The Armour Archive

Sasha

It is a hoop makers anvil. the stake allows you to forge-weld a hoop closed for making carriage wheel-rims and barell-hoops. ...at least that is what john (the smith I apprenticed to) used his for at the Cooperage in Bundeburg. This tool would not be useful for raising and I cannot think of many use...

Sasha

Well done. One of the things I really enjoy about your work, Wombat, is that it is so distinctly yours and so left of centre to what most people are trying for. Ugo may still have more skills then you do, but both you and he share a confidence to build stuff as you see it it in your mind rather then...

Sasha

Balcsu,

Any sign of him at Conference?

there certainly weren't any messages on my answering machine from him when we got back from Festival....

Sasha

Sasha

Hi folks. It is 2.40am and I have just driven 14hours straight and am home form festival. We had the innaugural meeting of the Armour Archive Australian chapter. It was pretty damned wonderful. Watched hammish Bearshoulders get further then anyone else form his Barony in the tourney (and grin from e...

Sasha

Rivetted-maille tools aren't any good. They are too floppy and they conduct too much heat. I tried using a hammer made out of rivetted maille and it didn't work at all. And the cold-chisel I made out of maille didn't do a bit of good either. I think I will just stick to making my tools out of fairy-...

Sasha

I know just what you mean (in terms of 'workshop with living area attached). we have bought ours, the hammer inn will be the first event after we move in. Oh well....can't blame you http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif maybe next year. ...or maybe we get you to teach remotely by webcam. Cyber ...

Sasha

Hi. Sorry for the general publication, my email has a virus so i am not using it till it gets fixed ('tis only "icecubes", but it is still annoying). steve. Any chance of getting a confirmation or likelyhood of your jumping on a plane and experiencing Australian hospitality and teaching at the Oz Ha...

Sasha

Hi folks. I just checked and discovered that the free piicture host I use has gone belly up and disapeared. I am about to head off to Rowany Festival for easter, so I do not have time to find a new host and re-upload them right now. What I can say is that in 2mm mild steel, a twirled helm top (made ...

Sasha

ummm...Wombat, You have a power plannishing hammer. Why not just modify it so that you can slot a single-sided chisel into the base-plate and an approtpriatly shaped hammer and just tap tap your way to perfect flutitng that can go around curves, corners and whatever? Clay, There is a bead roller tha...

Sasha

....And not home again when I dropped by on Sunday. The cost in time and fuel of these trips is such that I can really only drop in when i am in that part of town anyway (He lives about 1hr north of the city, I live about 25min SE of it....and I get to play with toll roads to get to him in anything ...

Sasha

ohhhh....geeee....I guess I could drop by.... http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif Looking forwards to it. I am printitng off the flyers for the Oz. Hammer-inn this evening. P.S. I will alos be selling some armouring supplies at Festival this year. By popular demand. There will be little baggi...

Sasha

Actually. I make the swirled helm tops, basket hilts and knees/elbows in two parts with a weld down the middle. If it is a good enough weld then it presents no reall problem (think of it as encouragement to do nice flat, normalised welds http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif ). What I used to d...

Sasha

And this is an example of the period publicity machine at work. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif William is recorded as having Lost" numerous tourneys. (It was recorded at what point he had to bow out and who went on to eventually win) He is remarkable for having died of old age despite hi...

Sasha

Spun-top refers to the method of production for the helm top...and also indicates the likely shape of the item. rather then being formed by hammering, spun tops are generated on a tool not too dis-similar to a lathe. A sqare piece of sheet-steel is spun around its centre-point. A mold is then introd...

Sasha

There are about 4 people in Australia that I know of, But they are fending for themselves.

By the way. He has not returned my phone messages since the last update (including this morning call) and he was very much not home when I dropped in on Friday.

Sasha

Sasha

Well there is always "the chronicles of William Marshal". It iis frequently and cheaply available as a Dover Publishing edition. William had good publisists. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif Sasha Oh yeah.... Since you seem to be Cynaguan (yay the Bardic Commandoes), do you happen to know ...

Sasha

II tedn to use brass plated steel for SCA helm hinges and catches. Real brass has just failed too many tiems for me to be happy trusting ti in other poeple's hands if I am not their to act as "pit crew" and do ongoing maintenance. Their are types of bronze which will probably be strong enough.... Th...

Sasha

That's peculiar. He must have been way ahead of fashion. The story is a well known one,possibly true. The helm would have been either a greathelm or sugarloaf, though. This was in the time before Hnery Imprisoned Eleonor....and a very long time before King Richard the Hamster hearted went off to fro...

Sasha

Honestly, based on my experiences with shield bosses. I would not bother annealing it before you start. The thing works easily for the first X number of blows before it work hardens. This is not substantially different if you do the world's best anneal on it beforehand. I would anneal it at the half...

Sasha

That depends entirely on how thick the metal is. Spring steel and mild steel weigh near enough to the same. It is the STRENGTH and RESILIENCE of spring steel that makes it cool and nifty. thus if you want dent protection equivalent to 2mm mild, you can probably get a spring steel helm in 1.3mm.....b...

Sasha

Lets see if I can get my rusty and pre-coffee brain working for you.... Basically the melting point of mild is around the 1400C mark. You cannot do much practically in terms of annealing by tacking it up much past 850C. SO lets use that as our top line. So take it to 850 and then spend 30-40minutes ...

Sasha

Oh this delightful old chestnut of a question. Mostly what we refer to is what is available locally to us! We have people all over the world at the archive and the understanding is that the ga we refer to is whatever is marketed at our local metal shop. It sounds sloppy but it actually works pretty ...

Sasha

My price on something like that in 2mm stainless. No avential. Two visors (bars and war-face). Something like $350US. That is with what I consider a nice array of detailing. However since a lot fo the price is in the details, the final quote is varriable...a little bit cheaper or a whole lot more ex...

Sasha

I have seen the axe. I have played with the axe. The axe was finished before the comp got under way. The handle was a bit wonky, but the overall axe was pretty damn fun to play with. I will try and retrieve it for you. Did you send him payment for shipping at all? as for his health, well, he did the...

Sasha

WHEN CUTTING FIIBREGLASS, EVEN WITH HAND TOOLS, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS PROTECT THE EYS!!!!! I once spent the scariest 5 days of my liife completely blind, with bandages and stuff on my eyes, as a result of cutting and grinding fibrglass without proper eye protection (a monogogle, not just safety specs...

Sasha

It still stands. Though all I can report is that he hasn't returned my calls and mesages in nearly 2weeks. I am in the last week of my term with the jewellery course, so I have been too doamn busy to head out to his place. After Thursday I will have the time to pay a "visit" and hopefully catch him ...

Sasha

I am not sure about what was used in the 1300's. I am not sure that any kind of edge roll was. I am fairly certain that lames and similar articulating parts did not have rolled edges on any examples I know. I will try and put togtehr a bit of a photo-essay on rolliing hollow round edges next tuesday...

Sasha

I make the togues out of 3.25mm manganese bronze brazing rods. available by the kilo at any welding supply shop (buy the kind that aren't flux coated http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif ). I set the rod into a vise so that a few inches projects upwards, give it a bit of a heat and use round-n...

Sasha

ummm...yes...we do have doughnuts in Australia. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif there are a few doughnut specialising chains such as Wendy's and Donut King, but they are not wide-spread franchises compared to the US. Mostly donuts get made by individual bakeries or the big pack-em-and-fre...

Sasha

Na. the tax department just won't cut me any slack since I popped into Meiorca and bought a drink for Christopher Skase.

(Australian specific joke)

Sasha

Sasha

If it is real musical instrument wire then it is unsuitable for maille. Most "string" for instruments are made with coils around a core material like silk or nylon. Most of the sheath metals used are not actually steel but silver-steel or various forms of white bronze. I cannot realy tell you what t...

Sasha

Therer are a number of edge rolls and finishes. I am not certain of which one you are after, and as there is an essay in how to do most of each of most of them I will not try to write up all of them here. basiically your choices for a rolled edge are: Folded and flat edge folded and emphasised (half...

Sasha

Yep, non ferrous metals like bronze, brass, copper and the like are opposites of things like steel. You quench them form a dull red to anneal them and leave them to air cool to harden them. My advise for getting not-to-brittle-not-too-soft bronze castings is to air cool the item straight out of the ...

Sasha

wow....what a confusedd thread! Okay, since I was summoned. Harold, you are mostly wrong and Dwarlock is mostly right. Of course that is stricktly my opinion, since we lef the original topic a faiir way behind and I get the impression that your question strikes even further out I am only really gues...

Sasha

You could anneal the links and then make the hauberk. Then send it in to a professional place to get re-tempered. It may not cost as much as the case of frustration you are working on. Spring steel iis basically a material that has "memory" and "Muscle" and does not want to be bent out of shape. If ...

Back from festival

For Steve the rivetted maille maker.