Cost of an armour shop
Master Jovian asked what a basic armouring setup might cost. It's very subjective, as you can build some functional armour with about $15 worth of tools, and some folks make decent stuff that way. Some have thousands of dollars of tools and the quality they produce isn't much better, though it might save them a lot of time.
Here's my list of key things and my guess at their cost:
A forge (about $100 if you can build it, $400-700 if you can't)
Various hammers (all told I have about $400 in hammers, though I use 20% of them 80% of the time)
Beverly shear. Mine cost me about $300
Whitney punches. The small ones go for about $40. My shop has 3, and two larger ones.
A drill press ($75)
Angle grinders ($35)
Buffing wheel ($75, I got super lucky to get that price, though I limped along on one of the baby models for years. They go for about $30, but polishing takes FOREVER)
Some dishing dies and stakes (I have about $750 worth of those in the shop. A couple are borrowed from Max)
A welder. My rig cost ~$200, which is about as cheap as you'd want to go. Rebuilt regulators would cost a little less. The cheapo arc welders aren't worth the shop space IMO.
I'd wager I have about $1000 in books specifically for armour research.
Punches, files, a vice, a bench or at least stumps to work on a tool box, lighting, wiring, a file cabinet for patterns, a quench barrel, leather tools (punches, slickers, shears, needles), pliers, tongs, goggles, ear protection, gloves (light and heavy), clamps, an anvil, a stake holder....
All that stuff probably would run into about $2-3000, depending on how well you scrounge and what you can buy. Like I made my own tongs, which cost me about $5, but the commercial ones of that size are about $65. They're prettier and more robust but not functionally different.
There are lot of expendables like sand paper, rags, flap wheels, hard wheels, wire wheels, rouge, file folders for patterns, pens, sharpies, gas, rivets, washers, nails, oil, goof off, leather lube, dyes, steel, leather, buckles, drill bits, steel wool.....
Here's my list of key things and my guess at their cost:
A forge (about $100 if you can build it, $400-700 if you can't)
Various hammers (all told I have about $400 in hammers, though I use 20% of them 80% of the time)
Beverly shear. Mine cost me about $300
Whitney punches. The small ones go for about $40. My shop has 3, and two larger ones.
A drill press ($75)
Angle grinders ($35)
Buffing wheel ($75, I got super lucky to get that price, though I limped along on one of the baby models for years. They go for about $30, but polishing takes FOREVER)
Some dishing dies and stakes (I have about $750 worth of those in the shop. A couple are borrowed from Max)
A welder. My rig cost ~$200, which is about as cheap as you'd want to go. Rebuilt regulators would cost a little less. The cheapo arc welders aren't worth the shop space IMO.
I'd wager I have about $1000 in books specifically for armour research.
Punches, files, a vice, a bench or at least stumps to work on a tool box, lighting, wiring, a file cabinet for patterns, a quench barrel, leather tools (punches, slickers, shears, needles), pliers, tongs, goggles, ear protection, gloves (light and heavy), clamps, an anvil, a stake holder....
All that stuff probably would run into about $2-3000, depending on how well you scrounge and what you can buy. Like I made my own tongs, which cost me about $5, but the commercial ones of that size are about $65. They're prettier and more robust but not functionally different.
There are lot of expendables like sand paper, rags, flap wheels, hard wheels, wire wheels, rouge, file folders for patterns, pens, sharpies, gas, rivets, washers, nails, oil, goof off, leather lube, dyes, steel, leather, buckles, drill bits, steel wool.....
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