The Armour Archive

What kind of tricks do you guys use to pein rivets inside a Great Helm?

Thanks

When you assemble the helm put the top onto the upper portion first. That way you can reach the rivets. Put your rivets in loose, piening only enough to keep them from falling out but still able to wiggle the pieces a little. This will help you align the rest of the rivets. Get them all in, then rivet them tight. Be sure that you keep the top and the upper plates together as you hammer your rivets tight. And many of the rivets (arming nails) in period are clenched over, not really piened nicely into a round head as most do it now.
Then mount the bottom piece (pieces) to the top 2 sections which are together.

Langdon

[This message has been edited by Langdon (edited 06-25-2002).]

Another technique would be to use a flat head rivet and pein from the outsite of the helm with a rivet set.

I have a 3 foot (~1 meter) long cylindrical tool steel bar clamped horizontally to my bench for this sort of work. A blowhorn stake like this one on eBay in an anvil or stake plate would work well also.

-Keith/Austin.

You could also use a beakhorn stake like this
one on eBay.

-Keith/Austin.

As noted above, great-helms are the armor piece for which flat-headed tinners' rivets are made! Head inside, pein the outside. An anvil horn may reach everywhere you need, or you may need a horizontal-bar rivet set such as heretofore described.

You just gotta hit em more times since you've got a shorter swing.

You also may have noticed when you were at my place that on my hammer rack there was a ball pien hammer that had had a bit of an amputation. Basically I cut off the flat side. Lets you get a longer swing.

Also you've just gotta get a little creative with the angle of your hammer swings. You really can get into most places with a regular ball pien.

Also always start assembling from the top.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory