Studded belts.

[Shyftir]

If I was to take your basic studded belt and cut it into strips could I use it to make armor?

The leather is not of itself armor grade, but the studs are very closely attached, so they would be legitimate armor right?

[Spork]

Hmm, I guess it'd count as brigandine, as long as they are within a 1/2 inch of each other.

[Goreth]

since its a belt, be careful... the belts that are like 1''-2'' across can cause problems just because of the area they cover. now if the belt is like a kidney belt thats different. that would be brigadine. ive just seen some folks go and buy a belt that looks like it came from a Hot Topic store and then call it brigadine.

[Chicken]

Practically, yes, you'd probably be able to get it passed places.

Technically, possibly not. As spork says, the studs would have to be close together, and also you'd have to cover 2/3rds of whatever part of you you're trying to cover (for one interpretation of 3.7.1).

The other problem is, if you're talking about pyramid studs like these:

they could reasonably be failed for not being penny-round.

[Shyftir]

I'm pretty sure the studs on my belt are less sharp then a penny. It is a hot topic belt, but I'm planning on doing some pretty heavy modification. My plan is to make a bracer.

So the end product wouldn't look like a belt at all really.

[Big King Jimmy]

Do you know what the studs are made out of?

[Sir_Mel]

ooh, good catch. Most times the metal for that kind of thing is aluminum or something like that. I wouldn't be really worried about penny round cause it looks ok to me, however, I would be a bit worried about 1) 2.5 Inch rule, I don't know how high the studs are, but they might be too tall. The other thing to look is whether it looks historically accurate. I really don't think they had polished steel pyramid looking studded armor in the Middle ages. I could be wrong, but that's just what I think.

later

[Big King Jimmy]

The other thing to look is whether it looks historically accurate. I really don't think they had polished steel pyramid looking studded armor in the Middle ages.

I would never fail armor for that. This is one area where I definetly prefer to see fantasy over historically accurate.

[Spork]

I agree with Big Jimmy, I'm a Herald in training... for Armor, I don't think I'd fail it for looking non-period, only if it was made of non-period materials.

Question though, if someone makes armor out of something non-period, but it definitely looks period, can't think of an example...

I want to see really unique armor that doesn't extremely look crappy, but definitely makes me say, I want armor like that. Example, AnThrax of the Horde, awesome **** armor.

[Shyftir]

It's not so much whether anyone has documented proof of pryamid studs existing, it's whether or not that it's feasible in a medievil time period for them to exist. Pyramid studs are alot less anachronistic then say orcs or elves, but no one stops those from existing in Belegarth

I think the studs are stainless steel, thats a modern alloy, right?
So that's legal.
Don't worry they come nowhere close to 2.5 inch rule. They are probably less than half an inch tall.

I gotta check on the type of metal though.

[Winfang]

Those are not Stainless Steel. They might be a tin with some sort of plating on it.

[Chicken]

The 2.5" rule doesn't apply to armor, otherwise almost all pauldrons would probably fail, among other things.

There is

3.4. Armor may not have protrusions that rise more than ? inch from the surface.

but if they're less than .5" tall that wouldn't be a problem.

My guess is that any spikes you find are likely to be nickle-plated brass, actually, which would be just fine (as would stainless). There's really no way to tell most likely, but that's not really a problem. There's also no good way to check the guage, but again I don't think anyone would fail it on suspicion of being 21 ga .

Read the penny round rules, though. They're pretty harsh, and could well be a problem:

3.1.8. Penny Round ? Armor checking standard where the edge of rigid metal Armor is compared to that of a penny:
3.1.8.1. The edge of rigid metal Armor shall have the smoothness of the edge of a penny.
3.1.8.2. The edge of rigid metal Armor shall have less cutting ability than the edge of a penny.
3.1.8.3. The radius of any rigid metal corner must be greater than the radius of a penny.

For a piece of plate, that means that you should be able to put a penny behind the corner flush against the sides and not see it at all. That's a little ahrder to do in this case, but I doubt they'd pass that standard.

[Shyftir]

Well, I suspose I can go ahead and make it, won't cost me alot the way I've got it planned, and people can make decisions on it, as I bring it to things.

[The Lost Celt]

Thing is I'd be thinking about thickness on the leather before anything else...

[Grey]

Thing is I'd be thinking about thickness on the leather before anything else...

why? he already said the leather wasn't armour grade... the concern is if the studs are armour grade.

[Ralimar]

I don't think I've ever found any "armor grade" studs. Like Winfang said, they're some cheap throwaway metal with a finish on them.


Shyftir: If you want to make some inexpensive armor, buy some suede leather and put studs on that. It'll look a lot better than belts, you get the satisfaction of making it yourself, and it'll probably even be cheapter than buying 50 belts from hot topic or zumiez.

[Shyftir]

I'm making ONE bracer. I already have torso armor. I'm only doing this because my studded belt is starting to rip at the buckle. I'm saving money by using the bloody belt. I'll use one of the studs that will have to be removed to check what metal it is.

[Beorn Tordensjold]

Most likely it's zinc, with chromium plating. It COULD be brass, but I doubt it.

[Acrillise]

usualy, they are brass plated with nickle, or steel plated with nickle.

the standard sized ones are 1/2" in diamater and 1/4" tall.

you can get em real cheap here: http://studsandspikes.com/buy/index.php

- I put them in alot of my jackets.

[Plithut]

The thing that worries me is this

3.6.2. Metal Armor must conform to both of the following:
3.6.2.1. Must not be easily deformable by hand or by weapon strikes.
3.6.2.2. Using a material with a thickness of at least 20 gauge.

As my roommate just pointed out, the last time that I was playing around with these they fell off easily and all of that jazz. I am not trying to discourage you from making it, but I dont think that they will stand up to hits.