Progress pics - arms

Witchfinder · Post by **Witchfinder** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 9:16 am

It seems to be the project that never ends. This is my first real armouring project - I made a pauldron (yes, just one) as an experiment, but it came out pretty awful. I decided to have a go at something a bit more ambitious and this is the result. I've not strapped or pointed them yet (I'm still finishing off the right arm). I think the elapsed time so far is over three years!

There are a number of reasons it took so long - my second son was born, Gears of War 2 came out for the Xbox 360, etc... but the project never died. It always sat there in the garage, taunting me, daring me to finish it off.

The satin finish hides a multitude of sins. I raised the elbows rather than dishing them, and this felt like a more natural way of working the metal.

I'd love some constructive criticism before I finally finish this project and embark upon something even more ambitious!

Thanks!

Tableau · Post by **Tableau** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:16 pm

are you kidding me? Aside from the fact that 3 years is way too long, those are gorgeous!

How is the range of motion?

Witchfinder · Post by **Witchfinder** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:23 am

Tableau wrote:How is the range of motion?

Thanks for your comments. Yes, it really has been about three years, trying to fit time in around family and the lure of sitting in a nice warm house playing console games instead of standing in a freezing cold garage hammering metal was difficult

The range of motion seems fine - good enough to allow me to reach my mouth with a tankard of beer, so good enough. I'll post some more pics when I've got more progress to report and you can see for yourself.

Thanks again. Any suggestions or tips on what could be improved? I'm still struggling with the bouging stage and getting rid of the general "lumpiness"

Klaus the Red · Post by **Klaus the Red** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:43 am

Yeah, I've had that same project.

I only ever finished one arm in 2 years before I petered out, and ended up selling it plus the parts for the other as a fixer-upper.

My first impression is that both the form and the finish are really nice in general. Do you have really long, skinny forearms? I've always felt that the cuff should end below the wristbone so as not to interfere with full hand rotation, so all the vambraces I've made or worn, or seen on guys with my build, have always been much shorter in proportion.

One suggestion for next time- overlap the two halves of the lower cannon on both the hinge and the strap sides. It doesn't have to be by much, but it makes for a cleaner and stronger join, the two edges reinforce each other so they don't get wavy from blows so much, and it'll never pinch your sleeve when you close it.

Klaus

Witchfinder · Post by **Witchfinder** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:26 am

Klaus the Red wrote:My first impression is that both the form and the finish are really nice in general. Do you have really long, skinny forearms? I've always felt that the cuff should end below the wristbone so as not to interfere with full hand rotation, so all the vambraces I've made or worn, or seen on guys with my build, have always been much shorter in proportion.

One suggestion for next time- overlap the two halves of the lower cannon on both the hinge and the strap sides. It doesn't have to be by much, but it makes for a cleaner and stronger join, the two edges reinforce each other so they don't get wavy from blows so much, and it'll never pinch your sleeve when you close it.

Thanks for your advice. In answer to your question, yes I do have quite long, slender forearms. I'm about 6' tall, but weigh only around 155lbs.

Your point about overlapping is well made. I tried to figure out how to do this, but struggled to get the edges of the lower canon to line up against one another correctly and squarely. Also, I wasn't sure how the overlap would match up with the rolled edge.

Thanks very much for your help!

Klaus the Red · Post by **Klaus the Red** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:46 am

Check out this thread on the Oakeshott arm harness- pretty good pic of the overlap on the hinge side.

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... =oakeshott

To mate with the rolled edge, I think you just end up making the roll allowance shorter by the width of the overlap flange, so the ends of the rolls butt up against each other without overlapping. Either that, or do a simple 90-degree flare on the wrist instead of a roll. This makes for an "L" shape at the end of both halves, and one will next neatly inside the other when they overlap. Does this make sense? The Oakeshott arm has this feature. My Chartres arms are made this way also, but they are also heat-treated and can get away without a full roll for rigidity.

K

Witchfinder · Post by **Witchfinder** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:20 am

Aha! Excellent thread, thanks for the pointer.

Louis de Leon · Post by **Louis de Leon** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:23 am

Witchfinder wrote:I'm still struggling with the bouging stage and getting rid of the general "lumpiness"

My standard advice is to go watch all of Eric Dube's videos. Over and over and over.

You can watch him boughing against the flat of an anvil from the inside or over a stake. It'll make things click if you watch them enough.

Pay close attention to the Armet.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SgtViktor?blend=2&ob=1

Pitbull Armory · Post by **Pitbull Armory** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:36 am

Hi there Witchfinder, Nice shape on the vambraces. Thanks for the pics, keep up the good work.

Take care

Pitbull

Witchfinder · Post by **Witchfinder** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:26 am

Thanks for your encouragement and advice everyone. I'm still finishing the right arm, so once it's all done, I'll post some more pics.