The Armour Archive

Sean Powell

Stainless can be slightly magnetic, especially in the 400 series. Stainless weighs the same as mild until the 3rd decimal place. Depending on alloy it can weigh more OR less than mild. Unless you are measuring to 1/1000 accuracy you will not be able to use it to identify the alloy. 400 series and 17...

Sean Powell

What do you all think of immersing parts in molten table salt for heating prior to quenching? Steve I think you are confusing certain techniques here. The liquid salt is used AS THE QUENCH and the temper all in one. Rather that heating to 1800F then quenching below 100 then tempering to 600 you do ...

Sean Powell

Cops rarely know the laws they enforce. They get a product complaint, they drive by to see if there is something like gunfire or construction without a permit, issue some tickets and go. It's up to the lawyers to figure out if the tickets were valid but most people will pay them because it's cheaper...

Sean Powell

The color doesn't flake off but it can be sanded off and it still rusts so if you have to sand off rust you loose the color. Still has some nice effects if done in a controlled way.

Sean

Sean Powell

IIRC, and I think I said so on this board back when I was doing this sorta research (and Gruber said it lined up with his experience) is creep and thermal effects double in time requirement for every 30 degrees, I believe it was. Tempering is governed by the Arrhenius equation http://en.wikipedia.o...

Sean Powell

IIRC "A Complaint Against Blacksmiths" mentions "deafening with their din"; 14th CE However just like there is little regulation of people deafening themselves with ear plugs on their personal music devices or loud music at concerts, occupational disabilities were rather expected. Wax was a fairly ...

Sean Powell

Your question should be: Are you interested in wearing medieval armor where if the armor intercepts the weapon it keeps you alive or are you interested in medieval-looking armor for a sport of stick tag where if the armor intercepts the weapon you are still dead? I ask because the purpose of medieva...

Sean Powell

Not unless the dies are fresh and sharp and even then not so much.

Sean Powell

while looking at the different gorgets, I noticed that one of them has a large gap between two of the plates: http://www.allenantiques.com/images/A-25-right.jpg . it is present on the right side, where it opens, but not on the left where it hinges. is this gap just a result of time, or was it made ...

Sean Powell

Trip to the Met in NYC, June 22nd Hello, John Gruber from the Surly Anvil was headed up for a visit after Wades armor party so I was thinking about a trip to the armor room at the Met. He lands aprox noon on Sunday June 22nd so we would probably be there around 1:00 after parking and traffic BS. Any...

Sean Powell

Unfortunately Gruber is getting in around noon. Hopefully he brings a book that will last him until 7pm. I'm bartering plane-tickets for armor and the evening flights were just too expensive or were only later because they had 5 hour layovers in Atlanta. Everyone have fun without me. No vacation tim...

Sean Powell

I've got to imagine that the joiner did not go to the turner to get a bed and the turner did not go to the joiner for a bed, not when both could make a chair or a table. Perhaps the turner might go to the joiner for planed flats for the deck but even then they do not need to be square with straight ...

Sean Powell

Holy crap!! I just received word that I CAN attend! I really need to see and feel some real armour and get an education... The only downside is I have to ask for a ride from Raleigh/Dunam airport to Wade's (or share/split a hotel with someone) Friday night. Plane lands at 8:00pm. Please, if anyone ...

Sean Powell

so something kinda like this that would be real easy it looks like a 1/4 inch u bolt and some bent over flat stock Pretty much yes. The one I remember had the bent barstock welded to the grill because it was the same barstock the grill was made from and the flat stock riveted to the helmet but it g...

Sean Powell

Still waiting on photos of the one I want. I want to know what's UNDER this visor. The etching implies a period bar-grill for at least an exchange piece if not underneath. http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239/Eliz-Rivenstar/Seans%20Shop/Photo0035.jpg http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239/Eliz-R...

Sean Powell

I think Mad Matt introduced us to the simplest center hinge of all. It was a piece of 1/4" round stock bent in a [ shape and welded to the top of the bar-grill or top of the pig-face. Then a piece of 1" flat stock was rolled into a J shape and riveted to the top. It's not a period solution but neith...

Sean Powell

Doable? Quite possibly. An efficient plan? I doubt it. If the helm was a perfect circle or perfect oval then if you removed a perfect width gap then the edges will like up. In reality no shape made by hand is perfect so when you cut out the center the two edges may be forward or back by a MM or 2. T...

Sean Powell

Apron yes, bracer now... but I wish I had on Saturday. The ember stuck on what was supposedly 100% cotton. %$^^&(ing cheap chineese made imitation crap. It self extinguised so it's mostly cotton flanel but a leather bracer would have been better.

Please post a pick when you get something.

Sean

Sean Powell

Chisel and a hardened steel plate sounds like a PITA to me. Also loud. Best cutter I ever used was for titanium rods rather than rivets. 2 hardened steel disks with slightly offset holes in a pipe. 1 disk is held by a long arm and the second is turned by a wrench. 2 feet of level arm. Shear point ju...

Sean Powell

They actually used that word in a movie? I just made it up as shorthand for all the magic things that they use in Hollywood. Unfortunately they did. It's a slang term used by just about every engineering deptment to indicate that the customer is expecting something unachieveable. Unobtanium, Star-T...

Sean Powell

If not same shop then close enough to represent transfer of knowledge and style. Could be master and appretice or master and apprentices apprentice or it could just be the current local fashion. If I found 2 tunics with the same cut and style I wouldn't assume same seamstress/tailor. Form does follo...

Sean Powell

OK, I have some samples of the trim-lok in question. I would not recommend using them to reinforce a plywood shield. The construction is 'staples' of aluminum that are .025" thick and only .125" wide. There is about .040" of rubber seperating the staples as well as the rubber that encapsulates the s...

Sean Powell

I am surprised that the experimental work with the visor stake has not elicited more commentary. I expected a lively discussion, but all I hear is crickets. Mac I'm interested but from a purely academic standpoint. For starters the cost of a properly made dopple excedes my budget for a helmet by a ...

Sean Powell

Dremel also works. Cut part way through and gran the tip with pliars while hot and bend/twist off.

Sean

Sean Powell

So should i use the deadblow for the dishing itself? also will a dishing stump cut it for the 11 gauge or is it a lost cause? If you have a lot of job/life stress to take out on the metal then it might work but it's far from efficient. I wouldn't use plastic or dead-blow anything on 11ga. I'd use s...

Sean Powell

While I am a self admitted tool hoarder and have spent far more in tools than I will ever recover in armor savings... I have decided that the budget won't let me purchase this. I have too many other sources of out-flow that need to get covered first. If anyone is interested the stake it is being sol...

Sean Powell

darn332, Can you be more specific on location? United States[edit] Charlotte County, Florida Charlotte, Iowa Charlotte, Maine Charlotte, Michigan Charlotte, New Jersey Charlotte, New York, a town in Chautauqua County Charlotte, Rochester, New York, a neighborhood Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte,...

Sean Powell

If I had to speculate on the gray color of the Eezox: vegtable based oils can become saturates with water and the water forms little droplets like bubbles captured in the oil/wax. It looks like a soapy residue and can be a source of discoloration. I don't know if this will then dry out later or wipe...

Sean Powell

Sean, I started with the thing bolted on with #5-40 screws, but that was a display of unaccustomed optimism. They sheared very quickly. Just changing to 1/8" rivets almost worked. I am pretty sure that moving up to 5/32" rivets would do the trick. This is really the same sort of thing that happens ...

Sean Powell

The first was a propensity for the temporary rivets to shear out as the work cooled between heats. This could be solved easily enough by using slightly heavier rivets than my 1/8" favorites. The other problem was that of how to hold onto the stake. It clearly needs to be mounted somehow, but I just...

Sean Powell

I'm considering something borderline insane as it concerns plane tickets. What time do you think things will start on Saturday?

Sean Powell

There is an entire hobby devoted to 12" action figures (not GI Joe) I will check out the estate auctions to see what I can find. And there is also a large one dedicated to 24" tall ball-joint dolls. they have a better range of mobility and tend to be human 'perfection' proportion rather than toy pr...

Sean Powell

That is a good price for one 2.5" wide, but the shipping is gonna kill ya. Hal It's close enough I can pick it up on a lunch break or after work. :) I have a lot of other things that should get money first but opportunities like this are rare and I would hate to miss it if this was a reasonable pri...

Sean Powell

Hello, A friend notified me of an armor tool for sale not far from me. Unfortunetly it seems like the owner knows what he has. I'm trying to decide if this is a reasonable price. 41" long, 2.5" wide, 75lbs. He wants $175. I'm waffling. Fool to buy it at this price or fool to pass it up? Or fool for ...

Sean Powell

OK. It looks like that's where the little gold colored flowers go , but I don' understand what it is that they do . Mac How does this style of pauldron connect to the breastplate? If laced (unlikely but the elbows are still pointed in place) could these some how protect the lacing? And if it's a po...

Re: scrapyard steel

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: dishing quandry

Re: Heat coloring steel

Re: Tempering temp for 1075?

Re: Historical blacksmith's ear protection

Re: some opinions on chest plate width.

Re: Note to self....12g Stainless

Re: Close helm confusion

Trip to the Met in NYC, June 22nd

Re: Study Session - North Carolina, June 21-22 2014

Re: Beds

Re: Study Session - North Carolina, June 21-22 2014

Re: removable klapplvisor hinge

Re: The Met has opened it collection of digital photos

Re: removable klapplvisor hinge

Re: Summer Project Madness: Resizing my Bascinet!!

Re: Blacksmith Leathers

Re: How to trim steel rivets

Re: Armour proof test 2

Re: Great helm found in Moravia?

Re: Trim-lok

Re: Bascinet prototype and "can" or "house" construction

Re: How to trim steel rivets

Re: Dishing Help Please

Re: Price check: 41x2.5" T-stake.

Re: Dishing Help Please

Re: Rust Prevention Test v2

Re: Bascinet prototype and "can" or "house" construction

Re: Bascinet prototype and "can" or "house" construction

Re: Study Session - North Carolina, June 21-22 2014

Re: Bascinet prototype and "can" or "house" construction

Re: Price check: 41x2.5" T-stake.

Price check: 41x2.5" T-stake.

Re: Thun Sketchbook Image #44 discussion