More rounded corners

Riveted the other girdle section together (sans top band).  Look at all those clothing and finger-safe round corners!

Next I spent a bit of time puzzling over the leathering attachments for a shoulder section as there were several corrections to make and straps to adjust.  Then it was time to take it all apart, being careful to mark which holes were to be used during reassembly.  This was followed by a few more hours with the hammer and dremel, straightening out wobbly edges and smoothing sharp bits and corners.

Mission accomplished for now.

Tomorrow's task will be riveting the lesser shoulder lames together, and then disassembling and rounding the corners on the other shoulder section.  That will be a bit trickier since portions of it are already riveted together (from back in 2011).

Before I can finish riveting the shoulder sections together, I will need to finish riveting the hinges and (if I have time) making and attaching a brass decorative plate for the holes where the girdle band hangs.

A picture of a carlisle hinge, for no particular reason:

Leathering - the rush is on!

Hey folks - not much time these days to spend on writing up careful updates.  The Halloween deadline is fast approaching.

Today I dismantled both girdle sections and rounded all the sharp corners (52 of those) and ground, hammered, and/or filed all the rough edges (lots of those from tin snips).  I also smoothed out a few rough edges on the brass tabs and slots.

Corners were snipped off, then a dremel or file was used to clean up the fine corners and the aforementioned rough edges.  Steel wool was used to rub along the finished edges to take off any remaining wire edges / coarseness.

I also started riveting the slotted side of the girdle plates.  I am cheating a bit on these rivets since they mostly don't show.  Inside of making each rivet by hand from copper wire (as I have done for the decorative brass plates and hinges), I am using galvanised roofing nails.  These have the advantage of being less work and including their own washer - the nail head.  Once cut off and peened, their origin is only visible from the inside of the armour, which is not a concern for me.

I have not attached the topmost girdle band since I want to fine-tune the hooks and rivet those on first.