Villanovan Crested Helmet

[Matthew Amt]

With the day off for Veteran's Day, I fired up the forge this morning and spent almost 3 hours dishing out the first half of a Villanovan crested helmet, to go with my poncho cuirass. It might actually work, though I am worried that it's coming out a little smaller than intended. The front and back tend to draw in as I dish, so it's going to fit a little tightly. But we'll see.

First annealing heat and dishing session (shown back in the forge for the second heat):

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/VilhlmA1.jpg

After the second heat and dishing, almost 2 inches deep:

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/VilhlmA2.jpg

Third heat, I think (losing track of when I took which photos!):

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/VilhlmA3.jpg

Fifth heat, about 3 inches deep:

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/VilhlmA4.jpg

Did one more annealing and dishing after that, then stopped for lunch. My arm is tired! Have to do some looking and checking to see if it's deep enough yet.

So NEXT time I'll know to start with a slightly over-sized pattern! But hopefully this will fit.

Enjoy!

Matthew

[Matthew Amt]

About another hour and a half of annealing and pounding, and the second half of the helmet is coming along. The dishing went faster than the first half, but there is more warping around the top of the bowl. It's not done yet, but the sun went down and I burned up most of my wood scraps. I'm going to try heating smaller areas with a MAPP gas torch, so maybe I won't have to mess with the forge for some annealing.

It was interesting, the light was getting dim when I gave the piece one last annealing, and for the first time today I actually saw the metal start to glow. Cool! (Well, hot--oh, you know what I mean!) Never get to see that in the sunlight, so I'm rarely sure if I've really got enough heat. The metal does undergo some obvious color changes, and tapping it gets a much duller "thunk" when it's hot. I could probably get a better anneal if I had a big tub of water to dunk the hot piece in, but I just pour water over it. Works well enough.

This photo doesn't show the depths really well, but the half on the left (first one done) is over 3 inches deep, and that on the right is a good 2 inches. Obviously much plannishing to do! But this helmet will probably be shoved to the back of the workbench until I get the cuirass done. Today was just a good opportunity to get most of the dishing done.

Valete!

Matthew

Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

[Jeroen Zuiderwijk]

Looking great so far already! Any plans to one day make one of those supersized crested versions?

[Paul Elliott]

Matt, that looks very nice ..., it'll certainly add to your height - you will look very impressive wearing that + cuirass.

[Todd Feinman]

Looks wonderful Matt! Going to be very nice I'll bet.

Todd

[Steve L.]

You are on a good way. Keep on!