The Armour Archive

Ok, currently working on Sinric's 15th century legs. Pattern is here if you want to review it.

I'm working on the cop. I'm not happy with the fan I've made, not at all.

Here's what I've got. The raising went very well, I'm happy with that.



But my fan sucks.



I like the ones Sinric makes by far:



The fans have a nice bend to them. Mine is too shallow. And mine just look like bent sheet metal whereas Sinrics' look like armour.

So...how would you make that cop? Use as much nit-picky detail as you'd care to. I'm only off by just a little bit, so I'm missing some tiny detail or method or visualization or idea - and that's what I'm fishing for.

His fans are innies.
Yours are outies.
Nice raising. Good point and definition.

Dish the center area of the fans in a in a small dish.
Crease a little more too.

*Insert shameless plug here*
Hummmm... a small Trinity Devine Dishing Doughnut would come in handy. No?
One could even roll the outside edge over it.

To bad I do not have supplies to build another.

I got my knee cops from Stonekeep.

Thanks for the pics.

Hal

Halberds wrote:His fans are innies.
Yours are outies.

I don't know what you mean. Could you explain that a bit?

Halberds wrote:Dish the center area of the fans in a in a small dish.

Ok, that sounds like a winner. I'll give that a shot.

Halberds wrote:Crease a little more too.

For some reason I'm not having luck with that part. How would you do it? Bang it over the edge of your anvil? That's what I'm doing and it doesn't seem to do much. I have a crappy anvil though - it's a piece of railroad track.

Hi ,

You seem to have dished the wing of the poleyn. Were I making them, then I would not have done so. Instead I would lay the centre crease of the 'V' along the edge of the anvil, and using a well rounded raising hammer, or wedge formed hammer, hammer back along the line (hammering diagonally), 2"-3" in towards the poleyn itself. ( I should say here that we hammering the inside of the metal, and that we are hammering directly onto the face of the anvil to stretch the metal ). Then start hammering upwards along the edge of the wing towards the top/bottom, stretching the metal a little as you go. You will see the form emerging, as you stretch the edge a bit you will notice that the wing will naturally start to curve in around the back of the knee. It does help to be a bit brutal with the hammer here, but be careful that it doesn't curve too much too quickly!
The final result should be a nice curved poleyn wing, that curves in around the back of the knee, but flares out to clear the cuisse or greave.
The little kick at the top is easily raised inwards. One little tip though, for a really superior finish, raise a little extra back at the top ,maybe 1/8" or so, and roll it right over into a little turned edge. Remember to thin the metal a little before you roll it ! You will not need a wire for this rolled edge. This gives a nice looking and extra safe edge to the piece.

You can also do the same thing from the outside, raised, but then you would start at the top, or bottom , and work back towards the centre. Either way produces a nice curved effect, and probably the armourers of old used a mixture of these two techniques. But working the inside is easier and quicker.

I hope that this is clear enough ? It is always difficult trying to explain techniques like this, and the end result is often something that even I have trouble trying to understand!

Good luck !

Regards as ever,

Russ

For more knee forming instructional pictures take a gander at the Age of Armour instructional pages.

http://www.ageofarmour.com/education/indexknee.html

Cameron