This armor looks like s***, what can be done?

[Infectious]

Well, I've had a maille hauberk for a while now, but I've been wanting to move onto something finer. I started work many months ago on a scale hauberk made from TRL's small tempered stainless steel scales. However, they've been out of stock of them since I made my initial order. I got fed up waiting and wanted to make some kind of non-maille armor to keep me occupied in the meantime.
Well, I haven't got the space yet to start moving onto plate, or I'd be off to do that as soon as I can, and I haven't got the money to spare to do something like, WhiteMountain's lamellar. So I decided to be a little like MacGuyver and see what I could make out of commonplace things. It took me a few weeks to think of something, but then...
Enter...the front piece of the Mending Plate Lamellar:
[img]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f91/infectiousfight/armor.jpg[/img]
As you can see it looks pretty awful. It's flexible enough to fit around the front of my body, though because of the size of me and the size of the plates it doesnt' quite reach up as high as I want it to.
Even if I did remove all of those stickers, it would still look awful. And while I'm sure when I finish it (the hardware store ran out of the plates) it'll work just fine, it's the kind of thing I would be outright embarassed to be seen in, or even to own.
So, what I'm asking, is there a different method of doing the same thing, with these plates, that won't make people wait for me to pull out a saucepan to use as a helmet? Or is there something completely different I could do, still with these plates, that can be done with very basic tools and materials?

[losthelm]

what group are you making this for?

where are you located geographly?
There area a few options depending on the group and location.
expecialy when it comes to tools and material.

[Dierick]

You could try making a coat of plates out of it. Chop them up using aviation snips(it can be done) and rivet them inside of cloth. I'm sure someone here can point you to patterns for the shapes and designs for the cloth.

[D. Sebastian]

Nice rug!

Can you bend those plates with your hands?

If so - no good for armour.

[Eamonn MacCampbell]

If those are what I think they are(Nail plates for construction use) they are not going to help much...The bend pretty easy..

[Christophe de Frisselle]

Nice rug!

Carpet Armour, Brilliant!

[hardrada]

Maybe if you rounded the corners and put rivets in the holes it would look better, and painting or blackening them would make it look better too. Or you could try some colorful lacing...idk...

[freiman the minstrel]

Infectious,

You really should start fresh. You won't be losing much at all. That really isn't armor, it's a bunch of stuff from a hardware store.

You will be much better off to start fresh and achieve what you want, rather than using that and not achieving it. Success is cheaper than failure, and using substandard materials is a sure fire recipe for failure.

f

[Adriano]

If those are what I think they are(Nail plates for construction use) they are not going to help much...The bend pretty easy..

Not necessarily true; my coat of plates is made out of those, and offers good protection. The plates just need to be overlapped. You can use ordinary 6d nails for rivets. Some sort of washer is needed on the cloth (or leather) side, or else the rivets will pull through. I use pennies with 1/8" holes drilled in them.

And, as noted, round off the corners using aviation shears.

On the other hand, if lamellar is really what you want, I'd start over, either ordering lamellar scales from a supplier, or cutting them from sheet steel (or leather, as long as you water-harden them).

[Josh W]

I used to make brigandines out of those plates, "riveting" them inside upholstery vinyl coats with those brass paper fasteners. They really do offer a decent amount of protection if done properly.

[Infectious]

Okay, guys, you all make extremely valid points, though I'd like to make a few points that make some of these points useless:
1. This armor is never actually going to be used for combat, nor do I really want it to be. For that I have a nice existing maille hauberk. This is more intended to be something to keep me occupied until TRL is back in stock with the scales I need (which they've been out of for more months than I can remember...might be more than a year now.)
2. Given that, even if it was going to be used for armor, these plates seem strong enough...I haven't been able to bend them with my hands.
3. Yes, this isn't fine armor, this is stuff from a hardware store...that was the idea. It's a thought experiment, an exercise in creativity...if I needed to make armor out of things from a hardware store, how would I do it? And it's serving it's purpose...it's keeping me occupied.

Alright, given what all of you have said, I think I will go with trying to make some sort of coat-of-plates. I have a lot of old clothes laying around I'm never going to wear again, including a too-big gambeson...I do have access to sewing materials. I'll try and make some sort of coat-of-plates. Plus, I wouldn't need any more materials than I already have, which keeps cost low, good when it's something that won't ever actually be used in combat. Maybe I'll sell it when I'm done. Thanks!

[schreiber]

Why not make more maille?
The tools & materials needed for butted maille are minimal.
Leather is easy to get started with as well.
I'm also finding out how interesting working with the P-word is, too.

[Infectious]

I do make my own maille...I want to try making something different. True, leather is something I want to learn...and if I ever move onto advanced armoring, it's something I'll have to learn.

[Murdock]

pic not work for me

[schreiber]

Regarding leather - there are an awful lot of people who do metal only, and never learn anything with leather beyond how to use a strap cutter and attach buckles. You don't have to learn leather, but if you do, then custom-shaped greaves or lorica musculata actually take a lot of labor and ingenuity.

Oh, here's one I forgot.
I think the biggest shame of armoring is how few armorers learn how to use a sewing machine.
Beyond the obvious stuff like gambesons and such, there's padded armor.
If you sew 1" channels into a canvas garment, put dryer lint in the channels, and pack the ever-living *&$# out of the dryer lint, you've got something which likely counts as SCA rigid armor. Seriously, it's astounding how well it works.
And it can be made to look exactly like stuff you'd find in paintings and illuminations.
Canvas=$5 /yd
thread=$3/ spool (for upholstery thread)
dryer lint=free (but unless you're farming you're friends' houses, it takes months to acquire)

[Sean Powell]

It dosn't look like S***. It looks exactly like what it is: modern material sewn together in a modern way in a very rough human torso shape. I don't think we could expect it to suddenly look medieval just because we want it to.

You seem to be looking for a project and I don't think that lamellar is a poor choice. You may even have a decent starting material, but it's going to take some extra time to make it look more medieval and less home-depot.

For starters, look at some pictures of lammelar plates. Most are tall and skinny with 2 holes at the top, 1 large hole at the bottom and 2 holes or 2 pairs of holes on either side and some times a single hole in the center. I think you could take some aviation shears and cut the plates you have into roughly lamellar shaped plates and most of the holes would already be there. You may need to add an extra hole at the top or maybe some on the sides and you might consider opening the the diameter of the center or bottom hole.

If you are feeling adventurous, take two pieces of 2x4 and trace the arc from a dinner plate on it. Cut the arcs and screw the two pieces together. You can use this and a hammer as a form to curve the plates. You could do something similar if you wanted a medial ridge instead.

Then try to find something other then white nylon cord for the lacing. You could also cover the edge with thin leather or even fabric bias tape.

Ultimatly it's going to look as nice as the amount of effort you want to put into it. As the saying goes: "You can't put a shine on shit" but you can put good effort into it and I think you are starting farther along then you might think.

Good luck,
Sean

[Vladimir]

That is because sewing is evil schreiber.

And sewing machines are the modern incarnation of the devil.

Every time I use one I have to fight an insane desire to hurl it through a window in frustration.

[schreiber]

And sewing machines are the modern incarnation of the devil.

Oh, the modern ones are, sure.
Get yourself a metal-cased machine from Salvation Army. The reason they're evil is because the ones you're using are made of plastic and prayer. The new ones won't even sew canvas for very long without tuneup. The old ones will do light leather once in a while.

[The Lost Celt]

I do make my own maille...I want to try making something different. True, leather is something I want to learn...and if I ever move onto advanced armoring, it's something I'll have to learn.

You know I think it's a bit ironic - I started with leather and consider metal armours more advanced and plan on moving toward metal - granted you can't really f* up maille (okay, I have f*d up maille miscounting rows, and I have made a maille shirt, but you know what I mean) Some guys have more luck with metal - and it's cheaper to an extent, but can be a lot more labor intensive and I suppose the tools needed can be a bit more expensive.

Have you thought of metal/maille hybrids? something like this?
I can see those plates getting recycles easily into something like that. Other designs involve lung plates and whatnot, I can't seem to find them right now however. I'm sure others can give you better references if you're interested.

BTW that's my next idea after the leather scale/lamellar hybrid and WMA lamellar

[Oswyn_de_Wulferton]

Leather I have found to be a bit more forgiving, and able to be done decently with not a lot of tools. Helps that when wet, rolling it between your fingers like you used to do to curl ribbon actually accomplishes something. Steel, not so much...