The Armour Archive

The best local price for sheet steel is a place that wont cut down the pieces, so I'm buying full 4x8 sheets. My problem, is how to handle them. Those of you who do not cut with power tools... how do you cut them down into mroe managable sizes? my HF shear can go right through to the middle of the sheet, but it isn't a straight cut and takes a long time to work the shear into the sheet.. and my aviation shears wont cut deep into 16ga..
I want to avoid using a jigsaw or a cutting torch. any ideas?
- Loren

Find a local fabrication shop. They may go as low as $10 to chop your 4x8 into 4 pieces.

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<B>Gundobad,
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Sanity is very rare. Every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness - R.W. Emerson

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

Buck up and use that jigsaw... it makes an accurate cut and is not as hard as you think.

Cut them to a handling size.....

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"No matter how hard the wind howels, a mountian cannot bow to it."

Harold der Bär

I just manhandled mine in and out of my back door till I dwindled it down to nothing.
I was afraid if I cut it before that I may have sliced a part that I needed more of.

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..l.,

Get two people to help and just use the shear. or, a jigsaw works pretty quick...keep the blade oiled.

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Krag von Berghen
KragAxe Armoury

Member's Pics

for a big sheet like that, I'd set up the shear outside and have a table (or saw horses or stools.. whatever.. just something to support the metal) on each side of the shear, and at the same height as the blades of the shear. it'll keep it from bending and hold up most of the weight, making it a lot easier to handle.

the place we get sheets from cuts them in half (or 1/3's or 1/4's... never really bothered to check) and I use an old ironing board on one side of the shear to support the metal.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Yoshida:
<B>I just manhandled mine in and out of my back door till I dwindled it down to nothing.
I was afraid if I cut it before that I may have sliced a part that I needed more of.

</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

heh, took a couple times reading that to figure out what you meant... first I thought you was saying you wedged it into the backdoor somehow and bent it back and forth until it broke in half... pretty funny picture maybe thats my brain's way of telling me that I should go to bed before 6:30am

i use my b2, mine is bolted to my fabricating table, which is 4x10, i use my table saw as a support and i cut my sheets into 2x4 sheets, dont worry about the cut not being straight, most armour pieces dont have straight sides

I've used my B2 in the drive way by bolting it to a 6 foot long section of 2x6. I can step on the wood and cut the metal, stoop down and re set the metal. Slow, but can be done all by yourself. But nothing beats haveing a shop shear if for you.

Roderick

In the shop of the armourer who teaches me (Sir Max) we set the sheet on top of a big garbage can, trace out the piece we need, and then use an electric nibbler to cut roughly cut out the piece. Then we take the piece to the Beverly shear to cut it to shape.

Steve

Thankyou everyone.. I'll probably end up using my jigsaw to cut the sheets into four pieces.. I was just hoping to find a more period method.. I purchased one of those huge pairs of metal shears.. the scissor like kind that you see in woodcarvings of armourers shops.. its around 45" long.. cost me $100 with shipping.. that should blast right through those sheets.
- Loren