I have recovered from my cold (mostly) and am back on task.
The last couple of days, have been the initial grinding of the greaves. Here is the first pass on the first piece.
This work is happening with a grinding disc. The edge of the disc is dressed nice and smooth, and the noise is more of a hiss than a clatter. As soon as the cuts get looking "choppy" or there is any real vibration, I stop and dress the wheel again. I get about half an hour out of each dressing... more or less, depending on how much work happens at the very edge of the disc. The edge deteriorates rapidly and needs attention more frequently. This means that the saddle shapes of the ankles require more frequent dressing.
I am working bare handed for a couple of reasons. The first is that I really hate gloves, and never use them if I can get away with it. The other is that I want to have a more intimate feel for temperature and stress. If I were to unwittingly impose a twist on the part while at the same time grinding so aggressively that the temperature rose into the temper range, the part might warp. That would be a lot of trouble to fix, and I will go to some lengths to avoid it. Yes, I have accidentally touched some hot places, but I have not been much burned. Yes, I have accidentally touched the edge of the wheel, but it is so smoothly dressed that I have not been much cut. I would rather risk minor hurts than risk the part.
After the first pass, I marked the spots that need to be brought up under the hammer. This goes a lot easier on tempered steel than on soft stuff. Direct "squashing" blows bring the metal up, but the unsupported sloppy edges of the blow do not dent the work. I meant to take more pics of that process, but my camera batteries died.
Here's what the greave parts looked like after the first couple of passes under the grinding disc. Note, that I am staying well clear of the crest lines at this point. All grinding work is just two inattentive seconds away from disaster, and crest lines are especially prone to trouble. Each pass gets a little closer to the crest, but they won't really get shaped until I move on to a less aggressive procedure.
The next step is with 80gr. belts.
I am using a platen with a lot of curve on the saddle shapes of the ankles and "waists" of the greaves.
There are flatter platens for the convex places as well, but I did not shoot a pic of one. I'll try to get a shot of the platen fleet later today.
This is what I have after about three passes on the belt. Greaves do not allow much variation in the angle of the pass, but I try to get about 30° each side of perpendicular. Note that there is still a little bit of unground area along much of the crest lines. That will wait for an even less aggressive procedure.
Mac
but at least I'm no longer shivering when I take the blanket off my shoulders like yesterday. 
