Tools and Materials

• Felt tip marker pen for outlining patterns on steel
• Ball-ended hammers - 2 sizes small and large are useful
• Club hammer
• Rawhide faced hammer ( which can form the steel without marking it )
• Metal cutting shears ( the handles of these have been lengthened by sliding 15mm. copper tubing over them, which makes them much easier to use )
• Riveting tool which accepts various sizes of blind rivets
• Cordless electric drills - one with a steel countersink tool for removing 'burs' from drilled holes
• Curved blade cut from a lawn-edging tool ( used for adding decorative work on pieces )
• Steel ball, approximately 4" diameter, mounted on a 1" thick short post ( this is essential for imparting curves to cut pieces and you will need to find a blacksmith to make this up for you ) This is mounted in a central hole cut in -
• Tree stump which is used as a workbench ( local tree surgeon would be happy to provide this for a small fee ). Dish-shaped depressions of differing depths are formed in the surface to provide a 'dishing stump' ( this is shown in more detail on the FAQ's page )
• Stout leather gardening gloves ( essential to avoid cut hands from handling unfinished steel edges )
• Safety specs - essential to be worn whenever working with metal
• Ear defenders to be worn when hammering
• Face mask ( necessary if polishing finished pieces )
• Polishing lathe ( only necessary to achieve a mirror finish - a perfectly acceptable satin finish can be achieved with wire wool )

Materials:

• Sheet steel ( 0.9mm. mild steel sheet CR4 is used throughout this construction )
• 4mm. diameter short Aluminium blind rivets - used for initial assembly
• 4mm. x 4mm. round head mild steel rivets
• Leather and selection of buckles for making straps

Suppliers:

London Metal Company - Tel: 020-8337 0090 / Fax: 020-8330 3437

J.T. Batchelor Ltd. ( Leather, Buckle Suppliers ) - Tel: 020-7254 2962 / Fax: 020-7254 0357

Sapphire Products Ltd. ( Incorporating the Rivet Supply Co. ) - Tel: 0121 326 6000 / Fax: 0121 328 5518 www.sapphireproducts.co.uk

Riveting

4mm x 4mm round headed steel rivets are used for all the armours made in the construction projects. These most closely resemble those found in armours of the period.

diagram showing the three stages in piening a rivet

The plates to be articulated are held together with the rivet in place, it's head resting on the anvil.

Working from the inner aspect of the piece the rivet is gently 'mushroomed' using the small ball-pien hammer.

As work progresses the mushrooming has the effect of drawing the rivet through the plates pulling them together.

For articulation the plates are not drawn together as tightly as fixed plates. Some advocate drilling a hole slightly larger in diameter than that of the rivet being used, or using a washer. I have found that neither is really necessary as long as one takes care not to pien the rivet too aggressively.

Finishing

Here I am using one of the lames from the sabaton of Project 3 to demonstrate the stages in the finishing process. The first image shows the piece after shaping before any finishing has been carried out.

The first stage is to bevel the edges to 45° using a flap sanding wheel. The piece is held very firmly and several gentle passes made across the wheel to ensure the bevel is clean and even.

Next a combination wool and paper flap-wheel which is only mildly abrasive is used over the surface. This removes marks and scratches without itself scoring the metal.

The piece is actually perfectly acceptable as it is with no further finishing, although I prefer to use a polishing compound with a large stitched mop on the lathe to provide a mirror finish. This is very time consuming - the piece shown here took 10 minutes work with the polishing wheel to achieve the final result. One might think that 10 minutes doesn't sound very long - but consider that the sabaton is made of 8 pieces, which makes 80 minutes polishing for each one. Extrapolate that for the whole armour and the time is really quite considerable - and of course the rivets must be polished too!

I find it better to polish the rivets individually before use rather than after the piece is assembled. This is easily accomplished by holding the stem of the rivet in a pair of pliers and using a dedicated polishing mop that has developed a central groove.

Straight on to:

• Project 1
• Project 2
• Project 3

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