The Armour Archive

do ya figure that 14 guage is to heavy for this project? should I just go with it, or go get myself some 16 (18?) guage for this..

any ideas would be great. I figure even if it is too much (read: too heavy to be practical) I could still make it out of this stuff, and wear it to practice for conditioning (I am 6', 240)

what does everybody else use for a standard, is there one?

as always, thanks

-j

It certainly wouldn't be too heavy to wear but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be heavier than it needs to be - what is you intended use?

the only reason i would wear it would be SCA heavy combat...



-j

It will get very tiresome. I've done it before. I would go with at a minimum 16g. My last one was 18g and held up fine.

You could go 18 spring or 16 mild for a breastplate that will take lots of use. 18 mild if you don't mind pounding a few dents.

Well, I have to raise a point you may or may not have not considered....the first piece of metal armour I ever made was a 16g SS munitions breastplate....and I didn't think it all the way through....

Articulated tassets and many faulds ADD WEIGHT.

And, I'd go 16g, 14g is overkill.

I had considered that. I guess that is why I asked.. I know I could make it.. I know I could tote it about/wear it.. but now i am wondering why I would do such a thing

I am considering using the 14g for my more "important" bits, knee & elbow cops, shoulders, etc., basically joint coverage, and move down to 16g for the bulk of the work...

I hope that makes sense.. lol i might go to 16 all around, but I have to justify to the wife why i bought the 14 to start with

If it is going to get a lot of use, I would suggest 14 or 16g for the plackart. That always seemed to get the most dings in it for me.

Aegidius, 14 gauge for specialist uses and certain areas, just as you described. Conventional wisdom (i.e., thunk up by brains not suffering from lingering effects of concussions) says, 14 on the helmet in particular. In SCA heavy fighting, most of our hits fall on the silhouette rather than along the centerline amongst the vitals, so in our game we can get away with pretty soft protection on any part of the torso that isn't the kidney area, and even running protection up the spinal column, while an excellent idea, need not be more than 18 gauge mild -- shaped and formed. Your fans could be lighter built than your cops, particularly if you like a design with large fans at the joints -- which would be an unusual feature nowadays, one that's underutilized but which saw particular emergence in the fifteenth century from the middle years on, if I mistake me not. (Let's see if I blew it.)

Depending on the shoulder armor you envision, something like spaudlers could use the 14 on the shoulder-point cop. The lames can be far lighter, either below or above. Limb armor should however be kept light. If you want 14ga cops, okay, but everything else should be 16 or even 18, again with forming to it, creasing or dishing because dome curvatures, even comparatively slight, resist denting and smashing so well.

Any full harness will have a conditioning effect between aerobically thrashing about and the fact that merely standing erect in it takes a perceptibly increased effort. The inner sauna bath along with the aerobics, well, that's a differing kind of conditioning -- being able to retain high-powered functioning without getting debilitated. It need not be extra heavy to accomplish this end, as the conditioning you really need is not anaerobic weightlifting power, but aerobic and endurance.

Aegidius' other thread where his 14 gauge appears:

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=91285

Actually, using the 14 only a little at a time means no buying more 14 gauge for a good while.