helms page 3
I will honour these prices until 31 Dec. 2013
The Canadian price rules...when in doubt and to avoid surprises,
please
use this currency converter....
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic?user=WilliamFedun
#10-b
....... Decorative Helm made from spun bowl
12 gauge spinnings, made into helmets.
Fancy Norman Nasal Helm With Spangens
My Norman Fantasy version of this...
Paul's Helm... 
leather suspension system for this helmet.....$42.00 Canadian Dollars
Spangen Helms
Those vertical bars on the helm...those are called
"Spangens".
In the Middle Ages, steel was hard to make, and available in small
pieces...rivets
and small sheets were easier to come by. The Spangen Helm used the
vertical
bars to rivet the separate pieces of the helmet together, but with
the
spinnings, they are purely decorative. They look good
though.
Even on the spinnings, they do supply a certain amount of
re-inforcement
and extra weight to help soak up the shock of vigorious combat.
#10-c
....... Decorative Spangens added to the basic bowl.....below are
some
different versions you can get for this low price.
Viking,
German,
Scandinavian type of spangens. Four wide bars. Very
simple, understated.Has a sort of Gothic Arch look to it.
French, Iranian,
and
Norman
style, narrow spangens. Note the holes drilled to accept a
chain
maille drape or metalic curtain. Sort of helm worn by
Crusaders.
Designed to have those high coiled rope mats the crusaders used as
padding,
so there is lots of room up top.
East
Anglian
style of spangens. This pattern was used because small
pieces
of metal were easier to come by than large ones. I like this
style, the
spangens become narrower as they move up from the brow band to the
top
of the helm. Again, the four bands. Click HERE
to see this helm from the top.
(click on image to see larger version)
.
Spangens....
Asterix and
Obelix style Wings...
Conan
the Conqueror
style spangens,
Obviously there is a lot of work which goes into these
spangens.
They are made by cutting into existing spun tops with jigsaws and
files.
Depending on the amount of time, and broken jigsaws, they can
start to
get pretty pricey! On the other hand, they make a great
upgrade
to
your basic helm "next year when you have the money". These
spangens
will "make" your helm gorgous.
NOTE...REGARDING SPUN TOPS AND GAUGE SIZES.
We all know that the higher the gauge number, the thinner the
metal, right! The gauges mentioned here are American Wire
Gauge...usually abbreviated to AWG. This is most common.
Spinning is a process where a disk of metal is placed on a
BIG lathe and forced over a form by BIG tools. The result
always looks like it came off a lathe. This process is used
for bases of lamps, nosecones of airplanes and rockets, etc.
We have our own mould, and we make reliable inexpensive
bowls which can be used for everything from braziers to helms.
Due to the nature of the spinning process, the spun bowls start
out as a nominal gauge, say 14 gauge. The spinning actually
thickens the metal as it is produced, so in theory, the outside
edge of the bowl is actually heavier than the original disk of
sheet
metal. However, deep grooves and ridges are formed in the
surface
of the metal by the tools. If you were to sand
these tool marks out, you will lose two or even three gauge
sizes. When we say a top is "14 gauge", you can expect it
to become only 16 gauge after "cleaning up". We no longer
make the 16 gauge tops as a result...they became way too
light duty, and would dent too easily.
Spun bowls have a bad name in the
industry
due to the fact that
sometimes they have thin spots which pick up dents. Although
perfectly safe, these dents would be aesthetically unpleasing, and
therefore are covered by my warranty. For all the hooplah
about
the quality of spinnings I have never had a return because of
excessive denting!!! Guess they can't be all that bad.
