Onion top construction advice

[coreythompsonhm]

Well just as the title says, I have been contemplating making an onion top bascinet, and the only technique I can think of that will get the same shape as extant examples is raising. Is there any way "to cheat" and get those same lines? I have verrrrry little experience in raising, just some basic raising done on my elbow cops to get that extra depth my doming dishes can't provide. I saw the other thread on onion tops that was posted and didn't want to derail it. Also, lets expand the topic a little to making a typical late german houndskull visor too. When I get home from work I'll be able to provide a picture for an example.

[wcallen]

I know people who have made them from 3 pieces - using pieces like the rough from the hammer tops. You add just a bit to the point and then change the curve near the top a little and as you pull the point out to make the halves match you get a sweepy point like you want.

The back really does need to be raised some to get the sweep down there.

And to get the right shape you really need the upper halves to be dished funny, not just as a section of sphere.

It actually isn't all that hard - if you can make the standard, modern, SCA 3 piece bascinet, you can make one that has the onion shape too.

Wade

[coreythompsonhm]

Well three piece back point bascinets I can do now. That curve on onion tops on the bottom half of the skull and the "helm skirt" is what im wondering about. So it sounds like i need to spend lots of time on raising, and eventually get to this project at a much later date.

[coreythompsonhm]

Well heres an after thought to my last post....

What about making the two skull halves, weld them together, weld on the skirt like a backpoint, then raise that curve along the bottom of the skull and skirt? Would the welds cause an issue during the raising process?

[Cet]

Raising on welded pre-forms is certainly a viable approach and I use it pretty much all the time now when building finished helms. The weld can be a bit of an annoyance at times but not any big deal presuming its sound- worse case the weld will split while your working it in which case just stop clean the area well and weld it back up. Keep the welds as smalls s possible - TIG or gas are best. You can raise over MIG welds but the welds tend to be bigger and therefor heat up at a different rate that the surrounding metal which can be problematic. Grinding MIG welds down before working them helps with the differing thickness issue but is often unnecessary with a good TIG weld.

[coreythompsonhm]

I have a mig, so I think I'll just grind the welds down before raising the piece. Cet, if I decide to buy helm halves from you to save myself time, do you make helm halves for onion tops?

[Cet]

Not a specific onion top skull but you can get where you want to go starting with either the back-point or the conical as a preform. I'm working on some instructional drawings I'll be posting on the RFH facebook page shortly.