Draft of armouring section- WIP

content/pages/specializations/armouring/equipment.md

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+---
+title: "Recommended Equipment"
+description: "Equipment that is recommended for armouring, as well as how to make some of your own."
+weight: 2
+---
+# Equipping your shop
+## Basics
+There are a large amount of tools at an armourer's disposal. This is a significant factor in armouring being such a difficult craft to master. However, it isn't so overwhelming as it seems- most tools seen aren't really necessary, and many are just for quality of life or can be substituted/made.
+\
+\
+To get started, you'll need a minimum of a few tools. These are necessary, and are either required or must be substituted.
+* Ball peen hammers- preferably several sizes. Polish the flat face and ball, they should be very smooth. The flat face should also be [dressed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5wyhqKtnqo).
+* Something to hit metal on. An anvil is preferred for the horn and heel, as well as the hardy- however, it is not *required.* There are plenty of substitutes for an anvil in other sections of the wiki.
+* Related to the anvil, you will need dishing forms in order to actually create curvature in your armour. This can either be stumps or real metal dishes. This will be elaborated on further down.
+* A vise. This is necessary for holding your work, especially while drilling. A post vise is preferred; however, I've made do with a machinist's vise.
+* A drill press, for putting rivet and point holes through armour. Can be substituted for a drill, but it's much more intensive both in labor and patience. Use plenty of cutting oil and tungsten coated bits for the best results. HSS is fine, but it takes a little longer.
+* For almost every piece of armour, you need some basic leatherworking. An awl and/or a hole punch are sufficient, if you intend to rivet your leather. If you want to sew it, you'll need needles and sinew, as well as an awl. You'll also need to learn how to attach a buckle.
+* Something for rivets. I use roofing nails, it works fine. Use washers on the leather side to prevent it from tearing and fraying.
+* Measuring tape, preferably a tailor's tape measure. If you want your armour to fit, anyway.
+* Angle grinder with cutting disks OR beverly shears OR a round file and a *lot* of patience. (For cutting your armour patterns out.)
+* Needle nose pliers. They aren't *specifically* required for anything, but I find them invaluable for their adaptability in the shop.
+## Optional equipment (for beginners)
+* Some form of black spray paint- recommended is Rustoleum
+* Vise grips or tight tongs to hold smaller pieces while striking
+* Soft jaw attachments for your vise and vise grips, to reduce hammer scarring and make the final piece prettier
+* Wire brush wheel for angle grinder. I like it a lot for a lower grit polish.
+* Trailer hitch- Works amazingly for planishing. Very polished, just make sure the top is ground flat and lock it into a vise. Quite cheap as well.
+## Common pitfall
+A common pitfall that a lot of beginner armourers make is thinking that they need much more equipment than you do. You don't need a variety of planishing hammers, or a stake anvil, or a kiln. And certainly not an oxy-acy torch. These things may be nice to have, but they are far from necessary (for most applications.) 
+### Dishing stumps
+You should aim for a perfectly round depression- my sharpie marks got jittery because of the uneven wood surface. 
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/Dishingstump1.jpg)
+![](/static/images/armouring/dishingstump2.jpg)

content/pages/specializations/armouring/learning_resources.md

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+---
+title: "Resources"
+description: "A collection of sources, references, and resources for learning."
+weight: 3
+---
+# The holy grail of this section- The pattern archive.
+[This page](https://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/) has many patterns for different pieces of armour, including most things that people commonly want to make.]
+## Youtube Channels
+* [Greenleaf Workshop](https://www.youtube.com/@GreenleafWorkshop)- Great resource for beginners and journeymen alike.
+* [Armorysmith- How to Make Armor](https://www.youtube.com/@howtomakearmor)- Forges a lot of "fun" armour from movies and such that isn't exactly historical, but forges some good historical stuff too. Currently deployed in Ukraine, may never make another video.
+* [Armorysmith- Art of Armor](https://www.youtube.com/@ArmorySmith) - Another of Armorysmith's channels
+* [Armorysmith- World of Armor](https://youtube.com/@ArmorySmithWorkshop)- Another Armorysmith channel
+* [Knyght Errant](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1T4KJG1L_kTrP9RcdU5Csw)- Altogether Renaissance youtuber. Makes a lot of videos about generalized historical study, but also has a decent amount of videos focused on armour and its composition/creation.
+* [Albert Collins](https://youtube.com/@albertcollins6427)
+* [Armure Dubé](https://youtube.com/@ArmureDube)
+* [Ironskin](https://youtube.com/@Ironskin)
+* [Living Manuscript](https://youtube.com/@LivingManuscript)
+* [Stacho Wołoszyn- Workshop](https://youtube.com/@stacho-armouringblacksmith3228)
+* [Radoslaus](https://youtube.com/@TheRADOSLAUS)
+* [Андрей Юманов](https://youtube.com/@user-hj1xc7co7f)
+* [Morwyn le Fay](https://youtube.com/@Morwyn_le_Fay?si=aw4wcqVJQrm2CxVF)
+## Books
+* [Armourers and their Workshops: The Tools and Techniques of Late Medieval Armour Production | Nickolas Dupras](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/4376/)
+* [Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction: The 14th Century | Brian Price](https://archive.org/details/techniques-of-medieval-armour-reproduction-paladin-press/mode/2up)
+* Tips, Techniques, Tools, Sources and Resources: For the Armourer | Douglas W. Strong, Historical Research Press - Included in the [Talbot's list](http://www.talbotsfineaccessories.com/books/metalwork.html)
+* [Basing Armouring: A Practical Introduction to Armour Making, Second Edition | Paul Blackwell](https://archive.org/details/Basic_Armouring_A_Practical_Introduction_to_Armour_Making_Paul_Blackwell)
+* The Complete Great Bascinet: Techniques of Construction | Douglas W. Strong, Historical Research Press - Included in the [Talbot's list](http://www.talbotsfineaccessories.com/books/metalwork.html)
+* The Complete d’Aubernon Armour: Techniques of Construction (Volumes XVII-XIX) | Douglas W. Strong, Historical Research Press - Included in the [Talbot's list](http://www.talbotsfineaccessories.com/books/metalwork.html)
+* [Some Notes on Great Helms, Crests and Early Tournament Reinforces | Dirk H. Breiding](https://www.academia.edu/5758293/Some_Notes_on_Great_Helms_Crests_and_Early_Tournament_Reinforces)
+* "Making of a 16th Century Armour" | Albert Collins (It can be bought [here](https://albertcollins.se))
+* [Knyght Errant's book list](https://knyghterrant.com/index.php/recommendations/books/armor-books/)
+* [Talbot's Fine Accessories](http://www.talbotsfineaccessories.com/books/metalwork.html) has many books for sale and is run by Douglas W. Strong.
+## Other- presentations, boards, charts, etc.
+* [Armour thicknesses Pinterest board](https://www.pinterest.com/Arm_the_Armour/armor-thickness-measurements/?invite_code=18afe9f65b0d4b158e3ff77737362b88&sender=526358412607404173)- Arm_The_Armour
+* [Armour thicknesses Presentation](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DLlrwJV7mx6-fZjQxfI5Yo7e-gOObpcxkDfSQ70MauQ/edit#slide=id.p)- Alan Williams, Wade Allen, Rene Kohlstruck, Matthias Goll, Arm_The_Armour
+## Sources to AVOID.
+* Shadiversity - Chronic misinformation, simply incorrect about a lot of things, going down some questionable moral pipelines, etc.
+* Metatron- Similar youtuber. Questionable morality, in addition to blatant misinformation and misleading takes.
+* Skallagrim- While much less egregious than the former 2, and also a much better person, much of the information presented in Skallagrim's videos is questionable. It's recommended not to take his claims as fact, and to take them with a grain of salt. His channel is mostly geared towards larpers and DnD players, rather than armourers or those genuinely pursuing historical scholarship.
+* Anything that doesn't cite sources, such as extants, manuscripts, or treatises.

content/pages/specializations/armouring/making_your_first_armour.md

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+---
+title: "Making your first piece of armour"
+weight: 4
+---
+If you've made it this far, then you should be ready to make your first piece of armour. The starting project for a beginning armourer is a spaulder, the precursor to a pauldron. This section will walk you through that project, using images I took during the process of making my first spaulder and piece of armour when I began. Please note that these instructions are for making the armour out of mild steel, and thus do not mention anything related to heating, annealing, work-hardening, etc.
+# Forming the plates
+First, you want to download the patterns for the spaulders from the pattern archive, and then print them out. Cut the pieces out of the paper and use them to trace the pattern onto your sheet metal. You should resize these patterns to fit the measurements of your body, if you intend to wear them. The cop and lames should curve and cover about half of your arm's circumference, and the height should reach about halfway down your triceps.
+\
+\
+![The patterns traced onto metal.](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut1.jpg)
+\
+\
+Once you do this, you need to cut them out of the sheet metal, using: cutoff disk on an angle grinder; bandsaw; beverly shears; or you can file them out with a round file or jeweler's saw. Then, you will want to 
+finish the edges up and make them smoother, using either sandpaper or a belt sander to get rid of the sharp edges and leftover material. You should also trim the lames, though this can be done afterwards as well- each lame should be slightly narrower than the one before it to account for the tighter curve.
+\
+\
+![Your cut out armour plates should look similar to this.](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut2.jpg)
+\
+\
+If you wish, you can mark the holes to be drilled and drill them now, or you can do it later after shaping the plates. I prefer doing it after shaping the plates in case my shaping isn't perfect. After this, you want to begin forming them on your dishing stump or dishing forms, hammering the pieces into the dishes in order to create the curvature. I usually start with the shoulder cop- the curve should be quite dramatic. Keep hammering with the round side of a ball peen hammer until you've reached roughly your desired shape.
+\
+\
+![The shoulder cop should begin to take a dramatic curved shape like so.](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut3.jpg)
+\
+\
+Next, you want to begin the same process for the lames, hammering towards the middle of them and sometimes closer to the edges in your dish in order to curve them to the shape of the arm. You can also use a chisel to mark your lames with roman numerals on the inside- this will help you keep track of which is which, as they have to overlap within each other.
+\
+\
+![Your lames should begin to overlap with each other and fit.](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut4.jpg)
+\
+\
+Once finished roughly hammering the shape in, you should be able to clamp the cop and lames together and have them fit and move freely. Now that you've reached this point, mark off your drilling spots (if you did not drill before shaping the plates). There should be 2 holes in each lame, and 4 in the cop. At the top of the cop should be 2 holes for pointing strings, and 2 towards the bottom for attaching to the lames. Each lame should have 1 hole placed on either side- the bottom lame should have an extra rivet below the main one on each side for the tricep straps. You can either place them so that the rivets are obscured, or you can place them so that the rivets are visible on the outside. Placing them with the lames covering the rivet heads may lead to stiff articulation. 
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut5.jpg)
+\
+\
+(Optional) If you wish, you can also planish the plates before fitting them. This will give them a smoother appearance and be prettier to look at, but may disrupt your fitting. I planish by hammering the plates on top of a trailer hitch that has been ground flat, using a polished hammer. You want a planishing surface to be flat because it's smoothing out your hammer marks and the shape of the plates.
+\
+\
+(Optional) If using spray paint or some other form of interior finish to prevent rust, you should spray the inside of the armour now, before attaching the leather straps and such. I personally use black rustoleum paint.
+
+# Straps and fitment
+Once you finish dishing the shape of your armour, it's time to make the fittings. Clamp all of the plates together, and measure the length from the cop's rivet holes to the top rivet holes on the bottom lames. Cut these lengths of leather/cloth out.
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut6.jpg)
+\
+\
+Place the strap where it should go, and use a sharpie to mark the spots to punch in the leather through the rivet holes in the plate. Then punch holes in the leather using a leather punch. If you don't have a leather punch, you can also use an awl and then drift the hole wider. Once done punching the holes, you can unclamp the plates from each other and begin assembling the spaulder. Start from the bottom lame and work your way up, placing each lame over top of it and finally the cop. To rivet, I use roofing nails. I put nail in from the inside, so that its head is against the leather and the shank is sticking out through the armour. It is highly recommended to place a washer between the nail's head and the leather strap, to keep it from tearing or fraying. Once it's in, cut the rivet to size, and slowly peen it flat into a second rivet head with the flat side of a hammer until it's a tight fit. You can hammer around it with the ball side afterwards to make it rounder and prettier. 
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut7.jpg)
+\
+\
+Now, take the measurements of your arm that aren't covered by the spaulder. It should be approximately half the circumference of your tricep. Cut a leather strip to be a bit longer than this length, and then cut it in half leaving some extra material on one of the strips. The strip that's longer will be the buckle side. You can cut the non-buckle strap even longer if you want, to make it more adjustable- this is optional, however. Now punch a hole in the buckle strap for the prong of the buckle to go through, then attach the buckle by folding the strap on itself through the buckle. Punch a hole through both sides of the leather (or 2) and then rivet them together. Punch a hole in the other end of the strap in order to rivet it to the bottom lame of the spaulder. For the other strap, punch a hole in one end to rivet to the lame, and then trim the other end of the strap into a point to make it easier to thread into the buckle. Rivet both straps onto the bottom lame, remembering to use washers.
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut8.jpg)
+\
+\
+Not pictured in the image directly above is that it's recommended to trim both the bottom of the articulation straps (the ones riveted to the cop and lames) and the top of the fitting straps (the ones riveted to the bottom lame with a buckle.) This will help avoid your straps crossing over each other and overlapping.
+\
+\
+After that, the best way to place the notches for the buckle to go through is by wearing it and using a sharpie to mark the dot where it's at the best tightness. It's recommended to punch a couple extra holes in intervals in case it needs to be looser or tighter at any given time. Once this hole is punched, your spaulders should be done and ready to wear. You can also sew a "retainer" onto the buckle side of the strap to hold the excess if needed. Below are some pictures of my first ever spaulder finished. It should be noted that I made mistakes- the lames are not fitted together as well as they could be, and the shoulder cop was not dished deeply enough, among some other mistakes.
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut9.jpg)
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut10.jpg)
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut11.jpg)
+![](/static/images/armouring/tutorial/tut12.jpg)

content/pages/specializations/armouring/start_here.md

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+---
+title: "Armouring"
+description: "Resources and guidance on creating medieval armour."
+weight: 1
+---
+#### *The armouring section of the wiki is written and maintained by Amity. Please reach out to @amity_sage on Discord if you have questions or wish to contribute.*
+## Basic info on Armouring
+### Intro
+Armouring is a mastery of metalwork, and often considered one of the hardest practices to pursue in metalworking. It requires a lot of practice, as well as a significant amount of study. Anyone can be a good armourer, and anyone can be a great armourer; it does, however, require a large amount of dedication and focus on learning.\
+\
+To learn armouring, it is heavily recommended to not only practice making the pieces, but to study extants and use other sources to learn as well. There are some notable literature pieces, as well as at least one youtube channel that can be great resources for learning- all of which will be found in the [resources tab](learning_resources.md) of the guide.
+
+### Terminology
+The page is written under the assumption that the reader is familiar with all of the terminology. This terminology will be listed here, both for education, and for ease of access. In no particular order:
+* Maille- What "Chainmail" is actually called. Chainmail and 'platemail' are both modern misnomers, and inaccurate to the period.
+* Planishing- Striking the surface of plates on a flat and polished object, as to smooth out divots and hammer marks in the piece.
+* Extant- A surviving historical piece. If a piece of armour in a museum was created during the Renaissance, then it is an armour extant.
+* Dishing (also called stretching)- Striking a piece into a "divot" or depression from the inside of the shape to stretch the material (thinning it.) Most often done in forms, but was historically mostly done on flat surfaces.
+* Raising (also called shrinking)- Working a sheet from the outside of the shape to push down and compress the material around the apex
+* Fluting- Small ridges or corrugations on armour pieces for a decorative (and very mildly functional) effect. Most often done through raising.
+* Pointing - "Points" in armour are holes in the armour used to tie them to the body using an arming doublet. This is primarily seen on earlier armours, such as from the 14th century. The doublet would have thick reinforced laces that would go through point holes in certain spots on the plate, and then knotted to secure it to the body.
+* Arming doublet- Thick, reinforced doublet, often complete with points and sometimes with maille voiders sewn on where the armour would have gaps (such as armpits.)
+* Sliding and leather articulated rivets. Sliding rivets articulate by having slits in the plates they're riveted through to allow the plates to "slide." Leather articulations use leather straps riveted to the inside of the plates. Leather articulations are covered in more detail in the [spaulder tutorial.](making_your_first_armour.md) The top row of rivets in the image below are sliding rivets, while the one outlined in red are leather articulations.
+\
+\
+![](/static/images/armouring/Slidingvsleather.png)