Hot or cold.

[Ben_sutton]

I saw this topic up on armour archive and thought i'd put it to the local folks

Which do you use, hot rolled or cold rolled steel?

[allfiredup]

it depends on what your budget is - hot roll is pre anealed cold roll isnt.

hot is more expensive, cold isnt.

and if your like me you use heat so it really doesnt matter.

I use cole rolled as its cheaper!

thanks
Justin

[tank]

i personly use cold rolled sheet steel for the simple resion its already shiny
and dose not take much effort to polish up nicely
where as hot rolled has a "mill scale" on it that takes some effort to polish lol hot rolled is also knowen as "black steel" for it is very dirty to work with


just my thorts


chris

[Ben]

I tend to use cold rolled also for several reasons, cheaper, shinier, pre-work hardened. Weather this is good, bad or indifferent depends on how you work it and how much - if you're going to cold work it to the point where it fractures you should think about using some heat anyway.

While we're on steels, does anyone know where to get spring steel sheet in NZ? (or at least something with a bit more carbon than you're usual mild steel) Everyone I have spoken to on this so far has said that you have to import it at rather a steep price.

[tank]

well i dont know if there is many places in nz or if there is any at all that sell spring steel sheet i wouldnt mind geting my hands on a sheet of it for my armor making

high carbon steels are feely exspensiv you could try goin round the local steel serplyers of your regen or go thru the ph book
there is also 1 grade of high carbon steel called "core 10" not sure how thin it gets my only dealings with it have been with 3mm sheet


tho do remember the higher the carbon the more brittle it becomes when cold working it and more likely it is to crack when trying to form it

my advise fore the higher carbons is to hot work them

[Ben]

From what I can find Core-ten is a weathering steel with 2% copper (not a pain carbon steel.

What I am after is something with about 0.6% carbon in sheet from 1mm to 2mm

Hot work is essential for this kind of steel - partly because its too springy to cold work without a lot of extra effort and because I want to harden and temper the final product (though not quite as hard as swords) to achieve maximum protection. This is something they attempted in period, although it wasn't until Suisonhoffer (Emperor Maximillians court armourer) that the technique was able to produce consistent results

[hopies]

steel and tube - we had to coerce them a bit but we got a sheet of 1.2 and 2mm spring.

cost a friggin bundle though

thanks

Soph

[tank]

so ben what kind gear do you make?

[Ben]

Armour (see my profile pic), weapons and the odd sharp blade - mostly for myself and others in my club. My workshop time has been extremely limited lately so I have accumulated a bit of a backlog...
My armour tends to be cold worked since I dont have access to a forge at present.

Theres a few pics of my gear in the NAAMA 08 gallery - just look for the yellow surcoat

[tank]

sweet il have a look
alo if u dont got time 4 a forge have a think bout a gas axe/welder
they heat steel realy qwickly and its cleenish also u dont get all the smoke and u arnt limited by the size of the bed in ur forge


oh and nice gear lol do u use a chain body or a plate? kinda hard to tell
u will proberly see a bit of my work around this NAAMA
i just built adrian some plate (chestplate,backplate,gorget,sholders,thighs)
also ilv built all of my own gear tho so far its not qwite as impressiv as the stuff i built adrian

[Ben]

Got an acetalene torch and a heating tip - works ok on small bits, but the coverage area is so small that it doesn't work on larger bits of sheet - can also overheat the work peice if you're not careful.
Did do well for heating and shaping cross guards though

Chain in that pic, I have a coat of plates for SCA fighting but I don't like using it for steel weapon because I can't tell when I get hit.

Great to hear you're making kit for people - hopefully I can make it down to NAAMA this year. If not you'll have to point out some of your gear in the photos.

Derek from the auckland SCA used to say the armourers curse is that you will never own your best work

[tank]

[Freebooter]

Any photos of that kit, Tank?

Would be keen to see them.

N

[Hawkwind™]

My gloves are from tank.

[Freebooter]

I know, that's why I'm keen to see more!

Nic