The Armour Archive

Mac

Graham, It would be difficult to overemphasize the value of making drawings before starting a project. Drawing helps you visualize all of the project. It shows you where your understandings are vague or weak. It lets you work out the problems easily and cheaply. Every hour spent on a preliminary dra...

Mac

Signo,

Just so.

Mac

Mac

Sean, I think it's not really a question of "why is the anterio-medial quadrant left open?", so much as, "why is the posterio-medial quadrant closed?" The "almain rivet" arms (splints) you speak of can get away with out any material on the medial aspect, because they ha...

Mac

Graham,

Here's a quick sketch I made yesterday. It shows what the Thos. Beauchamp arm might look like in four views.

[img]http://billyandcharlie.com/rightarm2.jpg[/img]

Mac

Mac

Steve, There's nothin' to it, but to do it. Punch your holes on the outside layer first, and use a fine felt tip pen to mark on the inside layer. Make sure you have enough "meat" around the rivet holes. I like to have a rivet diameter of material around each hole. I usually use 1/8" r...

Mac

Mr. Barrette,

If you spot heat the wrinkles, you can open them back out. Once this is done, you can raise them (carefully) back in.

It is best to do this as soon as you see one is forming. However, as long as it hasn't been hammered flat, it can still be salvaged.

Mac

Mac

Jestyr, How is it jamming? A picture would be worth great deal. All sorts of things could be going wrong. Some of them are easy fixes. A machine I used to use had a habit of getting the top thread wrapped around the bobbin axle. It turned out that the problem was the bobbin case not latching securel...

Mac

schreiber wrote:I'm going to agree with Mac and Sean...

.....The only way you'd get me into finger gauntlets is if they grounded.

Just for the record.....

I consider "grounding" to be neither necessary nor desirable in a gauntlet.

Mac

Mac

alternatively......

You could think of it as a question of durability for a given weight.

Mac

Mac

Kang, When you chose to go with spring steel, what you are really getting is lighter weight for the same strength. -You could make the fingers out of 16ga mild and they would be strong enough that they would probably not deform. -You could probably get similar results with 18ga stainless. -18ga cold...

Mac

Looking at the article from Straight Dope Konstantin the Red cited, my eye was caught by this bit: Further confusing matters is "a dozen pairs of rosaries," even though there are 50-some beads. This harks back to an old use of the word " pair " to mean " a set of more than ...

Mac

Dairy metal is 4%lead, I would not eat off of it m -Thorpe Hell! I'd eat off of it. But, not every day, and not spaghetti. Of course, you would not want to make eating utensils for sale out of a leaded alloy. You could not control their use, and could probably be held liable. But for your own use o...

Mac

The original post does not demonstrate that "tempering works", but it does demonstrate that "not tempering doesn't work". Long ago, when I was first experimenting with 1050, I made the following test. I took a couple dozen rectangles of .042" stock and bent them in a swage t...

Mac

The dagger wil be suspended from a belt worn under the red garment. The suspension cord will pass out through a hole in the garment. The "coat armour" in Chartes such holes; for the dagger and for the sword as well.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... N%26um%3D1

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... N%26um%3D1

Mac

sorry about the huge URLs

Mac

Somomailler

I use brass shim stock in .030" to .035".

If you use thick brass it looks clumsy.

I posted something about my process in this thread.
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... +rivet+mac
....and also this one
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... +rivet+mac

Good luck.

Mac

Mac

Cat,

If this is for Chef's project, where you will be gluing to a wooden core, flexibility will not be an issue.

Also, at the risk of muddying the water.....Theophilus uses cheese glue to attach fabric or leather to wood. It is in his chapter on preparing panels.

Mac

Mac

Bob,

Do you have a friend with a band saw or a power plane? Power tools won't help you with the lid, but you could use them to reduce your flat pieces to a more realistic thickness in a few minutes work.

Mac

Mac

Chef, It looks to me like your wood is between 3 and 4 times a thick as it should be. Remember also, that the leather is going to make it even thicker. Mac The hand plane will be seeing some work. Regardless, I am making it a bit thicker than it would be, because I am not daring enough to make it a...

Mac

Cat, Any sort of "double boiler" that you can buy or cobble together will work just fine for hide glue. If you keep the water on the outer pot barely simmering, the glue will be just fine. You can sometimes find old glue pots at flea markets and such for about $10. This google image search...

Mac

Chef,

It looks to me like your wood is between 3 and 4 times a thick as it should be.

Remember also, that the leather is going to make it even thicker.

Mac

Mac

Thank you Sha-ul. That shows me what I need to know. About a year ago, the USPS started making their Priority boxes much thinner than they had been. I have been suspicious of them, but this is the first report I have seen of one of them failing. In the future, we will tape the sides of these boxes. ...

Mac

Sha-ul,

That's a colorful and evocative description, but I'm not sure I understand the exact nature of the failure mode.

If you could stand to post (or send me) a pic, I think what would help a lot.

Thanks!
Mac

Mac

Edit: Most of the things labeled as "greaves" are cuisses that have been displayed upside down. Look at the big buckles at the bottom, and the general tapering of the pieces <i>towards</i> the knee cop........ -Derian. It is also well to know, that the things labeled "arm guard"...

Mac

Sha-ul, I'm sorry, shocked and dismayed about the damaged box thing! You say the brooches were mostly alright? Did they get bent? were you able to straighten them to your satisfaction? Do you need any of them to be replaced? Do you still have the box? I would like to see a picture of it (if I may im...

Mac

Cliff,

There are some good pics over on the Armsandarmourforum.

http://www.armsandarmourforum.com/forum ... #entry1413

Do you have Holger Richter's new book?

http://books.google.com/books?id=bGqxqn ... q=&f=false

It is a "must have" for anyone interested in composite crossbows.

Are you interested in building one?

Mac

Mac

Kilkenny, I think I recall seeing that the guys on the Asian archery board (ATARN) thought that rabbit skin glue was too "greasy" for gluing bows. It might be perfect in this application. I personally don't like the smell of any hide glues, but it could be worse. The latton casters use hor...

Mac

You may not need to plasticize the hide glue at all. I would try it out on some scrap pieces. (I would try ALL my glue options on some scrap, before committing it to a project which has time or materials invested in it.) You might find that it imparts some traditional stiffness which would not be at...

Mac

Cat, Tallow is just animal grease; usually beef. You can make your own by poring off the grease from hamburgers, but it will not be as nice as the stuff you can buy. Some years ago I bought a pound of tallow from Eastwood. m It is a bit pricey, but it is very pure and does not go rancid. It has &quo...

Mac

Cat, You are quite right. you don't want Barge, or any of the other contact adhesives for a thing that must telescope during assembly. Unless...you can slide them together while the glue is still quite liquid. This is not how the manufacturers intend for them to be used, but it will sometimes work. ...

Mac

sha-ul wrote:btw does Sinter Klaas make Hanukkah deliveries? :twisted:

I think he has come to do a lot of them these days, although he didn't used to. It goes to show that even the saints have to change with the times.

Mac

Mac

Sha-Ul,

Your order is packed.

It's a little late for Sinterklaas to put them in your boots for you to find on the morning of the 6th, so they will have to go "Priority".

Mac

Mac

You still have time to take advantage of this offer!

Order before midnight on the 6th!

Mac

Mac

how& where do we submit our orders? & do you have 2 of each color mogan david in stock? It's best to contact us at .... billy@billyandcharlie.com I've just looked at what we have of the stars in stock. We have.. 7 blue 5 red 4 dark green 5 light green 1 clear 2 yellow 3 purple If you need a...

Mac

Remember to tell us in your order that you are a fan - don't want to miss anyone with the discount!

Mac

Mac

sha-ul wrote:are these included in your Christmas special?

Of course!

Mac

Re: Billy and Charlie's holiday special