Grant Dorangrichia

I *think* whats rare is the size of what this guy provides. Normally this materially is in small wire form, not the large pieces suitable for knife hardware etc. I learned this from talking to an analytical scientist at GE. I may be mistaken though. Grant

Spend the extra couple bucks and pick up some burr life http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Stick-Bur-Life-Lubricant/117003?pos=1 It's well worth it. Grant

Looks like Slate. Very cool. Grant

I don't know if the prices are better, but check out auto body suppliers. They have narrow rolls of sandpaper that are huge. Grant

Working it hot helps. However Stainless just doesn't like to do some things. Like stretch for instance. So that making an exterior roll is incredibly difficult. It's easier to compress and roll to the inside. I use it for small pieces like jewelry. But large pieces, no. It tears me up and tears up my stakes and hammers. Grant

Saign is pretty much right on. All the armour I've been able to handle has been hardened. The only pieces that have been "heavy" have been pieces made for the joust. Even those were incredible in that the metal was pushed around so that areas of high stress and impact ( left front side) have much more metal than areas that were less likely to be hit ( back and sides, right front side). Anyway Mathew it's easy enough ( and cheap ) to just stick with mild steel. It moves like butter and if you went with anything needing hardening it may be overcomplicating what you're really looking for. Steer clear of stainless for your own good. It's a pain to work ( literally) Grant

That's interesting info Patrick, Thanks! I actually got that phenomena with my first attempt at shibuichi. I melt both metals together in an electromelt then poured onto a flat sheet of steel. I wonder if this is almost a fine grain mokume rather than a true alloy? Grant

Thanks guys I have a few more projects underway, one is a commission for a set of steampunk style gauntlets and another will be a full harness with chased and repousse lions covering it for myself. That one will be alot of fun Oh yeah, I have armour for my doberman started but thats on the back burner for now... Grant

My only other suggestion would be to pour quicker. Deepening the water would only make the problem worse as the metal will be even cooler before it hits the mold. Check out Fords video, he pours quickly and the ingot is actually red hot for quite a while underwater. http://www.youtube.com/user/ironbrush#p/u/10/WUVUYH_vvZE Grant

How hot was your water? It looks like the metal is cooling a bit quickly. Grant

Thanks guys! This was really my first completed bit of armour. So it was truly a labor of love to see it through to the end. I have far more half done projects than fully completed projects,lol. Here are two of the best Dave. http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/ --more reanactor based http://www.armsandarmourforum.com/forum/ --more historical research Grant

This is some recently finished work. Done for a photographer that used it for a photo shoot. Something a little bit different for the forum Grant

I'd be interested in a few pounds if you were willing to sell a small batch. Grant

I haven't done this yet myself, however I've seen others do it. Make a container out of PVC pipe and fittings. Grant

Unfortunately, No. Things just didn't work out. I won't be able to make Indian Georges' hammer in either. Hopefully next year though. Grant

Aldo rocks! The guy drove 3hrs to hand deliver me steel. He's the only one I'll buy from. Grant

Thanks for the added suggestions. He ended up specifically wanting the Tolkien runes so that's what I'll use. As long as it says what he wants in SOME sort of runes I guess I can be happy with them Thanks for the book suggestions, I'll definitely check some out to add to my reference library. Thanks! Grant

Those items certainly exist, however they're more the exception I think. Bear in mind armour was the defense for 800 or so years. So almost every weapon had to deal with it in some way. You can either use brute force to penetrate the plate or use finesse to slip into gaps. For swords thats generally how they dealt with it, by having the top 1/3 of the blade or so razor sharp, thin and flexible. Every culture was doing things different though. Same goes for time period as well. What I'm referring to is plate armour ( what I generally think about when talking about the Higgins ) Grant

Many of those blades were made so they would slip between gaps in armour. They are actually thin enough that they'll flex under their own weight. Also one thing to remember when looking at originals, chunks of metal that are hundreds of years old have obviously rusted and corroded and possibly been re-polished ( the victorians liked to do this) so that in some instances its impossible to know what the original thickness and weight should have been. The Higgins is definitely a favorite for me since you can get so close and not only can you take pics but you can use your flash! Grant

That would be a far cooler class ring than the conventional ones. Give it a shot, feel free to ask for help if you need it. Congrats on the order! Grant

Mokume is addicting. Soon you'll be trying to get all manner of odd metals to stick together,lol. I have a few of my pieces on my etsy page. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sothoth Keep it up Grant

OK, he is trying to say brother. He went to the hobbit site http://derhobbit-film.de/rune_generator.shtml#rune and if you click the cirth runes it does come out as he has it. But thats not what you guys are coming up with, frankly I trust you folks more than the website,lol. So Jake your saying it should look like this but with the 4th rune reversed? Thanks! Grant

Yeah, let me see what he's trying to say with this. Thanks Guys! Grant

I know that there are folks here that can help me out with this. A customer sent me this pic to make him a pendant and I just wanted to double check the runes for him. Just with a quick look online I can't seem to make sense of the runes he has on there. Thanks! Grant

Get better soon Don!