Armour Making Tutorial - How to roll the edges of armour

Closing the roll - Stage 2 of 2

The roll is almost finished on the edge of this spaudler. Now to close up the roll that final little bit. Once again I support the piece of armour against a solid surface such a wooden stump. I strike the bottom inside edge of the roll. This pushes the roll over a little bit more and causes it to curl very close into the main body of the plate.

Tighten up the rolled edge

If the edge roll is a little uneven at the top where it meets with the body of the armour it can be adjusted slightly by placing it on the edge of the anvil and lightly hammering downward on the roll. This should be done with caution because if you hit too hard the roll can collapse into a fold which is very difficult to fix. Care should also be taken to try to minimize potential scaring to the areas just above the rolled edge due to contact with the side of the anvil.

evening out the roll

Below is a close up photo of the roll. You can see that the edge is almost totally rolled over back onto itself. I did have a little scaring from the anvil which can be seen right above and parallel to the rolled edge. This is pretty minimal and can be cleaned up with fine sandpaper prior to polishing. One thing that can help to prevent this is to stick a layer of masking tape to the side of the anvil just below the edge... I should follow my own advice ;)

Close up of the rolled edge

The slight gap can be closed by striking downward on the outside of the roll while supporting it from the back with a solid surface. This hammering need only be very light. Hitting hard can cause the roll to flatten out but at this stage the roll will be very strong so the likelihood is slim. The forming process is now finished and all that is left to do is sanding and polishing.

Hammering the armour to finish closing the rolled edge

Page 9 - Sanding and finishing.

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