Making late 14th century armour

[Murdock]

If you wouldn't mind

could you please send me the pattern you used for your vams.

It looks like it would be a better shape than the ones i reverse engendered off an old set of mine. My pattern makes a good cone, it looks like yours lends itself more toward the tulip shape.

thanks

[Guy Dawkins]

Fantastic!

Then I turn around and look at my stuff and I want to spit.

[Galfrid atte grene]

If you wouldn't mind

could you please send me the pattern you used for your vams.

It looks like it would be a better shape than the ones i reverse engendered off an old set of mine. My pattern makes a good cone, it looks like yours lends itself more toward the tulip shape.

thanks

Hey Murdock, the tulip shape is not a result of the pattern but rather the hammer work. I did shape the long sides in a bit of an S-curve, but only to conserve material and to make sure I didn't have to do more work than necessary. Once the forming was done, I just cut the long sides straight (they weren't anywhere near). You can see in the pictures how poorly those sides came out. I suspect a nearly linear long side would have been better. There's also a pic on there of the vambrace in the flat, thats pretty much the pattern.

[Murdock]

well poo

i was hoping to cut the hammering time on em.


Thanks though

[Konstantin the Red]

well poo

i was hoping to cut the hammering time on em.

Bigger hammer? Moves more metal per smack.

[Gryffinclaw]

I really enjoyed your tutorial. As always I learned a few neat tricks to improve my own stuff. TY for taking the time to document. I was impressed by how you took TOMAR concepts and improved upon them such as your brass etching.

well done

[jarlragnar]

Hey Galfrid, I will soon be needing a plaque belt. I was wondering how you got the sand to set up inside the mold. I was also wondering if you could make the master cast thing out of wax rather than soldering it together. Any info would be appreciated.

[Galfrid atte grene]

1. Yes you can make the master out of wax. I did the fermail (center piece/buckle) like that, you can see the photo on the page ... It is probably actually easier to do it out of wax, I carved that piece in like 45 minutes. The downside is it won't last that long.
2. To make the sand mold: Build the frame. Pound in the sand - highly compressed. I then cut some bowl shapes out for the finer sand. Then I just pressed in the master, like a stamp. It is shallow enough that I could get away with that. Otherwise you have to stick it in and pound sand around it.

[jarlragnar]

Dang. I looked a little harder a what it would take to cast brass. I'd need so many things that I don't think it'd be practical for me to make one.

[Sean Powell]

Dang. I looked a little harder a what it would take to cast brass. I'd need so many things that I don't think it'd be practical for me to make one.

Jarlragnar,

Depending on the exact shape and effect you want I've been told that you can make bondo molds from carved wax masters and use them for pewter rather then brass/bronze. If you were thinking about a highly enameled piece then pewter with brass paint may be sufficient?

Is there anyone other then Armor and Castings casting brass as custom orders? If I wanted to supply wax masters (or something from the 3D printer at work) is there someone who could do the casting work for someone like my or jarl Ragnar without us investing in a lot of extra tools?

Thanks, Sean

[wcallen]

Tom Justus does lots and lots of brass sand castings. He does buckles, spurs, collars, end plates and all sorts of random other stuff.

I would bet it would be reasonable to ask him.

I will try to remember to tell him to poke his nose into this thread when I see him next - in about an hour.

Wade

[fghthty545y]

I was just looking at your jupon and I'm curious, did you sew on a strip of leather at the edges to lace it through, or does it lace through eyelets in the cloth?

[Galfrid atte grene]

Stitched eyelets in the cloth. All the evidence I've seen seems to point to this method.