The Armour Archive

schreiber

First of all, I'm thinking in terms of rattan - I assume that rebated steel people aren't wailing on each other like your typical Atlantian superduke would. What style of helm are we talking about? If it's a bascinet, then adding a camail of riveted steel would, I think, bring the weight back up to ...

schreiber

kyo wrote:This is the best lamellar i've ever seen.

Really? I mean, it's alright, but I wouldn't put it on par with a lot of the metal stuff I've seen crop up over the last decade or so.

schreiber

My Laurel, Master Sneaulf, made a suit of scale out of horn. It didn't hold up very well. He had to pick up broken pieces of horn after every practice. If I remember correctly, he carved each individual scale with patterns on it, right? Anywhere you thin it, it's going to be at risk for a fracture ...

schreiber

Ditto on tanks not being a problem. As far as welding technology goes, they're the only thing I would want to put inside a house (with appropriate precautions of course). The electric welders have a blast radius. You should also let your wife know that if you were to get into hot raising, the operat...

schreiber

I use steel dishes and heavy rawhide faced mallets to dish thus eliminating the need to planish the piece when done. The biggest key for the way I do it is to started on the edges and slowly stretch the metal down to the depth that you want. In my case it's to the exact depth of the steel dish that...

schreiber

I was looking for an argument I got into a couple years ago about this, but I think it may have gotten wiped when the database was dropped. Anyway, I too have never seen anything that would qualify as "hardened leather body armour". Some, however, would translate that into "leather ar...

schreiber

Linen wicks, cotton emphatically does not. Linen breathes better, too. Net result is a garment made from cotton will keep you colder in the winter, hotter in the summer, and soak up sweat to increase in weight mercilessly. My gambeson is two layers of 100% cotton batting quilted between 100% cotton...

schreiber

Oh, I don't think everything has been said.... First, excellent first attempt. You're going places. Some different constructive criticism.... -Keep your hardware consistent throughout the piece, like your rivets - particularly, don't mix-and-match copper and steel. -Get a strap cutter. Round off the...

schreiber

I'm really interested in this. I have a B2 which goes in a vise which is mounted to a HF work stand, and the whole thing could come up. I also have a Pexto stake plate & a modest collection of stakes that could come up. If we could arrange stumps, I would detach and bring up my Ironmonger forms ...

schreiber

Does your arm bend 180 degrees? Mine sure doesn't. Although I've been working out & bulking up last couple years, turning my middle-age fat into muscle... I don't remember what I could do in my 20's. I think 170 is plenty, probably too much. I think in a fight you're probably not going to go dee...

schreiber

All patents serve to do is divert resources the inventor could be using to get us his product into the hands of lawyers. I don't know how many times in recent years I haven't been able to get something I really want because it's patented, the inventor is a lousy businessman, and won't license it. Th...

schreiber

I had a pair of stainless clamshells, and they served admirably. They were a little bit too small for me and ended up showing enough of my fingers when I presented a spear for ambitious jerks to fit a sword in on them. I don't consider that Sir Ward's fault, they weren't sized right and I had shoved...

schreiber

Schreiber - gauntlets are a 300 level course?? They have courses for armor making?! Where?!?! No, just employing a metaphor... what I was intending to show is that there's a lot of groundwork you need to do before you start tackling something like gauntlets. Just like how you can't just sign up for...

schreiber

Well, here are generalities I've slowly been collecting and figuring out over the last five years. Any articulation where the rivets aren't on the same axis is going to have to rely on loose rivet articulation. Loose rivets are BOOTLEG and often dangerous. If you're riveting with 3/16" rivets, ...

schreiber

I suppose the whole +1, +2 armor is also a no no? Depends on context. Good buddy of mine fights with a polearm he has named "der Spankenpadel". By the way what part do you think is best to start out with? Gauntlets because they are small? Cuirass because it isnâ€™t too intricate? A helmet...

schreiber

I have a Reil burner for my forge. I do not use it for heating sheet. Forced air / propane in general will get hot enough to do the work. It won't do it fast enough. At least not for me. When I need to hot work sheet, I add oxygen, and use an O/A torch rated for propane. The problem I have is that t...

schreiber

Also allot of you guys might think i am like any teenager but really I'm not. I don't act stupid around tools and i treat things with respect. So there you go. No, I think we all assumed you'd act like an adult, which is to say there'd be no guarantee at all that you'd be smart with tools at all......

schreiber

I am fifteen... Ok, IMO that narrows it down a lot. I'd suggest against getting into plate armoring for now. The next decade, most likely, will be spent moving around, a lot. Unless you've got access to someone else's shop, or a pile of money, it's probably not feasible. All the tools you need to m...

schreiber

I second the suggestion of learning to sew. Don't assume that because a guy is working in his basement he can't teach you stuff. Everyone does things differently. There are way too many variables to give you an answer. You could be 14 years old, living with a single parent, having to work part time ...

schreiber

What? I get to be first in the flood of follow-up questions? For the US audience, 2mm is just thicker than 14g, making it what we're looking for, IMO... So, do you have pictures of your previous machine? Ideas as to what would be comparable (perhaps in the commercially available set of e-wheels)? Ho...

schreiber

Found it:
http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/c ... 0156140610

Middle of fourth row.

schreiber

Well, I looked into e-wheels a lot a couple years ago. From the auto body perspective, I didn't see a whole lot of people doing actual shaping with them - they were mostly planishing. From the armoring perspective, I didn't see a whole lot of people doing actual shaping with them - they were mostly ...

schreiber

onlineindustrialsupply.com has 2x48 belts, so maybe that's what you have... btw I've ordered from them before and I think at the time it was the lowest price I could find. Of course, all they have in 2x48 is grits up to 180. IMO that's not good enough - I'd draw the line at 220, but 320 belt and the...

schreiber

Where can I get a B2 at a good price? I did what I suspect a lot of others do... I got money together, and put it in a sniper rifle. A couple weeks of diligently scanning the internet, and I found someone (here actually) in dire straits and willing to part with his for like $400. I was first to res...

schreiber

I bought a 1x42 from ebay a couple years ago - it turns out I got rooked because the thing is a piece. But besides getting a broken and crappy tool, I learned that 2x72 is really the smallest you want to go: anything else is simply going to wear out too quickly. The way I see it, there are really on...

schreiber

No, but I do have an actual 36" pexto stake plate. Some thoughts, in no particular order.... I think this seller is having this stuff produced by a casting house. He's been selling the same things for years on ebay. Interesting idea on his ladle forms - they look like they'd make really good ar...

schreiber

Ok, sold for $65!

gabrielcarrone, sending you a PM so we can hammer out details.

schreiber

I'll check back and end it around 10pm EST...

schreiber

Nah, I'm going to have a heat gun going for the plastics, and the laundry is in there too, so I don't think carpet will be the trick. The trouble is, it was already painted in the past (with, I've found out, the same latex crap I inadvertently used). Anyone know if urethane would do the trick? I hav...

schreiber

Hey, I used to be you! I can't find any info on Hjalmr but I can vouch for the solid construction and utility of ironmonger's munitions bascinet. I also haven't seen anything else for $150 or less which, knowing what I know after 15 years, I personally would put my head in. I agree that there are he...

schreiber

If so, what did you use? Ideally I'm looking for a clear coat. This is for shop space for plastic thermoforming, fabric dyeing, and leather work. So it's not a smithy, but it still needs to survive having scissors dropped on it. I ended up getting some valspar latex floor paint which says it's "...

schreiber

Just FYI everyone, I'm gonna let this go at least through tonight so it's up for a full evening. (I uploaded close to midnight last night.)

schreiber

For your perusal, one pair EGG gauntlets. These are vintage, probably 13-15 years old. They have not been fought in for the last 10 years or so. I thought he was making his gaunts out of 1/8" but the main portions of these seem to be 3/16" (metacarpal, clamshells, but cuff is 1/8"). T...

schreiber

I did one piece like you're doing, and then I thought to myself, self, you've just spent three evenings doing steps one through eight to make a single *&^%ing spaulder, and I've got better stuff to do with my time. So here's what I came up with. First, I never hit steel with steel into/on steel ...

schreiber

I think starting with the recycling codes is a good idea. These are the ones you're going to see everyday things made out of. 1. PET - everything from coke bottles to leisure suits (polyester). I guess it might be suitable for armor, but I've never seen it thick enough. I also don't know how it woul...

Re: best lamellar coat EVER

Re: Hello every one. I need help.

Have you ever painted your shop floor?

EGG Gauntlets for sale