The Armour Archive

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Ok so what kind of finish should I put on this star of david fail head? I was thinking I could paint it blue/white, blacken it or buff it so its nice and shiny. Thing is if I were to buff it, it would take a long time and all the little defects would show (like how I wlded over one of the gaps oops). If I painted it what would I do about the chain? If I were to just blaken it, I think it might be a little plain. So tell me what you think would be best and why (that would help a lot).

blacken the entire thing. it would look cool

You could stick it in the forge (or oven for that matter) and get it just warm enough to melt wax. Than rub a chunk of wax over the whole thing. Once it cools, you can buff it with a cloth to get a nice black finish.

Cat

I like it, how it's constructed?Or better, it's supposed to be strong enough for swing it over a shield or is just for show?
I'm with the opinion of blackening it, maybe the idea of the wax could be very nice.

I agree with the wax part, but you will want to make sure you get some soot from the forge on there, it is the actual part the retains the black. Of course, you can't do that in the oven, but if you have an acetylene torch, if you have a "dirty" flame (a flame that puts out soot) then blacken and heat the piece you can get a beautiful black finish. Two points of interest though: DON'T BREATHE IN WAX SMOKE!!!! it is very harmful to your lungs. and don't trust he color of the finish until the piece is dry, I have noticed in my own finishing that the still melted wax is somewhat lighter than black, but totally dry, it is nice.

I don't know, I think it's almost black enough now that just adding the wax might do the trick. Maybe not, I'm new at this, so if you have a forge and you decide you want to blacken it, you may want to follow the suggestions of getting some soot on it.

I don't think blackening it will look plain, I think it would look good. However, it's YOUR piece so do it however you wish. If you want to remove the black color, you might try those wire wheels that people use. The wire wheel finish is one of my favorites. It's not glaringly shiny, but it gets the black off, leaving a bit of the black in the pits on the piece giving it a nice, "old" look.

It looks great by the way! Please post pics when you get it finished!

Cat

Well, this could be completely off, but from what I can tell it appears to be two Stars of David bisecting eachother and your problem is that a solid finish seems too plain, so what if you FIRST blackened the whole thing, then one ONE of the stars (leave the other bisecting one black, being careful not to remove any from it), remove its blackening and polish it to a mirror or satin finish (whichever you prefer), for some contrast. Though as Cat said, it's your piece, so best to do what you think would look best. [Though regarding the idea, it would be best to remove the blackening off of the one meant to be polished with sandpaper by hand, because even a slight slip with a wire-wheel could nip the black side and you'd have to restart]

Black paint would work too.

When I first saw it the first thing that came to mind was blood.
Yes blood of the heathen infidels... would be a nice patina for it.

Hal

Yeah....

I'm thinking that as is it has a nice feel to it.

Something about the rougness of it says "I will kill you, and it will not be a pleasant death"

Something about the rougness of it says "I will kill you, and it will not be a pleasant death"

considering the hearldic symbolism it seems to say:

"I'm gonna break your skull you shmuck, and then make sure no one will sit shiva for you"


-Justus

mirror polish!!!












course i wanna polish everything

I went with the black paint. Now that I see it, I think it fits it very well. Also very easy to touch up. Its almost finished.

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Its made out of a 1/2 inch bar. The welds should be strong enough, but its just to heavy to be a real weapon. Its more for show, like something you would see in lotr or warhammer.

"I'm gonna break your skull you shmuck, and then make sure no one will sit shiva for you"

haha I will have to remember that one.