Making a Medieval Norman Helmet - Part 1

[@paulbrown9549]

Modifying the ball peen hammer was a nice trick. I'll remember that one. That's cool that you show and admit the short comings and flaws you encountered. You could have just as easily edited that out. I have admiration for that. Excellent project to help others. It ended well and you have something to be proud of.

[@dreasxd]

Cool! Nice to see someone actually taking time to make a helmet.. Rather than "cheating" too much and just using power tools.

[@TotallyNotAlpha]

Your video has been super helpful, I am on the verge of finishing my first copper helmet and you taught me things my teacher have not. Keep up the good work!

[@MarldainLunas]

Ok. This is freaking awesome to see. This is the kind of issues that people will run across when being new to blacksmithing. You did an awesome job at problem solving!

[@gareths100]

Nice work Simon! Its great to see some good work being done by those who haven't got the complete setup that Eric Dube has. With marking the bottom edge, an easier method is to sit the helm on a flat bench. Wedge the sides till the helm sits properly upright. Then block up a piece of chalk to the height you want to cut at and trace around the helm. Eric Dube does this on his sallet raising videos

[@ImEvan]

3:56 Oh look, a footstool :D

[@The1Helleri]

Something I figured out was that if you set the vice to have anywhere from a ¼" to a ½" gap between the jaws, it works real nice as a depression for fluting. Especially if you use cold chisels (but if you use a cold chisel, round it's edge and corners with a file so you don't punch through the work piece). I also found that a large ball hitch off of a truck works pretty well for raising. But you have to shove it in a strong pipe for taller pieces and deeper shaping work or the vice holds it too low to get anything done.

[@felixdietzCGN]

awesome, amazing amount of work! really love your passion and motivation for doing such a labour-intensive project

[@andrzejgieralt9872]

Wow, you make it look so easy haha. I decided to give this a go, and it was my first time ever attempting to make armor. I think I was too eager with the raising and now I have tons of waves near the brim of the helmet.

[@dangrundel]

I had that happen too. I remember it being a bit fussy to flatten it all down, and I had a few cracks open and a couple of bits fold over. I really over-estimated the amount of steel I needed so I was able to trim most of it away, but after polishing alot of those marks ended up becoming hard to see.

[@andrzejgieralt9872]

I guess it's a bit of a learning curve haha but I love it

[@JerryJr65]

You have the patience of a saint my friend! That looks like a maddening amount of repetition!

[@terryhalsteadgamer]

Awesome! I like how you show and talk about your problems too, some people would cover up their fails. But we all gotta learn some how,

[@nouchkadevries4659]

damn thats some dedication there! I made one once too but instead of doing it traditional and making it out of one piece (which is super impressive, wow!) I made two pieces and weld them together. Very nice and good job!

[@jamesmcmillen4828]

Congratulations on taking on such a huge project! If I may offer a small bit of old blacksmithing advise...lower your work. You're having to hold your hammer much too high and its taking a lot of effort just to hold the tool. A blacksmith's anvil face is usually at a level where the smith could make a fist, drops his arms to his side, walk up to the anvil and have face of the anvil just touch his knuckles. This relieves stress on the back, arms, wrists and hands. Work smart.

[@TaylerMade]

I really admire your patience..,. but it came out really well in the end

[@shalevzohar9851]

I had the same problem with my thumb when making a shield boss, couldn't feel it, it have been shocked by the hammer strikes. on the shield boss I worked with an assistant that held a torch for me, it makes the job ten times faster because the metal is heated and hammered all the time so you don't need to stop. you should consider doing that.

[@collardog1216]

Nice work. Great innovation with the tools.

[@ssheroka]

How do you get the sizes? How do you know what size disc to start with for a proper fitting helm? I'm trying to get into this kind of work but can't get much on sizing

[@rawbagle]

I need ideas for making a raising ball stake. I tried grinding down a truck's ball hitch, but they don't come big enough. I'd need a solid metal ball about the size of a small coconut

[@dangrundel]

I remember having that problem. I couldn't find anything in the end. I've heard of people finding old cannon balls in antique shops but I wasn't so lucky finding one. Other spheres and hemispheres i'm aware of like float valve floats, serving dishes, and decorative hemispheres are all too thin, and I don't think filling them with lead or concrete would work either. Maybe you could try bending strips of steel and welding them into a sphere in a pattern like the segments of an orange, then grinding it smooth. Might be tricky keeping it an even sphere though. Yeah though, in the end I just went with the 'pucks' myself. I figured I didn't need the entire sphere and just a small section of it where i'm hammering.

[@GladstnJones]

Can't help but notice at some point while trying to make a conical helmet, it looks like a kettle hat... Possibly how the kettle hat originated..?

[@harrynew340]

A man and his shed is a wonderfull thing ( do the ladys have sheds ? Or does the sofa pull too hard )

[@stubryanfull]

its amazing what people can do in such small spaces

[@niffonkatze7454]

Hey, is there a video how you made your gas forge for heating the material?

[@dangrundel]

Yeah, there should be on my channel. If I remember right it was an earlier video and not presented so well though.

[@jeffdulbs1166]

love the video, only thing i would say though, make your passing marks about half as big, you don't want to move too much at once, you'll avoid the ridge that way

[@pepek715]

very beautiful please could you advise me what diameter circle from which the helmet is made thanx :)

[@dangrundel]

To be honest I don't remember how big mine was, but I suggest reading Eric Thing's article linked in the video description. On the introduction chapter search for the paragraph starting "First question: how big to make the blank?" It's too big to paste the text directly. The size of your blank depends on the shape of your helmet, and the size of your head (mine is pretty big!). It's definitely worth erring on the side of too large a blank though, even though it's more work rasiing it. I had alot of stress cracks and ugly folds on the bit I trimmed.

[@mt-xx1tt]

goooooood goooooood makes u think how much work went into these things but it was the hight of tec at the time so fully justerfiable

[@Stallnig]

the anvil might be set too high for you, so you can't direct the force at the angle you need it.

[@messerist]

Fantastic! What a great video. You are well on your way to becoming a very successful armorer.

[@alenirsic3500]

Can you tell me how are those white lines helping you? Are they indicating where to hammer? Thank you

[@dangrundel]

Yeah they are. The thing doesn't stay perfectly round as it progresses, the edges get squashed out and wrinkled in all kinds of ways, so they help keep the courses even.

[@NyashaM4]

what tool are you using in the clamp at 2:24 ?

[@dangrundel]

It's a ring roller I made. It never worked very well and when that vice broke it didn't fit the one I replaced it with.

[@NyashaM4]

Simon Heslop thanks for the help. Great videos btw.

[@lautaroamaru4158]

Sorry brother, I do not have much ability to understand English by listening, could you tell me which is the thickness you used to make the helmet. I use 18 gauge but I found the problem that the metal cracks, so I planned to use 14 gauge in the future.

[@dangrundel]

+Læif Armod Armodson I used 2mm mild steel, I think that's just a bit over 14 gauge.

[@papawelfare2846]

whats the diameter of the circle in the begining

[@georgewasserstein574]

2:52~が特に参考になりました!

[@TotallyNotAlpha]

How long would you say it took to make it? I'm also planning on working with copper or brass and wonder if you have any helpful tips?

[@dangrundel]

+MisterGnafe If I remember right it took about 2 weeks since I 'started' it, but alot of that was in trying to grind the thing smooth. The actual raising went fairly quick but still took a few days. But there was also alot time before I started fully working on it, collecting hammers, building the stake, etc. Copper and brass i've never really worked with. I always thought some day I might try making a metal bodied resophonic guitar but the price of brass sheet really put me off the idea. I have bent brass rod before, and it tends to work harden and crack very easily so you'd need to anneal it often. Annealing copper and brass is fairly easy since you just need to heat it up till it's just about starting to glow a bit (but be careful not to melt it) then cool it in pretty much any way you want. Also I remember reading that you need to be fairly careful about keeping the surfaces of your anvils and hammers fairly clean to stop any dirt or contamination from embedding itself into the metal's surface.

[@TotallyNotAlpha]

+Simon Heslop okay, thank you, i've benn working with brass for a while and had similar problems with the cracking and it turns out that it hardens if it cools off to quickly, one solution is tombac wich is a brass alloy with higher copper content making it more flexible but also more expensive.

[@Bukowski208]

I love the "make do" spirit

[@ШрамХам]

какая толщина металла и что за металл?

[@fezal5389]

I'm thinking of Woody Woodpeker when the part of you hammering become fast.

[@rasnac]

Is it possible to make a functional steel helmet by metal spinning?

[@dangrundel]

I might be wrong but I think to spin stuff it needs to be rotationally symmetrical. Plus you'd need a big and sturdy lathe to fit the blank on.

[@rasnac]

Thank you for your answer :)

[@ШрамХам]

КАКОЙ ДИАМЕТР ИЗНАЧАЛЬНОГО КРУГА ОН ВЫРЕЗАЕТ?

[@dangrundel]

I'm not sure if I fully understand what you're asking, since google translate isn't perfect. But i'm using 2mm thick mild steel. For the diameter of the blank i'd recommend reading Eric Thing's page, there's a link in the video description. You could use google translate for the webpage.

[@ШрамХам]

Большое спасибо!! я только начинающий "кузнец"...

[@Tenchijk]

that looks like too much fun ^^ !!

[@louiscrespo1280]

hey can i have plans / more information on that forge

[@dangrundel]

I've got some other videos on making it. They're kinda dull though. I was mostly following the stuff on this website; www.anvilfire.com/article.php?bodyName=/plans/ething_forge/sheet_metal_forge.htm Although I deviated a little bit, to make it easier to build.

[@louiscrespo1280]

Simon Heslop Thank you i started black/bladesmithing about 2 years ago and started to get interested in armoring thank you so much

[@louiscrespo1280]

Simon Heslop hey mind I ask were you got that sheet of steel from. All I can find are steel in tons

[@dangrundel]

louis crespo I think it'll depend on where you live. For that big sheet of steel, I got lucky buying an off-cut (i'd love to see the size of the full sheet) from a steel stockists in Newcastle. www.buymetalonline.co.uk/buy-steel-sheet/ I also recently bought some thin galvanized steel from here. The name seemed suspicious but the place turned out to just be down the road from me. I found it by just googling 'galvanized sheet steel UK'. As a side note, don't use galvanized for any kind of forging. You probably already know but the zinc coating gives off some nasty fumes when it's burned. Sorry I don't have any good info though, sourcing materials can be difficult. It might be worth finding some forums about welding or machining and asking there. Make sure you tell them the general area you live in though.

[@louiscrespo1280]

Ok thank you it helped. what are you going to use the galvanized steel for

[@Mustis1524]

Where are you from? I've heard your accent several times without being able to pinpoint where it originates from. (Btw, I'm not a native English speaker)

[@hangtowngunner218]

I'm guessing somewhere in the U.K., as a American English speaker, I can't safely say he is British. Hope that answers your question.

[@Sparkey]

Outstanding work.

[@baaler3953]

"Glovely"! :-) nice!

[@paulorchard7960]

Subbed, want to see more of this!

[@Kyle_CQ]

how do you know how much metal you mean to start with?

[@dangrundel]

It's been a while and I don't quite remember. But I think it was adding the diamater and height of the finished object and making that the diameter of the blank.

[@Kyle_CQ]

oh i see.thanks for responding so quickly.i love you channel and watch your vidoes often.some i have watch tons of times :)

[@dangrundel]

Thanks very much! I don't reply to comments often enough to be honest, but most of the time I don't know what to say. But I really do appreciate such kind comments!

[@CountryMaster16]

sheesh i guess your all about diy are you? im really impressed by your work

[@dmitryefimkin6550]

Low heating temperature - low labor productivity. try the coal forge.

[@dangrundel]

Nope. What made you think that though?

[@arifulhasan3550]

are you relative of Matthias Wandel?

[@express375]

Brilliant,like a metal working,English version of Mathias Wandell.

[@jokerharley4331]

very very nice

[@voodoogroove8209]

Excellent video, but show more care with the safety! Too many close calls!

[@Sweetiepiepizza]

cold roll would be easier to work.

[@MUZZYGANO]

yeaa no worries

[@miguelvasquez8650]

Histe un casco esférico, en lugar de un casco cónico como debería ser, además te quedó gigante para el tamaño de tu cabeza.

[@CorpCorboyPlaysMc]

Are you Irish? I am Irish

[@yanniskusogaki]

What patience....

[@tddym]

Wow

[@Th3Sabator45]

i would've really hated too be the person who had too make dozens of these

[@ryann5247]

+Th3Sabator45 they used iron instead of steel. a little bit easier to work

[@stevengilreath9532]

Thank you so much for not using a welder

[@scoverzi]

at 3:33 he is actually using the nokia

[@dangrundel]

My brother gave me his old smartphone a couple of weeks ago, but i've gone back to the old Nokia. It's small and light, the battery lasts 2 weeks (when the smart phone lasts 2 days with all the wifi and stuff turned off), plus it's rugged as all heck. Dropped it down a 5 story stairwell once. Smartphones seem great if you're into twitter and facebook, but I kinda like to get away from it all whenever I leave the house.

[@scoverzi]

i was just joking that you used the nokia instead of the hammer :) ... nokia lasts forever

[@carloko08]

nice work, but, you are using casual shoes to work with metals, welding, cuting, grinding etc? hehehe, dude, buy a pair of iron toe safety shoes, at less you like to work in a elegant way :D

[@happywolf6804]

Haters say it’s sped up

[@sikosis999]

some advice :) 1. Lower your work 2. Learn striking techniques and tool handling 3. Delve into metallurgy relative to smith'n :) beyond that mate a good go and never give up!

[@aarondalton2223]

Buy a damn shear

[@dangrundel]

A what?

[@jeanladoire4141]

Hey, your hammering dont look very "blacksmithy"... check out some blacksmith's yt channels to improve your movement. It will hurt way less ;)

[@anarchism]

dude... you need to play with clay a bit more.... you made something really easy into something time consuming

[@csengertoth4114]

yes, I think the same. Even the original norman helmets were made of iron, imagine the time the armour makers had to spend when making helmets this way to an army of thousands of men! I think it to be more logical to handle the material feom the inner side of the would-be helmet. Anyway, I respect your work and patience very much. Awesome job! :D

[@sandervanduren2779]

Csenger Tóth working it from the inside stretches and thins the metal, weakening it. It would be faster and easier, but wouldn't produce a good helmet.

[@hurtinbombs]

Awesome ! thanx for sharing Simon