The Armour Archive

schreiber

I'm almost positive that the fake sinew stuff IS waxed linen thread... A good tip I like to share is that if you're doing more than a couple inches, cut the pinky off of a leather glove or come up with some other way to protect the insides of the joints on your pinky finger. Every time you pull the ...

schreiber

This depends a lot on the leather you're stitching. There are garment leathers that you can run slowly through a home sewing machine with the proper needle. Not as a rule, but it's possible once in a while. I agree that for anything more than 3-4 oz the saddle stitch is the way to go. (If you're doi...

schreiber

Yeah, I was one destined for the office, so I never took shop... I'm currently working on 2-piece uncreased cops. Anyone else tried that? I'm just getting into oxy right now, and to tell you the truth I'm perfectly happy taking the time hit. But since I've never used MIG before, I gotta ask - even w...

schreiber

This is all just one man's opinion. It's mainly the name these merchants have made for themselves. It's mainly based on the originally posted auction. "LARP LOTR SCA Fantasy helmet" tells me a lot. It tells me that this is an item where the seller intends to attract as many eyeballs as possible. Mos...

schreiber

Maelgwyn, Do you mean Titanium Dioxide? If so, are you referring to a traditional (which could mean anything) gesso or authentic Medieval gesso? Just interested, as I remembered seeing a show on the Vinland Map and how it was debunked by traces of TiO2. Wikipedia says that this anatase form is natur...

schreiber

Yeah, believe me, I think like you too. I'm slowly learning that you have to do it by hand first. Lord Vanguard here was finishing stuff by hand before he built this. Same applies to hammering. You have to do it with a hammer before you can have a machine do it. I can't find solutions to problems I ...

schreiber

Yeah, that's more like it.

I would still avoid any sales pitch that includes "LARP" or "LOTR".

Same style of helm, so I'm sticking with what I posted. Make it nice and easy.

schreiber

Well the answer you're not looking for is this: you don't need a chinstrap for this helm. It's 18 gauge and too thin for any SCA-style combat which would require a chinstrap. Supposing it were made of 14 gauge, and were legal for SCA-style fighting, then your answer would be that it depends. Chinstr...

schreiber

Minor hijack here.... After several weeks of research on air planishers, I can say pretty confidently that you're not at the correct dead end if you think the welding is going to stop you. Compared to the cost of a decent air tool, a decent compressor, and a decent set of air planishing dies, you ma...

schreiber

Cut your work by about 25%:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PART ... XNO=950610

http://www.wttool.com/p/6602-2050

Drills? Drills are for suckers.

Get the cheap one as with 1000 plates you'll wear out the punches anyway.

Then get or make a tumbler or have them tumbled.

schreiber

On first look it seems like you used pillow blocks for the shaft - but that's not the case, is it? What did you use to mount the shaft? It looks like just bronze bushings, but there are grease fittings, so I'm really confused. I wouldn't think just bronze bushings would put up with 3500 RPM speeds f...

schreiber

I also have looked around, and it seems like you have to find a local distributor to get sheet plastic. It's the same as buying a 4x8 of anything - you can't really get plywood or 16g CRS online either. I have been working with UHMW to make hammer heads. It turns on a lathe really easily (makes litt...

schreiber

So, how come nobody has mentioned abrasivejet? I thought it was supposed to be getting more accurate and cheaper these days. I also have a friend who is trying to make a really complicated set of lamellar (they have a B shape and about 12 holes). He's thinking about making his own die (good luck) bu...

schreiber

Ditto on Pennsic - I have a great big monstrosity of a spun top that I've been itching to get rid of. Hell, you can have it for free if I don't have to listen to it vibrate on the shelf while I run the grinder. So if you'll be there I'll bring it.

schreiber

Yeah, there's really only one way you're going to get what you need, and that's with a traditional coal or charcoal forge. Gas requires that you position refractory materials in a manner that contains the heat in a way relevant to what you're trying to do. Heat treatment and hot raising are two inhe...

schreiber

AAOMK, page 41.
Not saracen, but modeled after a Byzantine (quite the screw up!) warrior contemporary to 13th century, quite a bit earlier than what's being discussed.

schreiber

I have never had much use for rubber mallets. They're too soft to hit armor and too hard to hit people, which makes them useless to me. This is just what I would do, I'm not necessarily recommending anything. First I'd throw away the rubber malet and never buy another one. I'd get a rawhide mallet a...

schreiber

Yeah, that's not right - 1/8" is definitely around 3-4 oz leather, if you're talking oak tanned cow. 8 oz is closer to 1/4. Regardless, Kilkenny has it spot on. Think about what they're swinging out there, think about where they're aiming, and think about how most places calibrate with hits that wil...

schreiber

I have read that the belt of plaques was a symbol of rank. If it is, it could be safely omitted altogether.

schreiber

There's something like this in AAOMK, isn't there? A stylized saracen, I think, wearing lamellar. Gary Gygax is actually not singlehandedly responsible for fantasy armor. I got to go to the Royal Armouries in Leeds last fall and see firsthand, tucked away in a nook where nobody really looks, "the Li...

schreiber

Thanks for that info, I.S., that makes sense about the lames. I'm hopefully redoing my shoulders before war and that's definitely making it into the pattern. However, I have a question for the armoring community in general: when exactly did the SCA collectively throw out the rerebrace? In all my boo...

schreiber

B2: m This is actually a link from this site - check the other armory supplies sites. Also fish on the classifieds page. I got mine from a fellow archiver. Note that while it goes through 16g mild like butter, cutting 12g mild on the B2 is NOT FUN. Cutting 16g stainless on the B2 is NOT FUN. If you'...

schreiber

Oh, for a second I thought that Woodstock had joined the 'Archive.

schreiber

Weight isn't an issue with the armor, its the gnawing, hacking, breaking, chaffing, pinching and burning of all the plate I've worn so far. Granted, I understand its a fit issue, but to get custion armor made is a little out of the question at the moment. No, this is not so much a fit issue. Gnawin...

schreiber

Considering that you need between $5000 and $10000 of computer and plotter equipment to make a plasma cutter cut a straight line, I'd say the savings on the HF cutter are really meager. Without all that, plasma, oxy-acetylene, or any other hand held floppy tool is only going to be as accurate as how...

schreiber

Hey, welcome to the Archive. I have had a lot of luck oil blackening with used motor oil. However, the way I did it was not really safe. I'd say you're in new territory with the idea of using a synth, the best I can say is try it out. I have always experienced cold rolled to be more difficult than h...

schreiber

Not to pee in everyone's wheaties, but there's no possibility of screwing with these people via computer. Punishments for simple fraud can't hold a candle to the amount of hard time one could do as a result of what's being suggested. In addition, anyone capable of doing it is probably earning his li...

schreiber

Heh... anyone else remember the Madu?
Haven't seen one of those in a loooooooong time now....

schreiber

I know a couple folks on Staten Island who I usually see at Pennsic but I don't have contact info for them. I'll see what I can find out this weekend. I do know that if you take a bus you'll probably end up needing a ride from wherever the bus lets off. I think that you'd be able to find a lot more ...

schreiber

I'm with Sean. If we knew where you are it would help. If it's anything resembling civilization (and in some cases, even if it's not) then there'll be like-minded people who won't mind you coming over to cut (although I'd slip in some pieces of my own for you to do). If you have to own something, th...

schreiber

Another thing about oxy is that the torch and regulators will fit in a carry-on, but nobody is going to try to move an electric welder overseas. I have a little harry-homeowner stick welder, and it's like 85 lbs.

So oxy equipment is more likely to come back with you if you leave Europe.

schreiber

Pfff.... 36? I drive more like 45 to get to the one closest to me. For some reason, the Nation's Capitol doesn't put up with many salvage operations being in town. Go, and take your truck, take the gas spanking. If it's any kind of respectable operation they'll have stuff you want. Say you're an art...

schreiber

The curvature looks pretty uniform for someone who hasn't done a lot of dishing. What tools are you using to do it? Find out whatever is making the long marks on the outside and prevent that. They can be taken out but each of those marks will require 10-20 precisely placed hammer blows over a stake....

schreiber

Isn't driveshaft also high-quality steel?

It's easier to find an auto junkyard than a proper scrapyard, but if you deal with an auto yard generally you should bring lubrication.

schreiber

Well, here's what I'm working with recently: m $369.00 US includes shipping (only to the US). Watch the videos. I'm just starting with this, but I went from zero gas welding experience to clean welds on 18g steel in about 3-4 tries. I didn't have proper welding rod, so I was carefully shearing off t...

Re: to gavin...body type and size