Hat Tricks Part II: The Dishening!

Tonight continues the series on helmet making.  This is probably my least favorite part of the whole process: dishing the two halves of the cranium or, as I call it, the Dishening!  But, anyway, here's how I do it  and I'll start with a picture of the tools involved.  Let the Dishening commence!

They are, from left to right: The large, split head, Garland rawhide hammer, the #2 Garland rawhide hammer, and a metal dishing form which I believe was also made by Iron Monger.

Once I mark and cut the steel from my pattern piece, I then file the edges for safety.  These edges won't be contacting the wearer so I just try to make them smooth enough so that the piece I'm working with is safe to handle.

Now comes the part I really hate and that is beatin' the dickens out of the cranium halves until they conform to the shape of the dish.  I hate it because it's a lot of work but sometimes it's good for letting go of some frustrations so, in a way, it can be therapeutic.  As you may have guessed, I start with the large Garland mallet and work my way to the smaller one.  I begin by placing the center of my steel piece over the center of the dish and striking with medium force.  (If you start with maximum force, you may get a call from the Jedi council).  I work my way from the center to the outer edges in what is more or less a spiral pattern.  With each successive pass, I increase the force just a bit.  There will come a point where the face of the large hammer is too big to press the metal down into the convex form any more than it already has.  It is at this point that I switch to the smaller hammer to finish the rough dishing process.

A note about the equipment: These metal dishes are great if you can get one.  If not, creating a dish in a stump would probably work just as well.  The nice thing about the metal form is that its surface should already be fairly uniform all the way around.  With the stump, you will probably have to work with it and scrape/sand/beat it for a while to get the result you're looking for.  Using this metal form, sometimes I feel like I'm cheating.

One thing to watch out for when dishing is buckling at the edges of your piece.  Below is an example.

When this happens, place the edge of the piece on the edge of your form or on an anvil and hammer the buckle flat before it becomes larger or creases.

During this whole ordeal, I find it's best to pace myself and take breaks in between passes.  This is probably also the chief reason why my right arm is bigger than my left one.  Below is a picture of the piece near the end of the rough dishing.

If you can bring yourself to do this twice, you may end up with something that looks like this:

You'll notice that there's quite a lot of gaping between the two halves.  Not to worry because they have to be trimmed and "ground in" before they really start to resemble the top of a helmet.  I'll go into this process in more detail in the next post but for now, I'll leave you with a pic of what the halves look like near the end of this stage.  Zebra print duck tape has been added for extra flair.

This helmet comes with a mustache.

This is a pic of a helm I did for a friend.  This picture was actually taken while I was revising the design a little.  I submit it here to point out a few things about it's construction, such as the mustache...which is by far my favorite part.

This helm is constructed entirely of 16ga. mild steel.  This is significant because I've noticed a growing trend toward thicker gauges in helmets these days.  As many of you probably know, 16ga. is the bare minimum of thickness when it comes to head protection for most reenactment societies.  There are arguments that mass is a consideration when designing a defense for the head.  I tend to agree.  After all, what we are trying to protect the head from is blunt-force trauma, from what is essentially a club, being swung at speed.  There are many that think 16ga. is too thin and that mild steel dents too easily.  Once again, I tend to agree.  However, keep in mind, wherever the steel overlaps it is twice as thick.  With this being the case, such as in the helm pictured above, I'm now using lighter, cheaper materials and effectively doubling the strength and protection in certain areas.  At least I'm hoping this is the case as this helmet has not been fully tested yet.  (If it turns out not to be the case, I'll be sure to let you know :)  Also keep in mind that any crease or bend you hammer into the metal makes it stronger.

Here's a pic of the helmet I recently constructed for myself.  It's made along the lines of a simple barbuta and, once again, with the laminated 16ga. construction.  I've tried something different with this helm.  You can't really tell by looking at the outside, but I've riveted extra plates to the inside cranial area.

This is a pic of the inside showing the extra plating.  It does make the helm a little heavier but not unbearably so.  You can hardly see them from the outside because I countersunk each of the rivet holes from the outside and ground the protruding rivet shank even with the surface of the helmet after closing them.  The final step is to buff the area around the rivet closure with some 80 grit Satin Glo.

This is what I'm currently experimenting with.  Our first fighter practice of the season should be this Sunday, weather permitting.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I'll leave you this evening with a few more shots of the mustache helm.