A couple of questions I have been pondering

[gordon bald]

Hello all this is my first post I have been reading the forums for a month or so now and have been trying my hand at a lot of the armoring ideas that everyone has posted. I have made my first leather articulated shoulder from the tutorial on the ardor armory website and after dishing out a spaulder with a ballpean hammer I took the time to make a propor dishing hammer. My current poject is a great helm (the birth of my son last week has significantly slowed my progress lol). I have set up and ran a few test pieces using the saltwater etching, wich is fun as hell. I must say, I LOVE ARMORING, I have always liked to create things but always got discouraged when I couldn't make my perfect idea come to life, with armoring it's different I move the metal till I get what I want no matter how much hammering it takes. With this wealth of information at my fingertips i have been pondering a few ideas and wanted to ask you all about them.

I was reading about blackening armor by heating it to 600ish degrees in a oven or gas barbeque and droping it into dirty motor oil and that when Cat used clean, I think it was veggie oil it came out a bronzish/graphic color. Has anyone ever tried hydrolic oil it's very red dirty hydrolic oil is dark red i was curious if it would cause the chain/plate to come out a red color. I have this vision of some blood red armor in my head.

Also if anyone would be willing to let me know what is the difference between hot rolled and cold rolled steel, My brother works at a Factory that pickles steel and he has been able to bring me home some hot rolled sheet metal it seems to be a lot harder to work and the black scale on it is a devil to get off if it is unpickled. Althou I have noticed that if I work the metal with it still blackened it doesn't come off and can be polished so that it looks like blackened armor.

Also i noticed a lot of the people here work to create "period" armor. I have always been a fantasy gamer/book reader/dreamer will people look down on me if i want to create more of a "Fantasy armor ".

Thanks for taking the time to read my post I await your replies with anticipation

Ps I know my spelling and grammer are horrible I try my best but they have never been my stong suits.

[Halberds]

Welcome and have fun armouring.

I do not use oil to blacken armour it just makes a nasty black crust and flakes off when hit. YMMV.

Hot rolled steel has the black oxide on it. It will come right off if soaked for a half hour in 4 gal. water to one gal. swimming pool acid "muriatic".

Cold rolled steel does not have the black oxide and is nice and clean.

There is nothing wrong with fantasy armour... it is what it is.

Pound long and prosper.

Hal

Ps: Copy and paste into something with a spell check.

[JT]

First off... Welcome to the Archive.

Also i noticed a lot of the people here work to create "period" armor. I have always been a fantasy gamer/book reader/dreamer will people look down on me if i want to create more of a "Fantasy armor ".

Some people will probably look down on you. If you become successful at it, some will look up to you.

What will bother many people is if you make fantasy armour, and claim that it is period. (This is presuming you don't actually research fantastical period armour, and base your work off that.)

[gordon bald]

ahh kewl thanks for the replies guys mostly I am gonna work on patterns that are available till I learn a little more, and who knows maybe I will become more period oriented as things go on.

[schreiber]

Hey, welcome to the Archive.

I have had a lot of luck oil blackening with used motor oil. However, the way I did it was not really safe. I'd say you're in new territory with the idea of using a synth, the best I can say is try it out.

I have always experienced cold rolled to be more difficult than hot rolled. Cold rolled steel is already work hardened from going through the rollers cold.

Regarding fantasy armor, I'd say that one reason why people are in to period is because a lot of us actually wear and fight in the armor for extended periods of time. For me, anyway, it makes sense to look at how the people who were professionally trying to keep people alive were making comfortable and protective gear.

As stated, though, it is what it is. I have yet to meet an authenticity nazi. Well, one with friends, anyway. If you run into someone who doesn't like fantasy armor, a simple "hey, I'm playing a different game" should suffice.

But remember that fantasy and period don't have to be mutually exclusive, either. There's plenty of surviving armor for use in parades & such that looks like it's from a D&D campaign.

[Johan S. Moen]

I do not use oil to blacken armour it just makes a nasty black crust and flakes off when hit. YMMV.

Hm, wierd. I have a pair of Vendel/Byzantine splinted vambraces made by Russell Thomas, which are oil blackened. Sure, the metal underneath the blackening shows when the thing is hit with a steel weapon, but it does not flake, and you have to hit hard to scratch the blackening.

The blackening is not really a crust either. Looks more like a dense patina.

Johan Schubert Moen

[Thomas Powers]

Hot Rolled: the steel is rolled to finish size hot. it is soft---not work hardened. Generally supplied with a tight adherent mill scale but can be supplied P&O (pickled and oiled), Generally A36 or other rather mild alloy. Bar stock will have rounded corners

Cold rolled: hot rolled till close to final size then pickled and rolled cold to final size. This means that it's already partially work hardened, steel will be shiny from the P&O, dimensions are usually tighter and the alloy may be spec'd a bit closer to mild to make it easier to roll cold. bar stock will have sharper corners.

Note that heating CR in a forge will remove the workhardening to give you HR properties, so if you are going to do any hot work don't pay the premium to start with CR.
Note that you can get most *any* alloy either HR or CR if you are willing to pay for it so if you don't know what it really is junkyard steel rules apply. (ie test don't assume)

Thomas