Muscled thorax fastenings

[Chris B]

Matt,

Any ideas how to get those curves planished better? I tried the shot puts and they worked to an extent. I tried my railroad iron and it worked on certain sections, but I just cannot seem to get the angles I need to get it completely flat. In person it is like 95% there, but I just cannot seem to find anything to use as a base to planish against

I have got the metal for the greeves already and have enought to make three. One to experiment with in case I mess it up and two more. I have some pretty good ideas how to get the curveature correct. I will post them IF they work out well. I plan to make one at a time so I can focus on each leg individually and will start Monday.

Comerus,

Thanks. I'll get completed pics up by Sunday evening!

Giannis,

I need to see a bell cuirass again. If it is exactly what I remember in my head, I would think you could slowly bend the metal outward away from the body where the bell starts in the armour with a rubber ended hammer or mallet on a anvil or hard edge. Then you could slowly shape it back the other direction to get the flare by taking the metal the other direction by using a punching bag or something else curved and not too hard.

You might also have to dish it some like in the video posted on another page of this thread.

I actually found just putting a piece of press board on the garage floor over the cement and holding the armour at an angle to it worked. I just slowly started curving it by hitting the metal at different angles to the wood plane. I drew lines parallel to the edges about 2 inches apart inside and used them as guides to slowly start curving the edges. Of course I am no expert. I would have to experiment with it first.

Has anyone made a bell cuirass here?

[Matthew Amt]

Most of my plannishing I do on an old chisel which fits into the hardy hole in my anvil. The head is all mushroomed, and I polished it. Would an auto body repair kit be any help? Usually includes several interesting hammers and 2 or 3 "dollies", rounded metal shapes meant to be held inside the plate being shaped or worked. Check Harbor Freight Tools, they have the el-cheapo Chinese sets for like 20 bucks. You can even have those dollies welded to a steel bar to make a stake for whatever use.

Of course, the fewer hammer lumps you make, the less plannishing there is! I find that the hemispherical bronze bearing in the foreground of this next photo makes much nicer work than my ballpeen hammer:

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/hrnhlm1.jpg

Results:

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/hrnhlm2.jpg

You can see that the left-hand helmet half has more lumps, since I did most of the work with the ballpeen, whereas the one on the right is smoother. But given enough plannishing, this is how they both came out, before final polishing:

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/hrnhlm4.jpg

Of course, the whole point of shining up metal is to keep it that way! Definitely plan on spending an evening with the Brasso before any event, to clean off all the fingerprints and bring it back to looking like gold. THAT's what armor should look like! (Of course, that's also reason enough to go with the linothorax...)

Khaire,

Matthew

[Chris B]

Thanks for the help Matt. Have you ever tried Noxon polish? Brasso is abrasive and Noxon is supposedly better for your metal because it isn't as abrasive. I was told to use it by Japanese professional sword polishers. Just an idea. It works great for me.

[Chris B]

Okay. The armour is almost done. I need to do some final finishing that I will wait to do until the greeves are done so that I can do all the metal together. I was going to put a leather liner inside, but am afraid it would be too tight now that I have worn it with the linen subarmour.

I am happy with it considering I am not an armourer/blacksmith, I have never made ANYTHING out of metal before, and considering the fact that I didn't ever believe I would pull it off.

And I know it looks funny with shorts on instead of a chiton, but I am waiting to wear it all together when I finish the greeves.

[Matthew Amt]

Well, it sure as heck looks better than MY first attempt at metalworking!! Three cheers, and congratulations!

Khaire,

Matthew

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Congratulations and laudes!!! It turned out very good! you must be proud about it. And i see the side muscles turned out well. Will you add nipples? Iron disks would be nice...
Eagerly waiting for the greaves. Good luck with them,too.
Khaire
Giannis

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Chris, with a cuirass like that, you really need a Manning Imperial Corinthian to complement it!
That is really excellent work!

[Chris B]

Thanks a lot for the comments. I could have never done it without all your help and advice. I started the greeves today. I will post all my progress from now on in the greeves thread I started. Thanks again!

Oh and Gaius,
I plan on putting money down by year end for one! I will NEVER be able to make a helm like that so I want to buy one of them from Manning as well as a Xiphos.

[Chris B]

I know this thread is old, but figured it is the best place to post these. I will get new pics of this entire impression once I get my new spear head and post it in the impressions thread, but for now I took three pics to show the new subarmour. I am wearing board shorts and a t-shirt, but I am sure you can imagine it with the full impression with my Corinthian and Pegasus shield.

The body is similiar to my other subarmour with the fringe that is quilted and padded, but the new pteryges are all 100%, 5 layer linen. Hope you like it. I like it tons better than the other and it is short enough for me to sit in too.

[M. Demetrius]

Great job all around. You must have eaten a lot of gyros while you made it...it looks Greecian as can be. Great job!

[Kallimachos]

Very impressive Chris, I admire your talent.

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

I can say this is the best subarmor i have ever seen!!!Gorgeus! Damn,another laudes escapes from me...in the same direction. Congratulations.
Khaire
Giannis