Cold Worked Iron and Steel

Hello! Here I post a video about the armor that I do. This is an armor for historical medieval combat and reconstruction. I also sometimes make exhibits for museums and private collections. On the video there are both workflows, reviews of finished products, crash tests and everything related to the armor. Most videos are in Ukrainian and Russian, but I do subtitles. Kyiv, Ukraine Plate cuisse of the german knight. Kunst Schott - Scourge of God to the city of Nuremberg. The armor was made in the time frame between 1490 and 1497 years when Schott and 40 other knights owned a castle in Rothenburg. Kunst Schott von Hellingen. The knight from…

I will try to tell the process of tuning A saw blade. I will start with the tools needed. First you need a good saw anvil and Hammering bench. On this bench the saw lays on a sled witch slides in a track, the top of the saw lays on the anvil and the anvil is free to rock back and forth. You will need some hammers to take out twist and ridges in the saw plate. You will need some hammers to take out lumps and set the tension of the saw. You will need straigth-edges to find the lumps twist's and ridges. There will be more to fallow.

here is a new tool to fit a hardie hole, one of my tool holders or just clamp it in a vice inside it is about 50mm ( 2" aprox ) outside it is about 60mm ( 2 3/8" aprox ) shank is 20mm square but can be sleeved to fit will have a few at wood green in a couple of weeks and later at TORM

Although one could muddle through and probably get it right, I was wondering if anyone had seen information in a vintage book or other source regarding sharpening old-school tin snips. None of my old references seem to make mention of it and I was curious if there were specific tips, tricks or other info to get the old ones sharpened "right". I'm trying to bring a few old ones back into use for some tin-work demonstrations at the museum---and I'd not only like them to work as well as new (and this style never worked great in my experience) but be able to give reasonably accurate advice if a museum guest asks about fixing up the old pair Grandpa left him. Thanks…

here is one of the many stakes I make, most are on a 20mm ( 3/4" ) shank to fit my range of stake holders, I can also fit a 'stop collar' on them for use in a hardy hole and different shank sizes to order. this is a new 88mm high carbon ball bearing ( about 3 1/2" ) I make ball stakes from ball bearings up to 100mm ( about 4" ) and mild steel schrooms up to 200mm ( about 8" ) diameter. I also make a wide range of other stakes for armouring and other metalwork

I figured you guys might appreciate these. I inherited them from my father who got them from our family restaurant when it closed. I have no plans on doing any work to them other then preservation. I know they are missing some finger joints These guys are one of the reasons I got into blacksmithing years ago.

I found some plans online for a sheet metal brake so I picked up the materials and got to work. I'll be doing the welding later and the c channel is for another project.

I was hoping that someone here might be able to give advice or point to resources regarding education on manipulating sheet metal before I start on a project. I've done enough sheet metal work to know the deal but this is more about finessing an existing bent sheet back into shape without introducing new distortions and that's a bit out of my normal wheelhouse. This is for the windmill restoration I am involved in at the local museum. We're restoring an old 20 foot diameter windmill and a few of the fan blades have a secondary bend on some ends from handling long ago. So basically, the blades have the normal cylindrical curve except at the ends, part of the top is…

So, I've been tinkering with riveted mail off and on a while now. Through trial and error I've got somewhat of a system down. I fabricated a jig for coiling 14 gauge mild steel wire, then I use shears to cut the coils into 1/4" inner-diameter rings. I flatten the ends of the rings a bit, anneal them, punch the hole, then pein the rivet into place. Aside from a good press to punch out solid rings, so I'd only have to rivet the central link, I'm wondering what specialized tools I could be using to make the process more efficient and consistent. Really, I'm not even sure if the shape of my punch or the backing I use during the process is optimal. Is anyone aware of some spec…

I made this ring for my dad this christmas. It's stainless steel, with a gold/quartz inlay. This was my first inlay, and I wasn't looking for perfection. However, I'm pleased with the results.

I work outside driving a large forklift for my day job and with the weather getting cooler I decided to try something I’ve wanted to do for a while. As a way of keeping some of the cold air off my face I thought I should make a mask but not just any mask would do. I’ve always like the intimidating look of the menpō worn by the samurai so why not bite off more than I can chew and try making one. I am wondering if anyone here has any experience making menpō or maybe someone has handled one or more that might could help answer questions as they arise. I am doing some reading from various online sources but I know very little about these and therefore don’t know where t…

I'm working on the design for some light weight high mobility plate armor and need a light metal that is still quite sturdy? Being that I am new smithing I need some help on choosing my materials. It's not necessary to stop bullets, my life isn't that messed up, but it would be nice if it could stop most melee attacks without bending or breaking

As I prepare to make my first helmet (a spectacled spangenhelm with mail aventail), I have been researching patterns and techniques, and I notice it is exceedingly common, if not virtually universal, for helmet-makers, even those who are sticklers for period accuracy on the design, to use modern welding, particularly to join halves of a dome. Am I missing something? Did medieval armorers have TIG and MIG welders? Clearly they didn't, and while forge welding was a common general smithing technique, it doesn't seem appropriate for helm construction. Therefore, I am left to surmise that period helmet domes probably were either of one-piece construction (a serious …

To cut a long story short I've got a job on to make 6 curved benches, so far I've made the first one as a prototype. I've been hot forging/bending all the parts around jigs I made to bolt to my bench. The arms/legs are made from 40 x 8mm and the seat slats are 40 x 6mm. I need to speed up the process to stay on budget. 40 x 6mm will bend cold, but if I want it to bend to the right shape I need to make a new jig that's "over curved" to allow for the spring back. Avoiding trial and error, is there are any way of calculating how much extra curves I need to put into the jigs that'll allow for the cold steel spring back?

What do you guys think ? This is my first attempt at making armour of any type. Its a greathealm made to historically accurate specs.

Show me your chain maille , please add ring sizes as well ...

I've never done any significant sheet metal work, but I think I'd like to try playing around with it a little. For example, I had the idea of trying to raise a helmet for my seven-year old for next Halloween. My first question is whether anyone has any suggestions for cheap or free sources of sheet metal to practice on. My second question is whether anyone can recommend any good books on the subject -- sinking, raising, etc., generally, or armorsmithing specifically. I've already found some good videos on YouTube.

For the longest time, I've been hunting for an O2 cylinder or the like so I could scavenge the bottom for dishing metal. Never could get my hands on one, so I made a few rings, but wasn't really happy with them. Making a depression in a stump certainly worked, but the stumps always wore out or cracked... and always seemed to get in the way when I was doing something else. Talking with my dad, recent purchaser of a vintage Southbend 9x30 belt-driven lathe and just aching for an excuse to tinker with it, he said he had an idea and soon presented me with this very nice addition to the shop. I'm calling it the Steel Puck because I don't really have a better name and i…

Hey all, so after fixing some friends gear on their plate armor I've decided to try to shape some of my own.... now ... I have all the gear from other projects... but opinion wise, where to begin? What pieces do people find the easiest to shape?

Good Morning, I was searching YouTube for information about re-arching leaf springs because I am thinking about ordering a champion power hammer spring once I find a shop in North Alabama that can do this work. I saw a video of Pakistani smith cold working a leaf spring and I wondered what you good folks thought about that. I figure hot working the spring and then re-tempering once you are done is much easier to say that do. thanks

Morning all, I'm digging for some info and advise on the English Wheel. I've never worked with any and only seen them used on you tube. My son is retraining into sheet metal fabrication and has been looking at these to add to the shop. the cheapest cast iron one is around £1700 and up. ($2500). Steel tube versions are a quarter the price, but he has heard they will flex, throwing off your work. What do we look for? I realise this could be the proverbial "how long is a piece of string" question, but I'm not sure of what to look for or where to start. Cleon is looking to make custom car and bike parts. so size wise we are looking at 3 - 4 foot neck, and the anv…

A friend sent me a link to a Guardian article entitled Austrian blacksmiths making armour for Vatican's Swiss Guard – in pictures. Pretty much sums it up.

Ok so I'm a little bit obsessed with the Lord of the rings and I eventually plan on forging many replicas from the films . One project I have in the works is to turn an old army surplus helmet in to a helmet of the fighting uruk hai. It seems pretty straight forward but I need help figuring out how to put a Ridge down the center of the helmet. It's a raised part that goes almost all of the way to the top of the helm. I'll post refrence pics of what I'm starting with and what i want to achieve any help would be great

I got an order for a 4 ft tall sculpture of Pluto pulling Persephone down into Hades complete with a 3 headed dog. I am very excited about such a detailed order but not entirely positive on the best way to go about making it. I have made smaller sculptures in the past, but nothing of this magnitude and detail.I have made smaller sculptures in the past by making a skeleton out of 1/4" round, then cold formed the torso and limbs in a simple rough cylindrical shape, then made the details like muscle, bends at joints and welded them onto the rough body shape and ground clean. My question is, does anyone know of a better, more practical way to create such a detailed sculpture?…

,Anyone out there know of any good sites I can be directed to for patterns 4 horse armor.thanks