SCALES the fast way

[Matt Lukes]

Very true, however I am using tougher metal (.032 410, 403 stainless) which takes a lot more convincing to make it move, cut and punch holes in. In fact, I am going to see if I can make a stamp for the scales and punch the entire shape of the scale. If this works, I am hoping it would reduce clean up and all I have to do is drill out the holes for the scales and some deburring cleanup. I am hoping I will be able to mass produce these or at least make a considerable amount for people as well as for myself. If I can't make the stamp, I will definitely make the same kind of idea that was done by grinding and drilling a large amount at once. Will be experimenting on both of these concepts. If people are interested I will take some pics and post them.

Stainless steel? That might not be so good a choice given that it's a completely inaccurate (historically) material to use, and moreso because there's no evidence that soldiers' armor was made of anything but copper alloy scales- the only iron scales known are from the mid 3rd century AD, are quite large, and are believed to be from horse trappers. Certainly the only known use of iron scales is on a horse trapper. Also 0.032 is 50% thicker than the usual soldiers' armor scales which were were only about 0.5mm thick (0.020") at most. And not to be a continual downer, but a cutting die will be difficult- it's hard enough to cut brass with one; I have to use a 6-ton hydraulic press to cut segmentata hinges that are two thicknesses of 0.020" brass, so 0.032" stainless steel is definitely going to be a lot more difficult. It's also slow- cutting with shears is much faster than die-cutting for simple shapes like scales. So unless you have access to some major industrial stamping equipment, mass production is not likley to be feasible. I looked into having large quantities of scales made a few months ago and everywhere I tried, domestic and overseas, it was going to be rather costly- ultimately it was cheaper to make them myself cutting scales by hand from strips. And I was sick to death of making scales when I finished the 3500 or so I needed for just the one squamata...