already pointed out on another forum that that is not a Roman anvil and the pictures is almost certainly Renaissance----even if it's a bit odd variation on Venus at the Forge of Vulcan---Mars certainly doesn't look warlike to me...

Thomas Powers

Took me less than 30 seconds to find: the following using: ir radiation eye damage as my google search. It's the first article btw: Radiation effects on the eye Part 1 - Infrared radiation effects on ocular tissue "Cataracts associated with occupational infrared exposure have been known about since ...

Re: Historical blacksmith's ear protection

Re: How do you weld?

Re: Note to self....coal forges get hot...

Re: Historical blacksmith's ear protection

Re: Why can't we all just get a long…ship?

Re: Medieval Surgeon

Re: Why can't we all just get a long…ship?

Re: Wrought iron from the Globe Mills

Re: Wrought iron from the Globe Mills

Re: Wrought iron from the Globe Mills

Re: Viking folding knives?

Re: dishing quandry

Re: Gas forges/torches

Re: Wrought iron from the Globe Mills

Re: Wrought iron from the Globe Mills

Re: The start of a Journey: professional armouring

Re: Gas forges/torches

Re: Gas forges/torches

Re: Large Irish Scian- Sold

Re: Blacksmith Leathers

Re: How to trim steel rivets

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: How to trim steel rivets

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: How to trim steel rivets

Re: Here's a good source for flint

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Here's a good source for flint

Re: Medieval Pavilion- drilling the hub holes

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Pneumatic power hammer

Re: Eye protection for hot work?

Re: Can you identify this armour and help solve a mystery?

Re: Eye protection for hot work?