The Armour Archive

Hello all,

Anyone have hints on working with 18 gauge SS to make elbow cops?

I have been told that dishing thins the metal too much, so what is left?

All I can come up with is raising like in William Hurt's tutorial or welding two halves together at the creaseline.

Any other thoughts? How about heating it with a blow torch? What would the techniques and tricks to that be?

Thanks

Giles

hi there

18ga is fine for elbow cops. if you want a deep one then goto soupcan construction. I made quite a few dished cops which are still in use and rarely dented.

18ga SS moves easily with the right techniques.

the hammer face used to dish is key. if the contact area is too small you get a result like using the back of a ball peen. if it is too large well thats like using a sledgehammer face rounded off. little deep dishing will occur but much smashing will.

my hammer has a small oval like contact area about 3/8 by 1/4 sloping up as it is on a ball face.

the next thing is your dish. I started with a hardwood stump. the stunp is great but mushes down and does not transfer all the energy. I then moved to a brass pipe about three inches around. the hole started at 1 3/4 and I smashed the sides down into the pipe creating a smoothly sloping area to dish in. it took a while to learn how to hit the center. and side hitting left work marks. but I could dish a cop in fifteen minutes with it.

guess thats about it without more questions.

You may want to try Darvis' floating elbow pattern. It doesn't require welding, and it looks like it is just bending, no dishing.

http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/elbow_darivs/

-Aaron

Guys,

Thanks for the help. However, I really want normal 14th Cent. couters.

Giles

I am using a 2.5" ball on a stake, it works pretty well.

I also wanted to try and make some cops soon, not in ss. It looks like the two above methods would seem to contradict eachother. Maybe I should try both and see what works for me. Would a copper pipe do just as well?