steel tubing, any ideas?

rev.jc · Post by **rev.jc** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 5:30 pm

In my quest for armour materials for our foundling youth org. i.e. free sheet metal, I recently was given free reighn to the extras of a local steel tube manufactuer, anyone have any patters I can use this for, it is all way above 18 ga, more like 14 or 12 or so.

The Midnight Rust · Post by **The Midnight Rust** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 5:48 pm

Ah, I'm sorry... But were you given steel tubes? Or steel sheet?

I know 12 guage is good for helmet tops...

brother_fredrik · Post by **brother_fredrik** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 7:15 am

Steel tube might be good for making strakes for curving armor. Don't know that it would be of any use for the actual materials, but I make no claim on being an expert.

Vogeljager · Post by **Vogeljager** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 8:34 am

Slice it into thin sections and make REALLY big maille.

Jehan de Pelham · Post by **Jehan de Pelham** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 8:57 am

Sir,

I believe that the material you have free reign to may be unsuitable for your uses. Body armor which is perfectly protective is typically made of 16 and 18 gauge steel, and 12 and 14 gauge armor may have a negative effect upon your participants' enthusiasm for the exercise.

I know that you may be limited to free materials, but I encourage you not to use 14 and 12 gauge material for body armor. Helmets would be fine with this material. There are patterns on the website for helmets.

------------------
Jehan de Pelham

Brotherhood of the Gauntlet
"Ultima Ratio Regem"
http://www.brotherhoodofthegauntlet.org/index.html

woodwose · Post by **woodwose** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:11 pm

what's the diameter of the tubes? they might be usefull if you have a welder, and abrasives to clean up welds with... if they are the right size you could use them to make fake rolled or roped edges. use a wide V shaped hammer to hammer the roped pattern around the tube, then weld it in place and clean up the welds.

it should work... I really liked the roping I did on the top of my breastplate, but then I realized the breastplate was too tall. so I cut the roped edge off, trimmed it down to slightly under the height I wanted, and welded the roping back on.. also, I decided I wanted rolled edges on the lower edge of my greaves so they did not chew through my leather shoes, so I welded some 3/16 rod stock around the bottom. worked great.

and I know that the thing with hammering a tubed should work too... that's sort of how roping is made, and I did something like that with copper plumbing pipe to make stylized branches for a custom built pictureframe.

if you don't can't weld, then I'm not sure what good they would be