The Armour Archive

Thomas Powers

If I can strong arm a striker I want to make one of the Roman camp folding chairs: metal frame, leather seat.

Thomas Powers

Note that most metallurgical information is presented for items with cross sections of 1" the information needs to be adjusted for thinner or thicker crossections. How did the pieces fair that were tempered at 450 degF? 400 degF? 375 degF? Checking at one rather high tempering temperature doesn't te...

Thomas Powers

I knew a fellow who had been a professional smith for over 60 years when I met him. There was a period when his output dropped way down due to cataracts and then surged up again after cataract surgery. There was also a fellow over at swordforum using thermite to do all sorts of interesting steel all...

Thomas Powers

Forges and hot iron do not put out UV---unlike arc welding. They do put out IR and over time IR WILL damage your eyes---see glass blowers cataracts. (schreiber, you may want to have a nice long talk with an ophthalmologist before posting misleading safety information. I had a good friend who is one ...

Thomas Powers

Wow; I've been tracking women's skirt lengths for about 50 years now; say mid 1960's to now, in mainly a single country, USA and in that time alone they range from ankle length to "micro mini" and at times *both* extremes could be found at the same place; both of them saying things about the educati...

Thomas Powers

You do realize that it's more effective to use the river or lake than a swimming pool as you produce both the helm and dinner at the same time! I have a friend who has dishing forms made by using plastique on thick rounds of steel---thick enough that they didn't deform past the forming of the dish o...

Thomas Powers

Surrounding your head with a Panzer Maus II was what first popped into my head.

Thomas Powers

Too used to new students overheating, under heating, *both*. Now that I think of it rammed bentonite clay (cheap clay based kitty litter) should work without the melting issue. But working pipe is not that hard Roberta Elliot, the smith, can do things with pipe that makes you think of Giger eating t...

Thomas Powers

Neatest method I know of though not on a log was high explosives. The Fine Arts Metals instructor had a friend working with EMRTC put some lovely little dishes in 6" steel with plastique. (the use of plastique for doing repousee is very interesting too though the artist giving the talk was grousing ...

Thomas Powers

As a blacksmith I would NOT suggest a sand pack if you are working hot. It just melts and makes a mess in the inside of the tube not to mention if there is any "accidents" molten sand is NOT NICE TO PLAY WITH! Molten anything in the forge suggests the need for caution even flux! (scars we can show y...

Thomas Powers

And I bet that "stump" actually goes 6' into the ground under the floor!

Thomas Powers

Take a helm, stick stock through eye slot, add handle length and you're good!

Thomas Powers

Lets see the caption says "An iron sword used by Roman Soldiers in the 2nd-3rd century AD" found with coins of the Emperor Commodus who reigned 176-192. So sounds like a decent point of info.

Thomas Powers

Remember one job of fancy armour was to remind folks that you were worth a heck of a lot more alive for ransom than dead.

Thomas Powers

Actually you looked rather like an accident on "The Hobbit" set...

Remember to "make haste slowly" the brain is a terrible thing to paste...

Thomas Powers

That is the Dupont linkage as used on a Little Giant power hammer. It is used to store energy so that the top die is actually thrown down with a snap instead of just flopping up and down. Also powerhammers need some degree of freedom to be able to work varrying thickness of metal. If the linkage was...

Thomas Powers

Fortunately there are a lot of different power hammers where the anvil is completely removable and you could retrofit it with one to your tooling size Look at the blacker for example. The important thing with powerhammers is to not exceed their designed stroke length. Not a problem if you are making...

Thomas Powers

My last pexto stake plate cost me under US$10 and was in *mint* condition---much better than my previous one that cost me US$25...I was walking through the scrapyard and noticed a *square* hole in the dirt, paid 20 cents a pound for it and the whole load of stuff I got was $10 and so the subset of t...

Thomas Powers

Say what??? A pritchel is a type of punch; the pritchel hole was added to make a place to punch through steel without messing up the face of the anvil. Now on this anvil: how big is it? Is it made from steel (or wrought iron and steel) and not a cast iron ASO? What is your vise made from? Even quite...

Thomas Powers

price point?

Thomas Powers

Uhhh, there is this little thing called heraldry that was *designed* to make you clearly identifiable on the battlefield and tons of period pictures showing it in use.

Lots of named weapons out there too---leg biter to excalibur to tizona del cid.....

Thomas Powers

Make friends with someone with an arc welder and find a scrapyard and start saving for a bigger shop!

Thomas Powers

My enjoyment of cooking at pennsic went way up when I switched to real chunk charcoal, of course having the bloomery furnace meant a ready supply and a good bellows can speed the start up measurably

Thomas Powers

I had mine hot blued by a gunsmith; did need redoing after 20 years.

Thomas Powers

I like using a good scrub brush under running water to clean up after a vinegar soak. Never had anything disappear but I did get a beautiful etch on an antique adze that showed the real wrought iron with a tiny plate of HC steel forge welded to it to serve as the edge. (leant it to the local Mat Sci...

Thomas Powers

Once the scale is gone it will start to rust INSTANTLY Be prepared to oil or wax (or paint; gild, plate,...) ASAP!

Thomas Powers

I have never understood the urge to post videos about stuff you have little clue about. WHY? We have a new person on a smithing website who designed a new tool and planned to post a how to make it video when he has never made it before *AND* never used it before (or anything like it).---If he had he...

Thomas Powers

still better then tink Tink TINK!

Thomas Powers

Looks like it wants to be a patch knife to me! Are those filing marks 90 deg to the edge? Look a bit coarse for heat treat and cause such issue even without the drop.

Thomas Powers

"makes more sense than them turning down free gear from a fallen foe" that will get them killed fast as they are not trained in it's use? Car thieves tend to avoid standard transmission vehicles if all they are used to driving is automatic... I think it's a distinct possibility but just wanted to ad...

Thomas Powers

Close to that range is De Re Metallica with a wealth of information on the technology of the era including how to build your wheelbarrows, building an elevator; the first reported use of Ghoating in a technical drawing; etc.

Thomas Powers

And all of the apprentices still have all of their digits and *NOT* in a lovingly handcrafted box!

Thomas Powers

There is a couple in the "Illustrated Social History of Prostitution" IIRC.

Thomas Powers

What's your intended duty cycle? Do you need an "industrial" machine or can you get by with a lesser one?

Generally I prefer to buy used industrial machines over new imported ones

Thomas Powers

Odd as it may seem; most of the folks here *APPROVE* of folks wanting to mess around with metal---we just want people to do it in a way that's safe and effective!

Re: Pattern for "X" type folding chair?

Re: Hardening 4130

Re: Eye protection for hot work?

Re: Eye protection for hot work?

Re: Period belt lengths comparable to SCA? Changing belts?

Re: Spun tops as helmet blanks?

Re: VERY best helm padding

Re: Source for Hexagonal Tubing?

Re: New to armouring - first attempt - need advice

Re: Source for Hexagonal Tubing?

Re: Forging deep vessels

Re: Misericord blade length?

Re: Ring-Hilt Spathae?

Re: specialized or signature gear

Re: WTC - Car accident, out of comission for a few days

Re: Forging deep vessels

Re: Forging deep vessels

Re: Stakes in Aus?

Re: Stakes in Aus?

Re: Eric Dube and Patrick Thaden Video project

Re: specialized or signature gear

Re: Stakes in Aus?

Re: Japanese Kitchen for Pennsic

Re: Chainmail Aesthetics Question

Re: De-scaling forge blackened stuff

Re: De-scaling forge blackened stuff

Re: Doing it wrong....Where should I even start?

Re: Don't drop the knife after quenching and before temperin

Re: Don't drop the knife after quenching and before temperin

Re: Oval or kite shield possible for a 9th century Mercian?

Re: 16th Century Woodcuts - Maximillian's "The Weissking"

Re: Viking Style Twin Slat Bed COMPLETED

Re: 16th Century Woodcuts - Maximillian's "The Weissking"

Re: Looking at Buying a Buffer, Baldor vs. Grizzly, RPMS, HP

Re: Hammer Hardening Help - Tempering and Annealing