Raised - Great bascinet by Jiri Klepac.

Jiri Klepac · Post by **Jiri Klepac** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:03 pm

Stuart,

thank you for posting the picture. I would also like to forge the bevor into rough shape tommorrow (also to let the forge heat the shop:-) I will need to hit the visor here and there hot before the datail work starts. It fits the template quite fine, but needs little something for being satisfactory. I will also have to build some new stakes to support the helmet bowl for fihishing the central flute. my usual are too short...

Clermont, yes, just after EricÂ´s recommandation - insulated with 1 inch Kaowool, thickly coated with ITC 100. Rex Price who sold the burner to me says this setup is not very effective in comparation to the classical-chamber forges, but I havenÂ´t foung anything comparable allowing just spot heating. The white board is high temperature insulation Stibral (similar to vacuum pressed kaowool) It can be made out of nearly anything fire proof, the heat there is nothing special. It simply protects the burner from sucking the oxygen-free gases raising up from the burner.

all the best

Jiri

Gaston de Clermont · Post by **Gaston de Clermont** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:51 pm

Rex has a bit of a point. It's not an amazingly efficient set up, but you also don't have to heat the whole helm, all the air inside it, and all the insulation it would take to surround it. Plus you get the option of only heating a single area which might make some forming a bit easier, and you're not building up forge scale on areas you're not hitting. It seems like those things might compensate for the lack of efficiency pretty well.

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:37 am

Today Jiri began work on the rough forming of the 2mm steel bevor plate and gave the upper section of the visor some more attention, to give it a more correct definition and shape. He also wanted to thin-out the side areas where the hinges will go.

When complete, the bevor plate will sit immediately below and butt up to the lower edge of the visor (when the visor is in the closed position) and the bevor plate and visor will form a single curve.

Pic attached.

Strongbow · Post by **Strongbow** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:30 pm

Jiri has that elusive eye for shape... just wow.

chef de chambre · Post by **chef de chambre** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:13 pm

Excellent work, and an excellent eye.

Otto von Teich · Post by **Otto von Teich** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:16 pm

Thats looking fantastic. I want one now. :wink:

Jiri Lucius. · Post by **Jiri Lucius.** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:59 pm

Thats fantastic.

jelayemprins · Post by **jelayemprins** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:59 am

Mornin' all
First time post on here- thanks to Stuart for the link. Great work Jiri.

Hi Per

- hope to see you at another gig soon! Is Griff doing another Tower of London joust? It was amazing.

I'm still trying to get the Co St G over to England sometime. Will keep you posted.

And anyone interested in good events in Engalnd - I am arranging a few this year. Details on request.

Thanks!

Andrew Young · Post by **Andrew Young** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:57 am

Clermont, yes, just after EricÂ´s recommandation - insulated with 1 inch Kaowool, thickly coated with ITC 100. Rex Price who sold the burner to me says this setup is not very effective in comparation to the classical-chamber forges, but I havenÂ´t foung anything comparable allowing just spot heating. The white board is high temperature insulation Stibral (similar to vacuum pressed kaowool) It can be made out of nearly anything fire proof, the heat there is nothing special. It simply protects the burner from sucking the oxygen-free gases raising up from the burner.

Jiri,

Ya know you can still adapt your propane nozzel to fit inside a more traditional forge too. I use a "weed burner" and am going to modity the top so it can accept a linear opening and a more focused opening for more focused work.

Curiously, how long does it take you to heat up say, 5 inches of 12 guage or something equivalent? I find the weed burner with its simple/normal round opening takes about 45 seconds to heat up roughly 3.5 inches from cold (room temperature).....about 60 to heat up about 5 inches. I suspect with the more direct nozzels Ill actually heat up more with the focused flame. But I also believe that the traditional forge can be modifed to refract heat on specific areas.

great work btw..looking forward to seeing it finished.

cheers
Drew

RandallMoffett · Post by **RandallMoffett** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:23 am

Looks very sleek. Good work Jiri. Stu looks like you will have a great helmet for the 15th.

Cannot wait to see the finished version!

RPM

Eisenmetzger · Post by **Eisenmetzger** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:05 am

Very nice work, indeed.

A question to Per: Working from the neck is a thought I never made. But when you come to pull down the brow region, isnÂ´t it the same amount of work? I would be grateful for further explanation, I didnÂ´t get the point really.

Best greetings

Peter

sha-ul · Post by **sha-ul** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:22 am

Jiri Klepac wrote:Lorenzo, I have really similar setup + lower part is operated by means of lever and couterweight. It grabs the piece so you can do anything else while the piece is heated. I have several pieces as exchangable lower parts for helmets greaves ect. It works fine for me although AO rig is probably quicker.

Jiri

so, is that a t-rex burner?
how does your lever below the heat shield function?
I noticed your bolts that act as spacing gauges so it doesn't smother the flame.

Jiri Klepac · Post by **Jiri Klepac** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:54 pm

Hello Guys,

Sha-ul, yes good old T-rex. everlast burner. It is operated by counterweight and the lever moves the central pivot in Joeckel (square tube) guides to work up and down in the straight direction. The bolts are - as you pointed out well - safety point. It is not absolutely necessary as I can set the height by means of the nut, but it is as the last instance.

Randall, thank you, I am looking forward too:-)

Durasteel, please let me see your setup, I can only hardly imagine what you think - you know my English is not allmighty:-) The heating times are similar. My "bucket" is about 20cm high. I will try shorter one day although Eric Thing told me the longer works better. I am just curious what happens if the sveet spot of the flame goes directly on the metal. In my setup now the flame points about 2" over the plate. Hope this helps

Otto, please keep your sallet Idea, I am looking forward the change now:-)

I will keep pictures comming once the work shifts enough to be worth taking picture. Now I am totally focused on making it symethric and Starting top plan the articulations of the both bevor plates - the most complicated part from my point of wiev

All the best

Jiri

per lillelund jensen · Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:58 pm

Hi Peter

It might be just as much work?? I thought it was a good idear at the time, and i still do, and worked very well. The most anoying thing and hardest work with forging helmets from flat plate, is all the material you have to move around and compress before you can actually start shaping the helmet. And the more helmets you do the more borring this part of the proces become... at least for me.

But i see that you at least got the point about the alternative way of making it.

Cheers

Per L

per lillelund jensen · Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:00 pm

Oohh... hi Ian, yes it was a blast, hope to see you somewhere in europe this summer.

Cheers
Per

Alexander of Derlington · Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:13 am

can't wait for more pics.

Rgds

Alex

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:55 pm

Hi folks

Well, Jiri although suffering from a severe stomach bug, managed some three tortuous hours of hammering and fine-tuning on the visor today and my it is looking good!

Also, now you see the eye-slits cut on the occularium and the hinges rolled.

The next step Jiri tells me is to put some careful thought to the articulation of all the pieces and plan the upper bevor plate (around the face opening).

regards
Stu

Otto von Teich · Post by **Otto von Teich** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:01 pm

Jiri wrote"Otto, please keep your sallet Idea, I am looking forward the change now:-) "
A sallet it will be! I wont change my mind this late in the game. I'm really looking forward to getting another wonderful piece made by you.

I do feel like a kid in a candy store with only one penny LOL.

Chris Gilman · Post by **Chris Gilman** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:39 am

Really nice. Thank you for posting these. Very nice shape.

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:41 pm

Well i've put of posting on this thread but.......WOOOOOOOOOWWWWW

That is looking sweet!

Matt

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:09 am

Hi folks

Yes Jiri is doing a superb job of my Great Bascinet, I just love the shape of the globose visor and sweeping lines of the top of the helm basin.

At present Jiri is working out how best to get the fit of the lower edge of the visor and lower bevor plate to fit together, he thinks a little trimming of the lower edge of the visor should do the trick.

Also, the lower bevor plate shaping has been worked some more, by the looks of it.

I also managed to find another pic of the Paris helm, taken from a low angle and showing the visor in a very slightly opened position, which gives Jiri a glimpse of the upper bevor plate and how recessed that is.

It would be lovely to find a photo with the visor in a fully opened position, or completely off.

regards
Stu

per lillelund jensen · Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:42 am

Hi Jiri, it looks as you are running out of material for the arms for the hinges?? cant you pen some more material towards the hinges?

Per L

Jiri Klepac · Post by **Jiri Klepac** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:47 pm

Hi Per,

thank you for the comment. I pushed as much material as I was able (ended up at 16ga on the hinge) I would like to have it about 5 mm longer, but this should work fine anyway. The second hinge part looks a bit odd, but this is due to the shot too. I will cut it tomorrow to show how it will look like. Thank you also for the picture, it shows a) the visor and bevor donÂ´t overlap too much and b) they are not so dramatically close to each other. My setup still needs some fine tuning, but it allready opens and closes. I also roughly shaped the inner bevor plate and would like to add it tomorrow. Did you please get my emails?

all the best

Jiri

Alexander of Derlington · Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:56 pm

Hi Jiri
We are all awaiting more pics with baited breath over here. Please oblige if you have time, I am really enjoying this thread.

Rgds

Alex

Jiri Klepac · Post by **Jiri Klepac** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:08 pm

Alex,

thank you for your words!
I just posted "the shaping finished" pix to Stuart and I believe he will add them soon. There are only little visible changes as most of the work was done on making the parts work properly. I would like to start grinding it on monday and have the work finished before the end of next week. I have some more project to do too so I am switching among them as needed. I aslo had some health problems so the work is little slow. The three helmets to be finished now are attached.

all the best

jiri

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:02 pm

Hi folks, here are the latest pics and they are lookin good!

Jiri has now shaped and fitted the upper bevor plate to the helm basin and finished the shaping of the visor, trimming away some of the lower portion of the visor to fit nicely with the top of the lower bevor plate.

As Jiri says, the heavy grinding, (including a little bouging and planishing where required) begins on Monday.

In the meantime Jiri is working out how best to fit the inner liner, it looks like it is stitching around the interior of the helm as opposed to being riveted and stitched, as in the case of some extant Great bascinets.

regards
Stuart

RalphS · Post by **RalphS** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:52 pm

Oh boy! That skull part turned out pretty beefy around the edge, lots of grinding margin

.

Beautiful pieces of steel so far!

Otto von Teich · Post by **Otto von Teich** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:44 am

Wow! Jiri, you know how to shape that steel. You make it look easy!

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:29 pm

Hi folks

Jiri has sent me the latest pic on the progress of my Great Bascinet. Unfortunately this 'bad-boy' helm has chewed up and spat out his old angle-grinder, but not before Jiri managed to grind, planish and sand down the helm basin to about an 80 grit finish and mighty impressive it looks too!

Pic attached

Lots of back-breaking sanding down by hand followed whilst Jiri waits to buy another angle-grinder tomorrow.

With lots of further grinding and sanding down to come, Jiri hopes to still finish the metal-working by this coming Friday.

regards
Stuart

freiman the minstrel · Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:05 pm

I think that I just had an envygasm.

f

Ideval · Post by **Ideval** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:36 pm

Superb. An excellent reproduction!

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:50 pm

Today Jiri gave the helm it's second course of grinding and sanding, also added the breathes to the visor. The breathes really 'bring the visor to life' and you can clearly see the thickness of the visor through the breath holes. Lovely work Jiri!

Helmet getting very close to completion now.

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:07 am

I can safely say i've only seen 2 other great bascinets that compare to this, and they are both by Emrys, whoops i almost forgot about Per and his work, so make it 3.

This is a great piece of work, Jiri your work over the past few years has just gone from strength to strength.

Matt

armourboy · Post by **armourboy** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:37 pm

Jiri has now completed the sanding and the brushing of the helmet and tells me the next stage is to give the helm a light buffing. I am so pleased with the look of the helm, it just gets better and better!

At present Jiri is working cutting the pattern for the skull liner and from looking at the pictures of the original helms from Paris, Bern and Pamplona is does not look like the liner will be riveted to the rear section of the helm. I don't see any liner rivets on the originals. Anyone got any thoughts on this point?

Adonfff · Post by **Adonfff** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:42 pm

That is just gorgeous...
=)

Raised - Great bascinet by Jiri Klepac.

Bevor.

Great bascinets

Raising technique

bump

The visor progress.

Great bascinet.

more pics plz

Upper bevor attached.

Grinding and Sanding.

2nd grinding and sanding, plus breathes added.

Sanding completed.