The Armour Archive

Does anyone have any suggestions on what type and thicknes of Ti. to use to make armour. I am going to see if I can get some from an old place of employment. Oh and what are the going rates now. Thanks

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Yours,
James of York
Shire of Tir Briste
Kingdom of Meridies

I've been doing a fair amount with titanium recently. What I have been playing around with is commercially pure titanium, referred to as CP Grade 2. This is pretty much pure titanium, with very small trace elements. I've also been using 6AL-4V, which is one of the more exotic titanium alloys that is commonly available (it's also one of the ones that I think has the highest potential for armour. It's also one of the most difficult to work with; nothing else compares.)

I've been using .050 for things like elbows, lames, vambraces, rerebraces, etc. It would also do well for gorgets, gauntlets, and things like that. I have several small sheets of .071 that will be turned into a leg harness within the next few months. My recommendation would to stay in those size ranges. Going thicker isn't necessary; even CP titanium is more than strong enough for anything you be doing armour-wise, while going thinner you start to get a bit too springy for my tastes. .040 might be worthwhile for those things that don't need to maintain shape for protection purposes (lames and such.)

Using titanium gives you an approximate 3/5 weight savings compared to mild steel, while being much stronger. My impressions are that titanium is equivalent to mild that is 4 to 6 guages thicker, i.e. 18 guage titanium is equivalent to 14 guage mild.

If you search, you can get titanium scrap for $5 to $10 a pound.


Frederich

Friedrich's telling you the straight dope on Ti. I have a set of spaulders and arms constructed from 6-4 with the elbow cops done in CP1. They're hideously over-engineered at .063". Could have gotten away with .050" but the weight is still half that of steel.

.040" is perfect material for greaves, and vambraces, in my opinion, though if you're a guy who takes a lot of heavy shots to the arms that might not be too wise.

6-4 Ti is the most commonly available alloy out there. It's also..ahem...let's just say I had to put a Pelham and a Half into working it, at .063" thickness. I probably shortened my usefulness of my body by a year in doing it.

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Jehan de Pelham

Brotherhood of the Gauntlet
"Ultima Ratio Regem"
http://www.brotherhoodofthegauntlet.org/index.html
"Plasti-Bigot" (And trying *real hard* to be nice about it)

Hello,

If you want some good advise about Ti Armour, talk to Sir MRKS. He does moderate production with it. website is tiarmour.com

Hope this helps.

Saranac Goetz.

P.S. .04 works for cuieses also and also polyeons.

OK, Break my heart and tell me how much a sheet costs (excluding scap prices).

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The artisan formerly known as Willing Pell, then Juan Santell and then Willing Pell again. Hey, Prince could do it, why not me?

well, mcmaster carr has 24x36 sheets of .063 6AL-4V titanium for the low low bargain basement price of $1266.63 per sheet (plus shipping and handling, of course.)

(you'll have better luck looking on ebay for end-cuts and such, methinks.)

bump will reply later tonight

my squire brother just arrived

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sir mrks

tiarmour.com ==>> maker of fine Titanium armour... please note I am not a period armourer I make high tech sport armour using nonperiod materials(titanium) for the type of stick fighting used in the sca.