Munitions breastplate for a child, late 14th c.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

I realized that a project I'd started as a quick one-off has grown more involved, so I wanted to move the progress over here—originally from Off Topics—for posterity and continuity. I'll quote the original progress to date, then move forward with updates here.

In armour-related news, Quinn is six seven now, and he's still interested in hitting me with a stick so we started on this yesterday.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

Obligatory bag o' marbles stage.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

It's been hot, friends. Most of July and August was in the 105–108° range, with the interior of the shop a good 20° hotter, so that slowed things down. We had to try and get as much progress as we could in the first 2–3 hours of the morning, then cut off and get back inside.

But thanks to the tropical storms, we've had a few less-hot days, which allowed for more time. Got to work on Quinn's breastplate some more; initial shape and first pass with a grinder to reveal the low spots. Still need to trim the arms armscyes to match, then roll, but forward motion feels good! Ready for the cooler weather.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

Been enjoying the cooler weather, and stealing 5–30 minutes here and there to get out in the shop. Refining the curves on Quinn's breastplate and boughing out the low spots have given the piece a profile I'm much happier with, and more in line with the extant examples I've seen. I hope to get a rough sanding and the initial stages of the armscye rolls done today.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

Putting in the initial step for the rolls flattened out the profile a little, especially on the left side, but I can correct that as I go.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

Bit more progress.

I have the rolls curled over, and have them sanded and surface finished in preparation for closing. I also deepened and refined the central medial ridge. Put in a coat of black paint on the interior.

Also spent several hours today getting the majority of the surface finish done. Flubbed by starting too rough (60 grit), so it took about three rounds of wire wheel, 100, 150, 220, before I got the scratches ground out and the surface finish homogenized.

Just need to close the rolls and install the strapping, and this should be ready to go.

[Mac]

That looks nice! I hope your kid will like it!

You need to figure out how you are making those deep marks which won't grind out. Either you hammer or you technique needs some adjustment. Clean hammerwork pays for itself at the grinder.

Mac

[Keegan Ingrassia]

Thanks Mac! He's excited and ready to commission a full suit.

The deep hammer marks are from a litany of issues:

• I haven't raised in a few years, so my angles in relation to the stake were off
• Since I haven't raised in a few years, arm fatigue created sloppy strikes, and I struck with the corner of my hammer
• I didn't bother planishing before moving to grinding. I boughed, but didn't planish

Clearly, the solution is obvious: I need to make more armour, and not take short-cuts in the process.

[Armadillo]

Seeing this makes me think it would be fun to make a child's armour. Someday in retirement a study of styles in a small scale could keep me smiling.
Thanks for sharing your work.
-Adair

[Keegan Ingrassia]

5 minutes here, 30 minutes there, a few rounds of resurfacing and rewaxing over the wet winter...everything is done on this piece now, except for the strapping, which should happen tomorrow. Tried to remind myself this was a munitions piece, and the important thing is to get it wearable while it still fits the boy.

Approach to strapping will be the single-buckle method, where the straps cross behind the shoulders, thread through D-rings at the sides, and buckle at the small of the back.

[Keegan Ingrassia]

Small delay, as the buckles I had on hand were too narrow for the strapping I had intended for this piece. So today was spent making the buckle and d-rings, instead.