The Armour Archive

this is a spin off from Mila H's thread, but I wanted to throw this concept out and see if anybody had any suggestions, and then maybe see what our tool makers can do with the idea.

The idea is to cram as many useful armouring bits into a single peice of steel block.

for the base of the thread, assume we have a 2.5"X2.5"X6" block of non mild steel. perhaps 4140, or 1045.
All of this assumes a Vise to clamp the block into for working purposes.

This gives is 6 sides to work with. Originally I thought of putting a V Groove in one end, and rivet block along the side. in further thought, a machinist would be able to put the V Groove along one of the long edged, leaving more options for the rest of the tool.

at this point, my idea would have a rivet block along one side of the block, a V groove for fluting along another. one end rounded along one side and champhered back similar to a half sphere creasing stake.

so that would be half the sides being useful. I'm pretty sure it's possible to fill all 6 sides.

so far other ideas I've come up with:
grind in a swage for shaping meta carpel plates for gauntlets
perhaps weld a couple of inches of 1" steel rod to the other end and use it for curling lames and round stock.(and if you really want to get fancy, run one of the rods longer than the other, and round it for working like a small ball stake.) This idea would probably extend total tool length to 9 or 10". but that still fits in a flat rate box. not sure if the two rods would turn the tool into a tuning fork though.

This is pure hypothetical at this point, but I figured I'd throw my little bit of insanity out and see what this community can do to make it better.

Kindyr

While we are on the subject, the most useful multifunction tool I've found is a pair of fence pliers.
http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/150254_lg.jpg
The number of things I use this for is almost infinite, but principally I use it for cutting or shaping rivets.

Kindyr, one thing to keep in mind as you develop this - Every face has to work not only as a tool, but as the base for the block. Can't go making one face into something that won't hold the block stable or you lose the use of the opposite face.

Ironmonger does swage blocks that you might find useful as examples of how much can be fit onto one chunk of steel

I think it is a good idea for those with limited space.
I would like to see what you come up with also.

ok, here is the basic idea that was kicking around in my head.

Starts from a 6" peice of 2.5X2.5" square stock and 6" of 1" round stock.

I'm sure there are other ways to add functionality to it, and I do worry that the bending forks on the back would ring like a tuning fork, but this at least gets the idea out of my head.

Kindyr

Seems like it would be useful.
Take your design to a machine shop and get a quote on having your prototype built.

Unless you have a nice Bridgeport at home.

Also have a foundry quote you a tooling and short run cost.

I gave some thought of having some of my tools foundry cast.
I could not afford the set up and patterning cost where I only sell about 3 or 4 doughnuts a year.

Best of luck on your quest.

Hal