The Armour Archive

Sean Powell

The following is all rampant OPPINION and others are more than welcome to disagree with me. Wet wood carves easier without splitting but circular saws and chain-saws will tend to bind. Burning a hole in wet wood will be slow which is bad and cause smelly steam but it will also go slow which is also ...

Sean Powell

Depends, Any idea what type of wood? Do you at least know it is a hard wood? Was the tree healthy before being cut? I assume cut in late summer? Are you burning, chiseling, routing, carving, turning or chainsawing the bowl? How desperate are you for a dish now vs. having an easier time in the future...

Sean Powell

*sigh* Like the "Frankencrap" corizina that it is next to some people have speculated that this visor did not originally belong to this bascenet. Looking at it I can see where the doubt comes from.

Sean

Sean Powell

Mac used "Black Magic" on Toby Capwell's harness. Gorgeous finish....smooth, shiny, black. Mac outsourced the blackening to a profesional company. While visiting the site he vaguly remembers seeing a container labeled "Black Magic" that may or may not have been the exact substance used for that par...

Sean Powell

Some ideas for paterning helms: Build a set of cardboard dividers that can transfer inside and outside measurements. They will be your best friends. Better yet, make a pair in metal from your scrap of your first helm. Measure your head width and lengths as well as circumference where a hat would sit...

Sean Powell

I have had armor thickness metal profesionally cut but turret punch, laser, water-jet and CNC Plasma but all for mundane job purposes. Any can handle armor thickness stainless and Laser is probably your most cost effective. When cutting high-carbon steel for heat-treating I strongly recomend the wat...

Sean Powell

Man... I wanna' see the inside of Mac's shop... Where all the mystical, magical things happen... -Justin I've seen the inside of Mac's shop (alas, a rare privilege these days), and yes amazing things are found there. Such things are the product of hard work and outstanding talent. Mord. What I find...

Sean Powell

Question 1: Why does it matter? Question 2: Have you looked at some of the work done by Negroli? A lot of what would be classified as "Fantasy" by the average armorer has been exceded by leaps and bounds and exists as an extant piece. I suppose the best choice is to look at copyright law. If a jury ...

Sean Powell

Hello, I want to buy a custom stake for raising and planishing pointed elbows.

The top would be 2Ã¢â‚¬Â

Sean Powell

The radial head articulates with a spool like structure on the elbow, not the wrist. Cameron (An x-ray tech by day) Duh! OK I flubed that one. Radius near the wrist is radial styloid? Which should leave the ulnar head near the wrist and the elecranon at the elbow? Please note the line where I state...

Sean Powell

Thorbjorn, Not to intrude but radial head fracture meaning involving the wrist (and probably surgery) or radial mid-shaft fracture (probably cast and unlikly surgery). I'm not a doctor by any means but if it is a radial head injury which involves the articular surface you want to be REALLY sure that...

Sean Powell

There is also the Japanese/Chinese Box-Bellows. It is a very simple design that can be made with 1by lumber or ply-wood. It is especially easy if you have a table-saw with a good rip fence. The principals can also be applied in a vertical fashion so on the last pump you can get a moment of slow cont...

Sean Powell

Halvgrim, It's a nice chest. Question: did you include a method to drain melted ice water from the bottom or must the cooler be tipped to drain it? If you did include a drain how did you seal it? Second question: The repeating matched book-leaf on the front. Is that a form of plywood? or a vennier? ...

Sean Powell

I just looked up the page in question. That is a very nice one-piece cross, pommel-weight and wire wrapped hilt. I don't know anyone who quite does work like that. It may have to be a custom order. Alternatly you could contact a merchant like Mandrake who does cast pewter, brass and alluminum crosse...

Sean Powell

Hal, I'm diggin up this post from the past. I've got a local newbiew who is short on cash but building in skill and technique. I think this would be a very good project for him. If you have any left please drop me an e-mail with a price including shipping to the Philadelphia area. Thank you powell ....

Sean Powell

Remember: Period knees only have to bend far enough to sit on a horse comfortably. This is no (as far as I know) fighting from the knees in true period combat.

Sean

Sean Powell

Wow, This one was dredged up from almost a year ago... I did find several shops locally including one named Hydrocut (I think. I'll have to check my notes) It was a small privetly run business with good prices and very fast turn around. Discount for paying in cash too. I plan on sending him more bus...

Sean Powell

I'm going to second (third? forth?) the mono-boob shape. A litte repose work to give the hint of a low-cut bodice and complete the lines suggested by the off the shoulder spaulders would be nice. If someone can afford a suit like this then they can afford a horse. Split the skirt for riding OR do a ...

Sean Powell

IMHO this is how I would procede. Step 1: You have good shape and reasonable rivet position. You should be able to fix this. Step 2: Dismantle the legs and get some card-board. Not the coregated stuff but the thickness they make shoe-boxes out of. Step 3: Cut a roughly lame shaped piece and shove it...

Sean Powell

OK, IMHO 16ga is signifigantly heavier then you need for a lamellar. 16ga is aprox .060" thick. 20ga is aprox .040" thick. therefore a 16ga hauberek will weigh 150% the weight of one made in 20ga. Just do some simple math: Take your chest size and multiply by the length and then multiply by .020lbs/...

Sean Powell

To me "Do it right the first time" means be patient, focus your effort and try your best. If you do this you will have a piece that you respect and that you learn from. If you rush your schedule without focus and do a sloppy job with the "I'm just practicing for next time" then your next time will l...

Sean Powell

According to my notes I paid $2.64/sq-ft for a 4x8 sheet cut in half (includes cutting cost amoritized over the sq-footage of the steel) for a 4x8 sheet this is $84.48 total.

I keep track of cost in sq-ft because it makes it easier to estimate the cost of certain projects.

happy hammering,
Sean

Sean Powell

Actually Ham Standard doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t make any of the suit itself (soft goods). They make the life support systems and the HUT or hard upper torsos. ILC/ Dover makes the soft goods including the gloves. HS would love to be making suits, but they have never won a NASA contract to produce flight suits...

Sean Powell

I got to handle one of these gloves back when I worked at Hamilton Standard (Now Hamilton Sunstrand) who manufacures most of the suits for NASA. I remember cables that extend from the wrist juncture over the webs in the finger and back on the other side. The cables essentially take the load from the...

Sean Powell

the Doge Palace? never heard of it, will look on the net. once again I want to ask about how the bottom throat plate pivots would it not make more sense to have the visor rest behind it rather than over it. I am thinking here of sword thrusts coming to the neck. If they come to hit the neck plate w...

Sean Powell

A freind recently gave me a pair of steel legs. The problem is they had a tendancy to rub hard against his shins. Hopeing to avoid this, dose anyone know what might cause this, or how to fix it. thank you This is a typical problem with 3/4 legs that don't strap over full greaves. Solutions include:...

Sean Powell

Nice lathe. Can that tool be used to cut external domes or peaked domes? I was thinking of ordering a custom stake from Ironmonger with a gothic arch tip on it. I'd rather give the business to someone on the archive. Interested?

Sean

Sean Powell

I wear a cloth covered (uppolstry velvet) corizina brigandine. The shape is a deeper globose than many SCAdian interpreatations and roughtly matches the piece you are duplicating. It is possible to stretch the fabric and eliminate MOST of the bunching if you work at it. First the center seam is goin...

Sean Powell

Sean: Perhaps the 1050 has a larger plastic deformation range? Wow. Have you ever seen the yield for 4340? Drawn to 800 F it's 190,000 psi. Beefy. Well given that it has a higher ultimate strength and that Posions ratio for the two materials are about equal, I'd estimate that 1050 does have a large...

Sean Powell

OK, I don't have numbers for 1050 at 650F. I do have numbers for 1040 at 600F. You can expect a slight improvement in strength by switching to 1050 but you are also stress relieving it more so the overall stress to yield should be about the same although the stress for ultimate failure should favor ...

Sean Powell

I have had this discussion with armorers more experience than I am and we have gravitated towards a certain oppinion. Dishes do NOT need to be hardened. You can dish in a wood stump or as my knight prefers a brass bushing. A harder heavier dish will absorb less energy to internal deflection but the ...

Sean Powell

The hand deburing tool is a nice device to have. I will however second the large bit method. I have a 90 degree 1/2" 'Chamfering bit' that I use for multiple holes. I set it in the drill press and either just hand lift the plates into position or set the deck so there is minimal clearance and tap ea...

Sean Powell

Rivet diameter is mostly a matter of preference. Typical scandian joints are oversized with sloppy articulation thus requiring larger rivet heads which come from larger rivet diameters. Take some time to look at extant pieces in museaums etc and choose the diameter rivet that has the correct head si...

Sean Powell

Did you glue the fabric or just rivet?
If so what type of glue?
What type of fabric?
What type of paint?
Is the residue powedery, sticky or does it smear?

Sean Powell

I'll coment on the work-bench concept: You may find it more efficient and cost effective to lag-bolt layers of 2 by X material together that trying to attach 4x4's together. 1/2" threaded rod is a great material for holding all the layers in one direction. If you are afraid that the stand is too tal...

WTB custom planishing stake.

Re: Steel leg problem