Re: Helms

[Mikhail <we4@widomaker.com>]

Poster: Mikhail <we4@widomaker.com>

Greetings!

I have been armorering for a long time and have used both.

Cold rolled mild steel is supposed to be harder than hot rolled, but this
has not always been my experience, based on how much force it takes to form
the metal.  I suspect that this is due to different grades of steel and
possibly to the fact that most cold rolled is slightly thinner.  Cold rolled
is usually 1010 mild steel, this is the softest grade and is widly used in
tooling, stamping and forming operations.  I suspect that the Hot rolled
I've gotten is 1015 or 1020 and the slightly higher carbon content will
leave it harder.  (BTW 1010 is significiently harder than iron, maybe 20-25%
harder)  The highest grade steel you would want to use would be a mediun
tool steel about 1040-1050 and fully annealed, it will work harded quickly,
but it is very hard to find in sheet form.

Cold rolled has a nice finish that just needs a little buffing to look good.

Hot rolled has a varigated dark finish (it wouldn't be so bad if it was
even) and needs to be cleaned to leave a bright finish.  Cleaning can be by
sanding or with a wire brush (a real b***h), dipping in a mild acid (some
people use muriatic acid, leave it in for 10-15 min, take it out (use rubber
gloves) scrape and rince thouroughly,  I'm told this works well but I
haven't tried it myself) or by using a scorchbright wheel (the hard black
one you find at K-Mart in the paint section) then a hard buff or light
sanding to even the finish.

If you are painting the helm (a very period practice) the finish won't
matter much, just get the metal clean first so the paint will stick.  A pass
with a Scotchbright wheel leaves a good surface to hold the paint.

Either hot or cold rolled may be available as drops.  These are the pieces
that are left over after someone buys or uses a partial sheet and many metal
warehouses and sheet metal fabricators have them available at significiently
reduced prices typically less than $0.30 a pound.   

Hope this helps,

Yours in these current middle ages

Mikhail the Armorer
Tarkhan Khanate Bright Hawk
Great Household of the Dark Horde
we4@widomaker.com

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