Godzillair Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 (edited) How many times should I fold a bar of steel before cooling it to make a piece of armor? Edited June 23, 2009 by Godzillair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 None. Make armor from sheet steel not bar stock. Welcome aboard, glad to have ya. If you'll click "User CP" at the top of the page and edit your profile to show your location it can make a big difference. IFI is represented by members from more than 50 countries and a lot of info is location specific. If local folk know you're there they can invite you to gatherings, tip you to tool deals and offer hands on help. You weren't REALLY thinking of hammering bar stock into sheet were you? Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzillair Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 keep in mind that i'm still new to the whole armor smithing, so a question like this should be ok to ask right? and as for the whole smithing the sheet deal...i think it would be fun, but time consuming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnr Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Check out the Armour Archive The Armour Archive for patterns and tutorials. Finnr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithgartner Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Everthig about blacksmithing is time consuming, more for some than others. The guys on here are very good at what they do, and the knowledge they pass on to newbies, like me/us is invaluable. Pay close attention to their council. There are no wrong questions, but there are some that are asked repeatedly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Having read your profile, IF you are making Japanese style Armour: Use the 0.75 or 1 inch wide bar stock. hammer it to about 1/16 inch thick, cut into about a 1.25 to 1. 75 inch lengths. Use a template to align the pieces and drill the cording holes. IF you try this free hand your cording will look like crap, (Personal experience and you do not want to have to re make these) I cant remember how many I used for the full set I made for SCA combat, but when it was finished it looked great, But I could not feel the blows. People used to joke about how much abuse that could take. Remember that as you are when lacing this, most will end up being a double layer, so 1/16 is 1/8 of protection, some will be 3/16 where the corners and sides overlap. A little extra thickness for the scales, will add a lot to your total weight. Welcome to the Forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzillair Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 ok, sorry for the extra post, my answer was answered by re-reading a post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Note that 95+% of armour making is done COLD these days no forge needed! "folding" was a method of refining real wrought iron to make the inclusions smaller. If you are using modern steels then folding and forge welding will generally make the steel WEAKER---especially if you are not good at it with years of practice. So folding modern steel would be like putting oats in your car's fuel---it was once done for horses to make them faster and stronger but has not the same effect nowdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzillair Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 then why do bladesmith's fold steel bars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 keep in mind that i'm still new to the whole armor smithing, so a question like this should be ok to ask right? and as for the whole smithing the sheet deal...i think it would be fun, but time consuming. I wasn't finding fault in your question at all. In fact as I read the thread I see I didn't understand your question so my answer may be completely wrong. Yes, of course it's okay to ask, it's a good question, as it turns out I'll probably learn as much as you do short of actually making Japanese style armor. I haven't made armor in better than a decade. If you get what seems a surly reply try not to take it personally, sometimes we're just being direct or maybe having a not great day. I was just being direct, seemed like a simple question and answer to me. Shows what I know eh? Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 then why do bladesmith's fold steel bars? I do it mostly for looks, Look at a pattern welded blade. we have a few posted here, and at my web site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 What kind of armor? Curious to know why you would start with armor smithing? instead of working on regular smithing for a bit to get skills together. Taking a big sheet and wrapping around a 3 D form is difficult at best. What kind of armor have you been making? Era, time period, style have a lot to do with technique and material selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzillair Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 In all honesty, I haven't smithed any thing yet. Reasons being is that I'm in a very small neighborhood (and for some reason sound travels really far), I was looking into making a Japanese Samurai Armor and Katana. These were mostly made in the 12th century till about the end of the 16th I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 (edited) Pattern welding is primarily done these days "for pretty". Armour making really has no connection with blacksmithing these days. To suggest a person learn general smithing before armour making would be a lot like suggesting a potter learn general smithing before throwing pots! Now the high end armour makers have the skills and equipment to work hot; but as I mentioned very few armour makers do. (we keep pushing it as it's more traditional and easier on the arm than working cold is) In particular for japanese armour a good shear and punch would be much more useful to get than a forge or anvil! Making the katana can be done hot or cold with forging of course being the traditional way of doing it. Tamahagane *is* a bloomery product and so working it like wrought iron was worked makes perfect sense. *But* that's sort of post-doc work skills and you will need to work your way up to that over *years*---especially if you plan to smelt your own iron sand! If you just want to make a couple of swords; then doing them cold, (stock removal), from mono-steels is something you can start *today* and except for the heat treat expect to get a tolerable product. Heat treat you would probably have to farm out to an expert. Edited June 24, 2009 by mod07 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Thomas, I didn't mean to suggest learning general smithing from soup to nuts. Merely suggested that perhaps learning to put hammer to iron in a simpler format might make life easier. Perhaps there is a greater deal of difference in armor making than I thought. I got into blacksmithing to make my own suit of armor, and after 10 years as a hobby, I feel the my skills are still not enough to make armor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I started armour making about 3 years before I started forging, all done cold which was pretty much state of the art 32 years ago. My focus quickly changed to smithing once I was kured over to the dark side; but I have kept my hand in and made a lot of tools for armourmakers that require knowing how it's done. Especially for japanese armour which tends to be laced lames; a shear and a punch are much more important than hot work capability or skills. You do know that most armour was low carbon wrought iron with no heat treat right? "The Knight and the Blast Furnace", Alan Williams, is the best book out there on the metallurgy of medieval and renaissance armour. You could be a blacksmith for 50 years and still not have armour making skills---it's a different skill set; much more akin to autobody work combined with costume design for making the patterns. I'm slowly working on two projects: a wrought iron spangen helm and a pattern welded spangen helm just on general cussedness to show all the cold work armourers what they are missing! (it was a 3 helm project; I finished the first one of a spangen helm made from all forged mild steel with the bands forge welded---no sheet metal was used, it all was forged out of larger stock.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.