"Blued Plate Armor in the 15th Century?" Topic
9 Posts
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The Beast Rampant | 02 Jan 2015 11:49 p.m. PST |
I was about to sit down to work on some 28mmWotR-era knights, when it occurred to me that I'd never done any historicals in blued armor. It seems like it would look really nifty, and that Vallejo gunmetal blue ROCKS. But I suffer from all the usual fears, like spending precious painting time trying to figure out what "celestial dark blue" is supposed to look like. I know it's a process only used on quality armor, but can anyone provide any information on how common it might have been, or if there was any particular nations/states/whatnot that seemed to favor blued armor? |
bsrlee | 03 Jan 2015 4:05 a.m. PST |
Most surviving armour has been polished to within a inch of its life, so numbers of surviving pieces are not a good statistical base – Henry VIII's 'Great Garniture' which is currently polished was originally forge black and rough from the hammer in his life. There is a pretty spectacular piece on the cover of one old armour book – I think authored by Vesey Norman – where the armour is a bright mid blue with gilded brass borders on nearly every plate. I believe that the process was most commonly 'heat blueing' where the piece would be given its finish polish and then carefully heated until the surface oxidised to blue – take a look at most blacksmithing and school metal working text books for a colour chart of the process which is used for judging tempering heat. |
GildasFacit | 03 Jan 2015 5:19 a.m. PST |
Remembering back to my schooldays at the forge I can't remember anything that would retain more than a faint trace of blue after simply heating and cooling. Armour tempered from blue would probably end up very brittle, though a skilled armourer may be able to manage to harden just the surface. I'm not sure what 'oxidation' of iron would be blue, all the oxides of iron I know of are either black or red. |
Great War Ace | 03 Jan 2015 8:40 a.m. PST |
@bsrlee: your memory is correct on the Vesey Norman arms and armour book, but the armour in question is 16th century, not medieval. Bluing might be achieved by the liquid quench? I don't know, but it seems to me that the chemical ingredients of the quenching bath could result in a desired color…. |
Maddaz111 | 03 Jan 2015 9:37 a.m. PST |
I googled this… and lots of information on what ingredients were needed to make blued plate armour for periods from 15th to 17th centuries… If I could insert a link to the page I would. |
ColCampbell | 03 Jan 2015 3:52 p.m. PST |
Just copy the link from your browser window and paste it into your TMP comment. Like this: link This discussion topic is already in the Bing directory! Jim |
Maddaz111 | 04 Jan 2015 5:59 p.m. PST |
And I can do that very easily on the computer, but on my tablet as my puter is kaput again, I find it difficult. |
oldbob | 04 Jan 2015 7:12 p.m. PST |
Use silver let try then use gloss varnish let try, then blue ink thinned with water. Remember not to dry brush plate armour, alway hi-lite. |
oldbob | 05 Jan 2015 8:27 a.m. PST |
Sorry I forgot a step, after the gloss varnish is dry. A second coat of extra bright silver "Mithril silver"is a good one for this. It should look like White or polish Armour when dry, now you can use very thin Blue ink. |
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