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Newbie needing help
Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 3:25 pm
by swahili
I am kind of new here and to the armor gig. I am going to the Ren Fest here in ohio and want to make a suit for it. I need some pics or designs for some ideas. Also I don't had much of a budget so I am working with mostly scraps and freebies. I have regular tools to work with like drills hammers things like that. If I can make this work out I will be investing what I can into a shop. If anyone can help that would be great. Thanks for listen and hope to hear from you all real soon.
Swahili
Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:48 pm
by Konstantin the Red
Plate armoring isn't the kind of thing you pick up in a week, or a month. You're basically asking for Insta-Armor here.
No such thing.
However, there is easy armor: butted mail -- the short-sleeved, mid-thigh shirt of mail, the haburgeon. Since you're a first-timer, I'd recommend you use 16 gauge galvanized wire. Get it from a lumberyard or a fencing-supply place, places that sell it by weight, in bulk, for people who use it in quantity, not in little packages. Get about 25 pounds of galvy.
You'll need four tools: two pairs of ordinary slip-joint pliers, a mini bolt cutter (a 14" bolt cutter works well too, and faster), and a piece of 5/16" dia. steel rod stock/round stock to coil the wire around. You may elect to use a small pair of vise-grips to turn the round stock to coil the wire, so maybe you're up to five tools. Some people will bend a crankhandle shape into their rod to make a windlass- or crank-mandrel, and never mind the vise-grips.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trevor.barker/farisles/guilds/armour/mail.htm
Now all it takes is those four tools and time: about one hundred man hours.
Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 12:54 am
by Halberds
Welcome Swahili,
Armouring is a great craft and past time. I am glad you wish to pursue this; however each quest begins with the first step... little Grasshopper....
May I suggest a pair of spaulders as a first project. This will teach basic dishing, planishing, articulation and metal finishing.... needed for a full suit.
You have come to the right place.... Sit back and enjoy the ride.... Without your time and effort you will have made nothing. With your time and effort you will be able to create works of wonder.
Don't forget to study the historical pieces........
Hal
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Happy metal pounding