Annealing and planishing
My unfinished business from last post- this is what's working for me to flare the greaves around the ankle:
I'm using a straight pein with a somewhat rounded face. I pick the greave up a bit off the face of the swedge block and pound down a little bit at at time. I'm trying to planish from the outside where I can against the curved side of my kettle stake. Planishing form the inside tends to push the metal back out more than I want. Clearly planishing moves the metal a bit both ways (toward you and away from you, the toward you bit is from pressure back from your planishing stake) though I'm working with small faced hammers here, so there's a bit of localized movement away from the hammer face.
I did a bit of planishing on these guys tonight which was WAY easier after they were annealed, adjusted the edges a bit and fit them onto my calf:
The upper back is too sung, so I've been trying to gently open it while planishing. I don't have a planishing ball that really matches the shape so I have to fake it a bit. I might have to see if the balls I bought have one about the right size and put one of those on a stake.
Note that these guys are tight enough at the moment that they're just stuck on my leg with no attachment. Besides that calf thing they're pretty comfortable and don't dig. I really need to be fitting them with something lighter than jeans.
Here you can see some to of the planishing I still have to do, the symmetry to shore up, and the flare at the ankle, which is hiding part of my hand.
I'm using a straight pein with a somewhat rounded face. I pick the greave up a bit off the face of the swedge block and pound down a little bit at at time. I'm trying to planish from the outside where I can against the curved side of my kettle stake. Planishing form the inside tends to push the metal back out more than I want. Clearly planishing moves the metal a bit both ways (toward you and away from you, the toward you bit is from pressure back from your planishing stake) though I'm working with small faced hammers here, so there's a bit of localized movement away from the hammer face.
I did a bit of planishing on these guys tonight which was WAY easier after they were annealed, adjusted the edges a bit and fit them onto my calf:
The upper back is too sung, so I've been trying to gently open it while planishing. I don't have a planishing ball that really matches the shape so I have to fake it a bit. I might have to see if the balls I bought have one about the right size and put one of those on a stake.
Note that these guys are tight enough at the moment that they're just stuck on my leg with no attachment. Besides that calf thing they're pretty comfortable and don't dig. I really need to be fitting them with something lighter than jeans.
Here you can see some to of the planishing I still have to do, the symmetry to shore up, and the flare at the ankle, which is hiding part of my hand.
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