The Armour Archive

Sean Powell

:shock: Mr. Powell, I so owe you a beer.... or a case... or a keg. That doesn't help that.... it's like the face of god. May I repost and recirculate? particularly to like... some marshals lists? Well I didn't copywrite it so I suppose you can re-post it, edit it or even scramble the numbers to pro...

Sean Powell

This gets into some strange stuff. You'd almost need an engineer to really figure it out. Good thing there are some engineers who lurk on this board. I was just doing a mechanical comparison for an FDA submision so I had my spreadsheet up with all of the necessary formulas already. I'll skip the fa...

Sean Powell

I beg to disagree - What would occur with such a pauldron worn, say, by an English knight/man-at-arms in full plate, fighting on foot with a pole-weapon? Severely restricted motion such as you advocate would surely spell disaster, especially against a mounted opponent. You have to have an almost fu...

Sean Powell

I LOVE my 5/8hp Dewalt jig-saw. It will cut almost anything. 16ga cold-rolled, 1/2" bar stock and if I'm very carefull most of the top flanges of an I-beam (I still have to cut the web with an angle grinder). I either suspend the edge I'm cutting 1/4" off the edge of a saw-horse or cutting table (I'...

Sean Powell

One thing to remember is that we are looking backwards at a loooonnnggg period of time and using terms to differentiate 2 basic pieces of armor that may also be seperated by nationality, language barriers, available material type, present style of combat employed in, economic status and a host of ot...

Sean Powell

The best railroad track tool I have seen was in Robert MacPhersons shop. About 3' of track was mounted to a heavy block so it stuck out like a diving board (for about 2'). The end of the track had been rounded over, the underside cut away at an angle and about 1' back from the rounded tip there was ...

Sean Powell

Note that "hot rolled" and "cold rolled" don't really specify alloy at all! As a knifemaker I can buy hot rolled O1---a very high carbon steel. In general if you go buy "steel" what you get is hot rolled A36 *not* 1008. Thomas I agree. A36 is NOT an alloy. It is a MINIMUM yield strength of 36ksi. I...

Sean Powell

I've done similar stunts with my corded power drill before. Mine had a removeable second handle that I could mount verticaly. Then I would stick both handles in a wood vice. Not the smartest thing I've done but definetly not the dumbest. (ask me about mounting my jig-saw upside down to use as a make...

Sean Powell

Oh yeah, there is always a need for anticlastic curves of different sizes. Hal had a design using thick wall pipe section for the larger diameters. It looked like a sausage on a stick. If you could hot bend 1" to 1 1/4" round stock for smaller sizes that would also be useful. Kind of a cocktail wein...

Sean Powell

Hey Gundo. Looks like a good selection of tools you have there. If you are looking for a few suggestions: Take a pair of 3/4" round stock and turn domes on the ends. Weld them next to each other and stand them upright in a vice. When doing the crease between the nuckles in gauntlet nuckle plates you...

Sean Powell

After writing my first post I was remembering the fall before I got accepted to college. I got in quite a few fights with my parents. I put my fist through a wall and walked 5 miles through the rain to a friends houses so I could... get this... borrow their AP chemisty book to study for the AP chem ...

Sean Powell

Ouch! Ok, two things come to mind: First, while you live under their roof you follow their rules. That seems like it will last forever but it dosn't and it won't so just tough it out. Next ind out what the limits are, have a rational conversation if possible, maybe take a shop class or find a "tutor...

Sean Powell

You can get heaps of lead for free from most places that balance tires. Big outfits like Walmart might not give their old weights away, but smaller shops are happy to give the stuff away rather than pay a disposal fee. Wheel weights are a lead alloy and harder then pure lead... but it is good for h...

Sean Powell

Hell yes talk to a doctor. Most of them even suggest cutting back on the excercise routine. Staying in shape is good but going for the deep muscle burn and preping for a marathon isn't. Then have her talk to other women. For my wife the first 3 months was a roller coaster of chemical mood swings, le...

Sean Powell

For rolls like this I'm partial to doing an offset "ogee" flange towards the outside and then rolling it back towards the inside. The edge of the steel is always the part that gets beaten up the most and looks the worst. It shouldn't be on the side everyone sees. Take a block of hardwood (I like oak...

Sean Powell

Let me look at this from a different direction. I have no repose experience so this is just rambling thoughts. Lead is probably stronger then pitch so it will back the metal better but also resist forming more. The added resist for support is porbably less beneficial then the added resistance to mov...

Sean Powell

The splinted arms by Dwarlock? It would be hard to make a pattern for you without measurements. You shouldn't really need a pattern, just a picture and a flexible ruler like they use for making clothes. Here's how I would suggest approaching it. Dish your elbow cop first. Put on your arming clothes....

Sean Powell

The best way to curve an alluminum shield is with a slip roller. If you don't have one the second best way is to set 2 2x4's on the ground with the alluminum bridging the gap and then jump on it a few times. As it starts to take a bend you can move the boards closer together and tighten the bend. No...

Sean Powell

What would you do about a persona that has safety requirements that would not have been worn in period? Thanks for the response, Ogatari. That is actually what I am planning on doing. The question was in response to Sean's post, sorry about the confusion. 5 year old at 5 feet... For safety gear whi...

Sean Powell

Hal, you need to do that hot from 1/4" sqare stock next time. I took another class in blacksmithing at Pennsic this year and am hooked. A spoon from sheetmetal isn't nearly as fun as a spoon from a drawn bar. It should be doable with similar tools for the finishing part.

Sean

Sean Powell

I once heard a good description: a 5 year old at 5 feet. If you are at a school demo and can go out and fight, safely, and walk off the field and have a 5 year old look at you and NOT ask "Why are you wearing sneakers?" (or plastic or a barel or whatever) then you have hit the MINIMUM authenticity r...

Sean Powell

Ok heres the one that we use as a finishing planisher. m Hmmm. You know, a good welder (not me) could probably rig up a quick support piece with a vertical bar and some C channel at either end that could be attached and removed easily. Then you could shorten the throat depth for heavier gauge piece...

Sean Powell

Calm down and relax. It isn't so bad. If you look at a few paintings you will probably see that the "skirt" is a single connical piece of fabric not multiple vertical strips with plates. The one I wear has long bands that wrap 90 degrees around the skirt. The bands when layed flat follow a slight ar...

Sean Powell

Perhaps remove the boss and sandwich a piece of leather between the boss and the aluminum?

Sean

Sean Powell

Hey Matt. Those look better then my first attempt was but I think I can pass along some ideas I want to use for my next attempt. The foot is a complex shape. It dosn't want to be covered with straight sections. Try building up a mundane shoe with newspaper and masking tape until it is the right shap...

Sean Powell

WOHOO! Just the stepping point I needed to start off on the research (actually my wifes research so I don't know why I'm so happy). Does anyone know of any other specific battles that ended with "Passing under the Yoke"? Apparantly for it to have a specific term it must have happend to and by the ro...

Sean Powell

Hello, I'm hoping someone has better sources for roman history available then I conveniently do. (Matthew, you out there?) To the best of my recollection there was a roman legion in north africa some time during the late republic period that lost an engagement and was captured. They were forced to "...

Sean Powell

Suggestion 1: 5 upper chest plates is redundant. 3 should suffice. Each plate should be held in place with TWO rows of rivets, not just one at the outside edge. Leave enough space between rivet lines so the plates can move as you bring your elbows together. Suggestion 2: Get rid of the mini spine pl...

Sean Powell

I have on occasion abused the ProEngineer 3D solid modeling CAD package for everything from drawing Pennsic land grab maps to templating steel armor patterns. On one occasion I built a great-helm using the sheet-metal functionality so I could "unfold" it to create a cutting pattern. Then I had a tal...

Sean Powell

OK. A LOT of this is going to be from memory so take it with a grain of salt, do some of your own research and measure all steel with a good caliper or micrometer: Gauge: a device used to measure size. Includes go/no-go plug gauges, spark plug gap gauges, sheetmetal and wire gauges and the goofball ...

Sean Powell

I've got to think that a piece of plywood in the shape of the scale and some sharpened wide steel pallet banding could make a passable clicker die. A plastic cutting board or even a block of wood end on with a dead-blow hammer MIGHT be an effective way to make shaped scales... I wouldn't try to get ...

Sean Powell

For rectangular scales carefully cut a straight line with your choice of instruments then butcher your hide into belt-blanks with a tandy strap cutter. Get replacement blades, they will dull. Then cut them to length with hand-shears, knife, saw whatever. "Round" the corners with a front end nipper i...

Sean Powell

Testing a patern that dosn't require much dishing in leather isn't such a bad idea. It will take a shallow dish with just hand pressure when wet where as car-board won't. It can be shaped by hand rather then by hammer, is quieter and easier to cut. It also won't cut you back if you forget to debur a...

Sean Powell

boys- itÂ´s not the breastplate (the breastplate is perfect) itÂ´s the gambeson. itÂ´s a loose gambeson under tight arms, but this can be solved by one: making the arms of the gambeson tighter and two cutting out the cloth on the in side of my elbows. this cloth folds up and so I canÂ´t bend the ar...

Sean Powell

I think the breastplate does a very PERIOD job of protecting the chest and she can probably go through all the motions of armored half-sword combat from RIngneck/Lichtenhauer in it. It may be less then desireable for SCA combat which is why so many people favor Wisby cops, the Churburg 13 and corazi...

Need help finding a roman battle.