The Armour Archive

raito

Karen Larsdatter wrote:
Tasha K wrote:The problem is -- where is my fingerlooping CA?

http://fingerloop.org

Or a more global perspective at:

http://www.lmbric.net/

raito

Wade, I have an old Milwaukee shear (with an all-metal body). I wouldn't want to armour with it, either. But what it really excels at is cutting 4X8 sheets of steel in half. That's a job that's painful with a Beverly. For that purpose (and really only that purpose), I won't give it up. And I got it ...

raito

Yeah, I had to re-do all the links. I made them too thick. I got some done, then I couldn't get them to link together without very significant distortion. So I had to press them thinner. That, of course, took time as I couldn't use the links I'd started with in all cases. I also really need to get c...

raito

Are those the guys who scrap the copper wiring out of junked cars?

raito

If you're going to do more than the occasional piece, it's not all that expensive (especially if you already have air available). Out on the net, there's instructions for a break-down curing oven that uses some sort of insulated/reflective panel and infared lamps, which should cut down the space req...

raito

I'd love that. Last weekend's class in History of Japanese Armour went pretty well. I didn't think I could stretch it out to an hour, but the time flew by. And all I did was to go through the changes from the time of the tanko to the end of SCA period. Really, the pint was to show that Japanese armo...

raito

Eik, Henry's one of my guys. He wanted to do Japanese, so I taught him my method for doing it. Most of what you see is plastic barrel. Except for the kabuto, all this could be made by a new guy whose not all thumbs. As Henry says, the basic kabuto idea is legal -- make the somen go further back and ...

raito

Let's see how badly I can butcher the information... The kozane are larger in the 12th century than they are in the, say, 16th. The laces are larger, as well. That's good for you, because you'll need fewer. Off the top of my head, I think that they had rounder tops, but I may be thinking of somethin...

raito

Doing it with a torch will not work correctly. It has to be even heat over the piece. Also, I don't think I'd try doing it in a household oven that I'd want to use for food afterward. The process is often more than just melting plastic powder onto metal, depending on the exact formulation used.

raito

You want to read Jack Dempsey's stuff if you want stuff that's applicable to SCa fighting.

raito

Apparently, there are 2 sizes of freon can. One makes for a decent helmet (at the time), the other makes for an ocular that looks like it's at the end of the hall.

raito

Or it might be that cutout at the back. With the flexible tail on it, I could easily see how, even with a 4 point strap, it might want to flip. And all the Star Wars stuff was Japanese inspired. Look at the pre-production sketches. Vader has a kabuto with a single piece solid shikoro. But they dropp...

raito

Generally, white is food grade stuff, blue is non-toxic (like soap), and black is nasty stuff. I would not follow agentblack's advice and burn off what might be in it. My wife the cvhemical engineer can tell you the sorts of things that are shipped in plastic barrels, and a lot of it is NOT stuff yo...

raito

Spearweasel,

A standard Whitney Jr. will do just fine for the size of holes you'll need in that material. If you want to save a little bit of muscle, you can put the punch in a vise and use a cheater bar. because you aren't exceeding the capacity of the punch, you'll be fine.

raito

You guys realize that you're talking about raising, right? You're taking the longer circumference of the top cap and skrinking it down so that it fits the body of the helm. Raising. I'm occasionally amused that guys who think raising is hard have no problems putting caps on barrel helms.

raito

Actually, the second example is much simpler. There's less leather in it than you think. It's a steel menpo, with the leather bits over it. Not a grill like the first example. It's far less complciated that it looks. (It's Akira Minamoto's stuff.) That first example is a great half-great, half-awful...

raito

When I use a shiled, which isn't often, I use my fan-shaped shiled-like thing. It's basically a third of a 20" round, with a handle cut into one of the radii. I invented that sort of shield (still have the original. I retired it when it started to break down). Not period in the slightest (have ...

raito

Good on him. You guys looking at the 'too old threads' should read it.

(And he beats me. I only won my last Crown 28 years after my 1st tournament win in 1980.)

raito

I never thought I'd be more anxious before the Crown Tournament that We are hosting than the Crown Tournament that I won. It was a consolation that Duke Max from Meridies told my wife that he felt the same way as well when he reigned. Any former Royals felt that way or not? Yes, Your Majesty. And t...

raito

Same old discussion. If you're expected to do it, then it may as well be a rule. For me, I don't care whether the other guy gives his up when he takes mine. If he does that, he's saying, sometimes literally, "I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back, as long as you have yours tied, too&...

raito

I'm not sure it should fly, but you've made a decent attempt. It's virtually a given that an opponent would be struck with a non-working portion of the weapon (i.e. the siloflex). Looking at it, you'd be turning the weapon around a lot, first using it as a shield, then as a thrust, etc. So this isn'...

raito

Old_bear wrote:Be really careful with lead though - it is toxic. Vent your workspace really well and wear a special respirator, best would be to use lead free pewter instead of lead...

What he said. Lead-free pewter is less toxic, nearly as heavy, and casts cooler.

raito

The usual way to make lots of brass castings (unless you want to go for die casting, which is more difficult) is to make a master, cast or vulcanize silicone or rubber around it, and remove the master to have a permanent mold. Then use a wax injector to make wax copies, which are then used to cast i...

raito

I see it the other way around. The SCA is big because of how the rules are. Every group doing combat makes compromises. They compromise for safety. They compromise for cost. They compromise for training. No one is out there in an organization fighting to the death, or even close. It's the compromise...

raito

If you make it out of something carbony, like 1050 steel, and temper it after you bend it it will never dent. Make all the holes before tempering or you will regret it. I think I disagree with this. One example is the dents in Murdock's stuff. But temper is a continuum. Too hard, and it'll dent les...

raito

That guy is me. I happened to have a store of large bronze nuts, and a 40 ton hyrdaulic press. It took me about a minute to press one of the nuts into a link that just needs cleaning up. 4 times though the press: Once pressing the nut on corners to elongate it. Once pressing the short side to square...

raito

18g will stll work, though it dents worse than the .09 aluminum I use (in gauntlets anyway).

raito

Sure it changes a lot, because a sendai-dou is a lot fewer, larger pieces than the lamellar types. You should still be able to handle it, but you'll curse the aluminum a lot more, because bigger pieces are harder to bend. And there's a lot fewer holes. But your powder-coat will last longer, because ...

raito

First off, don't make the dangly bits thinner. They will get bent out of shape rather quickly. Yes, they aren't held rigid against something, but the way they move around, they get caught in funny positions. Can you do it? Absolutely. If you're doing straight lames, which is OK, see if any of your f...

raito

To elaborate, There's 2 components to a spec for aluminum as you will find it -- the alloy and the temper. That 6061 or 7075? That's the alloy. The 6 series is Al-Mg-Si. The 7 series is Al-Zn-Mg(-Cu). Both those are heat-treatable and what you want. In general, the 7 series is stronger than the 6 se...

raito

And I'm pretty sure that when Effingham gets around to a reply, he'll say:

http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/katchu.bibliography.html

(but ISBN's would be nice for the more modern books, if they have them. Makes them easier to find, either for purchase, or via ILL).

raito

Mykaru, Thanks for the reply (but if you're not reading this part of the forum, you'll probably miss the thanks). I do have Zusetsu Sengoku Katchu Shu II. I listed it as Modern Armours Encyclopedia II, because that was the title in English on the obi. The book I have listed as Zusetsu Sengoku Katchu...

raito

Effectively 0 minutes. It's on a route home from work.

raito

Well that's good to know. Would leather work though or would it deform to easily? I could see that being an issue. Also what sort of lacing did you use that holds up so well? Though leather is certainly authentic, I haven't used it. Modern leather thing would not look right, though -- you'd have to...

raito

Gentlemen, I'm putting this in a post because I think the information might be useful to others as well as myself. I spent several years perfecting a system of making Japanese armour using straight lames. My purpose in this was not to produce the best armour possible, but to put forth a method where...

Japanese Sources (primarily for Eff and Mykaru)