How to pound out a McKettle helm. By Halberds
Cut the patterns out of 18ga. mild steel.
Start with the brim. Hammer the inside edge up about 90 degrees on both sides.
Fit the 2 brim pieces together with a slight down swoop. Trim if needed the front and back joint.
If you have a welder weld the brim together. If not use a riveted splice piece to fasten it together.
Punch or drill the 3/16" holes around the band. Hold off on rolling the outside edge until later.
Now dish the front to back piece. For the raised center ridge, I used a ball peen hammer in a depression in my tin/lead alloy block. A larger peen for the center portion and a smaller one for the tapered ends. A slot cut into the dishing stump would work also. Hammer in the rough shape of the crest from the inside.
Now planish it with a small polished faced hammer. (I like to radius the edge around the hammer so it does not scar the metal at the transition.) Planish over a homemade tool made from a wall-mart disc weight about 2 to 2.5 pounds. The disc is steel and about 6" in diameter and about 3/8" thick it has a nice rounded edge that might need a little clean up with your grinder. Clamp it in the vice to work on. Pound out all the lumps the ball peen hammer made, over this tool from the outside.
The small flutes along the sides of the front to back band were made by pounding first from the inside with a dulled chisel. This established the lines. Just pound on the tin/lead block or a small crease in your stump. Scoot the chisel along a little at a time with overlapping blows.
Now finish the edge by pounding from the outside over a RR spike. Use the small polished hammer with the rounded edges like on the center crease. Tap tap tap and the edge will turn down and smooth out. Take a few passes to get this smooth. Hammer both sides of the flute to make the nice sharp shape. I like to work each side a little at a time so the entire part does not twist so bad. If it does twist on you just step on it and twist it back with your hands.
With all this hammering on the inside of the front to back band it will have a tendency to curl in too much. Bend it back out to fit the brim a few times as you work it into shape. Punch or drill 1/8" holes for the rivets along the edge. Hopefully you allowed enough room in your flutes to accept the rivets as shown in the helm pic.
Now fit the front to back band to the brim. I left the pattern a little long on the ends so you can trim as needed. Punch or drill the rivet holes and bolt it together. Hammer a nice fit in the band to blend with the brim.
Ok the hard part is done. Now dish and trim the two panels to fit inside the helm you have so far.
This is far easier than making the panels first and trying to fit the brim. Trust me on this one...(That is why I had to make two of these helms.)
When the panels fit nice, clamp and match drill the rivet holes. add nuts and bolts as you work along. Ok now you have this Frankenstein looking kettle helm, lets fix that.
Hammer all the seams together over various stakes that fit inside. The bolt heads should be on the inside to do this right. Don't hit your threads or the nuts won't come off. Do some clean up planishing at this time. A short plastic rod will help in getting the seams to lay down flat.
Now roll the outside brim over the disc weight. This will give you a nice wide roll.
Close it up a bit on the bench or by hammering in thin air. Use a slightly rounded polished hammer.
Take as many passes as it needs to prevent it from warping. Each pass goes around the entire brim.
If the helm is under a lot of stress with the bolts, shoot it with your flamethrower to normalize it. This will relax the metal and it will stay in the bolted position.
Now dissemble your helm and go to the sanding stage. Finish the helm to your needs.
Last, is to rivet the whole thing together. I like this part the best.
I found that a metal rod about 1/2" diameter and 6" long with a cup in the center works well to rivet on. clamp this tool in your vice. It holds your helm up out of the way and supports only the rivet head. Some of these rivets are hard to get at from the outside as they are next to the flutes. This tool works wonders in this case.
So there you have it.... My hat is off to anyone that does this, I know how much trouble it can be.
Remember: These Patterns are free to all with the understanding that credit should be given to the owners.
Have fun, and let me see your pics.....
Hal
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/h ... lberds.jpg
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/h ... straps.jpg
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Happy metal pounding
