The Armour Archive

Sasha

Pexto products are carried by Blackwoods in Australia...BUT YOU REALLY DO NOT WANT TO PAY THE PRICES!!!! Blackwoods are very much the Evil Empire. Their catalogues are totally droolworthy, and their prices are so stupidly unaffordable (about 300% of US retail prices, including conversion) that you j...

Sasha

I have tried a few different kinds of tape. Duct tape gives a very clean edge but, more importantly peels off without ripping even when it has all those designs perferated into it. Packing tape will just tear to bits under those conditions and any of the spined tapes (gaffa or glass-fibre tape) allo...

Sasha

I have an etching secret to confess.... I use stencils! And worse...I sometimes use duct tape as a resist! You know those paper cutting stamps? You get butterflies and all that kind of crap in paper-craft shops. Well, they also make paper cutters for doing the edges of paper...so you punch out a 2" ...

Sasha

Loren. that is not just cheap, that is insane. I know you do not want to profiteer from this but I think you have geared yourself up for major burnout! Take a second look at your prices and factor in to make at least sushi or pizza money for the work (so that if you spend all day on it, it at least ...

Sasha

The best lacing I have found for any application (like using as a repair tool instead of duct tape) is core and sheath prussaking cord that you can buy from shops that deal in abseiling gear. This stuff is amazingly tough and strong. Does not corrode in weather/sun/salt, is amazingly abrassion resis...

Sasha

Examples can be found in "armourer and his craft" as well as at least two of the three AAoMK books. To my knowledge there is only one original example of a full viking maille hauberk...and it is not in any state to have the rings read. I would say the example pictured is definately of a later period...

Sasha

Ummm...what you read was that lots of us have used dremel cut off wheels to cut links...That does not mean we still use them if we can at all help it. The best thing I found was a non-dremel brand wheel that basically looks like a disk version of a hacksaw blade. Lasts a fair while if you keep it co...

Sasha

After years of Festival where we got sick of the other side rushing to within 5meters of our walls and just sitting around (the archers may not fire within 5 meters range. On the far side of a wall they are still considered "alive" but they are useless for that bit of the battle if they cannot fall ...

Sasha

This is so funny. We have had repeating crossbows and multi-fire javelin engines (shields are no defence) in lochac for more then 6 years. We also have a much higher ratio of lights to heavies then anywhere else in the knowne worlde (we also have cannon and other stuff). And we use wooden arrows wit...

Sasha

It is mostly a natter of preference. I find verticals to be bloody awful, except in about 2% of incoming shots...in which case they do provide improved visability. The main safety issue I have with vertical bar-grills is that they are more prone to have a shield edge come in. There are no rules requ...

Sasha

This is an often used silversmithing technique. It is also useful for making brass,copper or bronze (or gold or silver, for that matter) chennier for the edges of armour (gives the same rolled edge but in a different colour to the steel. Looks great.) Doign curbes with the stake you have is possible...

Sasha

Actually these things have been mentioned on the archive before...I remember posting a pic of mine to the board. I have had my set for about 6 years and the better my armouring and understanding of armour gets... the less I use the things. Nowadays I mostly use them for non armouring applications su...

Sasha

Having "magnetised" the babe, you can get out of even the worst designed sports car, un-assisted, in under a minute.... I fear the passions may cool in her loins while she waits 20 minutes for your two squires to help you out of the suit (she may even just opt for the squires) http://www.armourarchi...

Sasha

It sounds like a paste I know of. It is used mainly for aluminium. Basically it calls itself a "scratch resistent" coating. Sort of like powder coat crossbred with anodizing (bad example...but I mean that it actually bites in by a couple of molecules like anodizing but is applied in a manner similar...

Sasha

You do not need to pick it up at all. It rests buried in potash inside the sealed CERAMIC vessel (iron is not a good idea). You would let it cool naturally in that state and then re-heat it in a furnace on a slab. You then either slide off the slab into your quench or just dump slab and all (not as ...

Sasha

The two period version I know are to use an etching compound infused with gold (this etches the steel down a little as well as chemically plating the gold held in suspension onto the steel) or using gold leaf and rabbit-skin glue for sizing (more fragile...but you need a LOT less gold to start with)...

Sasha

That is the same as my own whitney...it is indeed worth it....but only if you get the bench-mount for it. makes a huge difference. The deeper and taller throat is brilliant compared to the 5jr...and the extra strong compound action means you are doing a whole hell of a lot less work to punch hole si...

Sasha

They are local boys (for here). This is Sir Corny's white company in business action. They are based in Brisbane and do a good job. They are occassionally slower then they claim to be (mentally add a couple of months to every order you make and the owrst that will happen is that you will be pleasent...

Sasha

How long it needs to be left in depends ont he strength of your vinegar. when it is a fresh batch it will probably only take 6hours or so...once the vinegar has de-scaled 10 plates it will take longer....I now have some plates that have been soaking for 3 days in some old salt/vinegar stauff...mostl...

Sasha

I have just foaund another nifty source of balls. Return weights from cable logging operations. About a 100pound steel ball with a chain loop through it. Used to send things back down the hill.... This is now added to my other sources for great balls of steel. Ship ball bearings. mill balls (lots of...

Sasha

Yes and no. It is possible to arrange the bars or plates so that they manage to keep out sword CUTS while still having greater then 1 1/4inch gaps. Because thrusting tips used to be bigger (2inches) this meant that only a thrust (rather unlikely but possible, hey it's your fingers) was not going to ...

Sasha

Borax is a flux. Borasic acid, to be exact. You want a flux for casting becasaue without it you risk having your metal not melt. It just sits there in lumps,,,way past the melt-point tempreture...not willing to give up and flow together... then it just suddenly goes WHOOSH! and moves straight to the...

Sasha

A while ago I had some requests for what brand of jigsaw blades I use...on account of me being happy and satisfied with using a jigsaw in a professional armouring workshop. Well, I just needed to open a new twin-pack (which means the last blade in there lasted about 5 days, including some stainless ...

Sasha

well, there is... And I would just like to make clear that if someone has a CAD operated profile cutting table fitted with a laser cutter and they are tired of just tripping over it (and the fact that it doesn't make a good coffee table) then I will turn up and remove it form your premises for FREE....

Sasha

From the circumstances you describe. Go with Oxy/acetylene. It cuts, it heats (good for annealing and ,obviously, hotwork), it welds and brazes. You can indeed fusion weld aluminium (and stainless steel for that matter) you just need the right flux. Try and go for an oxy tank that is two sizes large...

Sasha

In the early days the answer is "frequently". Don't stress over it (well, do stress over it, but finish eventually) and see this as an opportunity to develop your pattern making skills and not only recreate (and improve) thge original patterns that are now gone, but also come up with patterns to som...

Sasha

said the Chef : Perhaps you are jealous that I have a harness that is of a higher quality than can be produced by your average panel beater turned armourer. hey! I resent that remark! I am an absolutely awful panel beater! All the panel work I ever tried made it look like that bit of a car was heavi...

Sasha

Aluminium, titanium and, ctrangely, copper can be anodised. To the best of my knowledge steel cannot be. It is a tiresome process to set up, but once you have about ten buckets worth of deadly stuff it is pretty easy. It can be doen at home (normally on jewellery sized pieces. Large pieces start nee...

Sasha

And that is something I meant to drop in to my post but forgot about. A welder is for life, not just for christmas...no, wait..I think that may be a puppy. Puppies shopuld not be plugged into 220Volt main because you do not get much of a weld out of them. ...errrr... Let me try that all again. Mr. W...

Sasha

Well, it took about 5 goes to get the C/H website to even acknowledge that they make that model of welder... Here are the parts found in your search Searched For: WF2000 Rows Returned: 1 Page 1 of 1 Part Number Description Price Order RBWF200000 Factory serviced flux core 80 wire feed welder $159.00...

Sasha

Same advise as I was mentioning to the "arch-master of all things maille except the understanding of how to build it" Make sure it is not a gass-less system. You want the option of using shielding gas. Check the bottom end of the machine. What is the lowest steady amperage it will hold? This is not ...

Sasha

I've never tried. I have always used borax and sand in a tumbler (10galon drum with a bit of pipe welded to one end and some dents in the side to provide oscilation, mounted into the chuck of my lathe because I figured if you own my lathe you do not need a seperate motor http://www.armourarchive.org...

Sasha

You are describing about 5 seperate processes and trying to decide about two outcomes....Bad science. Okay. Just quickly. Vinegar is a mild corrosive. Mill scale is more suseptible to being eaten by it then the steel beneath it is. So far it is simple. submerging steel into vinegar will disolve the ...

Sasha

My Translation: none of the images work. all is just a blizzard of angelfire logos.

Angelfire is a shaky host at best and a useless one at worst.

Sasha

Sasha

hmmm...cooked in olive oil with tarragon and served with a whole-grain mustard sauce.

The blue hatchlings are always the tastiest.

Sasha

Super duper jigsaw blades