...and anybody else that makes those panel type Norman helms. I just started to work in the shop a little after a long hiatus sp? and that was one of the project sitting on the shelf. The fitting and finishing is a pain in the butt. I even think I will just pass on the rivet construction and weld the darn thing.
The first helmet I made was a Pioneer-style spangen...
Ok, to get the panels fit IS a major paine somewhere.
I made one (left unfinished) for the Hastings battle last year and did the following to make the panels fit:
- Make the panels,
- bow the (top of )panels to the inside,
- connect bottom rivetholes of the panels to spangen with screws
- heat the panel from the inside and hammer it down (from the inside) to fit the next pair of rivetholes.
-continue until the top of the panel also fits...
It works.
"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there"
(Leslie Poles Hartly from "The Go-Between")
I like to make the bands first and bolt them together.
Pattern the panels in tinfoil, flatten them out and make a poster board pattern.
Dish the panels to fit the bands. The bottom edge is not dished it is curved to match the brow band. Camp and match drill. Bolt it all together at first.
Look at the spangen how to I did years ago to over on Arador, it has the suspension liner how to also.
Oh, I see. By the way, I wish to make more armour, but hate to do it cold, yet that is the only option I have. What can I make other than spangens, pairs of plates and splinted stuff?
Mercenary wrote:Oh, I see. By the way, I wish to make more armour, but hate to do it cold, yet that is the only option I have. What can I make other than spangens, pairs of plates and splinted stuff?
I do almost everything I do cold. The only things I often heat for raising purposes are elbows, knees, and helm tops. Gauntlets, for one, require no heating unless you are doing something really elaborate. Hell, you can do an entire harness without heating anything if you dont mind some welded parts like elbows and helms. If you don't, $50 to a welder usually fixes that up for you if you dont have a welding machine.(some welders will do it for free on small parts, just because they are fascinated by what your doing)