dishing and straps question
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swiftjustice85
- New Member
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:28 am
dishing and straps question
recently bought a pair of elbows from a guy on here and was wondering about a few things, being a newb at fixing armour. The elbows need to have their dishing redone and I have no idea what this entails...HELP! Also need some advice on attaching leather straps to the armour. I have a set of spaulders that have straps and it appears to be a nail and washer that was cut and peened over once its through the metal and leather. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank You!
Where are you?
Re dishing the cops shouldn't be too hard, but I'm a bit concerned that they need to be hammered out. That would lead me to beleive that they are made of mteal too thin for the job, made worse by the initial dishing of the metal.
Elbow cops don't take too much abuse, and I've never had to fix a dent on mine.
All you need is a dishing stump, there are several articles here on the site as to how to get/make one
For minor stuff you can actually just use a padded chair or cushion. The padding will allow the metal to expand outward at a point while providing support to the rest of the metal. My uncle used to shape steel for motorcycle gas tanks using this method. While it is not ideal, it does work.
Straps are most often riveted on. The nail method you describe is not uncommon, but copper rivets are easier to work with for leather straps, and pop or "speedy" rivits are not a bad choice of they are properly installed.
If you decide to use nails you will have to anneal them first. Nails are very hard and it will be slow going to try and cut and hammer them into rivet heads.
A kiln is best, but for just a few nails you can heat them to red hot with a propane torch then shove them into a can of sand, or just leave them to cool slowly. This will soften the metal and make the work much easier.
You want thin, tough leather for straps, Latigo is good, leather sold as "combat boot" leather is very nice, you can also use leather from old combat boots. Surplus stores and flea markets are a good source. The leather is just the right thickness, and very tough.
Sometimes surplus stores have "Swiss Spats" these are leather boot coverings that have good buckles and excelent leather. I bought a bunch of them for a dollar each years ago and I'm still using the leather for straps.
-Justus
Re dishing the cops shouldn't be too hard, but I'm a bit concerned that they need to be hammered out. That would lead me to beleive that they are made of mteal too thin for the job, made worse by the initial dishing of the metal.
Elbow cops don't take too much abuse, and I've never had to fix a dent on mine.
All you need is a dishing stump, there are several articles here on the site as to how to get/make one
For minor stuff you can actually just use a padded chair or cushion. The padding will allow the metal to expand outward at a point while providing support to the rest of the metal. My uncle used to shape steel for motorcycle gas tanks using this method. While it is not ideal, it does work.
Straps are most often riveted on. The nail method you describe is not uncommon, but copper rivets are easier to work with for leather straps, and pop or "speedy" rivits are not a bad choice of they are properly installed.
If you decide to use nails you will have to anneal them first. Nails are very hard and it will be slow going to try and cut and hammer them into rivet heads.
A kiln is best, but for just a few nails you can heat them to red hot with a propane torch then shove them into a can of sand, or just leave them to cool slowly. This will soften the metal and make the work much easier.
You want thin, tough leather for straps, Latigo is good, leather sold as "combat boot" leather is very nice, you can also use leather from old combat boots. Surplus stores and flea markets are a good source. The leather is just the right thickness, and very tough.
Sometimes surplus stores have "Swiss Spats" these are leather boot coverings that have good buckles and excelent leather. I bought a bunch of them for a dollar each years ago and I'm still using the leather for straps.
-Justus
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swiftjustice85
- New Member
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:28 am