Easiest Metal for shaping and stretching sculptural armor

[Acorazar]

I’m hoping for some experienced pointers and points of view. Thanks in advance.

Steel is the standard choice for armor.  I fully get that.  But what if I wanted to hammer up some decorative/fantasy/costume armor?  Aluminum, copper, brass or other?  With alumiweld and soldering instead of welding, any of these could be shaped and machined a bit more easily than steel, yes?

Or am I off base? What do I not even know that I don’t know yet?

[George N. M.]

Yes, you can make armor out of anything that will take a 3D shape and stay there, thermo plastic, leather, copper, bronze, aluminum, fiber glass, etc..  All has been used for armor by re-enactors, e.g. the SCA.  When I made a Visby pattetrn body coat of plates a few years ago for my son I used a cut up traffic sign (aluminum).  Historically, any available material was used.  The Greeks used bronze and leather, particularly coir boulli, was commonly used during the Middle Ages.

The trick, if it is going to be semi authentic and able to turn an edge or blow is to have it strong enough but still light enough.

If you use non-ferrous metal you have to understand how it responds differently than hot or cold steel.  For example, copper based metals work harden pretty quickly and have to be annealed (softened) by heating and quenching to avoid developing cracks in the metal.

If you want to be decorative look put repousse techniques which can be used in just about any metal.

Also, if the armor is intended just to be decorative and "for the look of the thing" you can use a lighter gauge steel than you would for combat level armor, e.g. 20 or 22 gauge instead of, say, 18 or 16 gauge.

You can also get some interesting colorand patina treatments with non-ferrous metals.

That said, if it is going to be bare metal aluminum will always look like aluminum.  It can work OK if it is painted or covered with leather but, IMO, it always looks fake if you see the raw surface because it is the wrong color gray.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[anvil]

The easiest way is "by hammer in someone elses hand".     

There is no standard choice for armor. Its your choice, which is the first hard decision. After that, you can start figuring out what tooling you want to use,, the next hard choice. Basically any choice with any metal that you will do yourself is not an easy pathway,,, depending on your experience and pocketbook. 

[JHCC]

In the "Lord of the Rings" movies, Théoden's armor was made of brass sheet. Wouldn't withstand a single blow, but easy to fabricate and looked good. 

[Frosty]

It was a movie costume it was never intended to take a blow and it was only accented in brass. Maybe.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

If I remember the supplemental material from the DVD correctly, it was indeed made of brass.

But yes, it was a costume rather than actual armor. (Similarly, a lot of their non-hero prop armor was made of molded fiberglass.) Since Acorazar is looking "to hammer up some decorative/fantasy/costume armor" rather than create an actual working harness, brass is certainly a good option.

Hmm...now I'm thinking of additional uses for some of that copper flashing my friend George just gave me....

[Frosty]

Adam Savage did a number of video with the armorers who made the LOR armor. It's been quite a while but much was molded fiberglass and polyester plastic. The armor that had to take impacts was IIRC hammered aluminum with trim. It's been quite a while since I watched them but I was under the impression they didn't paint brass and Theoden's armor was mostly black.

Unless you're using press dies to stamp it out hand hammering brass requires annealing every couple passes and you can go a long ways with aluminum before annealing and aluminum takes paint better than brass. Actually blackening brass with liver of sulfur and polishing adds about 3-4 more steps to the process.

Were I making armor again I'd just find an old muscle man manikin being surplused and mold polyester plastic on it. It's silly easy, I used fabric sacks filled with sand I heated in the oven as the top die. Some guys used bungie cords or para-cord but not so successfully. Using an oversized manikin left room for padding for the SCA fighters. A couple of the guys molded and hardened leather for real armor.

There are lots of good options  that don't involve the learning curve, expense and time necessary to make it with brass, heck silicon bronze is better easier. Not EASY just easier than brass.

Copper flashing armor? It'd be easy to make under the hammer.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Iain never wears the steel greathelm I made him some years back, but I think a copper helmet might appeal to him. 

[Acorazar]

Ok, maybe some additional info I should have included earlier.  I have a small forge setup, two burner propane as well as a coal burner.  I have a dishing stump and am building some fixtures.  Originally I did want to make full steel armor and weapons.  Still do, technically. But the occasional flare up of tendinitis  in my elbow and carpal tunnel in the wrist, both in my hammering arm of course, has slowed my learning curve way down.  
So, I’m thinking that brass or copper, with annealing as needed, would move easier under the hammer than steel. Also, I could probably shift to lighter weight hammers at the same time.  Theoretically, less stress on the joints.

 I’m absolutely not looking to make anything combat ready.  I’m hoping to keep making and learning techniques that can be adapted between metals as necessary. 

[Frosty]

Hot working 18ga. and lighter steel is way easier than working sheet brass and you don't need heavy hammers. My sheet forming hammers are all wood and one raw hide hammer. An old baseball bat makes a great sheet metal forming hammer, I cut the rounded end off and cross drill it to fit the handle end of the bat for the mallet handle. It gives you a wooden rounding hammer, one rounded pein and one flat face. A little counter weight makes it easier on your hands. 

Ask with the local high school baseball coach, they throw lots of bats away, I picked up several out of a trash can at the athletic field. I got a bunch of hokey sticks from a can at the local ice rink. They're good wood and pretty free.

Yard, garage, etc. sales frequently have b'ball and softball bats for next to nothing or free if you find something else you like.

An old friend name of Chris Ray made a spittoon shaped  propane fired sheet steel "forge" to heat sheet and plate. You could do the same thing with one of your propane burners and a ring of firebrick. The burner would come in at an angle to cause a strong swirl in the brick ring and you lay the work on it to heat.

You do NOT want to get sheet steel above a dull red or it'll really start scaling up and will be gone shortly so sprinkle it with Borax to form a prophylactic barrier against atmospheric oxy. doing so means you MUST wear appropriate safety gear, leather or cotton clothing and full face protection with welding cap. The molten borax WILL splash from under the hammer!

It won't be too bad if you don't get carried away with the borax, you aren't welding, just keeping the air off HOT steel. 

It's not as much an issue with brass or bronze and working either hot is a dream.

A steel great helm a little too heavy for Lain John? How'd you pad it? Memory foam works great if a little warm.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

You generally cannot work brass hot because many brass alloys include lead which makes the metal nicer for machining but makes it crumble if hit when hot.  Many bronze alloys hot forge just fine but you have to be careful bucause it is really easy to over heat it.  You cannot rely on color to judge temperature with bronze.  It will just get to a dull red and then melt.  When forging bronze I leave it in the heat for X seconds which varies by size of the work.  If I am using the coal forge I will use tturns of the blower handle as a timer.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

Right George, thank you for catching that. Hot forging brass does not mean anywhere near red heat. I was speaking specifically about sheet, I do not think brass sheet comes in a free machining alloy does it? 

Be SURE you know the alloy, brass or bronze before putting it in the fire some alloys are dangerously toxic if heated. Both can contain lead, and cadmium is added to strengthen copper alloys. 

Once again. Thank you George I got absorbed in process and forgot basic safety. It's good having a brother at your back.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

The sad fact is that most folk, except those in specialty metal shops and dealers, do not know the difference between brass and bronze.  Obviously, a scrap dealer will do know what alloy they are selling but in many places if you ask for details of the alloy you get looked at like you just started speaking Lithuanian.  Sometimes you can get an alloy breakdown from a manufacturer's web site, e.g. brand X brazing rods have Y elements and proportions, but often the retailer has no clue.

I have no idea if sheet brass is made from a free machining alloy or not.  Since it is probably more malleable I can see it used to roll out sheets.  I can see it go either way.

G.

[Frosty]

The current difference between brass and bronze are really blurred. 

The lead in free machining brass is there to prevent it from tearing while being cut. To sharpen a lathe cutter for brass or bronze you have to use a different angle and blunt the edge slightly or last I saw put a second bevel on the cutter's edge. Otherwise the copper alloys tear when cut. Not like a sheet of paper but the tool marks are rough and will file your hide. The lead in free machining brass lubricates the alloy in a way it cuts cleanly and the cuttings release easily. 

I can imagine lead might be in an alloy intended to be stamped or pressed into shape. I don't know but it sounds like a maybe to me but I haven't looked into it at all. 

Dad spun a LOT of brass and bronze in his shop and there were tricks to finishing parts without breaking them. I'll bet if I walked past a shop spinning brass I'd recognize the sound even if I can't describe it now. Same for aluminum, it sounds kind of dead not very metallic until it starts getting hard then it screams. I THINK that's aluminum I'm remembering but it's been 55maybe 60 years since I was in a spinning shop. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

One of the demonstrators at Quad-State a few years back was forging aluminum and used a pine stick to test for the proper forging temperature. If the stick left a brown mark, it wasn't quite hot enough, but a black mark showed the metal was just right. 

15 hours ago, Frosty said:

a spittoon shaped  propane fired sheet steel "forge" to heat sheet and plate.

A good idea, and something I'm considering for my bowl forging. In the mean time, I use an oxypropane torch for spot-heating the area to be forged.

[Frosty]

On the occasions we annealed aluminum in the shop we tested with a piece of white paper, dark toast was what Dad wanted for the alloy he was spinning. There are so many different aluminum alloys it takes the specifics to get it right.

Lots of people are using a black Sharpy for al. it turns white and almost disappears at the right temp. I believe the trick used for aluminum but I may be mis-remembering.

There are also "temper" pens and crayons, a type of tempil stick intended specifically for tempering and IIRC annealing. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[anvil]

Tendinitis happens due to improper use of a hammer. thus the joints get stressed. Weight or ease of your material won't change this. Research this, watch smiths work or whatever, just solve this problem. Many people as an example, do not use their whole arm to swing a hammer. Many over-use the wrist. some next lock the elbow and\or the wrist. The proper swing is a full body blow " from the tip of your nose to the tips of your toes". Thats how our body is made. I'm 76 and been making my living "by hammer in hand" and in front of an anvil since I was 18 or so. I've never had tendinitis. 

As far as heat temps for iron. Get it hot! When its yellow its mellow and when its red its dead. Blacksmiths have always said " Thems that beat iron cold, go to,,,," well its a family site.   but it will definitely be a hot place to work. If you are getting scale to the point of harming your steel, you are working your iron far too much.  The less you hammer your work, the better quality, texture, and time saved. By the way, proper forging temps can be found in any spec sheet, no matter copper, iron, steel, brass,, etc. For nearly all wrought and carbon steels the proper working temp is in the yellow range and its recommended that you quit when it gets to a red. This is for forging and major shaping whether its bar stock or sheet. Finishing and planishing is generally done at a red. 

Once you solve the problems of your tendinitis, you will be in a position to make a positive choice as to the material you want to use, meaning "which do i like the best" instead of "which will hurt me the least".  

Every material has its own ways of working it the best. No matter which you choose there is a tough learning curve to get to the place that you don't over work it,,, hot or cold. When you get to that point, thats when the real joy begins to blossom!  Each material has specific tools that work well with it. Another learning journey that is very rewarding and enhances techniques that are specific to itself.

I'm sure this is not what you may want to hear, but i believe it does address your situation and give positive solutions for you to ponder.

good luck and have fun.