1580's Augsburg Cuirass

[Johann ColdIron]

Been working on this one for a while. I've already gone pretty far on this project. Didn't post it as I had to nibble on this one in the midst of a big work priority. Now that work has calmed down I wanted show some of the process to contribute some tech to the site.

Based on details and time period but not a particular Artifact. Most notably the "Augsburg notch" on the Arm gussets. This is prevalent on German Breastplates from that town mid to late 16th century. Copied by others, though, and also seen on Greenwhich Armours in England. Since they imported Germans to work there that is no surprise.

Kinda shooting for a plain Continental German version of Thomas Sackville's Greenwich Armour. Ultimate goal is a Garniture Harness for various foot combat roles. So eventually I will turn my attention towards fauld/legs with snecks or turning pegs at different intersections.



So droopy belly and modest edge rolls with roping. No bands or engraving on this one. It's a challenge to find photos of assembled cuirasses without pauldrons on or helmets in the way. Closest example I have found is a back and breast I took pictures of at the Higgins before they moved. It has some issues with the straps and decorative rivets but sound in the construction.





Step one before making a Cuirass. Make a gorget! This Cuirass is being made to go with the Gorget I made a few years back. It has been well tested in combat and fits well enough to build on. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=157286&hilit=Augsburg+gorget

Step -1 Make a Fiberglass dummy. Didn't really need it for the gorget but sure did for the Cuirass! Much easier to make stuff if you can fit it to a decent reference of the wearer. Especially if it is yourself. I used cast making supplies to turn this one out with help to get myself wrapped up and then back out of it.

I stuffed it with foam and put it on a lazy susan I had lying around. I found that an old Tshirt pulled over the fiberglass shell helped protect it. The wraps are not very well adhered to each other. Eventually I put an old fighting doublet over it all to simulate my body shape and fit.



Pulled some vague patterns off it and went to work on the back plate. That is important to the fit first since it goes under the breast.

[Johann ColdIron]

Here is the start of the basic shaping. First passes were cold. I was worried about thinning as the Back is 18 gauge 1050.



When I began talking to Wade about the Backplate he said the most significant issues with making a successful backplate are volume and back boobs. We put a straight edge across a couple of the examples he has and you could see that there is at least 2.5 " of depth there. Then the shaping of the areas that need to stick out to accommodate the scapula- which are slang termed "back boobs" You can see them area marked out in black sharpie.



Then refined with heat. Raising in the areas closer to the arm.



This photo really helps show the depth. Most are made too shallow to fit humans.

[Johann ColdIron]

Once that was well enough shaped to fit my dummy I moved on to the Breast.

Here is the initial pattern. Based on a 17th century BP I started long ago. Now that I am close to the end of this one I would say the arm "straps" are too long and the neck hole too deep. Straps were eventually cut off and the neck area drawn out to fill some of what was cut away.



First pass in my shallow dish to give it some life in an otherwise dead flat piece. You can see where I have already marked the arm straps for cutting. I generally leave some material to trim in most instances. I do not really enjoy welding 1050 so I'd rather trim than add.



Then into the medium tank end dish for a little shape.



Then I used a fork arrangement to bend the sides a bit. This was probably premature... more on that later



Began using my Thing Cone forge to raise in the center and get the peascod shape.



Start of the shape.



This shot shows the amount of metal the Thing forge gets hot. Roughly a 4-5" diameter. Good for some things but some times encourages too much metal to move.

[Llewelyn Gododdin]

Can not wait to see this thread progress, I get a lot out of reading your posts.

[wcallen]

I expect that there may be some upcoming updates. John has one or 2 stages of the process done that he hasn't posted yet.



Wade

[Johann ColdIron]

Can not wait to see this thread progress, I get a lot out of reading your posts.

Thanks Llewelyn, that's why I do this. So we all can learn.
I am always looking for any input that will help me make my projects better.

And yes as Wade had alluded to there are few more updates . He's seen most of it and been a great help throughout this project. But he has not seen it all...

I will have to get to a real computer to do the updates but they are forthcoming.

[Johann ColdIron]

From the beginning I wanted to do this BP as a one piece no seam project to teach myself more about raising larger objects. At least one very experienced Armourer suggested I weld it. Sure would have been faster! But not as much would have been learned.

Ok, on with the show.

More shape.



And more





But here is where the trouble starts. Curled in the sides too much before finishing the depth of the peascod. This has caused problems throughout the rest of the shaping. I was amazed at how much movement occurred depending on where and how you hit something this big. With experience an Armourer would lead the final shape by carefully planned shaping phases. Especially when they were cranking out hundreds of these for high volume orders.



At some point you end up with a lumpy mess. There is a LOT of metal movement. None of the final surfaces are flat on the well made originals. Here is a photo of the lump removal from the inside. Note the thinning on the neck line to draw up the metal into where it really should be.



You have to plan your inside and outside work carefully not to curl the piece into a unusable shape. A pass of hammering in the dents from the inside can change the waist opening by an inch or more. Planishing from the outside didn't seem to yield the same ratio of movement. But that is probably my technique or curvature of the tooling I am using. Adding the center line closed up the waist, too. I drove in with a dull chisel from the inside. The cresting stake work to sharpen it from the outside negated most of that movement. I learned to plan a kind of "Tit for tat" effort of metal movement from inside and outside.



If you do a raising project like this expect to hit it everywhere, often. Eventually you will have to flare the bottom edge to be able to test the fit. This locks you into the curvature of the flanks somewhat. At least at the waist. Lots of variation in the originals so there isn't a real "wrong" but some places and time periods favor some shapes so if doing a very specific one be sure to use the right details.



Once it the lumps were smaller I scuffed the whole thing with a 100 grit sanding block to determine the high and low spots. High spots got hammered down and low bumped out. This is where the waist movement became annoying. I experimented with a threaded rod spacer to keep the opening but it really didn't work. It was in the way of the hammer and only kept it spread while in place. Once I started to unscrew it it would boing! to where ever the stresses wanted it to go. It was better to monitor it as I was hammering with a story stick showing the width I wanted it VS where hammering was taking it.



Another pass with heat. Lots of staring in between. At it, photos of originals and at Wades looking at his. No real substitute to looking at 3D objects in person. Thanks Wade!

After a pass with the belt sander. I started with 14 ga for two reasons. The first is that most breastplates of this period had some heft to them. The second is so that I could sand it with impunity. You can see there are still some low spots that need to be targeted for bumping out.

[RandallMoffett]

Wow that is most excellent sir! Moving along very well by the looks of it.

[Mac]

That's a very serious peascod thing you've got going there!

Mac

[Johann ColdIron]

Wow that is most excellent sir! Moving along very well by the looks of it.

Thanks for the feedback! It has been a fun and challenging project.

[Johann ColdIron]

That's a very serious peascod thing you've got going there!

Mac

Thanks, I think!

Nose is a bit long for what I was shooting for at the onset of this but within range of originals I've seen. I'd do some things differently in the early stages that are a bit hard to correct without some massive metal moving now. At this point I want to move this project along so I can get to the rest of it while I am still capable of fighting in it.


At this point lets talk about layers. I've learned a bunch from Mac's Thread. The most recent significant take-a-way is be sure of your under layers before final trim. I've been using a dummy that is roughly my shape. A old Arming doublet that fits me as the fabric layer but I knew I wanted mail in my completed harness. Only problem is the voiders I have did not pass my own muster after looking at some real mail with a critical eye. Once more I get to thank Wade for crushing my dreams...



It's 9mm blackened stainless all round riveted mail that I picked up here in the AA marketplace a long time ago. It's big. Very porous looking. Thin rings I'm not sure I would trust in a knife fight. It really should be 6mm or even smaller. My vanity was keeping me from using them until I realized I needed some place holder for the mail in the fitting process.

So I safety pinned it onto my doublet to get an idea of how it might work. Just as Tom B. and Mac learned when making sleeves tailoring is the key to functional mail. It needs to be tucked way into the armpit to not resist putting your arm up.



The voiders I have are symmetrical, which I think is wrong now that I have tried to wear it. I laced the "sleeve" portion with leather thong to see how that area needed to be dealt with. It naturally wants to roll where the chain stays at the low point of the elbow. This will be an issue with my floating German elbows. I think there should be more chain on the inside edge of the mail to get good coverage at the elbow pit.



Here is a photo of the test fit of the voiders. I ended up completely stitching the mail to the doublet, mostly to control the roll of the sleeves and to keep it fitted to the arm. Got rid of the lacing up the arm but kept a leather thong as an circumference adjuster where the chain goes over my forearm. Without it the chain liked to roll up my arm in range of motion tests. The stitching is temporary and would have be be redone at some point. It was thin stuff I had that would not tear up the doublet too much while I was learning where to put the mail .



Knowing a bit more about how mail would interact with what I have mocked up I was able to move on with the project. I'll eventually make a set of tailored voiders (or sleeves) that will probably be stitched into a vest like doublet similar to Macs. I think they would work better if they were able to slide over the under layer of the arming doublet rather than be part of it and I could put a bit of padding at the contact points of the gorget and shoulder armour. Also could choose to fight with or with out mail depending on need of the scenario.

Though there were some great threads on here to help guide me I'd appreciate any input on what I am planning with the mail and if I am headed in the right direction.

[wcallen]

That's a very serious peascod thing you've got going there!

Mac

It is a lot more aggressive than most we see these days. As John said, it is probably a little more than he started out to make, but it is well within the range of "what they did."

And I like the center line. A nice even curve, then into the peascod. Way to many copies are to flat.

Wade

[Mac]

The 16th C is not really my field, and I am not as familiar with the arming conventions as I should be.

I am wondering whether mail gussets/sleeves are typical. We see plenty of examples of gentleman appearing in a cuirasse and mail sleeves for their portraits, but do we see mail in the armpits of guys wearing full plate arms and pauldrons? My recollection is that we are more likely to see the doublet in the gaps than to see mail.

If I'm right about that, it might be more to the point to not bother with the mail than to try to cram a layer of modern (too thick!) mail into the mix.

Mac

[Jason Grimes]

The 16th C is not really my field, and I am not as familiar with the arming conventions as I should be.

I am wondering whether mail gussets/sleeves are typical. We see plenty of examples of gentleman appearing in a cuirasse and mail sleeves for their portraits, but do we see mail in the armpits of guys wearing full plate arms and pauldrons? My recollection is that we are more likely to see the doublet in the gaps than to see mail.

If I'm right about that, it might be more to the point to not bother with the mail than to try to cram a layer of modern (too thick!) mail into the mix.

Mac

There is a lot of evidence for mail voiders in the first half of the 16th century, the latest I have found is the Moroni portrait from 1560 that depicts voiders pointed to a doublet with the rest of the armour laying on the ground. I'm not as familiar with the late 16th century stuff but I do remember seeing some mail sleeves in the Almain Album from the 1580's.

http://artintheblood.typepad.com/.a/6a0 ... 680970d-pi

https://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/col ... AH6874.jpg

But I have no idea how typical these are?

[Mac]

Jason,


If the fellow in the portrait is planning to wear all that armor, then this certainly is an example of voiders worn with plate arms and pauldrons. On the other hand, the Almain album image could easily represent a guy who had no intention of wearing anything else on his arms.

As an aside.... Have another look at the Moroni portrait. Those mail gussets are pointed to one of those vest-like garments. His doublet proper is black.

I wish Moroni had shown us the greaves. The guy in the portrait has brace to support a "drop foot", and it would be interesting to see how his armorer dealt with it.

Mac

[Jason Grimes]

Hah, I completely missed the drop foot support. Maybe the image is cropping some of the painting?

I agree with you on the Almain album image, definetely the mail sleeves are the main protection for the arms. I find it hard to think that gussets in the Moroni portrait would have been worn without a arm harness. You never know though, it could be an affectation as well. I really do think that towards the end of the 16th century, as guns become more useful and everyone is thinking of ways to keep the weight down, I can see mail being used less and less for covering the gaps in plate armour.

[Johann ColdIron]

Interesting discussion folks! I have looked at that image that Jason posted a hundred times and it never occurred to me that the sleeves were separate from the vest. Should have considering they're completely different color. That's kind of what I have in mind, though that seems to present the thought that a corseted elbow defense may have been considered proof against the threats of the period.

There are representations of mail in images of armour from the period at the armpits and elbows but with the armor on it's hard to tell whether they're voiders or sleeves. There are a lot of images of cuirasses with only sleeves. A couple of them are bearing firearms at the same time so it could possibly go with the task at hand.

If you squint hard I think this guy has mail at his armpit

https://pinterest.com/pin/3008968188442 ... pp=android

As well here. Austria 1580s

https://pinterest.com/pin/3008968188374 ... pp=android

Armpit, elbows, but not at the wrist

[Jason Grimes]

This is interesting but it may not be applicable.

http://slideplayer.com/slide/4489741/14 ... +king..jpg

It's a bit early (1557) but it may show, that sometimes, they did wear full mail sleeves under the arm harness. The interesting thing about this armour is that there is another portrait of Philip II's great grandson Charles II wearing the same armour with the arms.

https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/ ... harles.jpg

Although these could be exchange pieces.

[Mac]

I just did a quick image search for portrait 16th C armor. It was pretty inconclusive. In some cases you could see mail at the elbow, but in most examples, the plate coverage was so good that there was no telling. It might be significant that none of them seemed to show mail at the wrists. That sort of points to gussets.... but it leaves us in an uncomfortable position. There are plenty of extant sleeves, and some gussets, but to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing that covers the armpit and the bend of the elbow that does not come all the way to the wrist.

Of course, it's difficult to know if we should be able to see the mail at the wrist. Perhaps the thing we see where they were binding the wrists of the mail sleeves is about keeping them from getting into the tight spot on the vambraces. There's so much we don't know....

I did find this example of a fellow whose doublet is showing at the armpits and elbows. This is a thing I think I have seen other examples of as well.



Mac

[Sean M]

Inventories/military treatises/arming scenes will tell you what mail was worn with this style of armour better than pictures.

I think that open helmet, cuirass, and sleeves of mail was a very popular configuration for light cavalry and rich men who didn't want to wear the rest of their garniture right now. Not sure if they left the sleeves on when they put on an articulated vambrace.

I share the feeling that voiders and gussets were not such a 'must have' in 1580 as 200 years earlier, but I doubt that they had vanished completely either.

[Johann ColdIron]

This is interesting but it may not be applicable.

http://slideplayer.com/slide/4489741/14 ... +king..jpg

It's a bit early (1557) but it may show, that sometimes, they did wear full mail sleeves under the arm harness. The interesting thing about this armour is that there is another portrait of Philip II's great grandson Charles II wearing the same armour with the arms.

https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/ ... harles.jpg

Although these could be exchange pieces.

It it interesting, especially with the two wearing the same "suit".

Philip IIs chain is interesting. Trimmed at the wrist and waist in gold. Restrained by bicep ties. Are we seeing a full shirt poking out at the waist or a poorly represented Brayette?

Charles II genetics aside he does not appear to be wearing chain under the arm harness. Perhaps with a buff coat under it, which may be sleeveless if the color at the elbow is thought to represent the brocade fabric of his pants.

Exchange pieces would be a legitimate answer to the different bits used and when. But it invites another question: If the chain sleeves are optional would the arms still fit without them? Is this an either or? If so then you have to drop the cuirass and gorget to change modes? With the proper attendants this would not be a big deal but it would be a pain.

My interest is to have a suit that can go from the Armoured field to C&T/rapier and back with a minimum of undressing or duplication of gear. That said what I am shooting for is way over dressed for what is currently used on either field. But, I am interested in learning how and what was worn by the lower nobility when they took the field and how it worked...not winning Crown.

[Tom B.]

Antonio Moro - Willem I van Nassau

[Johann ColdIron]

I just did a quick image search for portrait 16th C armor. It was pretty inconclusive. In some cases you could see mail at the elbow, but in most examples, the plate coverage was so good that there was no telling. It might be significant that none of them seemed to show mail at the wrists. That sort of points to gussets.... but it leaves us in an uncomfortable position. There are plenty of extant sleeves, and some gussets, but to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing that covers the armpit and the bend of the elbow that does not come all the way to the wrist.

Of course, it's difficult to know if we should be able to see the mail at the wrist. Perhaps the thing we see where they were binding the wrists of the mail sleeves is about keeping them from getting into the tight spot on the vambraces. There's so much we don't know....

I did find this example of a fellow whose doublet is showing at the armpits and elbows. This is a thing I think I have seen other examples of as well.



Mac

Nice picture! I like the floating elbows represented there. It's hard to find examples of them combined with the rest of the harness.

I'm glad I am not the only one with questions on this subject! Both styles seem to be present at the same time. It may be that late chain is more of an option. Chain under pauldrons/armpits protects some pretty important real estate. A stab into the thoracic cavity would suck. Battering of the shoulders with a mace or hammer spike may explain the interest of an extra layer of protection there. Only way I can explain the chain on the outer surfaces of the shoulder as shown in the portrait Jason linked: http://artintheblood.typepad.com/.a/6a0 ... 680970d-pi
Stabbing the slots presented between a corsleted elbow and the vambrace or upper cannon might be considered a low percentage shot of less than lethal consequence.

I appreciate the discussion folks! I should have brought this up a year ago...

Here are a couple more shots of the work so far. You can see the sharpie planning marks for the neck roll and the gussets.



Chain looks long on the arms but when worn it only goes down below the swelling of the brachioradialis muscle. I do see the concern Mac has brought up about full length sleeves though. I had problems with it wanting to roll back up the arm while the arm is raised. A tie at the wrist of the full sleeve would prevent that.

OK here is one of the trouble spots. Significant pocket at the armpit pocket. You need some space there for the muscles to work unhindered but it's a bit too much. It is because I did not have enough curve running from the nose of the peascod to that point diagonally on the BP. Top to bottom curve is good, Horizontal is good. If a ruler is put right there it is flat. It's an artifact of the way I curled the BP at the beginning. You see it even more excentuated on crappy modern BPs where they have just bent the side returns over to make the waist. Gussets are next and those puckers will be trimmed a bit. I'll raise those spots in a bit when once the gussets are installed.

[Tom B.]

Some guys with full sleeves

[Johann ColdIron]

Did a test piece of the neck roll to make sure I had enough material to do what I wanted and get a feel of the taper. It was traced off the exisiting trim and thinned in the middle to simulate what I had to work with.



Bumped out without pushing the end of the roll very far out. It naturally curls for you if you don't fight it and since you want it to tuck neatly into the back there is no need to flare it wide.



Drew out the edges even more and refined the shape. You can see the beginnings of the center bump out. It was getting a bit thin so I used restraint on how much metal that feature will use.



Mostly rolled over. Ideally I'd like the rolled edge to die right into the 90* flare that starts the roll but I must say that there are a LOT of crappy, metal starved rolls in original pieces. Cracks, overstressed metal, delaminations, pinch cut metal- all are a regular find when you look inside with a critical eye.



There is some trickiness in matching the curve of the gorget and the BP. Curves happening in several axis at once.The final flushness of the fit is somewhat driven by buckle and strap location. Some of the curvatures seem to push down in the collar bone area while leaving a bit of clearance on the sides for the straps. Others solve the problem with using a steel strap arrangement over the top of the cuirass instead of a strap &buckle. More on that later.

[Sean M]

My interest is to have a suit that can go from the Armoured field to C&T/rapier and back with a minimum of undressing or duplication of gear. That said what I am shooting for is way over dressed for what is currently used on either field. But, I am interested in learning how and what was worn by the lower nobility when they took the field and how it worked...not winning Crown.

Its really hard and expensive to get modern mail which is like many 16th century sleeves I have seen ... if you have to wear Indian rings, that might affect your choice. The good stuff had tiny rings and was beautifully made.

Even in the 14th century I doubt that most men bothered with gussets for a friendly bout with clubs or blunts (if they had blunt steel swords in the trecento ... I am not sure, but they did in your period).

[Johann ColdIron]

Its really hard and expensive to get modern mail which is like many 16th century sleeves I have seen ... if you have to wear Indian rings, that might affect your choice. The good stuff had tiny rings and was beautifully made.

Even in the 14th century I doubt that most men bothered with gussets for a friendly bout with clubs or blunts (if they had blunt steel swords in the trecento ... I am not sure, but they did in your period).

Yeah, that is one of the things I and others interested in the 16th century are struggling with. Wade and I have had several conversations on how even the current 6mm mail does not present the proper silhouette for what we see in the originals. It should be slightly smaller with a more oval cross section from what I have seen. Wedge riveted preferred. Knute mail and even the Azon butcher stuff is closer in size but not in composition.

The mail/no mail question is a deep one. At some point it would be interesting to dig into period accounts of friendly combat and see if that decision is ever mentioned. Kinda like WWI pilots flying without parachutes...

Tom B. thanks for posting those images! I had not seen them all and I had completely forgotten about those guys who wear pauldrons with mail sleeves. With the addition of the elbow that might work for what I am doing. Have you ever been asked to do 16th century sleeves? Would you be interested?

More in a bit. Got to upload some pics!

[Johann ColdIron]

I mentioned earlier the interface between the gorget and cuirass relative to the buckle/strap placement. You can see here that the BP is contacting the gorget at the outside ends of the BP, right where the straps go. I then bumped these area out as far as I could without distorting the arc of the top of the BP. The buckle tabs and straps will get tucked under so a tight seal is not possible. Part of this is an artifact of the"The Augsburg notch", or tab that protrudes over the top of the gusset. Some BPs in this family seem to be bumped inward in the area between the outside point and the center line and use a large center feature in the roll to disguise this transition- like Greenwich armours.



Cutting out the gusset areas. Drilled a hole at the apex of the gusset to keep that area from being a stress riser and then used a thin cutting disk to nibble off the waste in the gusset area. Wish I had been closer to a fellow armourer with a plasma cutter but it went fast enough. Just have to take your time.



Test Gussets in place for templating.



Still a bit of a pucker but not as bad.



Here is the top view again with the gussets installed and the tips of the Augsburg tabs bumped out. I will likely be running buckles and straps mounted under the BP to begin with and then later more to steel hinged straps when the Garniture is more complete. More on that when it comes.



The pattern for the gusset and a bit of extra metal for the roll and any shifting that might occur when they are fitted to the BP.



First fit of the Gussets. Lightly dished then bent to fit. I hammered the snot out of the inside edges to taper them and to curl them a bit. Probably was too generous in how much extra metal was there. Subsequent trimming got rid of some of the tapered areas so I will have to go at them again. Here is where a power hammer would be handy!



Gives you another view with the gussets roughly placed. You can see where the BP puckers out inconveniently. Those areas will get raised down.



And raised down. Bumped out a few places that were still low and messing with the form. I will have to open up the waist one last time with my Thing Forge and tuning fork made from a cheval and piece of light gauge rail.



Close up of some of the roll planning. I drew out the ends of the tabs above the gussets to give some meat to the roll there. I trimmed too much in the rough fit of the BP to my body. Using 14 ga. gave me some meat to play with. After doing my test roll I'm likely to draw it out a bit more.



The circled area still needed to be bumped out and the striped area just below the gusset raised in, just a bit to even it out. Could have raised a whole lot more earlier to improve the form but that ship has sailed!

[Johann ColdIron]

Just about caught up to real time. Hopefully I'll get more done this weekend.

I had to move the right side buckle hole on the top of the BP. It was placed slightly too wide and not helping the strap & buckle placement over the gorget. I could have welded and redrilled but they didn't have that option. I thought I would punch this one since they are close enough to share borders- as you can see here.



Heated the area and drifted in the new hole. Don't use something you care about as a punch since it will likely lose temper. I uses a hardened concrete nail tapered down to a thinish point. Please ignore the punch dimple below. I foolishly double struck the punch without looking whether it had left the target...it did.



Pushed over the web between the holes a bit leaving some meat between the holes. It should be strong enough to support the buckle plate rivet. I'm going to put a blind rivet in the extra hole. Lots of evidence of those in originals.



Will post after I get some more done. Still hoping to wrap this one up before Pennsic.
Till then here is a picture of Colonel Mosby with a cat toy on his head... Have a good weekend!

[Tom B.]

Tom B. thanks for posting those images! I had not seen them all and I had completely forgotten about those guys who wear pauldrons with mail sleeves. With the addition of the elbow that might work for what I am doing. Have you ever been asked to do 16th century sleeves? Would you be interested?

Drop me a message I am sure we can work something out.
Historically Patterned Mail

Portrait of a Gentleman about 1555-6, Giovanni Battista Moroni

Click to open the high resolution version

[Johann ColdIron]

Been a while. This project got put on hold after we had a water pipe leak in our house that totalled the Kitchen and dining room. Been acting as General Contractor and wrangling subs since Pennsic. Almost have a kitchen back...

Managed to nibble at the BP a bit in between delays.

When last I posted I was working on the gussets and their attendant tabs above them. I decided to hem the edges of the tab first to give me something to align the gusset hems up with. Did them with wire inserted to help keep it from collapsing when I offset the hem up from the surface of the BP and keep it a consistent size. Photo from the back side.



Didn't have a handy stake thin enough to work between the neck hem and the arm tab edge so I improvised. A cut off of medium carbon steel in my stake clamp.



Once hem is folded over with the wire trapped in the tab was clamped onto the "stake" and heated so that it could be pushed forward of the BP surface with a minimum of distortion. Poor pic but you get the idea.



Here are both hems turned and the gusset hems planned. Should have left a bit more material up top but drew them out a bit to thin the edge for hemming and gain some length.

[Johann ColdIron]

Here are the gussets in progress. Here is a photo of the beginning of the bump out of the hem. Getting it started is the hard part. Used side of a t stake and HEAT. Once the bump out is roughed out you work from both sides to define it. Most of the gouges you see in the hem are fairly shallow and got pushed back out by later passes.




Many of this style of gusset that transition is close to a 90* so I used a flat faced raising hammer to help define that.



Here is the inside marking where the center bump will be. The edges of the hem have been trimmed down to manageable lengths to meet their return points with a bit of thinning done to help them behave. Hemming 14 ga is a pain.



Right is the hem curl is started and Left the hem is about half turned. You can see the bump out I did at the center of the gussets getting defined. That will be the location the roping changes directions on the hem. It was driven in hot with a rounded chisel.



This photo shows the curl of the hem

[Johann ColdIron]

Here is a gusset with a bit of file work. I like doing some of this early work by hand. You can only screw something up so much with a file stroke. Once the major issues are leveled out I'll use the belt sander.



Here is the rear of the closed hem. You can see some trim marks as am trimming the gussets to final size. I left them long/wide not knowing how much things might migrate as I installed them. Also gave me something to sink my visegrips into with no concern about damage.



Here they are on the BP. Still need some more clean up as do the transitions to the tabs.



Side view.



Next- Fauld or no fauld. That is the question. Several of the originals I am drawing inspiration from have the bottom edge of the BP hemmed and several exchange faulds used for the differing combat. There is enough meat at the bottom of the flange that I could draw it out and do a hem. Or slap a one lame fauld with turn keys on it with no worries about screwing up the BP with the hem job. But if I did I could cut it off and still put a one lame fauld on. Still mulling that one.

The general clean up and prep for roping the edges...

[Indianer]

Hey there. I haven´t read a single line of text, but I already love the thread. thx! Will pore through it in a bit...

[Johann ColdIron]

Hey there. I haven´t read a single line of text, but I already love the thread. thx! Will pore through it in a bit...

Enjoy! I'll post more a progress permits.