Too many banquets...not enough field time?

Patrick Sain · Post by **Patrick Sain** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 11:00 am

One of the guys at my workshop brought in his harness that he built 14 years ago to knock the rust off and show off while we were discussing doing some group effort manufacture.

The arms all bent, the knees all flexed, we laughed at his sallet that started life as a French or Belgian combat helmet and was ridiculaously light for sparring and of course he had to try a few things on...

Grabs his belt, the one with the extra hole 3 inches inside the others to fit the skinny teen it was purchased for, and goes to cinch it up.

Only problem was that even after he sucked it up there was still an inch gap between the end of the belt and the buckle.

Oh my!

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Been there; Done that; Made the hauberk.

Armadillo Highway/Knitting Steel

giles o D · Post by **giles o D** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:04 pm

hah, poor guy.

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we will only be what we strive to become

ushumgal · Post by **ushumgal** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:40 pm

Alas, I know the feeling. I made an aluminum char aina breastplate when I was 17 (finished everything except the buckles), and now that I am getting back into SCA after 10 years, I have pulled it back out. Had to re-rivet all the straps, and some of them were just too short to span the new gap and had to be replaced with new straps. Very embarrassing... Now my char aina has huge ugly gaps between the plates, large enough to make me worried about fighting in it...

Jamie
LU2.DUB.SAR

[This message has been edited by ushumgal (edited 04-07-2003).]

Alcyoneus · Post by **Alcyoneus** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:47 pm

I hate it when my gear shrinks while in storage.

Brodir · Post by **Brodir** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 5:46 pm

My girlfriend made me a gembeson when I was 17 years old, and though never washed, it too has shrunken considerably. I blame it on inadequate storage

~Wil

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Midgard- 11th Century Living History & Re-enactment.

Syrus Leigh · Post by **Syrus Leigh** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 6:51 pm

I am 17. Should I be making my armour pre-shrunk?

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For East and Honor

Frederich Von Teufel · Tue Apr 08, 2003 7:43 pm

I strongly recommend you preshrink your steel before you cut it, this is what everyone knows but hardly anyone does. You should take your sheet of steel and stuff it into a washing machine. Set the washer on hot, as hot as your machine will go, and then make sure it's rinseing with hot water as well. This will shrink the pores of the steel, making it both more waterproof as well as providing a better surface later for that mirror polish. Don't be afraid to run it through the washer more than once either, I've found that some sheets that start out at 4x8 will shrink down to as small as 3x6 with two passes through the washer, plus they get thicker as well; a nice tip for those times when you run out of 16 guage on a Saturday, just take some 18 and run it through a good hot wash.

Finally, dry it in a dryer set on the hottest setting; I've found it helps to through an old shoe or two in with it as it drys. This helps get many of the wrinkles out.

There you go, preshrunk steel, almost guaranteed not to shink once you've made it into armour.

Frederich
<putting silly stick down and moving away slowly>

Sixtus_Goetz · Post by **Sixtus_Goetz** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 9:56 am

ROFL!!!!!!!!

Saranac Goetz

Halvgrimr · Post by **Halvgrimr** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 12:09 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Alcyoneus:
I hate it when my gear shrinks while in storage.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

--i know what you mean

i had an entire set of 14 ga lorica segmentata do that to me once

that damn 14 ga is notorius for shrinking when you get sweat on it

Halvgrimr