The Scale Skirt - Part 2

Yesterday I did more work on the scale armor. I rounded the ends marked out the places to punch the holes and finished up 5 complete plates. I planned to use some of the rings I cut for my chainmail to attach the plates. At this point I discovered why they call it experiential archeology.

With only photos of originals to work from it is hard to make out the details. I will explain this in a moment. First lets see what the scales look like.



Here are the originals.




Looking closely you can see the hole pattern and connection "staples". Well I was wandering why they refer to them as staples. Well I found if you make the holes for round links at the proper distance and then stack the plates it does not go together well. A more squared off staple shape works better. You get movement between rows of scales and a little side to side movement but not much, just enough to allow for body movement and muscle flex. The thing that was surprising was how strong the piece becomes when held together with 14 gauge brass wire. It is like building a semi -flexible plate armor. It would take a very good and well aimed upward thrust to get through this armor. The slight curve of the individual plates does not leave a flat surface and it flexes enough to absorb force and transfer it across the armor.

It is not going to be as flexible as I thought but it is much stronger then expected. I will see about getting a round link to work and see if it adds to the flex.

Here are the five plates that I connected.



The tools used.





More to follow as I get the full skirt assembled.