The Armour Archive

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InsaneIrish wrote:A correct fitting closehelm:

Or armet, or late period sallet, or burgeonet, totenkopf, etc.
I'm never again wearing a helm that doesn't have a metal chinstrap.

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A well made helmet, that is maintained properly, will last a lifetime. Crappy helmets that aren't maintained properly last a pretty long time, too. In 1995 I bought a welded 12g mild helmet top from Johan Blau. I then purchased a stick welder (!) and through the judicious use of alternating decent ...

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My group (E9, behind Enchanted Ground) does war week, usually starting 2nd Sunday, going through last Friday, informal breakfast for the unlucky parents who don't have a choice in being awake, usually come-and-go cold lunch and full sit-down dinner (usually not period food). But we don't let anyone ...

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So, quoted text still isn't working right in search... I'm sure this has been done before but I ain't finding it. I might have the opportunity to get a free band saw. Looks like a wood model. I assume the biggest issue is whether or not the blade will go slow enough to really work with metal, right?...

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Huh, I had no idea. Is this a new thing? For years I couldn't get "cold rolled" at my supplier, but then it showed up. What's the price difference between mild and P&O where you are? The price diff here at the local yard is really only $5 (USD, anyway) - it might have been closer to $1...

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I didn't notice at first that most of them are wearing kastenbrust breastplates. I don't think I've ever seen kastenbrust with bascinets before, except for great bascinets. And check out the pauldron on the guy on the left with the Martian Chronicles klapvisor. That looks like a really fun small rai...

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Hi Bohdon, I have two of Donngal's stakes, and let me tell you if you're new: if you decide to get a stake plate, Donngal's stakes will actually work in it. (Thank you, thank you, thank you for that Donngal... I asked Johannes about your stakes two Pennsics ago and he sounded like I had found a one ...

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I bet there's a caption in Polish which translates to "Are we there yet, Papa Smurf?"

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Well, curiosity got me and I had to go searching... it seems like there are middle-ground machines out there that weren't really around last time I searched ebay. This is pretty much exactly what I have... But it doesn't have reverse. It just stitches. However, I can put two layers of 8oz vegtan thr...

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Well, I don't know about brand names because my industrial heads are not branded. They use some singer parts if I remember correctly. I spent 400 for two used heads and a table in... 95? 96? Sometime around then. Over the next five years or so, I then proceeded to spend about $1200 in repairs on the...

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Sallets make some pretty lousy SCA helms. I think as soon as you decide you're going to wear a sallet, you're stuck with a choice: abandon the earlier period solution, or forget about getting through inspection. You put your finger right on the problem. The separate bevor that comes up to your nose ...

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Yeah, actually IMO belt leather is way too thick. I think typically belts that aren't doubled up are just really thick leather, like 8-10oz. You're probably better off with something more like 4 ounce. If you're having trouble finding leather, you might be able to substitute with nylon webbing, sinc...

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There are a lot of competing theories on price. I subscribe to the only one that makes sense to me, from the Austrian school of economics. It states that it is impossible to come to an objective valuation of a good or service, because value is entirely subjective. This is the free market proponent i...

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Thanks so much for the good word! Nope, no website yet. I have a day job and two afternoon jobs (who are 1 and 3 years old) so my night job is strictly armoring, and strictly as a hobbyist. Websites are for people who have more than an hour a night! I'm mostly banging stuff out, figuring out how lon...

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There's actually a lot of effort going into modern armor, because there's money in it. There's been quite a controversy with Dragon Skin, which is billed as the next big thing in small arms protection. However the US Army isn't buying it, and the controversy comes from the people who buy into conspi...

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Change the big eye opening to a narrow slit and you're getting somewhere.

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I would love to know what import and export restrictions are in Argentina. I carpool with a friend from Peru, who is always sending motorcycle parts and apparel to his brother there to get around import duties, and my employer couldn't ship a server to Brazil several years ago because they tradition...

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I think they look like a lot of later period gauntlet cuffs look. Few of them have a flare like the earlier 14thc gaunts. I like the way they look. I see how it works now: the entire thing is a little big. There's room for the hand to move within the gauntlet, as opposed to the gaunt moving with the...

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I have a friend making some central Asian lamellar, by hand, and he's doing his deburring with a tumbler. He made it himself out of crap. 5 gallon bucket, motor from a busted dryer, plywood, pieces of pipe. The complicated part is the media. Triangular or caltrop shaped media takes off edges and als...

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As I was clicking, my mind went "what former soviet republic is it... GAAAaaahhhh...."

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Just one man's opinion here, but I'd give them a break. From what I can tell they're basically still living in a soviet system. Odds are that there's some political BS preventing them from shipping overseas. There are still a lot of places in the world that don't like stuff going to or coming from t...

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Wow, looks like 410 at McMaster is actually cheaper than 1075....

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What do I make? Nothing. Cold Formed - Astralloy-V normally requires 4.5 times the force necessary to form mild steel of the same dimensions. No matter what you're doing in a medieval armor context, you're going to end up hitting it cold at some point. And if you're using this stuff, simple acts lik...

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If you examine things with recycling codes on the bottom, I'm pretty sure you'll find mostly code 1 and 5, and an occasional 6. 1 is Polyethylene tetraphlalate, or PET, better known as coke bottles, CDs, and polyester cloth. 5 is Polypropylene. You'll find it as sport bottles and a lot of crappy toy...

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The mill scale on hot rolled steel is IMO not insignificant. I hate it with perfect hatred. I will not allow hot rolled in my shop anymore. The hardening on coll rolled is insignificant, and the cleanup on it is so much easier. Particularly if you do as much shaping as possible with "soft"...

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Yeah, I also stay away from the political forum, because every time I go there I end up wanting to *&$^ you *&$#%$ wrong-thinking *&#^ in your *&#^ with a rusty &$^#@, and I can't afford to do that to my tools. I also like the tone on thehighroad.us, but that's heavily moderated,...

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Angus, PM'ed you. Congrats!
Brother Logan, thanks for the interest. I'll be putting more stuff up after Easter.

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Intellectual property is a farce. Robert MacPherson can't copyright the armor he makes, and anyone is free to copy it. But he isn't going hungry. When you say artists rely on prints in their old age, you're saying that artists have the magical ability to work once and get paid for it for the rest of...

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I've never done a piece as big as a cuisse. I've done small parts in a toaster oven but that really works if you're doing thin as well, like for holsters or sheaths. I have a Ryobi heat gun that kicks a fair amount of butt as well. If you're doing it, I highly recommend getting Ove Gloves (or their ...

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1 pair of prototype 3 piece articulated knees. Dart weld construction. Riveted rondelles for fans. about 5 1/2" wide at the lames. I'm 5'10", 187 lbs, and they're snug: they'd work for me with light padding (NOT athletic knee pads, maybe some wool blanket) on a thin cuisse, like plastic or...

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I looked for quite a long time - it was the better part of a year that I was doing searches, and eventually found a deal on 12 of them on ebay. Most were broken. You can get them from lampworking sites like m I just googled "oxygen concentrator glass" and got this... this sundance place ha...

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I don't know, I don't pay for oxygen. If you're going to do this a lot, you should look for used medical oxygen concentrators. Lampwork hobbyists use them a lot. They operate at low pressure, but you can chain them together and get pretty good flow. I started investigating hair-brained things I coul...

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I'm not surprised about the .32, since I remember Halberds putting up pictures of 16g he had shot with modern guns, and IIRC 9mm Parabellum couldn't get through 16g mild. I AM surprised about the musket ball having so much energy. Also, could you verify the types of bullets used? The dueling pistol ...

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I've never run a tank out... I have always accidentally left the supply on and had it slowly leak out of my crappy regulator until empty. I use the DHC torch which always runs at 4psi acetylene. Whether you're welding or cutting, and no matter what tip you're using, it's 4psi, 4psi, 4psi - it never ...

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Now I thank God that I didn't see this when I was a teenager.
If I had, I would have made one.

Tell me about band saws

3 piece 14c knees for sale