The Armour Archive

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I have had lots of success with a combination of an asphaltum-type resist & ferric chloride. I paint on the resist then scrape off with a needle. http://imageshack.us/a/img27/7121/ed42.jpg http://imageshack.us/a/img593/6762/dgb1.jpg Another technique that I have not tried yet but will be very soon i...

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Alright, all of these have given me enough information to proceed with the fluting. I don't have a mill just yet so making the jig that Jamie showed may not be quite yet possible.

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I am about to start contruction on a suit of lamellar using these plates: http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/50/4rdw.png I also intend to have each plate fluted. I know that James over at Polar Bear Forge used to provide this service at 5 cents a plate. That price point seems to indicate that he had a...

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So I just finished two sets of lamellar using the D/tombstone style plates. One in leather and one in 20ga spring stainless. I have fought a bit in both and I am somewhat disliking one aspect of the D style plates... They lack vertical plate compression, which can limit movement about the waist. It ...

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16ga is a bit thick for lamellar, right?

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Whats the point of the petroleum jelly if its under seran wrap? I keep saying avoid it and that is because it gets everywhere and if any of it gets between the plaster it wont set properly.

Also, you should practice on a watermelon first before you do your legs.

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Oh, I should word that better. I didn't have a good time using petroleum jelly to release the plaster from ones skin. As for releasing the positive from the mold Chris Gilman had me use paste wax but I am sure petroleum jelly works too (bit more messy). Also don't cut the plaster away from your leg....

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In my somewhat limited experience petroleum jelly was not a good idea for a release agent. It got everywhere and stopped the layers of plaster from sticking to each other. I had no trouble just using seran wrap alone. Maybe that helps...

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I purchased just about every tool mentioned here and so far the ones I have managed to use have been great. The only comment I have is that the hollow tools ring... a lot. This is to be expected of course. I ended up filling all of them with lead and sand. I did this by drilling a hole then welding ...

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And done. http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/6471/1020584c.jpg http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/2491/1020567c.jpg http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6081/1020601c.jpg What I know is wrong: - The shoulder bits are a bit too far forward. Going to just add some grommets to move it back. - Bit small aroun...

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Progress update: Curling the plates. http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/982/1020514cropped.jpg Dishing the chest pieces. The first dishing I have ever done. http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2563/1020520cropped.jpg All of the pieces are shaped. http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3079/1020525.jpg Usin...

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I have nothing but questions since I've been meaning to learn about etching steel. What kind of process are you using on each item? Is it exactly the same on both types of steel? I have never seen what the grain structure looks like on stainless steels so are those streaks different crystalline grai...

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If you are ok with welded then what about master Knuut? Many recommend his products here.

Welded of course is not authentic but the way he makes his links it looks convincing to all but the most discerning eyes.

http://www.weldedchainmail.com/

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I may just have a crappy stake plate too. I got it cheap and it is of unknown manufacturer. This may be a reason to avoid irreversible modifications to my relatively expensive stakes. The stakes cost me more than the plate... I do not have my own forge and don't really know much about it so maybe th...

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I agree on the armpit being a bit high. The plates don't go that high up the armpit so I may just trim the shell down a bit.

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I recently purchased a pexto 943 hatchet stake and it is too wobbly in my stake plate. This was an expected outcome since there is apparently no standardisation of stake tapers. I think I have a solution for the problem but I wanted to get some feedback first before I potentially ruin a stake. I hav...

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I purchased a CoP kit from Jamie at Polar Bear Forge. http://www.polarbearforge.com/cop_kit.html This will be my first CoP and part of my SCA heavy kit. I am going to post details of my progress as I assemble the kit so new folks can see how I did it and the experts can critque my design/techniques....

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Keep in mind UV is like another color of light and it may reflect off surfaces that don't reflect other colors.

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I was under the impression that even if the helmet doesn't darken after detecting the arc it should still protect from UV. The glass itself should block UV always right? Maybe this is not true for the super cheapy helmets.

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Sir Haroun appears to have improved his design since I ordered them. http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7861/1020473cropped.jpg http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/4489/1020468cropped.jpg http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/5091/1020475cropped.jpg He added two additional plates on the sides, presumabl...

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He just mailed mine out.
He predicted the completion date with an accuracy down to the month even though I ordered them a year ago.

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I just got the Polar Bear Forge CoP kit too and I will be taking the two layers of canvas approach as well. I will share pictures of my progress when I get around to assembling it (probably will take me a few weeks from now). If you wish to cross game with this armour then you will have to take your...

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I am about to start my own CoP as well. My research seems to indicate that two layers of heavy canvas for the outer shell will do. Make sure to use an awl when piercing holes for the rivets. Make an effort to minimize the number of threads that are being cut. I've also heard of people using velvet a...

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I'll bid 125.

If anyone else has Zweihammer kits im interested

.

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Zweihammer, First off, thank you for your contributions to the SCA and the armouring community you are certainly famous for the kits you provide. It is of course not fair to ask you to continue operating in the negative. How do you feel about passing on the torch? It would be a shame to see those ki...

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Jamie, Would you be willing to cut out and sell the Valsgarde helm you were talking about? Can you cut it out from 14-12ga stainless? Your lamellar is usually much thinner so I don't know if you have access to thicker materials. It takes time to get these kits ready to sell but perhaps there is enou...

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Who should this someone be? Does anyone know Zweihammer and can get him to sell these patterns? Right now I think my problem is getting in contact with him. I am just a random person from the internet after all... Damn I might be willing to pay a fair amount to get my hands on the CAD files. It migh...

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This gauntlet pattern might be the closest: http://armourarchive.org/patterns/gauntlet_clang/ But there is certainly no helm patterns that are even close to a Valgarde 6 or the Topfhelm. These Zweihammer kits were popular and for a good reason I think... It seems like a tremendous loss to the commun...

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Great armour and great photography.

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Bump cause i'm still desperate.

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Zweihammer is going out of business and I waited too long. Now i'm desperate... I am looking on getting my hands on Zweihammer kits (helms and guantlets). I understand how much work goes into engineering these patterns and I have no intention of just stealing them. Before you say just design them yo...

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That really sucks about Zweihammer I was wanting to buy some kits from them for a while now. Super bummed out that I waited to long... Now that they are not selling the kits would it be reasonable for people to distribute their patterns? I would be willing to pay for the patterns as well if zweihamm...

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I made this one. http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/8509/1020157.jpg http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/1183/frontcropped.th.jpg My design is not perfect: - Forget the plastic shoulders, they are to hard to hide under a tunic. - Each section on the torso should overlap. This can be achieved by just ex...

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This thread is relevent to me:

Been working on making my own forms here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=143358

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I finished doing the torso casting and it worked out very well. Chris, thanks for all the help it turned out to be very useful. Ugo, I'll try that place out thanks for the recommendation. It turned out a bit lumpy but that is to be expected from using paster: http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/4296/...

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