Rene's blog

[Otto von Teich]

I like it! Well done blend of fantasy with a historic flair!

[Keegan Ingrassia]

It's the accurate shaping that sells it as decorated armor, and not a costume piece. Fantastic fantasy piece!

[Rene K.]

[DamianK]

Absolutely amazing. As a fan of warhammer fantasy myself, I can't stop looking at it.

[Scott Martin]

Can we have some pics of the inside of the breastplate showing how you attached the gussets? I would expect a "pivot" rivet at the bottom and slots at the top, but can't really make that out on these pictures.

[Rene K.]

Can we have some pics of the inside of the breastplate showing how you attached the gussets? I would expect a "pivot" rivet at the bottom and slots at the top, but can't really make that out on these pictures.

Sorry, i have no photo from this detail. It is now gone with the customer, but i made all technical details like they should be made, looking at the antique stuff.
Ideally the slots from the slidingrivet are covered with the breastplate, mostly only a littlebit of them is visible.

[Rene K.]

Made a little helper last week, that i wanted to share with you. It is made from a old forged vise, that was in a condition that allowed the rough changing of its design.
Works very well for doing the filework on little flat pieces like buckles, decorative mounts or hingeplates. The best benefit is to be able holding the file in two hands.

[Armadillo]

That is a brilliant adaptation. Too often I find myself contorting my body around the vises and there is never enough clearance for file work. Nice design.
-Adair

[Rene K.]

working progress on the Giffhorn-Project.

[Rene K.]

Forming the abdominal plate for the Stechzeug








This part of the armour is holding a leather and lacings to the backplate-extention ( so called "schwäntzel"), to prevent the jouster breaking his backbones in the waist.

[Rene K.]

[Mac]

This is looking really good!

Mac

[Rene K.]

The Breast- and Backplate became a couple of trimming cutts and then i roughly formed and attached the shoulderbars and the hinged sideplates. That holds everything in place now, so i can start with the helmet and finish the shaping of the pauldrons.

[Johann ColdIron]

Nice hinge work. They will be robust! Will the neck side of the top straps be pushed up? I had to spend a bunch of time massaging mine to fit the arc of the gorget.

That style with the extended lance rest area has always fascinated me.

[Rene K.]

Nice hinge work. They will be robust! Will the neck side of the top straps be pushed up? I had to spend a bunch of time massaging mine to fit the arc of the gorget.

That style with the extended lance rest area has always fascinated me.

Luckily the shoulderstraps on a Stechzeug are nearly flat in the frontview, because the frogmouth-helmet is sitting directly on them, and they don*t rest on the wearers shoulders. Often you see a separate leather strap on the shoulders that is buckeled directly in the backplate, to give the thing more comfort and adjustment abilities.




Note the integrated buckles on the backplate

[Rene K.]

The whole project is only for display, so i*m allowed to also use modern techniques and thinner material in some parts. Because i have the opinion, that making it simply with thin sheets, it would give a more rubbish looking thing, so i mostly use the material-thickness i measured on the original suits and went a bit thinner at the breastplate and helmet. For now all is made from 2mm mild steel, the breastplate is 3mm, the shoulderframes are made in 4mm.
For the Hingeplates i used 1,5mm with a 4-5mm stud.
The original ones we have in Nuremberg are 7mm at the helmet frontside for example.
But don*t think this all will be a light suit, it is really heavy till now, and i got really heavy problems in my hands and fingerjoints from holding the heavy plates while hammering.

[Rene K.]

working on the stechhelm in the moment and have to wait till it cools down a bit, so it is time for some new progress pictures.

I started with the front piece, which i built from 3 pieces. First i formed the collarplate in rough shape, then i added the faceplates.
This is all made from 3mm and it is really heavy work to handle it in one hand till hammering.
To create a staight edge and fold over the vision-roll i made a simple jig-plate in the shape and the measurements i measured at the gnm, i spotwelded in.











Like allways, the whole process is in my pinterest gallery.

hope you enjoy

[Armadillo]

It must be a workout hefting that around. This is a fascinating construction. As beautiful as this equipment is, it has been a low priority for me to study at museums. My interest is piqued by this amazing project.
-A.

[Mac]

I watching the turning of that heavy hem at the sight with baited breath. I have only ever built one stechhelm, and I had a lot of trouble there.

Mac

[Rene K.]

Hi folks,

Last weekend we celebrated our fifth "tournament of the unicorn", a LARP-event with a high level and kind of spirit from "a knights tale".
Luckily i got my cuirass and helmet finished in the first night the eventwas running, even though the legs are still in work for now.











more pictures will follow on my pinterest board.

[Gordon Thompson]

I bet most of the folk being there have not a slightest idea how much in terms of money, skill and work are walking past them

[Rene K.]

Thats my actual favorite

[Rene K.]

I bet most of the folk being there have not a slightest idea how much in terms of money, skill and work are walking past them

I bet they mostly know... ;-P

[ThomasD]

Dang Rene, that is looking fabulous. I really need to attend an Einhorn-Tourney soon, at least I hope that there will be another one.

[Rene K.]

at least I hope that there will be another one.

for shure

[Mac]

That's a fine looking armor, Rene'! The shapes are bold and it all fits and works well together.

I'm struck by the evenness of your blue finish. Can you tell us something about your technique?

Mac

[Rene K.]

That's a fine looking armor, Rene'! The shapes are bold and it all fits and works well together.

I'm struck by the evenness of your blue finish. Can you tell us something about your technique?

Mac

Thank you Mac,
The dark blue is my little secret ;-P
Joking apart, My blueing is technically grey oxidation that is looking more blue when used on polished surfaces.
After polishing i heat up the parts with a propane torch until the blueing is not changing color and stop heating after the color has walked all over the surface evenly so the whole surface has the same oxidationcolor. Short after this point the parts would start getting red heat. That point would be too much heat.
So technically i heat up my parts to 300 - 360 degree C
While wearing a so blued armour and oiling it, over time the surface will getting a lighter blue.

It is a very simple process and a bit of cheating, but don't tell anyone ...

[Mac]

Joking apart, My blueing is technically grey oxidation that is looking more blue when used on polished surfaces.
After polishing i heat up the parts with a propane torch until the blueing is not changing color and stop heating after the color has walked all over the surface evenly so the whole surface has the same oxidationcolor. Short after this point the parts would start getting red heat. That point would be too much heat.
So technically i heat up my parts to 300 - 360 degree C
While wearing a so blued armour and oiling it, over time the surface will getting a lighter blue.

It is a very simple process and a bit of cheating, but don't tell anyone ...

That's pretty much the same procedure I used on this knee cop as an experiment. You seem to be getting a darker and bluer color than I did though.

This doesn't have any oil on it. I'll go put some on and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

Mac

[Rene K.]

That is a nice color you made.
The oil is making a bit of a difference. It is also very important to get no fingerprints on ist before heating and after it cools down, so covering in oil is needed.
It is also a very big difference what kind of light you have around. In my workshop it is always a different look than in sunlight.
With the sun in my back my suit looks more dark than in direct light.
Also it is a difference in what kind of steel xou use. Mild steel gets more blue, hardened C45 gave me a more blue-purple color in the past.

For weapons i know they used heated sant do control the bluening. But for me the cheated version works very well.

Funfact: i had a customer some years ago who wanted blue armour to get more invisible in the night, and on a photo he was the only one of his groupe who was shining out in the night...

[Chris Flagstad]

How does the finish lighten over time?

[Christian Wiedner]

The finish is looking very nice. My question would be how well it is holding up, because if I hold a test piece with the entire colour spectrum on a polishing wheel, this grey area is loosing its oxide layer first even before the thinner iridescent layers.

This said I had some incident in the hardening process when the grey oxide layer UNDER the overlapping parts was almost impossible to remove by polishing... but of course this is the oxide layer occuring when heatet over 800C

[Rene K.]

The finish is looking very nice. My question would be how well it is holding up, because if I hold a test piece with the entire colour spectrum on a polishing wheel, this grey area is loosing its oxide layer first even before the thinner iridescent layers.

This said I had some incident in the hardening process when the grey oxide layer UNDER the overlapping parts was almost impossible to remove by polishing... but of course this is the oxide layer occuring when heatet over 800C

I can say that the blue finish on my suirt is holding very well. The arms are in action over two years now, and i have no rust trouble or sinilar. For shure scratches or weapon impacts give a damage, but it works well if you pay attention with oiling and storrage in the fieldcamp.
In veste Coburg last year my stuff came in a really heavy rain, and at home i had no problems. It is also very resistant.
Take notice that my blueing is the result of heating the parts to a colour that is technically coming after the real blue tempering colour. The steel is not allowed to get in a red hot status.
Another benefit is the fact of blue-roughing, a characteristic that mild steel has, and this can be well used as a kind of hardening thin mild steel parts.
Maybe you know the effect when heating mild steel and after cooling down it is no mor bending evenly but buckling in creases. That can be used as a benefit and i made good expreience with it.

This is the colour in bright sunshine:

[Mac]

That is a nice color you made.

Thank you! It was just an experiment on an old knee that's already been the subject of innumerable grinding and polishing experiments.

For weapons i know they used heated sant do control the bluening. But for me the cheated version works very well.

I have speculated in the past about the possibility of using sand to help keep the heating even. (In clock and watch work, they sometimes use brass filings for this. )

Do you have some documentation for the use of sand in weapons bluing?

Funfact: i had a customer some years ago who wanted blue armour to get more invisible in the night, and on a photo he was the only one of his groupe who was shining out in the night...

Well... I'm glad he got what he deserved!

Mac

[Mac]

I have seen with my own eyes that the inside of the Avant armor is a more or less uniform blue-grey color. In addition, there have recently been pics of the Milanese cuirasse from Luzern where that same color is on the inside in places where it has not rusted.

I had presumed that these inside colors were left over from heat treating, but now I wonder if they were about surface bluing. We certainly see a lot of blue and blue-grey armor in art. I wonder if the Avant and the cuirasse from Luzern were originally blue-grey on the outside.

Mac

[Rene K.]

I have seen with my own eyes that the inside of the Avant armor is a more or less uniform blue-grey color. In addition, there have recently been pics of the Milanese cuirasse from Luzern where that same color is on the inside in places where it has not rusted.

I had presumed that these inside colors were left over from heat treating, but now I wonder if they were about surface bluing. We certainly see a lot of blue and blue-grey armor in art. I wonder if the Avant and the cuirasse from Luzern were originally blue-grey on the outside.

Mac

That is very interesting. At first i thought that the inside should be black from the forging, but also the hammeroxide can get a blueish colour from tempering or blueing.