What do you guys think ?

 

This is my first attempt at making armour of any type. Its a greathealm made to historically accurate specs. 

May I suggest you ask this over at armourarchive.org for a more experienced in armour audience?

I think it looks great.

It definately looks fantastic especially for your first project. I mean obviously some of the rivets are off center from one anonther but stuff like that really never bothered me to much. What is the thickness of steel you used for it? How much does it weigh? Is it armor quality steel or mild? Would love to know if you made that pattern yourself or if you based it off something you found?

Looks great to me too. If it weren't it would just be a goodhelm. 

 I would love to try stuff like this since it was a big influence to work with metal when I was a kid. nice work. 

Well at the time period that helm represents "armour quality steel" was plain wrought iron.  The rivets being off center is very common in originals, in face too perfect a symmetry is generally an indication of modern construction methods.

("The Knight and the Blastfurnace", Williams, is the foremost modern work on the metallurgy of armour)

8 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

Looks great to me too. If it weren't it would just be a goodhelm. 

 took me a minute but I see what ya did there LOLz

Thanks for the replies.

Its based upon n a design that i got off the internet, but l modified it to have a slightlu longer face and wider top. 

Its regular mild steel but its 1.6mm, that's a bit thicker than 16gague. It weigs 5.2 Kg and would probably break my neck one day. All of the rivets are hand made (also a first) so they are not the best, but i like that its not perfect.

11 minutes ago, Mbmul175 said:

Thanks for the replies.

Its based upon n a design that i got off the internet, but l modified it to have a slightlu longer face and wider top. 

Its regular mild steel but its 1.6mm, that's a bit thicker than 16gague. It weigs 5.2 Kg and would probably break my neck one day. All of the rivets are hand made (also a first) so they are not the best, but i like that its not perfect.

Yea i agree about the liking the imperfections. I have always liked seeing that stuff isnt machine perfect although i respect the added time that takes for people to achieve. Nice job again and hand made rivets is an awesome choice. It looks amazing man you should be proud as heck.

Will you be making a liner for it, or will it be a display piece?

Before I typed this I realized that I didn't even know how these were lined  so now I've been looking that up. Ugh. More research for me. Lol

Thanks a lot , I am quite proud of it, I am working on a wisby coat of plates to go with it, but hand stitching the fabric is tedious work .

"Awesome choice" , didnt have much of a choice.

 

I already made a padded liner for it , and I'm planning to put it to good use. It shall gather blood and dents, not dust.

One guy saw it on my Facebook page ( red raven blacksmithing ) and asked if I'd be willing to make him some new splints for his armour, so I'm very happy .

Do you have "Armour from the Battle of Wisby" by Bengt Thordeman?   Where most of the Wisby coat of plates stuff on the internet comes from.

As to liners; LOOONG discussions on them over at Armour Archive; what was used, how well it worked, how to make them nowadays, etc and every so many years it all repeats with minor changes...

Nope, as usual I googled 100's of photos, looked at the resembelances and the differences to figure out how it works and then I made a set of plates according to my own ideas.

I just did a raw dennim padded hood with a donut pillow on top . the helmet still needs a leather harness on the inside tho.

The book has the archeological drawings of the pieces that were excavated and much other information.  I don't know if you have anything like our Inter Library Loan to get you access to hard to source books at a reasonable cost; so If you are ever in the neighborhood give me a shout and I can let you look at my copy.

 

IIRC tow and horsehair have been mentioned as padding materials in linen covering of course. (and anectdotal evidence is that the original stuff works better than "modern" materials; esp wrt heat.

Hi Mbmul175 Great first one for sure,  a bit of time in that one .

I did one a couple of month back ,thanks for showing .

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep an eye out for it. 

In summer we get up to 55°c, so I wanted to keep it breathable so I don't die before a fight.

Looks very nice!

 

Thanks thomas,

I gave that book a look, it is really interesting, mine is a lot like the one on pl 14,  only more intricate. Mine has 6 stomach plates and 14 lung/kidney plates , but otherwise its the same .

Thanks again ,

Michael.

 

What do I think?

Some people make helms, but they just don't get the lines correct. There is something "off" about their work.

Other people get the lines of the helm just right. That's you.

Congrats.

 

My son says send it over!

He is been attending the big local medieval festival here at the Abbey Museum, loves the look of your helmet and says he will take it of your hands for you :).

Picture of him when he got home last night after day 1. Dog very interested in what has been in that drinking horn!

 

Can you share where you found the pattern? I really like it.

I found it on armourarchive, i just changed the cross a bit 

Very nice piece!

I'm a big armor fan, which is what has gotten me into smithing. Sure I'll make some tools and weapons (my interest in weapons lies more along the lines of warhammer, axe, and mace than blades), but my focus will be on armor, so I am also dabbling in leatherworking. I am working up my skills for my first helm, which will be a spectacled spangenhelm with cheeks and aventail. If it turns out looking half as good as your great helm, I'll be thrilled! And I agree that things not matching up perfectly is not only okay, but looks better, as you can tell it's not the result of modern mass production. 

So my point is...Nice Helm!