CHEAP ARMOUR SHORTCUTS
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Hundreds of years ago there was a “law” in England called “the assize of arms”. It said that every able bodied man in England must own and maintain their own weapon and armour and participate in military training. The same law set standards for armour that was allowed to be imported or made in England. It was issued first in 1181 and modified many times till Elizabeth I cheapened it into a tax. In 1285 It was reissued as the statutes of Winchester and involved several guilds in a nightmare of “red tape” that ruled the manufacture of armour in England for generations. In the beginning of the sixteenth century it was at its worst. The armour smiths guild did the shaping of the plates. But the locksmiths guild had to make the hinges and latches and mount it up. The polishers guild had it too. And the etchers and guilders. Finally the padders guild had to put “piccadills” on the liners to identify which guilds had participated and which inspectors. Each type of piccadill being “guarded” by “riband“ (ribbon) the riband patterns were like the old resister code. Each guild had its own inspector and each inspector attached a piece of red ribbon with their tag attached. Thus the finished armour would be covered in “red tape”. All armour in England had to be bought and sold through the armoury system. All of this was to ensure quality armour in England and eventually the statutes of Winchester strongly influenced many European nations and their laws. The problem started with a shipment of armour from Flanders bought by the English crown. It was all covered with red velvet. After minimal use all this armour came apart. Inside the fancy red velvet was real cheap armour. The issue was the fact that the armour had been pressed hot into dies and heat treated for hardness. This was done by blacksmiths. In England they proceeded to make it illegal for blacksmiths to make armour. The blacksmiths guild had many sub-guilds like the farriers, the blade smiths, and their equivalent of machinist's. The making of armour was legally done by the “whitesmiths guild”. They had several sub guilds including silver smiths, copper smiths, gold smiths, lock smiths, and armour smiths. All this was organized by the furbishers guild. The term “whyte armour” or “allwhyte” armour referrers to armour that was not covered with fabric and made entirely by the white smiths guild. The statute of Winchester made it illegal to cover armour with fabric. It also made it illegal for the black smiths to make any part of an armour. Only allowing “allwhyte” armours in England. This meant armour made entirely by the white smiths guild. NOT BRIGHTLY POLISHED ARMOUR! In fact in the sixteenth century all state sanctioned armour (made in Greenwich) was referred to as "allwhyte" and was all blued and gilded. Sir Walter Raleigh was chased from court by indignant courtiers for being so rude as to wear brightly polished armour at court. Just like hundreds of years ago you have two choices of basic armour smithing methods. The black smiths method or the white smiths method. The fact that the blacksmiths method was illegal in many places and eventually became illegal almost every where shows what they thought of it back then. However almost all modern armour smiths seem to be using the blacksmiths method. This is much easier, quicker, and allows for much higher profits. A couple decades ago we at Blankenshield experimented extensively with the blacksmiths method. We made huge forges. We even made our own charcoal by the ton. At one point all Blankenshield armour was made using heat. Now the only thing the biggest forge is used for is cooking whole pigs. The issue was and is the quality of protection. We tried taking the hot sheet and place it on a sinking die. Then taking a tool made by putting a handle onto a six inch headache ball (crane weight) we pushed and pressed the contour into the hot sheet. Roll a few critical edges. Then throw it back onto the fire, heat and quench. Draw to straw. Polish with an electric sander and rivet up into whatever. This takes a small fraction of the time. Using those techniques we at Blankenshield could easily produce a full armour in a few days. However it simply did not last or protect like armour made using the far slower whitesmithing method outlined elsewhere on this web site. The hot steel stretches and thins inconstantly and stress cracks tend to develop from inside curves after the armour has been used for a few years. And no matter what, the black smithing methods used on sheet metal of the same alloy cannot produce plates as long lasting and impact resistant as the whitesmithing methods. Over the last thirty years of heavy testing we have proved that over and over again. The blacksmithing method produces a uniform hardness through the piece. The whitesmithing method produces a dynamic sandwich of varied hardness that is far more efficient. A tough inside and a hard outside with a springy center. This plate is filled with dynamic internal forces that are present as latent energy. This energy releases itself resisting impact. The hard glaze on the surface can be so hard that it is brittle. To make armour with a surface that hard using the blacksmiths method causes the whole piece has to be that hard. And that brittle. To draw the hardness using the blacksmiths method softens the surface first. The worst possible thing. There is one compelling reason to make the substantial investment in a huge forge or furnace to make armour. A large profit. That was the problem hundreds of years ago and that is the problem now. There are several sources of information on the blacksmiths method. Here at Blankenshield we go out of our way to both use and teach the white smithing method. We hope that you will learn from our experience and from the lesson of history. |
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