The Armour Archive

Sean Powell

Hello all, A new fighter is working hard to finish his Zweihammer helm kit before Pennsic. The shaping and finishing has been slow but he really poured in the effort a few days ago and got it fully assembled. (I'll post pictures later). Now we are rethinking our padding options. The rivets are alrea...

Sean Powell

Ok, I've seen people make armour from ABS and Kydex before, but UMHW? I've seen it used for arrow heads, but never armour. has anyone made armour from it? JP Yes, and IMHO it responds poorly. Kydex has a wide range of elastic temperature and good stretching properties. UHMW has a narrower band and ...

Sean Powell

I find it rather ridiculus to pay new price for a tool I'm just going to modify anyway. I prefer yard sales, fleamarkets and junkstores for my tools. Vintage tools are often better made than low end tools in stores. Thomas You have time to go yard-sale hopping? Heck If I had time to do that I'd get...

Sean Powell

Hello, last night I FINALLY got deep enough into my project list to finish polishing a great helm that I started almost a year ago. I'm not happy with the pollish. I should have taken it from 750 to 1000 grit before the green buffing compound but I'm just getting tired of the damn thing cluttering t...

Sean Powell

There is no extra segment inside. There are some shadow lines, so it creates a image of a extra plate. Its part of the cuff 100%. Jiri Really? Well let that be a lesson about trying to analize a piece from only one picture. There is a slight white spot above the holders thumb near the edge, the fai...

Sean Powell

Same gauntlet, inside and outside views. I can't think of a practical purpose to that plate historicly. It would completely block access to the pocket for the Ulnar head near the wrist. I'm going to have to go with the assumption that it is a support piece to hold a museaum display piece together fo...

Sean Powell

Greetings all, IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m trying to refurbish my globose breastplate and need to remove some copper rivets. I was wondering what you would recommend to extract the rivets without scratching the breastplate all to hell. Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Matthew IMHO: Do as muc...

Sean Powell

Everyone I know that has gotten into the reselling business has has constant quality problems. The first piece is great. The next few are fine. Then the quality drops like a stone. The drop in quality usualy comes after you have commited to a large shipment that will not be cost effective to return....

Sean Powell

/looks at Ugos pictures/ /looks at pile of crap he calls an armor project/ /looks at Ugos pictures again/ /looks at pile of crap he calls an armor project again/ Well F**K! Makes me wonder why I don't just get a second job slopping burgers and pay for the armor I want rather then build it... Ok Ugo,...

Sean Powell

Step 1: Don't loose the optimism. Step 2: Learn how to armor before worring about your business plan of how to sell armor. Step 3: IMHO poorly shaped crap mostly manufactured in third world countries sells fairly well. If you try to compete you will earn at best 3rd world wages. Step 4: Faires vary ...

Sean Powell

For the really adventurous you might try stripping the galvination off with vinegar and then tinning the links in a bath of molten tin. There are (were?) good instructions on Sinrics web page concerning this but I don't have the link handy. The tin will be shinier and last longer then the zinc while...

Sean Powell

$50 in gas is a pretty good round trip. Best plan is to visit someone with the correct tools. Otherwise you can try the aviation snips in a vice thing with a pipe on the handle. It will work... for a while. Then the jaws get dull, the action loose and the handles bent. You could probably find an und...

Sean Powell

Hey, If Henry can commision a suit with overlaping fully enclosed butt-plates then someone can commision fully enclosed gauntlets. Many period fight manuals actualy list the palm as an ideal target. You don't have to actually fight in them. It's more a case of "I can pay rediculous sums of money to ...

Sean Powell

1926.D'ANJOU (R.) TRAITE DE LA FORME ET DEVIS D'UN TOURNOI. In French, facsimile edn., 70pp., 4to, fully illus. incl. 7 magnif-icent colour plates. Paris. 1946. The Manual For The Perfect Organization of Tourneys, by King Rene D'Anjou of Sicily, Duke of Anjou, etc. *Now I just need the English Tran...

Sean Powell

Thank you. I appreciate it! I certainly hope I can find a buyer, although I have no idea what to ask for it. I was thinking of putting it up on Ebay starting at $125. What do you guys think? Cat Too low a price by far. How many hours have you got invested in this? We are discriminating customers wh...

Sean Powell

Very interesting, but given the raised crest in the forehead piece why not do a raised crest for the length of the helm?

Sean

Sean Powell

Grrr. Computer ate my first reply. Too late to retype the entire thing. Here is the short version. Cut and shape the steel, hang on leather straps like Lorica Segmentata. Bridge gap from front plates to side plates to back plates with rings that match the Hauberek. End result: tall body bracelet. Op...

Sean Powell

OK I'm not a chemist but I don't believe that Magensium actually explodes on contact with water. Sodium will explode but sodium metal is practicly a liquid at room temperature and unsutible for maile. What I believe is happening is: The Magnesum is first lit (with a very hot flame to trigger the rea...

Sean Powell

Shas, Yes in the first pic the rivets go through 3 and 4 plates respectivly but in the second pic they both only go through three. Notice that the face plate is longer than the fore-head plate which allows you to move a seam. It is possible to "cheat" on the first helm design and cut a chunk out of ...

Sean Powell

I have 2 main wood dishes that I use cut in the same stump. The stump was dry pine and has a few cracks but I really don't care. Once was cut with a 7 1/4" circular saw blade similar. I made a * pattern in a spot by plunge cutting in with the blade then I kept dividing it up into smaller ans smaller...

Sean Powell

I own a pretty but heavy suit of plate (stainless). I fought in it for several years in the SCA. I learned several things: Weight DOES play a factor... in everything but my most noticible was when the melee line sprints across the field or climbing a set of stairs. I'd rather be armoring then in the...

Sean Powell

Nice work but why a center crease on the elbow? I only know of center creases on legs. Do you have different documentation of is this "Artistic License"?

The articulation looks pretty good.

happy hammering,
Sean

Sean Powell

I've seen a lot uglier sell for a lot more. You should be proud of them. I assume that the top plate is welded to a strip and ground to a sharp corner rather than folded down? The reason I assume this is that folding that consistant a corner would be more troublecome then dishing/raising the top to ...

Sean Powell

Asteeley

Quakertown isn't that far from Coatesville in the grand scheme of things. We should hook up some day to chat.

Sean

Sean Powell

I also have a half hp 3600rpm grinder. I ran the eastwood expanding wheel there with no catastropic failures of wheel or belt but mediocre to poor results. For polishing even a gentle curve you need to apply enough pressure to deform the vanes and spread the paper over a wider surface. That much pre...

Sean Powell

It only takes 24 hours for a good layer of wood glue to dry laminating 2 pieces of 1/4" together. I usually give it 48 hours to be sure. Under ideal circumstances I glue one up as the last step in a shop weekend and leave it until the next shop weekend. This means the last blank was probably in the ...

Sean Powell

OK my travel plans are starting to gel. What I have so far: Connecting flight is now through Frankfort rather then Munich. I'll miss out on some museums but I was born in Frankfort (on a military base) so for the duration of the layover it's like a mini-homecoming. July 5/6: Fly Philly->Frankfort->D...

Sean Powell

Rolling a straight edge is good starting practice. Next try bending the steel into a short cylinder and roll an edge of a curved surface. Then cut an "S" curve into steel and try rolling that while keeping the piece flat. Finally cut a wavy edge on a piece of steel, wrap into a cylinder and try to r...

Sean Powell

Recomendation: Use lots of cardboard. My knight taught me that when I want to make the articulation "perfect" to repatern each lame individually. Start with a cop with holes. Make sure the holes point roughly at each other and not back into empty space. Then trace a known lame pattern in pencil. Cut...

Sean Powell

It's a decent start. For you next piece you might want to work on the articulation a bit more. It appears that most of the bend (in that picture) is occuring between the vambrace and lowest lame. The articulation should ideally be distributed through all of the lames evenly.

happy hammering
Sean

Sean Powell

My appologies if I spell the names of any European cities wrong. I find myself suddenly on a business trip to Dresden Germany in early July. I'm flying through Munich and can arange to take an extra day to adjust to jet-lag. I can take the day in Munich or Dresden at my preference. I was curious if ...

Sean Powell

I've use M-77 spay adheasive to good effect for gluing canvas to plastic. For Alluminum I would recomend the same thing. I would also suggest sanding with 60 grit or wire-wheeling it to scuff up the surface and provide a better grip.

YMMV.

Sean

Sean Powell

It is 16 gauge (14 for the elbow) aluminium. I know some people don't like alum but, for some reason, I really like working with this stuff. Maybe its because I first learned armouring with aluminium. Many people don't like alluminum because it dosn't like to stretch the same way. It is difficult t...

Sean Powell

Could there be a functional reason for the knees to be assymetrical? Plenty of functional reason. The human tibia is not inline with the femur. It's not even in line with the theoretical axis between center of knee and hip socket. It's typicly 3 degrees out but on some beople can be much higher (mi...

Sean Powell

$400? Damn I remember when you couldn't touch something like that for $1200.

Oh well, something to add to the birthday request list.

Sean

Padding A Valsgrad 12 Helm

Polishing rivet heads?

Re: Copper Rivets

Re: More Cool Arms & Armour Books. Source. Even Rene's i

OT: Armor museaums in Dresden, Munich or possibly Bettlach S