The Armour Archive

Albrechtthesilent

Probably not an answer in your case, because your probably dealing with way larger stuff being it's on a lathe. The smaller keys I've found come out pretty easy with a pair of diagonal cutters (dikes for us old farts who remember pre-political correctness). In short; you hold your cutters as if you'...

Albrechtthesilent

I second the request for any numbers or other stamping from it to help. The tip might be a separate piece. It doesn't look like it, but it could be threaded into the end. If it is a separate piece, it may or may not be the same manufacturer as the torch itself. It does seem pretty obvious it's meant...

Albrechtthesilent

Looks like a cobbed together punch. The top handle is a Whitney part, the rest is Bohn. Which explains why the #2 punches work. If it had the original handle, they probably wouldn't. Roper Whitney sells a 4-in-1 tool that is similar in function to what this originally was. They punch, shear, break, ...

Albrechtthesilent

Maybe I missed it earlier in the thread... By "bran", what exactly are we talking about? Is it bran in the sense of bran from grain; i.e. wheat bran, oat bran, etc.? Or is this something all together different? I've heard of using walnut shell as a tumbling medium. Do you think that might be a reaso...

Albrechtthesilent

I don't know if it's a "booming market" or not, but I was sort of shocked at the prices for SIMPLE leather archery quivers. And there are many other fairly simple archery do-dads made from leather as well. Just another idea to diversify. Archerytalk is a huge archery board. You can check out almost ...

Albrechtthesilent

My condolences. It's hard to say in the aftermath where your seal failed. But I think you're right, you may have been okay if the seal maintained it's integrity. Was your container stainless steel? I think that might've helped prevent your container from disintegrating, as stainless is less sensitiv...

Albrechtthesilent

More details of the order would need to be known in order for anyone to advise. If it was a special order with ornate details, that matters. Yes, on the surface what you're saying seems unfair. But like many armourers have learned, commission work doesn't pay the bills. The product that you can pump...

Albrechtthesilent

I use allwoodarrows.com. Brian has treated me well. Check with him & see if he'll do it. He has pricing on his site for dozen & half-dozen batches. What you're asking is pretty simple compared to some of what he has displayed on his site. Usual turnaround is 12 to 14 days (plus shipping times). Albr...

Albrechtthesilent

The brokerage fees are unfortunate. That's BS. As for opinions about which to use to ship; I prefer UPS. I think it's got a lot to do with your local area. In my area, UPS is better than FedEx. FedEx is a little cheaper. I won't use the local Post Office. My dealings with them have not ended well mo...

Albrechtthesilent

Looking forward to this issue.
Thanks for writing it.
Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

1st piece of advice; know your kiln. Is it electric or gas? In either case, know how it is fed (so you are aware of where the gas or electric line runs and know to avoid it while working) and how to shut it off in an emergency. If it is electric, make sure you are careful to avoid EVER touching your...

Albrechtthesilent

I've got an idea for your frame. On the long sides, replace your couplers with T's pointing downward. Connect a street elbow to each T. Put a pipe between the elbows, spanning between each side & under the silk. It'll keep the sides from bowing in, but it'll still sag lengthwise. For that, you can r...

Albrechtthesilent

I wish my Vulcan had knob controls. Mine has 4 switches. There's no dialing temperatures in, either the coil is on or off. With knob controls (and adding a pyrometer) you can dial the temperature down and temper in it. I like low-tech. A digital control is more accurate though. You can also set it u...

Albrechtthesilent

I politely disagree. Not to that extent. You'd have to intentionally (i.e. chemically) corrode stainless to make it look like that.
If you made them from material that you purchased as stainless, you got hosed.

Sorry,
Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

Somewhere, Hal's got a youtube video showing how much flex he gets. They flex quite well. I was surprised when I'd seen it. There's some merit to internal leathers too though. But like mentioned above, they're going to be higher maintenance eventually when the leather gives out. Wonder if using nylo...

Albrechtthesilent

It would depend on the material used on the welds (what kind of rod or wire was used). If you don't know or can't find that out, you've got a gamble on your hands. Regardless of what the weld material is, what I've heard is that you "should" anneal the whole piece prior to heat treating a welded pie...

Albrechtthesilent

I mean this as respectfully as possible... You guys that are having bleeding problems; did you pre-wash in hot (as in as hot as possible) water? I've never had bleeding problems with (red & black) clothes (linen and wool) I've bought from Historic Enterprises. I wash them in the washing machine on r...

Albrechtthesilent

I'm convinced that all the strange maille patterns on effigies are just the result of sculptors making their job easier. For example, if you look at any effigy where the maille is going the wrong way, it's always to avoid sculpting compressed rings around armpits and elbows joints. +1 When you look...

Albrechtthesilent

I've no experience either way. I'm just echoing that there was a problem in the past of excessive turn around times on orders and negligent communication frequency (i.e. NONE). Price & product has always been described as quality work at bargain pricing. It's always been known that the compromise is...

Albrechtthesilent

A search on this board will answer that question.
I haven't heard anything lately one way or the other. Last word I heard was don't buy from them unless it's in stock.

Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

AA, you have them ready made? Or is there a turn around time, and how long would the wait be (barring "life", which happens to us all)?

Thanks,
Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

I'd always thought coat of plates began to be replaced by solid breast plates in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century, tapering off in frequency from there. I would think by mid 15th century, you'd see plate or brigandine. But I'm not versed in the ins and outs of brigandine by any means. Maybe you m...

Albrechtthesilent

Usually when I think I know what I'm talking about & speak up, I find out I'm wrong (which is good because I learn from it); so keep that in mind. The new pic posted appears to have the spaulder integral with the arm harness (there's no strap on the lames of the spaulders running across the upper ar...

Albrechtthesilent

Yes, very true.
Your money goes to Vulcan Forge, regardless of which side of the business you buy from though.

Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

if you buy from RFH you are going to get unfinished pieces

Uh, no Master Cet also takes custom work sometimes, it's not ALL rough work.

Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

To confuse things further for you, a few months ago the KEM stated in "The Pale" that By My Hand Design weapon heads (and only BMHD weapons heads) are now legal without any additional padding. The caveat being; don't break your friends, there will be a learning curve. I made a head from Windrose's w...

Albrechtthesilent

Did you use deglazer before you dyed?
Sometimes there's crap on the surface of the leather that will give you an inconsistent dye absorption. Looks just like what you described.

Thanks,
Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

It's unfortunate that Zweihammer no longer makes these kits. There's some speculation that Botaro didn't really have the kits on-hand & Zweihammer stopped production before he could make good on his commitments. His post leads one to believe he had them ready to ship though. I had a small kit (which...

Albrechtthesilent

Denmark?
I figured he was in Florida. The company linked in his posts is out of Florida.
Paypal gave me my money back. Apparently they thought I had more right to it...

Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

I don't think I'd even waste dog crap grilling tofu...

Albrechtthesilent

Sorry to thread jack; but since it looks like you guys know your $h!t about these controllers, can they be set up to ramp down such as for annealing? Most of the time the descriptions on kiln controls mention the ability to be programmed to ramp up (which seems to be what the market is concerned wit...

Albrechtthesilent

Nevermind, the reviews all say they run on the small side. Yes, but I think part of that is people aren't used to a properly fit glove. I usually wear a Medium in most store bought gloves. These gloves, I ended up with a Large. When I buy the normal driving or other gloves, the mediums fit but the ...

Albrechtthesilent

http://www.amazon.com/Ansell-ProjeX-Deerskin-Leather-X-Large/dp/B004ZH4MIA Ansell driving gloves. I haven't built my gauntlets yet, but these are what I'm using. There is a small patch of spandex in between each finger. They fit better than other driving gloves. The leather is deerskin. The cut bet...

Albrechtthesilent

Wonder if you can dye them... I know they darken a little when oiled.
I found a pair of driving gloves at Menards which have a little piece of thin spandex between the fingers in the webbing area. They're black too... I'll try to remember to post the brand name when I get home.

Albrecht

Albrechtthesilent

One word: revenant That's interesting. Haven't been exposed to that yet. I'd presumed that the zombie/vampire line of thought was completely and utterly post period. It might be to early for what your looking for, but... No, I'm open to anything. "Greatful Dead" I'll have to look more into that. Th...

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