Hi my name is Chris and ive recentlygot a job as an electrician apprentice. My job gives me access to large amounts of copper wire my boss told me i can use, and id really like to learn how to forge with the copper from it. I have a crazy idea of building a forge from scratch (ive already started the research on building one.). Id seriously like any and all information on anywhere i can learn to forge copper armor the most midevil way i can. 

copper is not the best metal for armour, can you cite any original details of the armour from that period made of copper?

a friend of mine works extensively with copper and its alloys making historical replicas from archeological  reports, recently having made 3 brass kettles for the mary rose museum.

I will send my friend a link to this thread so he can comment

what type of forge are you thinking of making?

by 'midevil' I presume you mean medieval?

 

Welcome Chris, I always suggest reading this thread to get the best out of the forum.

 

Welcome aboard Chris, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the gang live within visiting distance.

Copper is fun and easy to forge but I've never heard of copper armor. I doubt it was ever made beyond a shield boss, etc. Any light enough to move in could be defeated by sticks let alone a stone point. Seriously a club the weight of a B'ball bat would turn you into a cripple almost immediately. 

Think jewelry, cook ware, fixtures and tools. Ever do any "fold forming"? That's wicked cool fun and you can use split and flattened copper pipe. 

Frosty The Lucky.

could he be thinking of Bronze armor ? At least that existed in peroid

The same thought occurred to me -- both scale and plate.

there was a copper age before the bronze age but I would doubt much armour and that was long before medieval

Well when Elanor of Aquitaine accompanied Louis VII on on the 2nd Crusade she supposedly had copper armour made for her and her ladies...

History is weird and great fun! 

Although great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Eleanor probably did not intend it for actual combat, one supposes.)

Perhaps,  Just perhaps:

the garments were made of copper,  because copper is lethal to most bacteria and most fungi.

Bathing was not done much in Elenore of Aquitaine"s time.

SLAG. 

 

If that was the case than lots of armour would have been lined with copper foil.  However while some armour was tinned none that I know of is copper lined.  As sun and air and dryness is also a method of killing many bacteria and fungus; *not* wearing the armour would seem the better bet...   I think it was just a fluke.

T. P. ,

My note about copper and its anti-microbial activity, and Elenore of Aquitaine was a bit tongue in cheek.

The mediaeval nobility and well to do people, changed their under garments regularly.

That helped control the effects of their bathing, very rarely. 

But the majority of people in England were ridden with lice in most of the middle ages.   And most probably in other European countries, as well.

(many diseases are carried by lice such as typhus).

Fleas were also a major problem.

(human fleas have recently been discovered to be the principle carrier of bubonic plague,  (& not rat fleas).

Regular bathing is highly advised,

SLAG.

Then there is the subject of Alexander the great's silver water bottle. But that's another topic for another day.

 

Having been to Saladin's citadel in Cairo i could just imagine sitting up there protected by your 30m thick walls at 40 deg C watching some lady wearing her very own (and probably quite fetching)copper steaming pot  

to the O.P.  copper is a fun and versatile material  easy to forge at room temp and then use your oven to anneal.  Oh, and welcome BTW.

Ian

At the first Flagstaff abana conference a key demonstrator was a team from Mexico. They collected and stripped copper wire, melted it into an Ingot and team struck this into large beautiful bowls and pots.