Shop update

I've mostly been doing repairs lately, as apparently there was a backlog while the open shop was on its summer break. Maelgwyn did some polishing on a 410 gauntlet that's mysteriously rusted. We still have to figure out why so that steel does what it's supposed to for us. I welded a new tang onto Eleanor's basket hilt, shrank a hole and replaced a rivet on my baroness' gauntlet (hope she likes the articulation, I made it a little tighter), fixed some strapping and rehung some legs for Martel, installed a chin strap in a burgeonet for Ceallach and adjusted the cheek plates to give him more room, fixed some leather bits on my breastplate, and helped Eleanor strap one of the smallest heaters I've ever seen. We didn't have all the right parts so the improvisation was kind of fun. I made rivets for her out of 1/4 inch rod with my welding torch and a couple hammers, and washers out of spring steel scraps. It was like iron chef with shield as the secret ingredient.

Speaking of that I've been thinking it would be a fun challenge to get a bunch of folks together and do just that- you get free rein in the shop and can use anything you find (within reason). The challenges would have to be fairly simple and quick- hinges, spaulders, buckles, etc. It might stretch folks a bit.

Duke Paul came down and stayed with us for a few evenings and taught classes. It was nice to have him around.