The Armour Archive

So, how long does it usually take you guys to dish out a helmet top? Reading Ideval's post about spending the last 45 minutes dishing had me wondering how long others take and what hammers you use.

When I dish 14ga and thicker steel, I use a 3lb sledge with a rounded head to dish into a oxy tank, then when the half is starting to take form, I move to a 16 ounce weighted rawhide mallet. When I do 16 or 18 gauge, I just use the rawhide mallet. It takes me about 3-4 minutes of pounding with the sledge, then about 7-10 minutes pounding with the rawhide mallet, smoothing out all the bumps. This is time per helmet half. Then its a bit of grinding and shaping to get them to match up and voila - finished helmet halves.



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When I was young I used to pray for a bike, then I realized that God doesn't work that way, so I stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness.
Salinas Swordsman
Darkmoor Armoury
Western Hammer-In, September 22-23, 2001 - Salinas, California

When I am doing simple run of the mill SCA helms I can have a set of halves welded up in 35-45 minutes. I use a 3lb steel in a lead form till I am close and then finish in a steel dishing form I made using a 3lb rawhide. It is a little slower doing 12gauge halves but not much.

If I have an extra pair of hands available (usually one of my brothers) I can have two halves dished in about ten minutes, a little longer if I am doing it myself. I use a 12lb shot put welded onto a big steel pipe and dish into a oxy bottle that is a perfect fit for regular round helm tops. If my bro is helping me, its alot easier because he can move the metal on the oxy bottle whenever i raise up the "hammer" instead of me stopping every few swings to realign it.

For spangen panels, I can do it in about 5-10 min/per panel. This is dishing, and planishing to a nice smooth finish. For a helm half, it takes me at least 30 minutes total per side to get them like I want them...smooth and symmeteric. I guess I just work slow .

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Krag von Berghen
KragAxe Armoury

Member's Pics

Sorry Prince of Darkmoor,
that post was a tad misleading. I was also trimming and filing, and adjusting the pattern to reflect the changes, while dishing the half. I'm not done, but the curve looks smooth and attractive thus far.

The second half will dish or sink much faster. I will have the pattern perfect and I will understand where the deepest of the curve needs to be and how the pattern moves.

Idëval

It _very_ much depends upon the style of helm. Something easy like, um....a spagenhelm panel, can take a couple of minutes. Something difficult like the recreation of the Lorenz Helmshmidt sallet I'm doing (One of his more beautiful, if annoying, peices), has taken about 4-5 hours to get the curves _just_ right. My armouring master used to call them "brick" sallets, because the profile looks like a round-corner brick. Very square. Odd that the German armourers thought it was a pretty or useful shape. If I were to do more of them, I'd probably get the process down to a more reasonable hour to an hour and a half.

Tops to Sugarloafs take about 10 minutes (not including welding.) Bacinets are about 15 to 20. Italian Barbutes can be a bitch, the top is only about an hour total, but getting that nice curve at the back of the skull and neck can be another 30-45 minutes.

It mostly depends upon the familiarity of the pattern, and having the right tooling. If I only had a wood stump and a ballpeen, it'd take me much longer.


Frederich

Yes what frederick said, like dishing a stainless steel armet top *cringes*

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Jugend Meister,

Harold der Bär