SINKING
The art of sinking, sometimes called dishing is almost universally misunderstood
and improperly done by modern armour smiths. Several badly misleading essays
exist that lead to much extra work and confusion by beginners. I was raised
in a family that worked in aircraft manufacture. I learned as a child the
fundamentals of shaping sheet metal into airplane components. A basic principle
of metal is that it acts like a fluid. Fluid with a surface tension that
is extremely strong. There is much confusion about an operation called raising.
Watching an expert silversmith hand raising a goblet from a billet casting
is a thrilling experience. The work progresses smoothly and with no flaws
or wrinkles ever evident. On the other hand I see some essays and videos
on a process modern armoursmiths are calling raising. This seems to be actually
what is called shrinking and involves thickening the metal around the edges
by lumping it up and pounding it flat over a rounded stake. Frequently using
cross, vertical, and angle peen hammers. This is definitely not raising.
The metal turns out so rough and abused the whole surface has to be ground
off to obtain an acceptable finish. Regularly people take fourteen gauge
metal and shrink the edges down then grind it down to a uniform finish but
leave it thick and thin in unpredictable places with some spots far too
thin. This is not how armour is made the Blankenshield way. The flat pieces
are sorted according to process after being cut. Some components require
sinking. Elbows, knees, breastplates, and helmets. The piece to be sunk
is laid on a sinking die and hit with a rounded hammer till depth is achieved.
Some people call this a dishing die or dishing stake. Round dies can be
made from compressed air bottles or bought. However we have found that the
uniform round shape does not handle the complex shapes of armour. We have
designed and produced our own sinking dies made from eight inch cubes with
the center top face hollowed out. (These can be purchased from Blankenshield)
The squaring of the circle produces an infinite variety of curves and depths
to work with. Use a long headed sledge hammer with the face rounded so it
does not cut the metal. When sinking it is important to strike the edge
of the die and not the center. Striking air in the middle of the die tends
to stretch the metal thin. Done discretely the metal will pull in from the
sides countering this somewhat. Hitting just inside the edge of the die
and against the side tends to work up wrinkles that are flattened down producing
the exact same effect as shrinking . The metal bunches up and is struck
flat. However unlike with shrinking (mistakenly called raising) the metal
tends to fluidly even out and the surface rough from the hammer is on the
inside and the smooth surface with the hard glaze to it is on the outside.
Here at blankenshield we also use an anvil which has a half inch deep shallow
dish ground in the center and a billiard ball size dish ground in it over
the stake hole with gradually rounded edges. On the hardy end it also has
two one inch dishes ground in two depths. Between the square sinking die
and the hollowed out anvil all shapes on an armour are possible. When sinking
take modest bites with the hammer and never let wrinkles get more than slightly
evident. If the wrinkle folds all the way over the piece is ruined. When
sinking elbows and knees don’t pound as deeply to the sides keeping
to the center of the plate. When sinking the main hourglass shaped plate
on the pauldren sink it longwise like an old car fender then bend it tighter
once depth is achieved. Again take care to not get too much depth fore and
aft in relation to the center. Breast plates are very difficult to sink
and it just takes lots and lots of time. Make sure to work evenly on both
sides of the center line to avoid warps and don’t pound too much depth
between the armpit cutouts. This tends to turn back on the neck. In all
sinking processes strike squarely with the hammer avoiding striking with
the edge. Keep all hammer faces rounded of face and edge and well polished.
Remember when hitting air under the metal you are tending to thin the metal
but only slightly and when bunching up tiny wrinkles you are thickening
it, again only slightly. And most important that the steel will tend to
flow between both processes evening out the thickness. In the aircraft industry
they stamp huge sections in one great stomp. Because some metal gets pushed
down as some gets pushed up the thickness remains approximately the same
through the whole piece. At least that is how my aircraft industry grandparents
explained it when, as a child, I was allowed to watch them stamp huge aircraft
parts. |
