titanium segmentata?

[Romulus_Rapax]

Anyone ever made one?

[Sasha_Khan]

They might suffer from the same problem the aluminum versions do - the girdle plates not having enough weight to sit where they are supposed to, and riding up.

There was a whole bunch of guys local to me that made aluminum ones as a group, and they learned to rue that - they all ended up with severely bruised abdomens...

[Dan Howard]

Properly-made steel segmentatas weigh less than fifteen pounds. They aren't exactly heavy.

[boris_]

Properly-made steel segmentatas weigh less than fifteen pounds. They aren't exactly heavy.

What gauge and alloy did you have in mind?

[Konstantin the Red]

We're bumping up against a modern mentality here that doesn't work so very well for medieval and Renaissance body armor: the mentality that Space Age metals have to be better -- right? Don't they?

Well... they are better for flying in the sky with.

But one is building armor, not aerospace components, Weight is not always the ultimate enemy to be defeated by the ultimate in means.

I'm getting increasingly persuaded that wonder-metals simply aren't called for in this rolling around in the dust of the arena.

[Dan Howard]

Properly-made steel segmentatas weigh less than fifteen pounds. They aren't exactly heavy.

What gauge and alloy did you have in mind?

Extant segmentata plates are less than 1mm thick and the armours weigh 12 lbs or even less. Reenactors tend to use slightly thicker plates putting the weight up a couple of pounds. All the modern ones I've seen are made of mild steel but some Roman ones were a medium carbon steel.

[James Arlen Gillaspie]

The plates at the museum at Corbridge that I saw were corroded enough that figuring out their original thickness would take a bit of doing.

[Dan Howard]

There are plenty of other plates that are in better condition.

[mrks]

titanium: no maintenance, no dents, no rust.

what is not to be liked if you fight all the time and do not have a bunch of servants to maintain your armour?

edit: forgot equivalent gauge of metal is 40 percent lighter than stainless

[Konstantin the Red]

In the other pan of the balance: 301 stainless, 120ksi to dent, no maintenance, no rust, less cost.

Not to wrangle, just to keep it real.

[Romulus_Rapax]

So if I go with Stainless, what gauge are we talking?
I suppose 18ga for everything?

[boris_]

What kind of stainless? with 304 18 should work, with 301FH one can go thinner

[Romulus_Rapax]

I don't know stainless types,
Which type is the most resistant to bending and rust?

[boris_]

I don't know stainless types,
Which type is the most resistant to bending and rust?

Unless you are getting really fancy
304 is the basic kind. 18 gauge should work.
301 full hard is the kind similar to spring steel. 20 gauge can work.

[Mark Griffin]

My Corbridge A weighs in at 13lbs and is a joy to wear and work in. The Tuetoburg forest finds were preserved pretty anaerobically so are in a good condition for judging thickness.