Tony's blog

[human]

so after a month or two without material, or material to use rather as ive gotten more thoughtful to using my material since then, I have gotten some more material and have a project in mind. after I got this new material which is a few street signs they were taking down in a neighborhood, I have wanted to make a 16th century style articulated gorget for awhile and I also remembered johann's build thread for his gorget. I have started re-reading the thread and have started as mac advised from the top down and have started on the top section of the ring.

after a pass or two of hammer rolling this is where its at.

the half on the top is curled slightly more and so I will have to even them out but so far they look pretty similar.


after a few more passes of the hammer rolling I will hit it from the inside to start planishing and to give it a bit of a compound curve.
this is where its at so far, next I plan to finish these then fit them up and then start on the rest of the neck.

[Gordon Thompson]

Keep in mind you will need enough material for roll and hinge.

[human]

i know. I might have to restart on this if they aren't wide enough but my plan it to thin it out at the roll edge because the aluminum it pretty thick and then roll it but we'll see when we get ther I guess. Also there is another inch or more of material on each side for hinges, since yesterday I have done two more rounds or hammer rolling and annealed it once because it was getting hard to work with

[Kindyr]

If you are looking to remove the decals from the aluminum, I highly recommend these discs
https://www.menards.com/main/tools/powe ... -10154.htm

They will gum up a bit, but they don't chew into the aluminum nearly the way that other discs do. after finding them, I'm finally able to use up the signs I was able to purchase ages ago but had put aside as not being viable.

[human]

thank you! That's very helpful, it usually comes off during hammering and annealing but being able to remove it before then would be nice for me and my lungs. today I did a couple rounds of hammer curling and one of annealing.

after the first round and evening them up alittle bit this is where I was at
so they are more even after that but the one on the bottom looks like it has a smoother curve so I worked on that while trying to keep them as even as possible

at the end of the day today this is where I'm at

[human]

hopefully by tomorrow they should be fitting myy circle template and I can start on the roll fitting and hinge

[human]

right now Im wondering if I should diverge from the original and other reproductions of it by not having the hinge be integral and insted making a seperate set of hinges and making them fit up to cutouts where the hinges would be otherwise, thoughts?

[Gordon Thompson]

in my opinion, exact following on specific example is not important in first projects. I would focus on basics execution: ergonomics, mechanical correctness, shapes, aesthetic details. Just take as many pictures of as many examples as you can, study them on how elements of a piece should be made and melt it in "yours" first gorget. Trying to make exact replica and ending with bumps, ugly hammer marks or careless rolls is no good anyway. When you'll be able to do rolls, edges, surfaces, rolls etc 'good enough on your work, there will be a time to turn your attention to follow examples as a whole. My advise after seeing your previous work - you can try integral hinge but if you fail do a separate one, but do it good and nice, you will learn from it. Don't rush.

[human]

Thank you for your advice, today Im gonna try to roll the peices I have prepared and if those dont work ill restart.

[YSAluminum]

Can these parts be crafted with aluminum sheet https://www.aluminumstock.com?

Edit by JT: It (strongly) seems that YSaluminum is a spammer for the linked website. However, since it isn't blatantly obnoxious spam, and since the following posts would look... strange... if I deleted the spam-post, I'm leaving it in place. YSaluminum's account has been banned, though.

[human]

What do you mean

[human]

also I will update hopefully sometime today as ive been busy with other stuff

[wcallen]

right now Im wondering if I should diverge from the original and other reproductions of it by not having the hinge be integral and insted making a seperate set of hinges and making them fit up to cutouts where the hinges would be otherwise, thoughts?

Gorgets were made both ways. With integral hinges and with separate hinges.
Getting the plates to work well together , fit and hinge is an annoyance. Making the hinge separate allows you more room for changes and to make up for mistakes.
Trust me, there are lots of ways to mess up a gorget... Been there, done that.

Wade

[wcallen]

Also, at some point I expect that you will find out that sign material is pretty thick. Getting a good roll and hinge in that will be more trouble than it would be in proper thickness material. A lot more trouble...
I don't know if you have any scrap yards around you, but it can be worth spending a few bucks to avoid major pain and suffering.

Wade

[human]

yeah
Ive been thinking about that, and how to roll the plate withought having the roll deform and vice versa,

[human]

I think im gonna get some steel for this before I try one on aluminum, or atleast to make the top loop, to figure out the roll and hinge

[human]

So, I have just remembered that i have some thin steel lying around and am going to make a test version of the gorget out of that. but until then I also want to use up some of my aluminum and have been looking at alot of hussar armor lately. so I am going to try to make a hussar breastplate to, and will work on making patterns over the weekend.

[human]

So I have the patterns all cut and traced out and am going to cut my material later today hopefully, also if you are on here Rene I thought you might want to know I found this listing online of one of your beautiful fantasy suits www.etsy.com/listing/1443719219/medieva ... sy-costume

Its a shame that people do this

[human]

and also one of a saddening amount of fake listings of macs armor I really wonder why they have to do this.

[Indianer]

Hello Tony. Before you go any deeper into the Gorget, a few thoughts:

Patterning a gorget necessitates an idea of the helmet and also assumptions about the breastplate:

1. Most 15th c. plate bevors go over the breastplate. Most 16-17th c. gorgets go under it.
2. The underlap of the gorget with the Breast & Backplate will be about two fingers each.
3. The width of the gorget in front will be the same as the width of the corresponding place on the breastplate, including gussets. Same for the Backplate.
4. Full gorgets reach high - The upper edge reaches up to touch the flesh under the chin. It can be depressed after all. Have or make the helmet to match this.

A few others here have achieved mastery with gorgets. And/or all else... They can tell you more.
Keep on crafting. Best, Indi

[human]

Thank you for the advice! at this point I am going to get some rather thin steel to make a test version and learn as much and figure as much out there, then move on from there. Also thank you for the points about gorgets I will keep those in mind and they are very helpful.

[human]

im hoping to start on the hussar breastplate today and the gorget after that.

[human]

So I'm back after a couple of months and museum trips, and I brought some armor with me.

I have been reading more and more stuff on here and decided to try something that isn't as complex and I definitely should have tried sooner with a pair of gothic spaulders.

I am basing my pair off of Wades c.1490 gothic spaulders and looking at the A20 in the wallace collection that he sites (That you Wade, your website and collection are amazing) and using wades patterns with some adjustments like getting rid of the 4th lame to make it shorter, etc.

I started off with the top oval pieces





The one on the left has abit more shape to it as it was "planished" from the inside on my railroad anvil using a ballpein hammer with a rounded face. I am starting to work on the two "same" pieces at once instead of completely finishing one piece then doing the next .

after I got those two to what I thought was a decent place I started on the next pieces down

after first dishing pass:





after "planishing" on the left vs without on the right:




After this I did end up trying to get more curve in them but realized that it looked wrong and didn't line up with my examples so corrected it to get it to the current stage :

[human]

I am trying to focus more on shape, curvature, proper articulation, etc.

[human]

I have all of the lames done and am working on the canons, will hopefully post pics tmrw