ASSEMBLY
The assembly of armour is mostly with rivets and straps. The final fitting
of the plates to each other is done by eye and by clamping the two pieces
to be joined and pounding on them as a unit. Taking care not to crush rolling.
Match each component to the one over and under it before fastening it. Make
sure to assemble pieces in proper order. Look carefully to see if fastening
one rivet will obscure another with the plate being attached and if that
other rivet should be done first. Use the holes in one plate to mark the
position of the holes in the next plate. Frequently the articulation will
require being riveted in place then necessary operations performed then
disassembled and reassembled. Where sliding rivets are desired punch the
pivot hole in both plates and both holes on the top plate then bolt or pin
together the plates and use the hole in the top plate to mark the open and
closed positions and transit of the slot for the sliding rivet to run in.
Holding the rivets in place and supported for closing is a difficult job
requiring much creativity. The horn of the anvil gets much use. Also very
useful is several sizes of shot puts to hold inside elbows and such. The
eight pound size is most convenient but ten pounders come in handy some
times. We use mostly copper harness rivets. Some applications require a
heavier steel rivet or a smaller tinners rivet. Burrs are used in most applications.
Like a small thin washer of the same material as the rivet. For keyhole
pin and turning pin applications we modify duplex or double headed nails.
The shaft of the nail is cut short and used as the shaft of a rivet and
peened into a head on the inside of the plate. A keyhole is cut in the top
plate to be fastened and the area around the keyhole embossed slightly to
give it spring tension against the head of the keyhole pin. For turning
pin applications the upper head of the nail is flattened and filed appropriately
then the shank of the rivet peened down using a shim so it will turn. All
leather should be at least one inch wide and ten twelve weight. Oiled latigo
is a must as sweat destroys oak tanned leather. The buckles require steel
yokes rather than leather keepers. Fastening a buckle to a plate with a
doubled piece of leather is thick and unruly. It wears out rapidly as well.
Just cut a strip of steel the right size and chisel a slot and punch a hole
in either end for a rivet. Fold it over the buckle and rivet in place. Loosen
it by levering with a screw driver. Assembly of hinged components is another
matter. Before the edges are rolled the edges that will have hinges are
held together and the tongues of the hinge are marked on both sides to match.
When cut the other edges are rolled and the two hinged components fitted
to each other. The tongues are turned around just like in the rolling process.
Just before they are closed a hinge pin is laid in the side with the most
tongues and the tubes hammered down closed on it. The hinge pin is always
cut a bit short and the ends of the end tubes crimped so the pin does not
fall out. Then the other component has its tongues pounded half round and
it is then fitted to the hinge pin and those tongues pounded down around
it. The result is an integral piano type hinge that will withstand direct
hits with heavy steel weapons. As we have discussed earlier most helmets
were welded at the crown over a stake using a charcoal forge. At Blankenshield
we do almost everything the same way they did but we do weld the helmet
crowns a bit differently. The inspiration came from the English pikemans
pot. In those helmets the crest had a rolled edge on one side and the other
side had its edge rolled over it. This held together the two sides. It was
cheap and rather fragile. We found that butt welding and lap welding left
weakened areas and could never be as strong as the rest of the material
around it. So we started using a distinctive invention of our own. Like
in the English pots we roll the edges of the crest but both edges are rolled.
Then a gas welder is used to weld both rolled edges together. The weld metal
filling the groove made by the two rounded edges coming together making
this a fillet weld rather than a butt weld. The result is easily filed smooth
and is much, much stronger than the metal around it. Make sure to keep the
crown proper cool with wet rags but do not cool the crest. This could mess
up the weld and cause brittleness and stress cracking. |
