The Armour Archive

Hello:

My question is about changing the design of the eye area of a great helm. As they now are made the eyes are cut out of the face plate between the nasal in two big flat notches.
I was wondering if it would not be better to just cut two eye slots between the nasal.
Leave the eyebrow metal in place. When I made my sugarloaf I had to cut and piece two strips of metal to fill the gap between the brass and the cap along the forehead. So logic tells me to leave that metal there in the first place.

Any thing wrong with this? I believe it would make a much stronger helm.

Thank you for your support.

Hal.

Hal, I'm not following your description at all well, but no matter: here's a method that makes forehead and face plates in one, effectually making a five-plate barrel helm into a four-plate. A tall face plate is made and the sights cut in from either side with shear or reciprocating saw. The cut from side to nasal edge should be the lower edge of the sight. The sights are cut upward from this first cut, leaving a dependent tab to either side of the eyeslot. Then bend the faceplate at the nasal by whatever technique you prefer, even crease and dish together to get the forehead part of the face plate to slope back. Then drill and rivet the dependent tabs to the lower, face portion of the plate so that the plate now makes the profile of the front of a barrel helm. Trim the faceplate edges as required to fit with occuput and nape plates. This method is particularly good for the more bucketlike early helms. The advanced greathelms are usually rather more easily shaped and made as 5-platers.

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"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone..."

I leave the nasal piece as part of the lower face plate.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory