What I learned, and what I still don't get

[Koops]

I learned that doming damn near every piece of steel I touch makes the job just so much smoother...

I learned that other folks' patterns are great, but my own pattern is better and makes me feel all giggly when it works...

I learned that I can actually put my hammer THROUGH 16g when I dish too much, felt really cool tho...

I learned that if you are not talking to people who are actually into the craft, they could care a less what you are saying...

I learned that my pieces do not have to be identical to be passable...

I learned to LOVE 90 MPH tape...

I learned that almost anything can be a rivet, but very few things will actually last...

I still don't get how my pieces articulate at all. I cannot put a rod through my holes...

I still don't get how one knows when to stop dishing. The pattern just says to dish, does not say when to stop...

I still don't get how my cardboard can look so good but my steel look so bad...

I still don't get how my wife puts up with the noise...

I still don't get why I have such a manic look in my eyes when I am trying to rivet...

I still don't get why I can have such a great plan in my head, but such a bad execution in my hammer...

Bout it for me. I am sure there are a lot of general rant posts here, but my hands are numb and I am typing with my nose. Apparently the best way to learn to make armor IS to make armor. My wall is filling up with hall of shame pieces =/ My spaulders are pretty tho. I am learning something new each time I cut a piece of metal and turn it into something, but considering there are 50,000 things you need to know, this is going to be a long road. I am going to post some pictures as soon as my wife lets me take her camera into the garage, can't wait for the giggles...my stuff looks worse now then when I started.

Best

[Ld Thomas Willoughby]

Well said.. welcome to the madness.

[Dwarlock]

It's a cheat, but buy/borrow a few pieces and try to replicate them, having a complete piece in front of you to refer to really helps.
Even a bad piece to replicate can teach you, I once made a set of "armor store" type gauntlets in 1/2 hour by looking at a set. (god I can't believe I admitted to copying something that yucky)

Once you replicated something a few times you get a feel for how far to move the metal and can start working on using patterns and pictures.

[Konstantin the Red]

I still don't get how my pieces articulate at all. I cannot put a rod through my holes...

Not even an undersized one? Often, close is good enough. Way out, not so good enough.

I still don't get how one knows when to stop dishing. The pattern just says to dish, does not say when to stop...

If it is really protruding from that portion of your personal exterior, it is likely over-dished. Really protruding without any good reason, that is. Elbows protrude, to take up the decidedly conical shape a flexed elbow point makes, which sure leaves some space in there when your arm is straight. Globose breastplates do a combination of three things: a bulbous glancing surface, spaced armor, and making you look bigchested and macho, so that's their good reason. Incidentally, some SCAdians take advantage of a globose breast to park a personal water supply in there for Pennsic Woods-Battles. Field Battle too. If Pennsic battles ever turned into prolonged grinds, I could see them stashing sandwiches (which aren't period, alas) in there to be, in King Charles I's phrase, "victualled as well as fortified," that they "might have endured a siege!" But most other armor parts don't bulge remarkably far from the body beneath them.

You've probably already noticed it's also pretty easy to flatten an overly dished piece back out a little.

Also think of the Wall of Shame as a source of recycling.

If you don't quite know what blank pattern is going to do it, you start with somebody else's, and then modify -- a lot of one's success with a pattern depends on just how you bash on that sheetmetal blank to arrive at that 3D shape you're after.

[Errant Knight]

glad to see your honest post. when i first started to learn how to armour, i had so much frustration. My first attempt was a pair of hourglass gauntlets. It took me about 3 months to get something I was proud of.

As for your delema about when to stop shaping, after a while you will think about the shape as a 3D object and just get a feel for it.

Regarding patterns, it takes longer to develope your own, but you will end up with something a lot better in the end.

regards,
Damien.

[Heath B fraychef]

if ive learned anything its that no matter how much i think i can do certain things, in reality im all thumbs and end up spending too much money fixing what i messed up then paying someone to do it right.