Wednesday October 13, 2011: Planishing and the Armoring Gin

I’ve missed a couple of entries, so its time to set the record down. 

On some other day, when I’m not exactly sure, I spent about an hour planishing the boss on the stake before the shop abruptly closed. During another session of unknown date and time, I spent about three hours total spent between finishing the planishing job and then using the wire brush end of the bench grinder to scrub away the rust. With a bit of patience it went from rusty to downright shiny. Painting seems like it would be a waste of potential now that I’ve got a result like this. Just before I left Don introduced me to the armorer’s “gin”, a small contraption that can be secured into a vise and help you roll the edge of a curved piece of sheet metal. It grips the piece and pulls it through the rollers as the handle is turned, creating an indentation that can be used to fold or roll the edge. Don tells me that medieval armor makers used the ancestor of this machine to do the same thing. On that day I didn’t have the hang of the gin, mostly because I was overeager with the speed and hadn’t gotten the hang of how to rotate the piece as the handle turns. Also, there was a small nick in the material that had to be corrected by asking somebody to weld some wire into the hole. I filed it down. Now I can resume using the Gin. 

This Wednesday, I came in with the buckler to try the gin again. This time I was good right off the bat, mainly because I stood close to the gin and turned the crank slowly as I trained my eye on the roller to guide its path. My friend Tom came in when he heard I was in the shop, and he thought the buckler was shaping out alright. He very helpfully volunteered to hold and turn the piece while I worked the gin, which helped because it’s rather stiff on the deeper setting unless you have two hands. Slowly and carefully we worked together and got it just right. Don showed me how to bend the edge forward once the groove was established using a special stake and a polished hammer. Tom admonished me to go gradually in consecutive passes rather than trying to bend it far on the first pass, pointing out that doing too much at once creates wrinkles that have to be cleaned up later. I took the hint, and so far its going alright. This evening was two hours.

About the story, I talked with Anthony and we agreed that I’d neglected my story in order to get my other class assignments done. Its time to start writing. I’ve taken stock of my sources and its time for serious research. We discussed the thematic importance of certain aspects of medieval life, which I’m sure will make their way into the paper.