Today I went into Lemelson at 1:30 and worked on and off until I had deepened the boss quite a lot—from perhaps half an inch to a full depth of about 1 ½ inches. The boss is now hemispherical, round, and smooth. Finally it’s deep enough to accommodate a fist if it were fitted with a handle raised 1 ½ inches off the surface, so that it matches my design.
Don next showed me the basic form of planishing, which is a polishing technique in which the surface of armor is struck by a polished hammer head on only a small area at a time, and gradually expanded outward by continual hammering on the planishing stake. I planished part of the boss and decided to wrap up, but I lingered to polish the surface somewhat with an abrasive. The rust is tenacious and seems stained into the metal pretty good, but at least it shows minute signs of getting cleaned and the surfaces not stained by rust look distinctly shiny. The planished part of the boss’ outside looks more even than it did when it was only hammered, and it is more reflective. At the end of the day it was 3:40. Don and I will roll the edges and make the handle in the future; in the meantime the next day will be more planishing.
Note: if the rust doesn’t go away, it may be better to cut my losses and simply paint it to hide the rust and protect against further discoloration.
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