The Armour Archive

Thomas Powers

I use golf balls for handles and store them on racks made by taking the head of a garden rake and screwing it to the wall, drop on file in every other slot and they don't touch and are visible and easy to grab and put back. Never paid more than US$1 for a rack head at scrapyard or fleamarket...

Thomas Powers

ahh the infamous "gimp mask" knight...

Thomas Powers

I just get the roundt top hitch balls whenever I find them at the fleamarket for us$2 or under

Note that 99 44/100ths of items sold as cannon balls are actually ball mill balls and should be selling at scrap rate.

Thomas Powers

OK it's a wrought wrought iron haft.

Thomas Powers

Armourers work for peanuts?

Thomas Powers

hammers with short handles do not seem like a good weapon against swords and spears
IIRC Thor's hammer was mainly a thrown weapon

Thomas Powers

Impact weapons did exist; though of a type showing the need for less impact without the "can"

Thomas Powers

I use a shallow baking tin with 1/2" of linseed oil to soak my hammer heads in after snugging them up. The idea is to let them soak a week or so and make the wood no longer subject to humidity swings. Soaking them in water tightens them up for a short while and then they get looser due to wood crush.

Thomas Powers

Mjollnir was a hammer---not a war hammer. which are you interested in?

Thomas Powers

As a bladesmith this line "wrung my heartstrings":

"and a behind the scenes tour of the Birmingham Museum conservation department where they are working on the Staffordshire Hoard. "

I originally saw this on the archeological metallurgy mailing list and thought some folks here might profit from it.

Thomas Powers

what time period, location and socioeconomic level?

Thomas Powers

Metals used in personal adornment Historical Metallurgy Society Conference and AGM 31st May – 1st June 2014 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham "As part of the conference there will be a tour of the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, and a behind the scenes tour of the Birmingham Museum cons...

Thomas Powers

RPM, I would assume it was forged from sheet made by sending out the billets to the batter mill as referenced in the "The Royal Armoury at Greenwich 1515-1649: A History of it's Technology" Williams, A. & Reuck, A. (Thought I'd chuck that cite in for folks reading this that were unaware of some of t...

Thomas Powers

Well brass wasn't as popular as bronze was due to not being able to get metallic zinc to alloy with the copper, (look up Biringuccio's chapter on "colouring copper" in the Pirotechnia where they are mixing a zinc containing *ore* with the molten copper to "colour it" .) "Metal Technology in Medieval...

Thomas Powers

Forging instead of hammering sheet metal allows you to taper parts leaving them heavy in impact areas and lighter in "safe" areas. The idea that a consistant gauge would have been used seems odd/modern to me.

Anyone know how consistant the output of a battermill would be?

Thomas Powers

Hot pink is a colour very unrepresented in armour.......but can be done with Ti!

Thomas Powers

Cast it

Thomas Powers

Too soft a temper and you have problems with the edge getting chopped up too fast and always needing re-working.

And yes I know that you would love specifics that due to liability issues many people will not provide...especially on an open forum!

Thomas Powers

Or find a triangular file and remove the teeth----How I tend to make Gunner's Daggers and misericords.

Thomas Powers

The one that produced the values required by the system being used for the alloy being used of course!

Thomas Powers

Hmm I have a copy of "The double edged sword of the German Migration Era" (at least that is how I translate it) at home; I'll check to see if it has any scabbard info in it. Published in 1939 so some of the items probably don't exist anymore. War is hell on museums!

Thomas Powers

OK he sounds like he's doing steel combat with no edge and mentions a european steel designation. En45 and En55 are both common for this use. Note that if you don't nail the heat treament you may be making a weapon much more weapon like than you want... Note 2: if it's for use in a regulated combat ...

Thomas Powers

Knives and Scabbards!!!!!

Thomas Powers

Boris; I need to buy a new vehicle; can you tell me the best one to get? Of course I won't mention if I need a commuter that gets great gas milage or a dump truck to carry 16 tons of gravel or need it to get to the ISS! So tell me which is the best????? So Most Period? Rapier/Greatsword/Broadsword/G...

Thomas Powers

Back in the late 1960's I visited the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston on a special tour---just my family, it was led by an astronaut, we had official security badeges with our photos---a great tour! Well one of the things we saw was a group of "little old ladies" hand stitching the parachutes f...

Thomas Powers

"He was retro before retro was *cool*!"

Thomas Powers

Having some shims that fit under the base of the saw can shift the tooth wear too

Thomas Powers

Got any friends in MatSci at a local university?

Thomas Powers

The person I know who went the no shampoo route said it took several weeks for your hair to reach a new balance during which there was an over production of oil as your scalp was used to being scoured and had adapted...Afterwards oil production went down. She said it was also important to do the 100...

Thomas Powers

I have always thought that one of the reasons people are so willing to share information about armouring nowadays is that nothing makes an expensive piece of armour look like a *STEAL* more than having them try to make something equivalent on their own.

Thomas Powers

I too have a *lot* of hammers; generally bought cheaply at fleamarkets and garage sales and *scrap* *yards* over the last 30+ years. I find that I have favorites for certain tasks and some see little use. *HOWEVER* it's that oddball hammer that only gets used rarely that can make the difference in a...

Thomas Powers

OK; my wife has been teaching spinning for over 40 years now and after almost 30 years married to her I can give this advice. Find her teacher and get her a wheel that that teacher likes and uses (some teachers have loaners too) Having a wheel designed to spin large bulky wool yarns when the teacher...

Thomas Powers

Perhaps you might buy one of the unfinished ashford spinning wheels and customize it for her---chip carving or wood burning can take a plain wheel to very spiffy indeed!

Thomas Powers

Double drive tensions; and as mentioned spinning wheels can be quite complex with the orifice and pully sized depending on what you plan to spin on it. My wife once commissioned a retired master machinist to make a solid blackwalnut copy of a wheel in a museum. And so after a wait as he took *meticu...

Thomas Powers

Probably very soft deep draw steel, easy to work; not so good about denting.

Re: Clever ideas for storing files?

Re: Any surviving examples of helmets like this?

Re: trailer ball hitch for stakes.

Re: Norse warhammers

Re: I have heard of "Target Marketing" but this is silly.

Re: Norse warhammers

Re: Norse warhammers

Re: PSA tool safety reminder.

Re: Norse warhammers

Re: UK Conference: Metals used in personal adornment

Re: Wanted-Medieval Houseware and sewing items

UK Conference: Metals used in personal adornment

Re: Original bascinet thickness/gauge?

Re: How do I forge bar stock into a triangle?

Re: Original bascinet thickness/gauge?

Re: Titanium - Darkening

Re: How do I forge bar stock into a triangle?

Re: Best Steel for a sword (yes,I know its not armor)

Re: How do I forge bar stock into a triangle?

Re: Best Steel for a sword (yes,I know its not armor)

Re: Info/pics of early to late period knife scabbards?

Re: Best Steel for a sword (yes,I know its not armor)

Re: Info/pics of early to late period knife scabbards?

Re: Best Steel for a sword (yes,I know its not armor)

Re: Machine stitching vs Hand stitching in period

Re: You will never be this anachronistic

Re: Hammers/other tools for beginner amourer

Re: Analysis of a pewter alloy?

Re: Hair care

Re: Brand New to everything

Re: Hammers/other tools for beginner amourer

Re: Spinning Wheel Instructions

Re: Spinning Wheel Instructions

Re: Spinning Wheel Instructions

Re: Hammers/other tools for beginner amourer