Help Please - Making Chest Armour

[HaloJones]

I have agreed to make a friend a suit of armour, I have never done this & its a challenging project.

A bit of background: my friend does regular sword play with nylon blades, but they still bruise & he's after a bit of protection & looking good at the same time, he prefers leather over metal for manoeuvrability.

I have started to make it out of foam sheets to be able to visualise and agree the appearance, test for size & ultimately use as a pattern.

This was my draft & this is the style he wants. (sorry can't seem to rotate the image)

 

So I start to make a "pattern" copy out of foam & split pins

 

What I am trying to understand is how to make the lower banded section (orange) and still maintain flexibility - my thought being if I just rivet them all together it will be one large immobile piece.

My Google Fu has failed me on this one and so any advice is gratefully received

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fredk]

Use large headed - at least 11mm - ready rivets. Make a piece of metal U shaped with a L tang at the bottom of the U, make it about 0.5 to 1mm thick. Place the U over the hole, whack the ready rivet to set it, but not absolutely tight. Pull U out and the rivet is loose. Discover which way the pieces need to move relative to each other; one piece can have a round hole for the rivet and its match needs to be an oval hole

You could also lace the sections together

 

[HaloJones]

Thanks Fredk, will give it a go 

[Dwight]

8 hours ago, fredk said:

Use large headed - at least 11mm - ready rivets. Make a piece of metal U shaped with a L tang at the bottom of the U, make it about 0.5 to 1mm thick. Place the U over the hole, whack the ready rivet to set it, but not absolutely tight. Pull U out and the rivet is loose. Discover which way the pieces need to move relative to each other; one piece can have a round hole for the rivet and its match needs to be an oval hole

You could also lace the sections together

 

Actually, . . . a one piece (google " image:  roman armor " ) is better overall, . . . you just have to make sure you roll out the neck and arm holes, . . . and make them big enough for his arms to move in any direction and not get chaffed.

Riveting them together makes a piece that will be almost no different from the one piece, . . . other than it is a lot more labor.

If you make the layered (known as segmentata ), . . . it is a LOT MORE WORK, . . . but it is THE most flexible.  The leather version a lot of folks make, . . . the pieces are long enough to go completely around the person, . . . and are laced together from the top of one piece, . . . down to the top of the next piece, . . . and they overlap enough so that the cords are well covered by the lower piece.  This allows it to flex up and down, . . .but still protects the person.

It is then laced together in the front, . . . similar to lacing up a pair of work boots.

THAT is the design of the most successful soldier's armor the romans used.

Have fun, . . . good luck, . . .  

May God bless,

Dwight

 

[HaloJones]

Thanks Dwight, the amount of work is not an issue as I am not on a time limit, will look in to segmenta 

[DJole]

The secret to this might be leather articulation. 
Take a look at this article discussing a historical gorget (throat armor) and look at the picture noting the leather straps which link up the articulating plates:
<http://www.ageofarmour.com/education/gorget.html>
The plates are riveted to the straps in such a way that the plates can move, but not too far. This might be the solution. 
I have a back-of-the head protection piece on a fencing mask (used for nylon sword play, HEMA variety) which is made of leather, with lower lames articulated this way. 
They hang extended, suspended from the leather articulation straps, but they can also compress into nested lames, which is similar to what you want these to do here.

Then again, it might be a LOT more simple to just make a coat of plates, using leather as the plates. Just Google search for "coat of Plates" or "corrazina armor" and see if that would work. 
I love the looks of the corrazina armors, myself. 
 

[mikesc]

Look at the work on here by Prince aka azmal
copy and paste this next line, as is into Google, and then hit search..

site:leatherworker.net azmal

also look at his work ( including some "tutorialish" stuff on deviant art, and images of his work on pinterest, and on his main site at
princearmory.com ) the images should give you a pretty good idea of how to "articulate" leather armor..There are others on deviant art who are also well worth investigating for their leather armor work..be prepared to lose weekend just looking at pictures :)

[DV8DUG]

I'm pretty sure the segmentata  way will be the most comfortable. As far as leather over metal and total flexability look up lamellar armor and the Japanese have some of the most impressive. The picture I've included is NOT scale armor but careful lamellar construction. Scale being defined as needing a 'shirt' or starter garment whereas lamellar armors are laced in rows then the rows are joined giving full maneuverability.