The Armour Archive

I have a decently made lorica segmentata that has developed some rust spots. I've taken care of the rust using naval jelly, however the other issue is that they made the lorica from 16 gauge steel. Frankly too heavy for an authentic lorica segmentata, and I won't be using it for SCA or anything like that.

My question, would it be practical to grind down parts of the armor lowering the gauge, to 18 maybe even 20 in some places and then re polish it to a nice satin finish?

I don't have the equipment to do this myself, and I don't know how much work would go into that. It may be simpler to just get a better lorica segmentata made, but I hate to waste what is reusable.

Any suggestions?

That sounds like more trouble than it is worth.

I think it is too great a challange to reduce the material thickness that way.

Hal

Ps: Make a nice display out of it.

sell it and remake yours in a thinner guage.
takeing down the thickness of a formed piece takes a lot of time and abrasive. and after all is sead and done your have to spend days polishing it and puting it back together.

Any grinding or sanding you do will make the armour rust even more unless you polish back to a smooth surface. Trade if possible or salvage the fittings and use the steel as templates for a lighter lorica you make yourself. The shaping is very easy for all the plates. When making a lorica seg. the hard part is the fittings. If you use 20 g. mild steel you can cut with aviation snips.

If you go for making your own, buy the steel from a place that can cut the metal with a shear. A lorica seg. uses long strips of metal that are of two widths. If you pay the extra min. cut charge you will have very little cutting to do on your own.

Good luck and hope to see you at Roman Days!

Roger.

Thanks gents.