Plate

armourgedon · Post by **armourgedon** » Sun Apr 20, 2003 9:30 pm

hey i wanna know like how hard it is to make Plate mail. and how much it costs for the material. i\and if i have to buy alot of tools. can i make a living off of it to???

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money talks, mine always says goodbye

Got christ??? its hell witout him

Morgan · Post by **Morgan** » Mon Apr 21, 2003 8:41 am

There's no such thing as plate mail. That's a fantasy game term. Plate armour can be easy and can be hard to make. It depends on your dedication and if you have the proper tools. The more tools you have, the easier it is to make a variety of items. Most people acquire tools as they go along. Tool and material costs vary widely depending on your local situation. You may have a company that has lots of scrap that you can get cheaply. You may be in a remote area where you'd have to have costly shipping to get items sent to you.

Go here and read ALL of these essays:

http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/

They will answer a TON of questions for you on everything from armour making basics to running an armoury for profit. Enjoy, and welcome.

armourgedon · Post by **armourgedon** » Mon Apr 21, 2003 10:01 pm

thx and sry but i play alot of video games

i live in pheonix and i dont know if there is a company that sells scrap. but what if i buy one of the cheapest tools? how much are they

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money talks, mine always says goodbye

Got christ??? its hell witout him

Morgan · Post by **Morgan** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:02 pm

A dollar.

ushumgal · Post by **ushumgal** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:26 pm

Material is generally not too expensive - I just bought two large sheets of 15ga T-6 aluminum, a sheet of 14ga stainless, and a sheet of 16 ga stainless for about $100 all together. That will be more than enough to make my complete harness. They were drop cuts, which made them cheaper (the chunks left over when sheet metal places cut their huge sheets up). If you go with mild steel, it will be even less expensive (and easier to work with), but you will have to deal with rust or rustproofing. Check your phone book for local sheet metal places and get their prices.

If you are just getting into this, you may want to try some projects that are technically more simple to start with, which also has the benefit of requiring fewer tools. Try making a lamellar harness, and maybe a great helm. These are the sort of things that really do not require dishing or anything like that. Mostly just cutting, cleaning up edges, bending the metal, drilling holes and riviting. This will give you a good introduction to many of the basic skills, and let you know if you really want to get more into it. For this soft of armour, you need a metal cutter sufficient to handle the metal you are working with, some kind of sander and/or grinder to clean up edges, and you can probably do all the bending for a great helm over some cast-iron pipe or some such and a rawhide or rubber mallet. You can just use a drill for the holes, but you will eventually want to invest in a punch. Lamellar can be tedious, but it's great practice for cutting.

Hope this helps!
Jamie
LU2.DUB.SAR

[This message has been edited by ushumgal (edited 04-22-2003).]

[This message has been edited by ushumgal (edited 04-22-2003).]

Will Knight · Post by **Will Knight** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 2:26 pm

I haven't started armouring myself, but check out the essays section of this archive as well as the essays at www.arador.com.
They're helpful.
-Will