The Armour Archive

hello everyone

okay here is what I am planning on doing i want to make plastic splint mail arms and legs and rivet to leather a leather backing, so my question is what type of plastic should i use and how thick ? i know people use plastic drums but i dont think i can get one so what plastic is it made from ? or what is the best to use ?

before anyone says anything i do have steel armour , I want a plastic one for when we have to do displays and I have to fight and be in it all day which so far happens two to three times and year and kills my back and shoulders

I am buying plastic lamellar scales so i was thinking of going with plastic splint mail on my arms and shins and cover it up with fur more of a darkages type of feel to it

thanks and regards Byron

Just an FYI, but I don't think Dark ages people used Fur like that.

I'd cover it with plain leather, or fabric that matches your tunic so that it is hidden. Since they didn't have vambraces back then either.

You could use ABS, Kydex, or HDPE types of plastic with good results.

Welcome back, Tofu!

Paint and drywall compound buckets are HDPE and 2.5mm thick -- not bad for reinforcement if yet a little flexible -- good for slipping into something gamboised for hardening it up. And you can scrounge them for free from construction sites. We tend to find some of ours on roadsides that blew off the backs of passing trucks -- litter, basically. HDPE in that thickness is good enough against rattan, at any rate. Against rebated steel, you may want aluminum splints and reinforces instead of plastic -- I forget what you get hit with. And these may be riveted inside that leather too -- or sewn in by use of a lining layer of softer leather -- even genuine chamois as is sold in auto-parts shops. The synthetic cloth stuff doesn't wear as well.

And surely there are sellers of sheet plastic in SA. I don't think you're having to satellite-uplink your posts from a laptop out in the Karroo!

HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) is the plastic the 55 and 35 gal dri\ums are made of. On average, it is about 3/16" thick. you do have to be careful when making a design out of drum plastic is that the thicknes varies a lot depending on where from the drum you cut it. You also have the stiffening ribs to deal with. 3/16 is sufficient for anything, and may be too thick to work with for a lot of your parts. It depends greatly on what you are trying to do with it.

Kydex (a brand name of an pvc/Acrylic blend) is the primo stuff. It is virtually indestructible, bends well with heat. You can order it in 1/8", 3/16" and maybe a size in between. It's kinda' expensive, though.

ABS - This is a bit trickier. There seems to be several grades of ABS out there and it's hard to tell what you're getting unless you order directly from a supplier. There's high-impact ABS -get that if you can, and regular ABS. There are varying reports of how durable ABS is, which is due to the differing grades, IMHO. But even the lower grade, in 3/16 or 1/8" will probably last for several years, and you'll probably want to upgrade by then. ((My cuisses are 1/8" High impact stuff, covered with ~3 oz leather, and they're going on 6 years with little sign of the ABS failing.)

Also HDPE is not as convenient to heat form. It has a very high thermal capacity, meaning once you get it hot enough to bend, it stays that hot for a long time. It also goes from "soggy" soft to too hard to work very quickly. You almost have to have forms to clamp it into while it cools. ABS, OTH, you can get it hot and work it in gloved hands and will cool as you hold it in place. I've actually done flared edges by hand on ABS. It gets to a point where it feels like leather.

I've never tried to hand work Kydex.

APS. I used it once and am never going back to HDPE I don't care how cheap a barrell is.