The Armour Archive

A while back I built a workbench. I wanted a heavy metal top for abusing the hell out of. I went out to my scrap yard and found some big pieces of 5/16" plate. That'll do. Didn't pay much attention at the time, but paid for my 300 lbs. of table top and went home.

The stuff is super cool. Some kind of hardened plate. I had to cut the table top parts down with an abrasive cut off wheel anyway, so didn't really pay any attention. Then I put some of the scrap in my band saw.

I love my band saw. The first thing I cut with it was a 1" x 3" piece of steel that I made into stakes. That took 20 minutes. Remember that number, it's significant. I tried to cut a rail road track with it. That didn't work because of throat depth issues. But it cut 2/3rds of the way through without protest. So I put the scrap from my table in the band saw. 20 minutes later I had a 1/2" long scratch (which is to say a spot that was burnished to a nice shine by the now dead blade) and had worn the teeth off of my blade.

I tried drilling it. All that does is ruin drill bits.

It's hella cool stuff. We susspect that it is some sort of military spec armor plating, as you can occasionaly find things like humvee doors cut out of it in the dump pile.

So I have these 2 foot long by about 5.5" runners that I cut off of my table, plus a whole extra pannel (I bought 4 and needed 3) of gnarly super hard tough as hell steel. I tried making some stuff with it.

This is rather a set. His and hers killing implements to ensure a happy marriage. They got hitched back in October. My budget for extra stuff was in the negatives at that time, and not much better now. I was able to use nothing but stuff I had allready in making these, with the exception of $1.28 I spent on the red frilly stuff.

His:

http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... seax02.jpg
http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... seax03.jpg
http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... seax04.jpg

Some of the armor plate for the blade, brass and mild steel for the other hardware, african mahogony for the handle. I know... it sucks, but I'm kind of new at this weapon making thing, and it honestly requires a degree of precision that I just don't have to get close to with armor.

Hers:

http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... pear01.jpg
http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... pear02.jpg
http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... pear03.jpg
http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... pear05.jpg

Armor plate on the blade, mild steel socket welded on after the fact. I tried forging the socket out, but that's beyond what I can do yet. butt cap is all mild, a cone and a ball welded up. The haft, is regretably just pine. I had a 2x2 and nipped the corners off at a 45, then planed it down. In a lot of ways, that may work out better. She does martial arts, Kung-Fu, and may end up using it for demonstrations and the like, while it won't hold up to being whacked on, the reduced weight on the haft might be handy for that kind of stuff.

While turning down the spear haft I found a knot in the 2x2. I didn't want it in the spear haft (it was poor enough allready). It was near one end so I just cut that part off. But then I had this short little stick laying in the shop, and couldn't pass it without picking it up and thinking "This needs some kind of whacking implement on the end!" Later, I had reason to get the forge up to a good heat, the kind where the bricks glow hot enough that I don't need to push the piezo starter, the gas just ignites from ambient temp. I forget why. But that takes a bit of time, and I didn't just want to burn gas in the interim, so I stuck another piece of the plate in there.

It turned into a little thrwing hatchet that I gave to my local Baron for as to pass off as a gifty bit to someone else.


http://members.armourarchive.org/mattma ... hawk01.jpg

And all of this is why I've been not working on the stuff that I should be.

Mattmaus wrote:And all of this is why I've been not working on the stuff that I should be.

Like my helm, no doubt.

Those came out nice. Wish i woulda been there to see ya fire up the hotbox.

Damn. This breastplate refuses to finish itself.

Great looking stuff!

Uric

you might want to cut a scrap and ask sean powell to test it.
contact info on this tread
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=99810

some of the alloys used for armour plate are highstrenth low alloy metals.
These may be expcencive but most of the cost is in the heat treating of the steel.
Others are Blast welded using two sheets and litteraly blasting them together with High explosive.
Knowing the alloy and metal propertys will help you make batter blades.
Heat treating can vary greatly with steel depending on the alloy and if you have ever had some high carbon shatter in the quench knowing how to treat the metal will make better blades.

it could be an abrasion resistant alloy with manganese

Most armor plate will be non-magnetic. We had some in the shotblast chamber where I used to work. Welds funny and cuts funnier, unless yo have a plasma cutter

mattmaus wrote:Some of the armor plate for the blade, brass and mild steel for the other hardware, african mahogony for the handle. I know... it sucks, but I'm kind of new at this weapon making thing, and it honestly requires a degree of precision that I just don't have to get close to with armor.

I like them. Too much precision makes it look machine made rather then hand made. Hand work has subtle shapes and textures to it that make it unique, custom and 'real' while a lot of macine made stuff may be 'precise' but they feel less alive in a medieval way.

I wish I could say something more productive then "Nice work. Keep it up" so it will have to be "Don't stress over small imperfections. Only the builder spends enough time with the piece to really notice them." I hope your wife likes the spear.

Sean

ps:

losthelm wrote:you might want to cut a scrap and ask sean powell to test it.
contact info on this tread
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=99810

Wow, this reputation I'm starting to get is going to bite me hard one day. I hope the lab dosn't get too anoyed at me... then again any break from routine is good too. Feel free to send me a piece of scrap if it's kicking around.

Sean

This stuff is just... wierd.

It may actualy be an air hardening alloy. But I have had problems with my ameturish efforts at this point, with stuff cracking in a water quench. Working with pry bars from harbor freight... bought 10 of them when they were on sale for a buck each.

While working on some of it, I wanted to get it soft so I brought it up to freaking hot! (orange) and then left it in the forge to cool. Had the fire brick hot enough to ignite the gas on it's own... left it in there to cool and came back to it the next day. It filed ok, and cut in the saw ok.

When I did the axe, I hadn't drilled the holes rof the rod in it. I put it in the forge, gor it hot, dunked it in the bucket. I left the back end of the axe out of the quench tank, and hoped that it would be softer. No such luck. I smoked 3 drill bits getting through it and still wasn't done.

I got all stupid then, and thought I might try to enlarge the hole with a tepered punch.

I put the punch in the hole drilled in the side of the eye and proceeded to hammer it mercilessly.

Now... the thickness of material that makes up the eye is 1/16th of an inch or a little thicker in spots. The attempts to enlarge the hole that I did with the punch would have crushed the ever living bajeezus out of thick wall black pipe, or any kind of soft/mild steel. This stuff didn't budge. I know, because I had the haft part way fitted at this time and it was the same as before hammering on it.

It is severely forgiving. I heated and quenched the seax 3 times. It warped on the first 2. Very very carefully brought it up to color again, nice and slow... straighten it gently, and try again. After working with the pry bars, I figured it would explode. But nope. 3rd time I got it nice and straight (which was a cool learning experience in it's own right regarding how stuff goes into a quench). after tempering it, I wanted to check it, so shined it up and no evidence of cracks. Stuck it in the vice, and pulled on it to flex it a bit, no sign of cracks. Possible signs of a hernea though...

It's really cool stuff.

and for the record...

it's not for MY wife... for a friend and his wife. They saw pictures and are excited to pick them up. It's a good gift. Life is happy.