AR: Spangenhelm Kit from Halberds

[taltosh]

Here is the long awaited review I promissed.

The item in question is #4 or a series of 5 custom spangenhelm kits that Halberds offered to the folks at the archives over the last few months or so. Hal made it in the form of a conical spangen with rounded and creased nasal, to my personal specs. I managed to snag this one as a trade for a custom maille coif.

The communication betwen Hal and myself was excellent as there was some going back and forth, customising both the coif and the helm until we came to an agreement. Every e-mail was promptly answered, clear and concise. communication was A+

The helm consists of 4 panels, brow band and the two top bands, all metal used is 14 ga mild steel. His kits normaly come rough from the hammer but special consideration was taken due to my lack of tools and the amount of custom work on the coif. What I received were pieces that were planished, dished bands to match the panels, primary rivet holes punched/drilled on all the panels and bands, nasal formed to my specs and everything got a few passes on the belt sander up to 120 grit. The kit also includes enough rivets finish the helm with leftover if I need to add more to my liking.

The work I need to put into this is minimal and well within the skill of a novice. (what I would consider myself to be at this point)
The helm needs to be assembled using screws and bolts, a few holes need to be trued in the panels where fitting the rivets is a bit tight and then the helm can be assembled.

Of course the finish is left to my discretion, so far I'm aiming for a satin finish to about 400-600 grit with a light pass on the buffer with an emery compound. I might do a russeted finish or an oil blackened finish at some other point in the future, depending on how well it holds up to rust this summer.

I'll probably be fitting it with either a padded coif or a leather suspension liner. I will be posting pics of the completed helm when I'm done with it.

The helm kit was completed very promptly from the onset of communications. Holy! I just checked the e-mails sent back and forth... to give an idea of how fast this kit was put together, the first mention of sizing was on march 20th and the helm shipped on april 3rd, that's 2 weeks folks!!! This is what I call prompt service.

Oh, did I also mention that he included one of his 3 pound Tin alloy riviting anvil so I wouldn't mash up the rivet heads when assembling the kit together?

Halberds gets a high recommendation for his worksmanship, promt service, ease of communication and just for being an overall good guy.

[Galileo]

Cool - look forward to the picture of the finished product.

G--

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A PBS mind in an MTV world.