The Armour Archive

Hi all,

here is my latest finished "baby" hot raised from a 3mm mild steel disc, and decorated with some brass I had lying around.

The hot work was mostly done with my "primitive " equipment at a viking market last summer:

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/a ... orre%2004/

Before I had time to finish it this winter I was inspired by a burgonet I saw in Warzaw and the Temple Pyx brass (its in AAotmK).









I am especially pleased with how the brass decoration came out, as I have never worked with anything like that before.

Cheers,

Anders

Awesome!

Steve

That'sa beautiful helmet Anders. did you etch or engrave the brasswork? What was the diameter of your starting disc and what's the final circumfrence of the bas eof the helmet?

Dave

Yes, a class A helm. Very well done.

Thanks for the pics.

Hal

Ps: How did you do the scroll work on the brass?

Good lord man.....

that is exquisite. I agree, the brasswork is amazing...as is the mirror finish on it...I think i can see what kind of camera you're using in the reflection

I have a special fondness for these and other viking age helms. You are extremely talented, and that helm is worthy of Harald Finehair, Harald Bluetooth, Olaf Tryggvason and all the other great viking kings.

Thank you for sharing!

Dave

Du är bäst!
Superb work, as always! Now I have to work even harder to be able to at least leave some kind of impression when you get here!

So, tell us about the work, tools, techniques and stuff!

very nice. Wish I could hang out in your shop for a few weeks and learn some of those skills.

brian

Oh my.

I think I need one of those.

As always, Beautiful work!

3 mm is a nice thickness to work with, isn't it?

What's up next, Bornholm, 18-23 July?

WOW thats fantastic Anders, simply a beauty.
Did you have to grind a lot of metal of to get it down in weigt?

Cheers
Per L

wonderful!!! do share your brass work technique

Nice piece of work. I'm curious about how you built the forge in the pictures. Thanks.

Very nice indeed. It is especially nice to see people raising early helmets.

Thank you so much for the interest and enocouraging remarks!

The sun shines inside as well as outside today

I clamped the brass to a heavy piece of square steel on top of my workbench and went at it with two small straight chisels. I borrowed a light chasing hammer (28 grams) from my girlfriend, and made up the chisels on the spot. The achantus pattern is a slightly modified version of one I noticed on an early 12.c illustration. It was easier and a lot more fun than I imagined it would be. I suspect I would have gotten better results if I had worked on pitch or lead, but I did not bother this time.

I started out with a 40 cm diameter disc. The helmet is now 19 x 22,5 cms at the rim.

Yes, Ralph I like working in 3mm - but I plan to step down to 2.5mm soon.
At least until I experiment and possibly fall in love with the other raising technique that we have discussed before. The problem with 3mm, as Per is onto, is that it turns out a bit heavy. Six hours with an angle grinder to reduce the weight to an acceptable 2.2 kgs could have been spent in a better way. I had the opportunity to really enjoy my favourite metal bands while working though - so it was far from boring.

As to bowl itself I believe I used pretty standard technique, well described in Eric Things article on anvilfire, except that I used a vertical stake rather than a T-shaped one.

I wrote a little about the forge in the thread I linked to, it really just a box with legs, held together in the corners with mortise and tenon (?). Good bellows are more of a challenge.

Thanks again for the good words, and keep asking if you have any questions!


I have to go play in the sun with my girlfriend

Anders


ps: Patrick, I take orders....

Strange, it actually gives me cold chills to see something like what you started with turn into that beautiful helm, shinning like a mirror. Did you teach yourself or did you apprentice for someone first? I would love to work with someone who does this. Inspiring to say the least. Hope you will show us more.

The helm is fantastic, and your forge setup is very inspiring, and illuminating on the workings of a forge. I am now builidng a viking style forge, inspired by yours.

Very cool Anders, excellent job. Do you mind if I put your pictures up on my web site?

Beautiful! Truely inspiring work. Thank you for sharing that.

Chris

Wonderful work!


Sasha

Great looking hat Anders

Do you mind if I ask what inspired the shape?
The 'onion top' shape sort of throws me but I am willing to admit that I am no where near an expert on the evolution of the one/two piece conical.

Halv

Really glad to be an inspiration Archie!

I am mostly self-taught, mr.Meaddrinker, though I have learnt a lot from a Sami(!) blacksmith. The hours spent hanging out with him mostly taught me about ergonomics, attitude and efficiency(of which have forgotten everything...) rather than specific technique.

By all means, use the pictures Jason - though I will be thoroughly dwarfed by the other guys pictured on your site. Its an honor.

Halvgrim, I just love the onion shape wherever I see it. This was actually a case of the dreaded "reverse documentation process" : mmm.....onion shape....oh! look! the temple pyx!!!

[img]http://www.templechurch.com/images/pix.jpg[/img]

Dated to 1130-40 I guess "Late Norman" might be more precise. I am no expert on the evolution of early one-piece helmets either. As there are so few extant examples I allow myself to wander a bit into the land of probabilities. btw - I miss your helmet page!

Hi.

I just fell out of my chair looking at your stunning helmet...

I'm really speachless.
I like helmets, I print your pics and give it a place in my album.
Great work!

YES, YES, OH GOD, YES!!!!!!

I think I may like to have one of those....lol

Christopher