The Armour Archive

schreiber

Schreiber, he's got TOMAR, it's just easy to miss his mention. Especially now.... sorry I missed that part. Ok, so if you've read TOMAR let me go over what's different about how I do it. First, like I said, the entire exercise for me is about getting proportions right. I don't think TOMAR says anyt...

schreiber

I run my 220 stick off an extension which is about 30-40', and it works fine. I'm assuming that his is 220 because why else would an extension cord hold you up? I've done bar work with a stick and it lasted many years. Of course it was fugly, just like everything else a stick does. I do all my barwo...

schreiber

Get a copy of TOMAR. Spend the money on it. It has a lot of excellent information in it, sprinkled with crap. Treat it like your armoring bible until you can tell where the crap is, and then never look at it again. Make a cop. Turn it into swiss cheese. Make a lame. Turn it into swiss cheese. Play w...

schreiber

There's an engineers swap meet coming up on the 24th. Last year it was on Mason Neck (Lorton). I'm assuming it's the same place this year. Last year there was a guy who brought several #7s, a couple #2s, and I don't remember what else. That was the smaller stuff. He wanted like $25 per, which is ins...

schreiber

If it was me, I'd experiment with acrylic floor polish. I've read that it completely penetrates the leather, and doesn't dramatically change its appearance. Then your tooling would basically be plastic. Of course, at that point I'd also experiment with 8-10 oz leather, and see if I could skip the un...

schreiber

I will have to check the pics from home, but I never make something for the first time out of purpose-bought steel. I do all my patterning with computer case. I get it free, I don't kill myself working it, it's easy on the tools, and if need be, I can trim it while it's in shape, then pound it flat ...

schreiber

You should learn blacksmithing. I wanted to be an armorer. I didn't want to be a blacksmith. I already had a bunch of other skillsets that I wasn't using regularly, like leatherwork, tentmaking, woodcarving, etc. Blacksmithing just seemed like another skillset I wasn't going to use. That was a fooli...

schreiber

Interesting. Can you get us a clear shot of the mechanism on it? I got the HF recently and the biggest place it needed attention is the handle's linkage to the top. I remember looking at it and immediately thinking "this is capable of going way the hell too far back" just like your handle....

schreiber

yeah next week i am gonna try to make a really shallow dish out of 1/4 inch plate. Personally I'd go thicker. Particularly if it's mild. When you dish 12g it's almost 1/8" thick. Make stainless armor, and between it being hit harder and more often, I'm betting heavy that a 1/4" thick dish...

schreiber

Patrick Marshall: Well, you also need to explain what you're doing with it, beyond just "torch". There are two approaches you can take: the cheap one with a lot of slow heat, and the expensive one with a little fast heat. Between some hard-to-make parts you can buy online, some trips to Ho...

schreiber

Well, Jacob you know what I use but FBO everyone else, I'm doing oxy-propane with some medical oxygen concentrators, so I just leave it lit, 'cause I don't pay for O2 and propane is pretty cheap. What are you doing with it? Raising, or is it for smithing? If it's for smithing I could see wanting to ...

schreiber

Thanks for the resposces. Konstantin, how do you go about cold raising? Look at techniques used in silversmithing. Check out videos on youtube. Basically you get a stake (offset ball stake works for me) and a raising hammer. Most people dish slightly to start. Then you hit it with the raising hamme...

schreiber

I usually support the domed head of the rivet on a thin piece of (template) cardboard sitting on the anvil face. Sometimes I support it on lead, or better yet, pewter. On the other side of the rivet, I just use a small cross pien hammer. Mine's a 1.5" pipe end plug that I screwed a sleeve on a...

schreiber

I think it's due to the fact that the medievals had never seen machine produced goods. We're used to things looking flawless, even cheap junk looks perfect. If you have no concept of that, then you're less likely to get hung up on fixing a tiny flaw. No, they didn't have machine produced goods. But...

schreiber

One of the most interesting things about going the Wade Allen's house and looking a real armour from the period was how imperfect they were. Some things had rolls were wavy and not flush with the body, symmetry was iffy on some. Things I would reject if I was building them for sale. It made me real...

schreiber

I have a couple fender dolly stakes that I made like this, but I only have the top bar welded on, and it never moves around.
I have it in a machinist vise with toothed jaws, but I don't think that would make that big a difference.
I'm also not whaling on it, which might make a difference.

schreiber

So, I finally got to play with it tonight. I had a B2 sitting right next to it for comparison. Let me tell you all: it ain't no beverly. I got it tweaked to the point of being able to cut some shim stock in a straight line pretty cleanly, but it took a half hour of futzing with it. Gonna see about g...

schreiber

I really, really like the finish. The brown that the linseed oil makes is really nice. I wish I could do it, but most of the time I end up using used motor oil, because every 3000 miles it's free. Initial thoughts: totally agree on the grill bar needing to be convex, and also, some divider work on t...

schreiber

Actually you can just print the 20% coupon online. Which is what I did Saturday. I haven't degreased & cleaned it up, but that's on the agenda tonight, so I'll try to do a proper review of it, since I have the B2 for comparison purposes. I'm gonna gap it for smaller sheet, so I won't be doing an...

schreiber

Ordinarily used in masonry. Anyone know if they're hardenable?
I've heard tell of using them for small punches and repousse tools, stuff like that.
Any experiences?

schreiber

is there a difference in safety? Movement? The differences in safety and movement are going to occur from one gauntlet to the next within the same "style". What I've found from playing around with gauntlet patterns off-and-on for the last 5 years is that it's entirely possible to have two...

schreiber

You're in China? I do believe you're the first person to post from China. Cool! But now I'm confused - where do your inexpensive tools come from? (har har) Yeah, for anvil resurfacing... definitely let us know how that goes. If you have a western anvil you might be in trouble. Here we have people ac...

schreiber

I'm not dissing it... I've already decided to buy it.
Just want to know if anyone has seen it go for less than $140 in the recent past, or whether the dollar crash got to the cheap Chinese tools market yet.

schreiber

The list price is up to $140. With a printable 20% coupon that goes down to $112...
...but I haven't heard about it being on sale for like a year now.
Does it happen anymore?

schreiber

Ewen MacSuibhne wrote:I have heard of people using rawhide from dog bone chew toys, but I have no idea how to take it apart, and how long the pieces of rawhide are.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103133&p=1458498

schreiber

The rawhide bones max out at about 10" square.
Great for little projects, or making your own mallet faces.
A shield is a different equation.

schreiber

Yeah, I remember the lawnmower days... Link to my tour thread. http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=100323&hilit=shop Since then, I've taken a 12" air duct and cut it in half lengthwise, and mounted it to the side of the shelves, in back of the grinding wheels. Pri...

schreiber

I have owned 2 panther tents and used tents by Tentsmith. Both I would trust the construction quality enough for a full payment before delivery. Ditto - but I would lean heavily toward Panther because I've done business with them before, and there's a whole army of people who have. While I love the...

schreiber

Bump! Buyer has been totally unresponsive since the initial PM over a week ago, so they're back up for sale. FYI, everyone: I don't make stuff for sale all the time. I only sell stuff I have. These gauntlets are an already-existing thing on my living room mantle right now. If you send me a check or ...

schreiber

It's a stylized picture. Unless the guy died when he was 20, he probably didn't have a wasp waist. The maille maker who did his aventail probably didn't add half-rows on the sides. His elbow cops would have been spurs against his ribcage when his arms were extended. And he probably didn't have a min...

schreiber

IIRC those pics are from the collar.

ETA: Pretty sure it was this piece.

schreiber

Why yes, I do, but not at the price those'll be at in 4 days...

schreiber

So hey, would that apply if I had you cut some pattern pieces?

schreiber

What is the weight on the mace, and how was the haft formed? It's hollow. Jacob and I played with using the 20x resolution to see if we could find a forge weld. Unfortunately we came up short. It was pretty heavily pitted and it was the end of the day, and we were on coolness overload. I think we a...

schreiber

"money shots", eh? Mostly pictures of you wearing pieces of armour from the mid 16th c. Oh, yeah - sure, I'm showing off, but I'm also trying to get across how form-fitting a gauntlet is, how the inside point of the knee is pretty much not up to marshal specs, and how much an extant knee ...

Re: Newbie - Articulated couter pattern

Re: Stickwelding for bar grills? tips tricks recommendations

Re: Newbie - Articulated couter pattern

Re: Hole punch advice needed...

Re: What weight leather to use?

Re: My first Gaunt attempt... yikes.

Re: Newbie - where to acquire steel

Re: American Tool Company knockoff beverly shear review

Re: Home made tools.

Re: propane/oxyegn set up. What do i need

Re: Gas saver stands

Re: Has anyone ever taken measurments on finished armour?

Re: Tips on where to find a good all around rivet setter

Re: Modern Eye/Period Eye

Re: Modern Eye/Period Eye

Re: Anti-Tilt tools

Re: Edit: bought HF shear, initial review

Re: My first commission

Re: Has the HF shear been on sale recently?

Anyone use cut nails around the shop?

Re: Opinion on gauntlets

Re: Tutorials on gothic plate gauntlets?

Re: Has the HF shear been on sale recently?

Edit: bought HF shear, initial review

Re: WTB rawhide

Re: WTB rawhide

Re: pics of workshops

Re: Revival Round Pavilion

Re: Gauntlets for sale

Re: Help interpreting rivet sizes on 14th cent cuisse?

Re: April 30, 2011 armour study session

Re: Anyone in the mid-Atlantic need an anvil or 2

Re: Free Shipping for the month of May - WardMetal

Re: April 30, 2011 armour study session

Re: April 30, 2011 armour study session