wooden forms for helmets rather than iron

[richsc]

I am attempting my first helmet, dishing in a stump and then raising with steel stakes (mushroom, etc).  The use of the stump for repoussee worked so well in a practice piece I'm thinking of creating a larger hollow to do the brows, hammering from the inside out. 

I was wondering: I understand only iron anvils of various shapes have ever been found, and the images that survive are all only of lumpy anvils. Though I seem to remember there are some stone helmet forms, particularly for Greek cavalry helmets, there seems to be no equivalent of stakes.

I was thinking of getting a larger stump and hacking out a head form to shape the helmet over, and I wondered if anyone has tried doing that? Seems like that might actually be an easier way to mass produce helmets if iron anvils are in short supply. Wood would be easy to come by, shape, and recycle by burning when done. The use of wood would certainly account for the lack of forms in the record.

[jvrjenivs]

I think you would like to get a copy of the recently published "Roman Imperial Armour: The production of early imperial military armour" by D. Sim and J. Kaminski.

[richsc]

I just did get that book. What they term "raising", forming metal in a concave depression, I have called "dishing"; those kinds of concave depressions are available from some supply stores in iron as well, though for non-ferrous wood is fineeeee. No, my use of the term 'raising' implies using a 'raising stake" which is a T shaped device where you start in the center and work outwards. "Dishing" in my training starts at the outside and works in (pushes the metal into the center). Raising starts in the center and pushes the metal outwards (where it can wrinkle, as they mention).( Funny that Greek cavalry helmets seem to take advantage of that wrinkling as part of the design rather than trying to flatten things out. )

They are positing a concave metal dishing form for helmets. I am suggesting a convex, head shaped dome of wood for the metal, at least for brass or bronze. My thought is it would be easier to create the basic shape with minimal skills, allowing the better craftsman to finish the helmet. Might be easier to hammer the wrinkles out too.

Dishing works fine up to a point (though I don't have much experience); at a certain point it seems more difficult to keep trying to reach inside the helmet to create the complete 180' curve. Maybe why so many custom helmets are two hemispheres brazed together.

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

You might consider heavy oak covered in pitch.

M.VIB.M.