The Armour Archive

mattmaus

I have a project. Tomorrow I toddle off to my supplier for a couple jugs of gun-blue. I swore like hell I would never do this again. I hated the results. I had streaks. I think part of it may have been my prep/cleaning work. What's the best way to prep for this? Right now I'm leaning towards brake c...

mattmaus

Something I have been considering for a while would be: Solid steel bowl of 14-12g steel center weld seam, blackened. small 'y' shapes cut from copper of 18g or there abouts, appliqued over the top of the bowl as appropriate. Large 'Y' shapes cut from bronze or brass 18g, over the bowl, and smaller ...

mattmaus

white mountain armoury wrote:You are smoking crack.

I love you man.

mattmaus

Does anyone else feel that helmet prices are too damn high ? This is coming from a guy who charges over $100 for a piece of plywood smeared with glue? Or a tube of colored leather? That was fairly confrontational. The asshole in me meant it to be. This will be less so. If you care to do so Sir Vitu...

mattmaus

Konstantin the Red wrote:Vroom, Vrrroooomm.

Swallows don't go 'vroom'.

mattmaus

Or there abouts... In case you needed to KNOW.

Almost finished.

mattmaus

Sneblot wrote:I mean it looks well stocked but when I got in there I found that it was mainly hover bags and house hold supplys. Yet it says DIY/Hardware on the shop sign damn it.

I'm glad to see this is a global epidemic, and not a local trend. The rest of the world can suffer with me.

mattmaus

I have the Makita. They are the shit.

I do not have a cutting torch. If I did, I probably would not use it that much. I have the Makita.

Mostly, what the torch can do that the makita can't I can fake with a 3" air cutter or a jig-saw.

I still don't use the makita as much as the jig-saw.

mattmaus

There's some stuff in life you don't skimp on, it just ain't worth it. Dish soap is one of them. Dawn will take off motor oil, and is my second choice for degreasing my hands after workin on the truck or whatever. If you can find out what was in them you're better off. A lot of times it's soap in th...

mattmaus

Yay! It's Saturday! Should be warming up soon and I can go to the garage to make more stuff! In the interim, a few points to address. Cian has the high bid, and a PM is going out after I post here. I don't think I will ever get rid of the haubergeon. While it is on it's own nothing more than a Von S...

mattmaus

The forced air burners work well in a forge because of the refractory. It works just like a house: the more places air can escape, the less efficient the heat is going to be. The heat in a forge is less the burner heating the metal and more the refractory helping to keep the heat it puts out within...

mattmaus

Very nice COP. Make it out of leather next time! What I should have done is made the straps out of the same material as the shell, and marketed it as Vegan-Friendly. No cows skinned in the making of this item (though a couple of dinosaurs were killed by natural causes and were left to decompose and...

mattmaus

When I make stuff that small by accident, I usualy drop about $50-$100 what I would normaly want right off the top, before it ever hits here. Small stuff IS harder to sell.

mattmaus

Not that there has been a huge amount of interest in this, but... My work schedule has changed for today. I will be getting home from work much earlier. I'm also going in earlier. Which means I will likely be tired when 11:15 rolls around, and probably allready be in bed because I'm a lazy git. Auct...

mattmaus

It is logical IMHO as you can not only hurt yourself but also people around. Here in the states we figured out that just cos you're trained on something, doesn't mean you can't still hurt people with it. The generation of kids getting their drivers license has had 'don't drink and drive' hammered i...

mattmaus

Personaly, I hope this change only lasts for 1 term. but now we're getting all political. Big companies charge for shipping. They have to pay 1-2, or more depending on how big the company is, people to do nuthin but stuff boxes and print labels. I fail to see where your time is any less valuable tha...

mattmaus

Sorry it took me a bit to get pics. I've had more pressing things to do. I have things I'd rather be doing today too, but it's too damned cold and snowy to be out in the garage for longer than 5 minutes at a whack. Stupid weather. Anyway. These were cut from 8, 6 and 4 inch pipe respectively. But th...

mattmaus

m I've not ordered from them myself, but (very casualy) know folks who have, and they've gotten high marks. Not sure if anyone used a crucible per-se, but saws and other stuff. Otherwise, if it's just lead, I would deffinitely scope your sporting goods stores. Should be able to find a hot pot for fi...

mattmaus

your just "dreamy" That's almost as cool as another line I got regarding these photos: "You look like some scottish drill sergeant that should be kicking newbies in the ribs for not f&^#ing up in a propper Brittish manner." nice cop Thanks for the inspiration on the Y straps...

mattmaus

Mattmaus, Being ugly describes whats inside bad, mean, rude people, all I see in the pics is a good craftsman (and porkchops . I watched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly not too long ago. I hadn't seen it since I was a wee kid. I realized this time through that that was what they meant by Ugly. But ...

mattmaus

I have an arangement with a friend to sell some stuff through his site when I make something 'suitable' for his target audience. Pushing it here because I'm tight for funds, and it's arguably season appropriate. and I currently have this for sale there: http://www.lodestoneandladysmantle.com/images/...

mattmaus

I used these in the one I just finished up.

http://www.rjleahy.com/Store/rivets/arvb.htm

Worked good.

mattmaus

If you cut a slice about 1/4 to 1/3rd of the diameter off the bottom, then set that on another horse, you'll have one to bend over, and one to bend into.

Werks gud.

mattmaus

Nice haubergeon. Where'd you get it? Traded some dude for it. Nice COP too, sooo much better than the one I put together for a newbie recently. Well then... he should upgrade to this one. The y-yokes are a nice touch. Yeah. Stole that idea from White Mountain Armory. Besides looking cool, they were...

mattmaus

Soak it in epoxy. Then hang upside down till it dries.

Not only will it keep it out of the drill, it will look bitchin cool.

mattmaus

I have on hand the very first ever Coat of Plates that I have made. Just finished it up. http://members.armourarchive.org/mattmaus/CoPMkI/CoPMkI01.jpg http://members.armourarchive.org/mattmaus/CoPMkI/CoPMkI02.jpg http://members.armourarchive.org/mattmaus/CoPMkI/CoPMkI03.jpg http://members.armourarch...

mattmaus

Ovoid dishing forms are the shiznit!

They are awesome for bascinet halves and conicals.

Someone should buy this thing.

mattmaus

I've been hoarding brass rivet stubs for years in anticipaton of casting with them. If they're steel, probably not usefull to cast. But you could use them in a shot bag like suggested. Or scrap them. I read somewhere that steel is no longer being produced here in the states. All of our non-imported ...

mattmaus

I think I remember that helmet. Was supposed to be a bascinet, but ended up not fitting the intended customer, and I was disinterested in making a propper visor, so it got sort of sugarloafed. The legs look cool. Pockets with plates. But the coif thing is a way cool idea. Safe or not, padded or not,...

mattmaus

They are utterly ruled by the things they want. They are obsessed with planning their next move....they CANNOT GO BACK. That's a very broad brush you have there. I'm not going to disagree with you though, except to say that it may not always be a case of not caring, nor not being capable of caring....

mattmaus

chef de chambre wrote:Is "Wide nasaled Norman helm" too much more difficult than "snowplow helm"?

It's at least 2 whole words and like 5 sylables longer your way.

That's a lot. A WHOLE lot.

mattmaus

I'm sorry.

I'll do better next time.

This is the only social life I have.

mattmaus

Sweet.

What's the shank diameter and length?

mattmaus

Halberds wrote:The client is always right.

Yeah...

I liked Cet's response to that one too...

something to the effect of "Ultimately I'm the one that gets to decide who is a customer and who is not"

mattmaus

Just say no.

best prep for chem blackening?

Re: Number time

Re: Helmet prices.

24 MPH

Re: Howdy

Cauldron/kettle/censer thing

Funkified Coat of Plates Auction