The Armour Archive

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2002 8:50 pm**

OK, I'm hooked. I went to the Darkmoor Armoury hammer-in this weekend and had a fabulous time. Must make MORE armor!

There's just one problem: I'm not built like your usual armor-wearing fighter type.

Anyone have suggestions for scaling patterns down? I expect I can make reasonable guesses on most pieces, but simply shrinking them won't do the trick as I'm not short (5' 10"), just thin (135lb).

Also: any comments on 18ga vs. 20ga stainless? I won't be fighting in this, just wearing it around for fun. The 18ga mild steel seemed reasonable to work, will 18ga stainless be similar? If I move to 20ga stainless will the armor feel/sound too flimsy even for casual wear? What kind of overall weight are we talking for 18ga vs. 20ga suits (yes, I know that will depend on the design).

right... putting a cork in the questions (for now)

-Spider (recent platemail convert)

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2002 9:34 pm**

My best guess would be to check the orientation of the pattern and only shrink it in the direction needed. Since I work my patterns in my MSPaint program I just call them up as bmp.s and call up page properties and swap them to mm instead of inches. Then just decrease the size and print. Cut them out and see how they fit.

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2002 9:43 pm**

I agree. Cut them out and fit them to you!

Happy armouring.

Hal.

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:11 pm**

Historically, armor was nearer to 20-22 gauge anyway, for plate that wasn't covering something critical. Then it got thicker. The thing about stainless steel is that it looks like nothing but stainless steel unless it gets toasted over coals or blasted with a torch. Stainless also is stiffer than comparable gauge mild; 18 gauge SS is about as sturdy as 16 gauge mild, 20 gauge SS is like 18 mild, and so on.

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"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone..."

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2002 10:27 pm**

Glad you had a great time Spider! Hope to see you around here (and the shop) more often.

As to your question, you could always come down again and see for yourself how the different steels feel when working them. Shrinking the patterns down by a certain percent is one option, but a much better way is to manually draw the pattern to fit you how you want and now that you've had an introduction to seeing how steel moves, you might be able to draw pretty accurate patterns, depending on your skill with a pencil.

I can always send some patterns to you to play with if you like.

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2002 11:20 pm**

I'm making armour for our group over here in Japan. You would actually be bigger than several of our current members. Let's put it like this: I recently made set of loaner legs using 18 guage and an unaltered AA elbow pattern.

18 guage seems to work fine if you roll the edges, and it's as light as can be.

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The defining characteristic of fanaticism is the inability to understand why everyone else is not a fanatic.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 12:24 am**

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Prince Of Darkmoor:
Shrinking the patterns down by a certain percent is one option, but a much better way is to manually draw the pattern to fit you how you want<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That assumes a much greater understanding than I currently have. I can wrap my brain around modifying existing patterns, but I don't think I'm quite ready for the draw-it-from-scratch leap.

-Spider (pondering)

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 8:17 am**

Spider, if you hang with POD on a regular basis, but are way too skinny, why don't you bug him to introduce you to Kubik? I know he was thinking about it, and you can learn on a lot of stuff while fixing that little problem...

I know it's not the *immediate* answer to your question... but it'll pop your q.o.l. through the ceiling and help your armouring to boot once you get into stuff like heavy dishing, etcetera...

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:39 am**

Hi Spider! I'm glad to see you have found the call of the hammer.

There aren't many of us females around here.

I posted a similar question when I was designing my first breastplate. I got a lot of great responses about armour types that are suited to females and also some great info about the physical considerations when armouring a woman. I can email you the text from that thread if you like.

I also found that while making my first couple pieces, I really had to trim and fit along the way. I don't have much experience in patterning, but was able to modify and learn as I went along. My first breastplate was trimmed 3 times before it was finally "finished."

What are you planning on making next? Body armour? I would think that would require the most alteration for your frame.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

bex

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"Anything worth doing is worth doing obsessively."
Becky's Armour Pages: http://bexter.adkinssoftware.com

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 1:39 pm**

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Russ Mitchell:
Spider, if you hang with POD on a regular basis, but are way too skinny, why don't you bug him to introduce you to Kubik?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

*blank look*
Who or what is Kubik?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by bexter12:

I posted a similar question when I was designing my first breastplate. I got a lot of great responses about armour types that are suited to females and also some great info about the physical considerations when armouring a woman. I can email you the text from that thread if you like.?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd be most grateful for the text. I've already started an armoring file - that'd fit right in!

-Spider (hands already recovered enough for jewelry chainmail)

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 4:45 pm**

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>The title of the thread:
Armor on a smaller scale
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Uh... I have a lego dude in a nearly completed hauberk. Does that count? hehehe

G--

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 8:56 pm**

Spider you also have to remember most of the armour that is made and patterned here is meant to be worn with light padded armour under it.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2002 9:56 pm**

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by spider:
 I'd be most grateful for the text. I've already started an armoring file - that'd fit right in!

-Spider (hands already recovered enough for jewelry chainmail)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Done.

bex

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"Anything worth doing is worth doing obsessively."
Becky's Armour Pages: http://bexter.adkinssoftware.com

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armor on a smaller scale

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