Well, these are pretty basic to put together, but still time consuming. As with any metal project, the end result will be dependent upon the time and care you took doing the work. For this helm, you need: 1.) Something to cut metal ( I use B1 shears). 2.) Something to bend metal over (4" steel pipe is good) 3.) Some way to dish metal 4.) large diameter ball peen, medium flat faced hammer 5.) chisel or other item for fluting/creasing. These pics are what I use. |
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Start with the patterns. These are for a 23"-24" head. If your melon is large, round ( or any other non-oval) or small, you'll have to adjust the pattern pieces. Cut these out of posterboard and tape together. You can make the entire helm from posterboard first and it should fit fairly close to what the final one will. The dotted lines are where metal overlaps and will be riveted or cut-out sections. A few notes on these pieces: 1.)Lower rear and lower front: These are folded in half along the right side in the picture here. 2.)Upper rear: The stray black lines were bleed throughs in the paper. Ignore them. All these pieces are specific to the helm I made. These are a guide. If you cut them out of metal and put it together right, you'll have a helm that fits me, not you. Start with posterboard, it's cheap. Adjust them to where you have a helm you like, that fits you. |
Lower rear and top lower front (face) upper front Upper rear |
Cut the pieces out of metal, except for the eyeslits and the helm top. (This is usually where people screw up, so wait until you've fit all the panels first.) I cut the eyeslits in my parts first, but only half way. A lot of times, you'll have to trim the lower edges of the top piece to get it flush with the bottom, which screws up your eyespacings. I'll do the eyes as a separate section later. If you're going to use brass/steel trim as a bridge down the front center of the helm, ignore the tab sticking up on the lower front piece. Use the fluting tool to crease the proper marks on the front pieces. These will help you line things up in later steps and it's easiest done when the pieces are flat. The first pic is the front top after being curved. The second is all the patterns with their pieces in metal next to them. |
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Start with the bottom pieces. Now, curve the pieces using a mallet and your form. I used a section of railroad track and a large rubber mallet. Once you get the edges going, you can use your hands to press the piece over the form and get an even curve. Do this for the front and rear panels. Everyone's head is different, so there is no set curvature. You want it to be symmetric and to fit your head with room for padding. you want it to look like the picture. I tape the pieces together and check to see if the top edge is flush with a flat surface and if both sides are curved equally. |
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Now for the upper pieces. These are a bit more tricky to keep symmetric. Make sure the bend point/line is parellel with the form (pipe, track or whatever...first pic). You're trying to make the bottom portion of a cone. It can always be bent and twisted to fit, but it's best to do it right the first time. The pic should help. Basically, shape them until they fit like the posterboard one did and are smoothly fit to the lower half parts. |
 
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Mark rivet holes along the edge (1/4" in from edge) of the lower front piece. Centerpunch a few in the middle. Drill these and match drill onto the rear lower piece. (The idea is to rivet the lower portion together, but you can't do the uppermost rivets until the upper sections are match drilled and put in place. You don't want to rivet the lowest point either because you might have to trim a bit off the bottom.) Rivet them and then make sure it fits like it should ( nose room and padding space at sides and rear.) If it's too big (wide), remove rivets and trim edges. If it's too small, you're screwed, finish the helm and sell it to someone with a smaller head than you. |
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Now, go back and make sure the top sections still fit to the lower ones. I dish the edges slightly. If you look at historical examples, you'll notice that the helm is slightly rounded on the top half, not just flat faceted. I use a dishing hammer with a 3" diameter of curvature and/or a shotput to dish, lightly, for an inch or two along the edges. I do a slight dish to the whole upper piece, but if you're not comfortable doing that, just do the edges until they fit together good. The second pic is the helm with the top half just sitting on the lower. |
 
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Now, get everything trimmed/bent and fitting good. You can go ahead and drill holes in one piece at the overlapping points. We're using 1/8" brass rivets and a spacing of 1.5" and will be welding the inside of the helm so I don't care about rivet spacing or strength. If you don't plan on welding the inside, make sure your rivets and spacings are adequate and within specs for SCA combat. On the helm here, you'll notice the overlap on the top sections is opposite from the bottom....oops! We chose to leave it and go on, since it makes no structural difference and really doesn't look bad. |
 
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| PART II |
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