Metalsmith for hire

[HesinRaca]

Hey, just dropping a line. I'm new to belegarth, did some fighting in the SCA(not heavy, just boffer) for the last 6 years, avid medievalist, and..

I'm a metalsmith/jeweler, which means anything from rings and pendants to full torso breastplates. My access to a smithy(despite ahving an entire smithy worth of equipment) is limited, but I can do or figure out how to do just about anything in brass, copper, nickel, bronze, pewter, etc (and gold and silver if you want to buy it).

So if anyone has commissions/requests, let me know. Graduating in June and willing to do some fairly cheap projects to get myself off the ground.

I don't do wood working(yet) but I understand it enough that I could learn quickly.
Leather I am still beginner at, but I can also do that as well.

All of my work would be, by self classification(from the mouth of a self-critical perfectionist), joruneyman quality, so keep that in mind, I am not a mastersmith yet.

PM me here or email me, hesin.raca@gmail.com.

Living in eugene til june, portland til july, and tacoma after, for shipping references. Hawt.

---------------------------->>>>>
EDIT:: I am potentially taking a beginner to journeyman bladesmithing apprenticeship, so that will be an option soooooon.

[Thomas MacFinn]

How are you at welding?

[HesinRaca]

Decent, though not as well as I'd like. I can do mig well enough, and oxy-acet. The main issue would be getting access to the equipment, which I don't technically have right now. So... What were you looking for exactly?

How are you at welding?

[Managarm]

Ever done composite armor before?

[savetuba]

Could I get a quote for metal scales (2"x2.5" tombstone) that would be Dag/Bel legal from brass, copper, and steel?

[HesinRaca]

Ever done composite armor before?

No, but I am currently working on gathering leatherworking skills. I know how to courbouli and wax harden leather, as well as form, I am proficient in chainmaille weaves, and a friend of mine is teaching me leather working and riveting, so I could probably manage composite armour.

What did you have in mind?

[Judas]

What about torcs? Have you ever made one or anything that could be adapted as such?

[HesinRaca]

Could I get a quote for metal scales (2"x2.5" tombstone) that would be Dag/Bel legal from brass, copper, and steel?

I;d have to do some math, but my sources for sheet brass or copper run around 7.80USD/lb. THe guage would have to be thicker then 18 but thinner then 12 to be feasable in both construction and wearing.

Copper is about 2lbs per square foot of 16GA, so you're looking at about 15.60USD for 26 scales(assuming 2x2.5" max dim.)
Since I am not quite what I would consider journeyman level in armoursmithing, I would probably not charge much for labor, but it would have to be enough to justify my time, so I;d ahve to get back to you on that.



As for legal. The problem is that scale maille generally doesn't pass the finger-catching rule(as I've heard it called). The Tombstone shape does, but its hard to keep the scales down without restricting motion. Are you doing a coat of plates or actual chain/scalemaille?

[HesinRaca]

What about torcs? Have you ever made one or anything that could be adapted as such?

Torcs are eeeeasy. If you want it in steel/iron you'd have to give me time to procure smithy space, which would be mid to late july(possibly sooner). If you want Brass, copper, nickel, I could generally make a pretty elaborate torc in a day. If you want silver, gold, or platinum, I need payement up-front;)

I'd need measurements, ref. photos or sketches or design requests.

[Aegis]

pictures of past work?

[HesinRaca]

pictures of past work?

Are all of rushed, terrible pieces, but I can upload a bunch and put a link, let me get an album set up.

FOr now though, there's some of my older work on my deviantart. Along with some rediculious photos and old writing. Skim through this for now. I will make an album on photobucket soon.

[savetuba]

Could I get a quote for metal scales (2"x2.5" tombstone) that would be Dag/Bel legal from brass, copper, and steel?

I;d have to do some math, but my sources for sheet brass or copper run around 7.80USD/lb. THe guage would have to be thicker then 18 but thinner then 12 to be feasable in both construction and wearing.

Copper is about 2lbs per square foot of 16GA, so you're looking at about 15.60USD for 26 scales(assuming 2x2.5" max dim.)
Since I am not quite what I would consider journeyman level in armoursmithing, I would probably not charge much for labor, but it would have to be enough to justify my time, so I;d ahve to get back to you on that.



As for legal. The problem is that scale maille generally doesn't pass the finger-catching rule(as I've heard it called). The Tombstone shape does, but its hard to keep the scales down without restricting motion. Are you doing a coat of plates or actual chain/scalemaille?

I was thinking of doing a war skirt. Also scale maile is a D&D term. The correct term is leaf maile. I was going to take parachute cord and weave the scales onto it. In the end it would be several large Circles of cord, top one being smaller than the bottom, and attaching all the cord to long thin strips of leather that strap to a belt. The scales would lay flat because they dangle down and because they will be dangling on loops of cord fingers can slide in and out of the scales.

[HesinRaca]

the late old english word for "maille composed of scales" has been translated to both scale-maille and leaf maille, as well as, I believe, layered slip maille, if you're really excentric, but yeah, scalemaille is the term they used in DnD.

Either way, if you're doing the weaving yourself(which I am not entirely sure what you're describing, I am getting two visuals from that and for the sake of my armoursmithing would love a picture) you just have to send me a drawing of what you want me to make and how many, as well as gauge, material, and finish.

[savetuba]

A drawing...



The center lacing is the idea I have only the top of the scales have 2 holes instead of one. In one hole over the scale and out the other and on to the next scale. Till I have one circle of hanging scales. I make more circles each one larger than the next. I then attach the top circle of scales to leather strips that are hanging down off a belt. and so on down to the bottom. It is all in my head and drawing it might be difficult.

[HesinRaca]

A drawing...



The center lacing is the idea I have only the top of the scales have 2 holes instead of one. In one hole over the scale and out the other and on to the next scale. Till I have one circle of hanging scales. I make more circles each one larger than the next. I then attach the top circle of scales to leather strips that are hanging down off a belt. and so on down to the bottom. It is all in my head and drawing it might be difficult.

Makes enough sense for me. I will double check the sheet prices when I get a chance.

[maximilian]

I reiterate; that is going to be SO heavy if done in 18ga. I love lammelar, but the 100 lammelae I cut were heavy enough we just used them for event tokens later.

[Claymore]

I reiterate; that is going to be SO heavy if done in 18ga. I love lammelar, but the 100 lammelae I cut were heavy enough we just used them for event tokens later.

Quoted for truth. Because you're layering the armor it uses up more metal for less space. Judging by the overlap, Id say it would increase the total weight by about 1/3 compared to a solid body.

At least don't make the same mistake I did and make the shoulders to narrow. For me, my shoulder straps are about 1-1.5" wide and places a lot of weight on two small points.

Since mine is leather, it turned out to be about 35 lbs for a body and skirt armor. (To give an estimate if you want to try leather) But recently at spring wars I discovered a problem with thicker leathers. They obzorb water like a sponge and continue to add weight quickly...

I still have trouble moving after the event.

[HesinRaca]

Maximilian, I assume you mean iterate, and yes, it will be decently heavy, but if you're going for realism, then it will be more accurate. Its up to the wearer. I would take a guess that you're looking at, with 18ga brass, about 2.5 lbs per square foot of lamelar. So if you do a skirting that goes around your entire waist... well, for me, my waste is a 30", and assuming I didn't bell it out, bring it down 26", and just added a split front and back... without leather belting, and the weight of the lace, the skirt will be about 14lbs.... and...... 15lbs in copper under same conditions. (steel would be about 16lbs) That's with the assumption that you have a 40% overlap in material(its at least 40%).
Now, all things considering, that's not too bad.


As for the leather armour, CLaymore, did you courbouli the armour??

I reiterate; that is going to be SO heavy if done in 18ga. I love lammelar, but the 100 lammelae I cut were heavy enough we just used them for event tokens later.

Quoted for truth. Because you're layering the armor it uses up more metal for less space. Judging by the overlap, Id say it would increase the total weight by about 1/3 compared to a solid body.

At least don't make the same mistake I did and make the shoulders to narrow. For me, my shoulder straps are about 1-1.5" wide and places a lot of weight on two small points.

Since mine is leather, it turned out to be about 35 lbs for a body and skirt armor. (To give an estimate if you want to try leather) But recently at spring wars I discovered a problem with thicker leathers. They obzorb water like a sponge and continue to add weight quickly...

I still have trouble moving after the event.

[HesinRaca]

Well then. Just finished school, and I have a huge list of projects to get to, but I just did my first knife, and will have access to a forge soon I hope, in which case, anyone interested in getting a 300$ knife for not 300$ should get on my waiting list:)

I reitterate, based on steel, materials, size, shape, quality of construction, and quality of tempering, I was informed by the man I am apprenticeing with that I could sell this knife for 300$, and I won't be selling for that much til I am better.

photos.

[Skaara]

Good lookin cutter ya got there.

[debuenzo]

indeed!

job well done

[HesinRaca]

Second Blade. Kitchen knife. Tiger/zebra wood and damascus, 68 layers, fairly high carbon, but because of the metal source I dont know the specifics. EDIT: By metal source I mean the broken bandsaw blades I used, hopefully that clears up some PMed confusion.

[HesinRaca]

Bump/Update.
Currently apprenticing officially in a smithy with a very good blacksmith, Alan Flashing. Have access to welders, forge, grinders, etc etc.

also, here is some more work references, and yes, these are also in the Chaoswars13 post I made, but I wanted to bump this and make it easy to find images:)



Very simple rose, could probably make it a little fancier, but that's not as easy as it looks.

If you go on google and type in "iron candlestick" or any other object, I can generally make any of that, though maybe not as clean of a job as some of the better objects out there, and that sort of stuff is basically just materials + 20-30$ an hour, or the current market price if its lower.
Candlesticks, tiki-torch stands, fireplace tools. Not really a limit to what can be made, except that currently I have access to a smithy and not much of a studio, so the precious metal stuff is less possible.

I also have a deviant art with some of the jewelry/metalsmith items.


Definitly don't endorse smoking from this, it was for display/soapbubbles


I could probably manage another breast plate but that's some hardcore man-hours there. Definitly changing the style next time, and also hard to fit to size without being in person, but entirely possible.





Can do rings, thought not as easy without the studio....

[Aslaug]

That's a sexy breastplate, there...

How much for a simple ring, like the second one?

[HesinRaca]

That's a sexy breastplate, there...

How much for a simple ring, like the second one?

Second ring probably would take 4-6 hours to do again, max, and that's only because the "stone" is actually a little dapped piece of silver which was a little melt-prone. Not much in materials, but since its hand fabricated it would probably end up around 50-80$, and better done. That was a while ago so i need to find my time references. If I had access to a casting set-up I could do them for 15-30$ each though.

[HesinRaca]

Bump + Website

[Thestlring]

Beautiful work, even if you say you are a beginner! Love the breast plate, and the rings are truely unique and look nice!

[HesinRaca]

Eh. I guess I am not a beginner persay. I could lecture about metalsmithing theory and technique as well as Oisin does with history. Problem is I don't have the hours logged for that work to be as clean and crisp as it should be. Granted, this makes it perfect for a "I bought this from the local blacksmith who only knew half of what he was doing" type of piece, haha.

[Amazon]

Can you post a link on here to your pictures on deviantart?

[HesinRaca]

Can you post a link on here to your pictures on deviantart?

I'll do you one better, my website has a portfolio (top left link) on it with more photos then the deviant art. I am still working and changing my site but it should prove to be a good place to see/buy/read about my work and activities.

Winter Wolf Forge

Unfortunately I was a bad business man for a few years and didn't take photos of a lot of items I've made, so I will be trying to rectify this as soon as I move to bend and have space to photograph what I still have in my possession.

[Amazon]

Can you post a link on here to your pictures on deviantart?

I'll do you one better, my website has a portfolio (top left link) on it with more photos then the deviant art. I am still working and changing my site but it should prove to be a good place to see/buy/read about my work and activities.

Winter Wolf Forge

Unfortunately I was a bad business man for a few years and didn't take photos of a lot of items I've made, so I will be trying to rectify this as soon as I move to bend and have space to photograph what I still have in my possession.

Thanks!

I was also curious about your deviantart gallery since I am also a member of deviantart. Lol, though I haven't uploaded any of my pictures since my dad is so overprotective.

[HesinRaca]

Oh, well, I didn't mean to hide it, though I have some ridiculous pictures on there.

I think it's http://fuyurou.deviantart.com/