Start with the spangens. For a medium sized oval shaped head, the two strips will be 15" long (front to back piece) and 13 3/4" for the side to side piece. These are usually 1"-3' wide depending on style of helm you are making. The one pictured here will be a basic spangen with goggles, and uses wide (3") spangens. Cut these out and dish them to the helm radius curvature. The pics show a couple strips before and after dishing. This helm will also use a band 1" wide as the base spangen. This one is 28" long and is shown in the second pic. Also shown is a few tools. This will take you to the tools page. |
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After dishing, set the pieces like they will be on the final helm (criss-cross pattern with side to side underneath the front to back). Make sure everything is symmetric and is flush with the flat surface they are resting on. The pieces should be touching each other evenly across where they cross. If you need to, this is the time to trim them to how you want the top of your helm to look. Bend the base into an oval and set the pieces on top (like they will be on the finished helm). This is the height, width and length your helmtop will be. If you don't like it, trim it to look as you want it. If you do like it, drill your rivet holes now. I'll be using 3/16" rivets. |
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Now, tack weld everything on the INSIDE. Make sure, to brace the spangens so that they are centered and perfectly perpendicular to each other. Once you weld them, they stay where they are! The ones here wern't clamped and are off 5 degrees (almost 1/4") due to the metal pulling as it was welded. If everything fit good, a quick tack weld just to hold them in place is all that's needed. Since mine were off, I had to "force them in place" and put a more solid weld in. Here are a couple views of the piece after welding. You'll need to grind down any lumps until flush with spangens, so take it easy on the welding! After everythings welded, lay it down on a flat surface and check for symmetry and make sure it fits flush (no warping occured). Slight warpage can be pounded out at this point. |
 
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Now cut out the inset panels using the pattern at right. Dish these to the helm radius. After dishing and planishing, place in the helm. They should fit halfway across every spangen they touch. If it doesn't, trim it until it does. The pattern here is for a medium oval head. if you have a big head, round head or small head, adjust the pattern accordingly. (Make one pattern and cut one panel and fit it. Trim piece and pattern accordingly, then cut out the other three) After they're all dished and fit, you can start to rivet them in. I'm using 3/16" mushroom head steel rivets. I'm going to go back and run a few weld beads along the inside, so I'm not too worried about rivet spacing. If you're making a purely riveted helm, there are specific spacings that are allowed depending on rivet type and size. Note: I rough polish these before riveting/welding in. it's much easier to get to them now than later. otherwise, the edges closest to the spangens are a real pain to polish. The pics here show the pieces laying there, and then several shots of them as they get riveted in. Start with a rivet midway along one of the spangens, then finish out that side. I clamp it with a welder's clamp ( a large C-shaped viselock pliers) and match drill the hole from the spangen onto the panel. Then rivet, then do it again for the next hole. After one spangen is riveted down, I lay the helm top in the dishing stump and GENTLY hit it with the shotput/large dishing hammer to conform the panel to the interior of the helm. Sometimes you have to do this before each rivet...just make sure your panel is fitting flush against ALL spangens befor drilling and riveting the second side! If you don't, you'll end up with a large gap between the base and the panel and it will look like crap! |
Panel/Cheekpiece Pattern
 
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Finish riveting out every thing. As I said before, the pattern I have should get in the ball park, but you'll probably have to do some trimming. This particular helm pulled a bit when I tack welded it and is out of symmetery by 1/3" on the rear. It's pretty much un-noticeble unless you're the armourer trying to fit in panels! Expect a few problems like that along the way, especially if this is one of the first few helms you've made...Or learn from my mistakes and clamp ALL pieces before even a tack weld! Here's some pics of the top section after almost all of the rivets are in. I havn't riveted the front base section yet because this one will get "goggles" that have to be fit first. The goggles will be the last thing to go on (after the grill work even!). Yes, they're a real bitch to put on this way, but it ensures the best fit and appearance. Set your helm top on a flat surface. everything should still be flush with the surface and look symmetric. |
 
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Well, if all the above went ok, you should be holding a full top section of a spangen helm. From here, you can make several different styles. Everything from Roman to Viking. This one is going to be a goggled Viking. The next section will deal with the lower half of the helm and finishing out the helm. Set your helm top on a flat surface. everything should still be flush with the surface and look symmetric.
| PART II |