In the past People have asked me to put up an Instructable on how to build a helmet. So, for all you people, Here goes.
As the title says, this Instructable will deal with building a Spangen Helm. Since I wanted something a little more unique I went with a 5 panel instead of the standard 4, and used shaped bands rather than straight ones.
Although the finished helm has a bar grill I neglected to add a bar grill step to this Instructable. The reason for this is that it was my first bar grill and I had a surprisingly difficult time making it. Until I've gotten a little better at them I don't want to try and teach someone else how to make one.
As the title says, this Instructable will deal with building a Spangen Helm. Since I wanted something a little more unique I went with a 5 panel instead of the standard 4, and used shaped bands rather than straight ones.
Although the finished helm has a bar grill I neglected to add a bar grill step to this Instructable. The reason for this is that it was my first bar grill and I had a surprisingly difficult time making it. Until I've gotten a little better at them I don't want to try and teach someone else how to make one.
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Signing UpStep 1: Tools and Supplies I Used
Here's a list of what I used for this project. Not everything here is mandatory, a lot of these tools could be dropped entirely or else have other tools substituted for them.
Patterning supplies
- A Sharpy
- A Meter Stick or Straight Edge.
- A Fabric Tape Measure
- Scissors
- Empty Cereal Boxes, Bristol Board, or something of that nature.
Steel
- 14 and 13 gauge sheet metal.
- About a foot of 1" flat stock
- About a foot of 1/2" flat stock
- About 3 feet of 1/4" round stock
Cutting tools.
- A Jigsaw
- Aviation Shears
- A Chisel
- A Drill and 1/8" Drill Bit
Shaping Tools
- A Deep Dish
- A Shallow Dish
- A Dishing Hammer
- A Cross Peen/Machinists Hammer
- A T Stake
- A Ball Stake
- An Anvil Shaped Object*
Riveting Supplies
- A small Ball Peen Hammer
- Nails
- Side Cutters
- Cleco temporary rivets and pliers
OR Small Nuts and Bolts.
Finishing Tools
- A Belt Sander
- A Bench Grinder
- Files
- A Planishing Hammer
*most any large hunk of steel will work for this.
Patterning supplies
- A Sharpy
- A Meter Stick or Straight Edge.
- A Fabric Tape Measure
- Scissors
- Empty Cereal Boxes, Bristol Board, or something of that nature.
Steel
- 14 and 13 gauge sheet metal.
- About a foot of 1" flat stock
- About a foot of 1/2" flat stock
- About 3 feet of 1/4" round stock
Cutting tools.
- A Jigsaw
- Aviation Shears
- A Chisel
- A Drill and 1/8" Drill Bit
Shaping Tools
- A Deep Dish
- A Shallow Dish
- A Dishing Hammer
- A Cross Peen/Machinists Hammer
- A T Stake
- A Ball Stake
- An Anvil Shaped Object*
Riveting Supplies
- A small Ball Peen Hammer
- Nails
- Side Cutters
- Cleco temporary rivets and pliers
OR Small Nuts and Bolts.
Finishing Tools
- A Belt Sander
- A Bench Grinder
- Files
- A Planishing Hammer
*most any large hunk of steel will work for this.
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I've actually still got that helm for sale, I'm asking 300 for it. For custom work the price goes up a you get fancier, and down to 150 for a bare bones 4 panel spangen.
As for what thickness of steel you want to use, well, that depends on a few things, what kind of use will it see, how hard will it get hit, are there pre-set requirements you need to meet. MY sca heavy helmets are all made from 14ga, my rebated steel helmet is 16ga, and my bike helmet is 18ga.
for a bit of a general guideline, assuming you're using mild steel, I'd go with...
Helmets 16 gauge minimum if you plan on getting hit, 14 gauge is better still. the weight is what stops you from getting a concussion after all.
For gorgets(neck armour) 18 gauge is usually a safe bet.
for 1 piece breastplates i use 16 gauge
back plates i go with 18 gauge
faulds and tasstes i use a mix of 18 and 16 gauge.
multy-plate breastplates and coat of plates style armour i use 18 gauge
spaulders/pauldrons(shoulders) i use a 16 gauge main plate with 18 gauge lames
elbows/knees are usually 16 or 14 gauge, with 18 gauge lames
vambraces (forearms) i use 16 gauge for the bottom half, and 18 gauge for the top.
rebraces (upper arms) i usually use 18 or sometimes 16 gauge.
cuise(thighs) I use 16 gauge, sometimes with 18 gauge wrap plates
greaves(shins) i use 18 gauge
sabatons(feet) 18 gauge, maybe 20.
gauntlets i usually mix 16 and 18 gauge
scale and lamellar armour i use 20 gauge, 18 at the thickest, but weight adds up fast with these.
in the end you're trying to find a ballance between coverage and weight. My current harness covers me from head to knees, minus my upper arms. it weighs about 60 lbs, i figure that adding greaves and finishing off the upper arms will bring my up to about 70 lbs. I only weigh about 150. I feel this is pretty reasonable for a full suite of plate armour, then again, i also like throwing 3 or 4 days worth of gear on my back and slogging up steep mountains, so what works for me may not work for you.
wow, thats a long comment now, hope something in there helps.
I have my templates traced on the 16 ga. steel, and in the book "medieval armor reproduction" it said to use a beverly shear Or a jigsaw...can I use a plasma cutter? I have a small jigsaw, but in short, it sucks, and I do have access to a plasma cutter.
Thanks
check out my riveting instructable for more retailed info.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-peen-a-rivet/
It's just layered up plywood glued together, mine's about 10 years old and has seen weekly use.
If you lay your bar grill out flat and weld it together first, then shape it, things are alot easier, use the swage plate to get specific arcs, make yourself two or three of various sizes. They are great for shaping vanbraces and grieves or anything else with a uniform curve.
that said, on moving parts like elbows and specially knees I'd move up to a 3/16" nail.
Thanks for the heads up though
my dad has like 300 plus square ft. of scrap metal.
I know you don't entirely need a dish but how would I get or make one?
the dish that i made the majority of this helm with was made by melting down a bunch of tire weights i scrounged up and pouring it into a coffee tin. Once it had cooled off i just cut the tin off about 1/4" below the level of the lead then i just hammered stuff into it untill a shallow dish formed. i think it;s only about a centimeter deep.
other ways of building a dish range from carving or cutting a bowl out from a stump. I used to have a chunk of cherry wood that i cut a bowl into by repeatedly plunge cutting into it with a skill saw, I;ve also got a dish made by welding a piece of 1/8" steel over some 4" pipe, then I heated it up with a tiger torch and bashed it into a dish with a shotput. the deep dish i use in this instructable cast lead again, but using the pipe and steel dish as a mould. Another common way is to call up some compressed gas companies and find out what they do when they dispose of old tanks. most places cut them in half and toss them or sell them for scrap. if you can get the bottom half of an old cylender they usually have a nice ready formed dish in them, just weld a bottom on, or stick it in a barrel of sand, use a dremmel to clean up any lettering sticking out form the dish section and you should be good to go there.
so yea, dishes arent to tricky, most anything bowl shaped and tough enough to hammer steel into will work.
For shallow cirves like in this helmet you could also probably go the sandbag route. just take a pair of old jeans, double up the legs, stitch one end shut really good then fill it 3/4 or so with dry sand or bb's, or buck shot or anything like that and stitch the other end up. lay it out like a pillow and you can do light dishing into it,
I cut the bottom of a refrigerant tank off and hammered the bottom into itself. it dishes amazingly ,I cant believe how easy it has become. only problem is it had 3 nubs on the bottom that I had to hammer down and they made little warps in the dish I didn't notice any problems as I dished a little piece of metal...
I was out at one of my local auto wrecking yards and found several "dead" H tanks the big type they use for welding and Co2 fire control banks. These had been drilled and dumped for scrap. I had them cut off the very end of the bottom about a foot from the bottom actually. The bottom of these tanks are very heavy and have a perfect "dished" end in them. A little work with a wire wheel and it was perfect. I have an anvil so cut two notches out on it so it sits down in a little slot there on the Anvil. I make helms all the time on it as well as shoulder pauldrons and Knee and elbow cops.
A tree stump sounds good to me too
Copying this into note pad.
still need to burnish it.
My grill is made of copper cubes ,riveted to the frames.
If you got the helmet put together this good then spaulders should deffinetly be no problem for you.
Thanks for posting pics, It;s awesome to see other peoples work.
lol so I still consider this a first :P
My pauldrins will be better
It looks like your helmet is coming along really well.
Just one more panel to go the left side was too small after I dished it :P
BTW dishing in the hard dirt made all the difference. I could make all 5 in the time it took me to make one on the knee pad.
Speaking of modding for live steel, if any live steel (or Dagorhir/boffer) folks want to try this out, for God's sake wear an arming cap and/or pad the dang thing. ;)
great job on this -- both inspirational and helpful
there is a basic pattern, the armour archive also has an amazing set of forums.
I think construction wise it's pretty self explanatory, dish the top, just bend the lames, flare the lower edges if you like, and then rivet it onto leather straps. but if you have any question just let me know.
I am actually doing my dishing on a gardeners pad like one of those mats that you kneel on... it works pretty well but I doubt it would work with higher gauge steel.
if you haven't seen it here is the SCA URL for June Faire http://www.dragonslaire.org/Events/junefaire.htm