The Armour Archive

Ceawlin

Ceawlin, what are you using for your tempering (temperature, time, etc)? I was under the impression that due to the low amount of carbon (0.3 %), you really couldn't over-harden 4130 for armor (not an expert, just an interested bystander).. I've been going by the color (bright-red to orange) to bes...

Ceawlin

You'll never know until you try... I've been hardening 0.032", 0.040" and 0.050" (roughly 21, 19 and 18 ga.) for a few months now, using a water quench (with soap and Epsom salts added for a sort of super-quench) with good results. I've got a small one-burner propane forge for small pieces, and a ki...

Ceawlin

I'm pushing myself to make a new historically-based harness, following the early effigy designs in "Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450" by Tobias Capwell. So, the paunce of plate (or skirt and faulds) will be a separate piece from the breastplate, which will ride over it around the waist. This w...

Ceawlin

I just had an interesting metal failure. I guess I need to stress-relieve even mild steel after working it hot now, to avoid this problem in the future. Hello all, excuse my question, but i feel like i missed something: According to that post it seems to me like annealing or normalizing are a commo...

Ceawlin

I've got an old harbor freight 50 lb. anvil, probably cast iron the way it's held up to hot work (the face has chipped at the edges). The face measures 3.5" x 9". I've found a piece of 1.5" thick 4140, 4" x 9.5", which is about 1/4" longer than three of the four sides of the anvil face. I'd like to ...

Ceawlin

Yeah, haven't seen mine yet either.

-----------------------------------------------

"You must learn patience."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Patience. How long will that take?"

--The Frantics, Boot to the Head (Ti Kwan Leep)

Ceawlin

I just had an interesting metal failure. I had hot-worked a 14 ga. mild steel shield boss, then quenched it. Looked good, fought with it a few months and it took a few dents. While working it smooth again from the inside into a steel dishing form with a rawhide hammer, it split open. The split was o...

Ceawlin

I'm in Spokane, WA., and interested, so there's always the possibility.

Ceawlin

I found a source for hemp canvas, and several hemp-mixed fabrics.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1643912-AA.shtml

Not sure what to make of it yet. Even the heavy 12 oz. canvas might be used, as they say in the reviews it wears/falls like silk, and can be dyed.

Ceawlin

Here's an oldy but a goody...

http://www.insulaedraconis.org/document ... ntlets.htm

I still do something similar in my gauntlets.

Ceawlin

Money for materials is not so-much my concern, but I plan to make two of these gambesons, one for show and one for dress (or really fancy tournaments). My current gambeson is nearly 10 years old, of cotton-canvas outer layer, cotton batting and cotton lining. It was great when I wore mail, but as I'...

Ceawlin

...if money was not the main concern? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems most historical aketons/gambesons I've read about were constructed of wool or linen and padded with wool or cotton. What would you use today for the best compromise between use, wear, appearance, maintenance, cleaning...

Ceawlin

Pitbull is purposely working for that look. There are people shaped like that, and there are also people who want to look like that. It also strengthens the metal to not be perfectly cone-shaped, but 3D rounded -- even a little helps. As to a vambrace pattern, form a round cone in paper the size you...

Ceawlin

It's never been a problem over three years of use.

It's a one-piece handle. The rattan is shaved to fit tightly inside the tapering grip, and fits loosely at the crossguard. My swords have so far pulped out at the end and never broken off in or at the handle.

I'm not exactly a heavy-hitter, though.

Ceawlin

I made a swordhilt for rattan that's a little different, perhaps it'll give you some ideas?

: Swordhilt1.jpg (66.1 KiB) Viewed 304 times

: Swordhilt2.jpg (62.03 KiB) Viewed 304 times

Ceawlin

I can't find the Archive's "Like" button. Can anyone help me here?

Ceawlin

Curve your plates either by pounding the outside long edges over a pipe, or fix two pieces of wood just slightly apart and hammer the middle of the plates. I use a deadblow (soft-faced hammer) when I hammer from the outside, and a lightly rounded or curved hammer when hitting inside the arm plates. ...

Ceawlin

If you have any part of the wooden shield you plan to cut away (rounded corners?), then a nail in two corners on the same vertical side should keep the wood in place while you set it and it dries. a clamp might work too, but not as well.

Ceawlin

The B3's are meant to cut thick sheet metal, up to 3/16" mild or 10 ga. stainless.

Ceawlin

I've been hot working 4130 for a few months now, making mostly elbow/knee cops, spaulders and shield bosses. These are my first attempts at hot working, so I don't have any other metal to compare it to other than mild steel. 4130 has to be annealed often or worked hot, but you have quite a bit of co...

Ceawlin

I use 21 ga. (0.032") 4130 spring steel in my SCA heavy legs, hardened to 45-50 Rc, and they've held up just fine for the last year or so. The usual stainless series 301 or 304? isn't near as strong as spring steel, even 4130, of the same thickness. Many folks are using 410 spring stainless to good ...

Ceawlin

Good ideas all... FYI, I'm using shaping 4130 spring steel in a propane "Eric Thing" style forge, but I just bought a rosebud head for my O/A torch which I may try out soon. I tend to use between 1/4" and 3/8" of material in my rolls, so they're small to medium size, usually on the wrist-end of vamb...

Ceawlin

I used to roll edges cleanly and beautifully... in mild, stainless and even some aluminum alloys. Spring steel is an entirely different beast. I find it quite challenging to get a clean roll. It hammer-hardens fast, so red-heat or hotter seems necessary, or it stretches unevenly and even cracks. The...

Ceawlin

I just made a custom shield boss. 4130 spring steel, 0.060 thick (~16 ga.), professionally hardened to around 45-50 Rc. It's all hot-worked by hand, so it's not completely asymmetrical, but has some roughness to the form. BigBoss1.jpg About 2.5" deep, and 7.25" inner diameter with a 3/4" flange. Big...

Ceawlin

Mac, I have initially assembled my version of an arm harness like the Black Princes. I'd be willing to make changes, and/or take photos or video per your request to test out your theories here. Arms08.jpg At present, while held together with bolts, I have virtually no rotational movement in my arm h...

Ceawlin

I finished the basic assembly of the right arm today. Arms08.jpg Arms09.jpg I tried to make it without leather articulated integral spaulders. Sadly, even with slightly oversize slotted rivets, there is virtually no side-to-side rotational movement. this might change with the final rivets in place, ...

Ceawlin

So, here's where the arms sit tonight. Arms01a.jpg This is my first time making integrated spaulders into an arm harness, and I'm amazed at how much shape there is in my upper arm. I thought it'd just be round, but they seem more long-oval, and there's even a sort of hole under the armpit along the ...

Ceawlin

Thanks Wade... I noticed on the Black Prince effigy that the shoulder lames don't appear straight, but sort of a slight "w" shape in some pictures, so they may have done this same trick there, too. I ground away about 1/8" of an arc off the bottom of the cop and all lames. Now, they give me enough m...

Ceawlin

More pictures....

: Spaulders 4.jpg (99.58 KiB) Viewed 789 times

: Spaulders 3.jpg (92.63 KiB) Viewed 789 times

Ceawlin

How about a large "I" beam? I use one regularly for it's corners and ability to get underneath it. My surface measures 8"x11", it's 9" tall, and the top and bottom surface is 7/8" thick. I believe they come larger, and I-beams are pretty common.

Just weld some corner supports on?

Ceawlin

I've been trying to recreate the look of English integral spaulders for my fighting kit, as per Mac's discussion of using rivets in lieu of leather straps, with limited success. I'm trying to get a deltoid muscle shape, and still allow some 'lateral' movement. The vambraces and couters/cops are form...

Ceawlin

Mac, Can you describe how the (presumed fake) arms in the Wallace Collection (Goll's Thesis ref_5093) which got you thinking about this, were articulated on slots and sliding rivets? The one photo isn't clear enough to make out more than the lames look like a crescent shape. I'm envisioning several ...

Ceawlin

I like it, Wade... the ambience is much nicer with the lights off.

Merry Xmas...

...alas that my armor is relegated to the garage... my new suit in production may yet see the living room as my first one did many, many years ago.

Ceawlin

Just a weird thought here... is there any indication of slotted rivets being used in the couter/rerebrace connection? It occurred to me that if the Churburg rotating vambrace design was used above the elbow joint, it could increase the arms rotational movement, much like a turner.

Ceawlin

There are many construction and care factors involved in how long a brig will last. In my experience, built properly, a brig can last a long 5-6 years or more of regular SCA use or longer. . My last two brigs have each lasted well. My current one was built it in 2007 or 2008 one and really needs rep...

Re: Hardening 4130 in 18 gauge?

Re: Hardening 4130 in 18 gauge?

Metal thickness for a breastplate?

Re: Metal fatigue

Best way to face 4140 to a cheap anvil?

Re: Armour of the English Knight 1400-50: PRE-ORDER IS OPEN!

Re: Metal fatigue

Re: Calgary Armour meetup?

Re: What would you use for gambeson materials...

Re: Padding Gauntlets and Installing Gloves

Re: What would you use for gambeson materials...

What would you use for gambeson materials...

Re: regarding late 14th century arm harnesses

Re: Making a legal crossguard

Re: Making a legal crossguard

Re: TV show- 'A Craftsman's Legacy' -armour

Re: Splinted Leather Armour-Panels inside or out?

Re: Non ad hoc shield press

Re: Can someone identify this throatless shear?

Re: carbon steel sheet in Europe?

Re: Is 20/22G hardened steel enough for SCA C&T, and Fencing

Re: Got any tips for hot-rolling edges in spring steel?

Got any tips for hot-rolling edges in spring steel?

Re: Need Large deep shield boss

Re: A new look at an old friend.

Re: My "new look" at ca. 1370 English spaulders--help/critiq

Re: My "new look" at ca. 1370 English spaulders--help/critiq

Re: My "new look" at ca. 1370 English spaulders--help/critiq

Re: My "new look" at ca. 1370 English spaulders

Re: Dreaming of a WIDE anvil surface.....thoughts?

My "new look" at ca. 1370 English spaulders--help/critique?

Re: A new look at an old friend.

Re: Merry Christmas

Re: A new look at an old friend.

Re: brigantine armour in the sca