Interesting emails

Dear Mr. F.,

I'm looking to get 2  pieces made, approx. 12-14"x6". One end convexed (1")
the other end concaved (1").
I can give more exact dimensions and a detailed drawing of what I am looking
for if you can provide me with a rough price range first.

Darron Pxxxxxxxxx

 

 Bill says about that.....

Hmmmmm...two pieces of what do you suppose? Steel? Aluminum?  Cheese?

Well, below is another one. 

 

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High there,

I'm looking to order a few peaces from you and would just like to get a over
all price quote in US$(if possible with shipping, I live in California). The
items i was looking to get made are as follows: the 10-G Helm with the
German spangen upgrade, the 12-c-2 Two piece suit 16g battle armor (would
prefer the buckle to the sliding rivet) and a plywood 32" by 23" curved
shield blank.

Look forward to hearing back from you, will get the funds in order and get
the needed measurements so we can get the ball rolling.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Bill says about that.....

Well, Mike, what would you like me to tell you that is not on my web pages?  As it is, Mike dropped off the radar and never did get back to me, and when I emailed him, he told me had purchased from a local guy. 

 

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 Brxxxxxxx asked...

The scales that come with rivets and everything else, do you  assemble it and it costs
2.00 per scale, or is it somthing you need  to do yourself? I live in Ontario as well,
but where is your store  located in Ontario?

 

Bill says about that...

Not such an unreasonable question, no doubt the statement on my web site is a little vague.... the website says "for those that want to build their own scale coat". 

  Don't know why he wanted to visit, but if he did, instructions are all over my web site.  Not sure why he wanted the scales, but his email consisted of words which implied that he was an armour maker himself.  Oh well....scales take an inordinate amount of time to make.  Maybe I can get them stamped out cheap someday.  When that day comes, no doubt the production scales will be too pointy, too rounded, too heavy, or not heavy enough with the holes all in the wrong places.   (Gawd I hate scales!)

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I contact via the shop phone, but I wanted to send you an email as  well. I love your
flat top helm. Especially the one with the grill  face. I was wanting to know if you
could do a flat top helm with a  grill that looks like the one in this video? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM39fsrzl-o I love the way the helm  is more narrow in
the front, and the vertical grill looks so mean.  Basically, I am looking to recreate
the helm seen in the video, but  flatten the top and keep a crusader look on the sides.
I would love  to exchange some more ideas as I am looking to purchase from one  armory
exclusively, and then kind of endorse them at events. Contact  me and let me know wheat
you think.

Thank You,
Matthew

PS Can someone make a purchase from you with paypal?

Bill says about that......

I love letters like this....the guy is so keen and he wants so much to get into fighting.  And he has a good idea of what he wants....he sends me to a long and rambling video which features a helm with a grill face, which he likes.  Yet, I did find it a little disturbing the fact that the only thing he took away from that lecture is the cool grill face on a helm. Nothing about period re-enactment, safety, protection, visibility, any of the things an armourer has to consider.  The topper is that he wants a crusader barrel helm modified in a way no crusader ever thought to modify his helm.  I passed on this job BECAUSE he would tell people where he got it.  I don't want my name attached to such a blatantly non-period item. I can live with non-period features for safety reasons, but this is not why he wants this modification...if he wants crusader, then go with the closed face helm. Too bad actually, he seems like such a nice fellow...but his marshals should have advised him better.

 

  And no, I don't take paypal, I am a legitimate established business with my own merchant accounts. 

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Mr. F.
Thank you for recently speaking with me about my desire to have a  custom suit of armor
fabricated.  As promised, I have put some more  thought into what I actually want in my
suit of armor.

To that end, I have attached JPG files which contain drawing  illustrations of my
proposed suit of armor.
          
As discussed, I would like to base my custom suit of armor on your  original 3-Piece
suit of armor with a few modifications.  The most  important modification is that I
would like the majority of the suit  to be fabricated from 1040, NUMBER 3 GAUGE Medium
Plain Carbon Steel  Sheet which is 1/4 inch thick (0.2391 inches) instead of the usual 
NUMBER 16 GAUGE steel that you normally use.  Thus, I would like my  suit to function as
a real-world suit of armor.  Thus, my proposed  3-piece suit of armor would be designed
based on your original  3-piece suit of armor but would be fabricated from a thicker
gauge  of steel.  Thus, any additional cost beyond the approximately $1,500  for the
3-piece suit illustrated on your website would be for the  time and labor to work with
the thicker gauge of steel which may  involve heat treating the NUMBER 3 GAUGE of Steel
Sheet in order to  temporarily soften the still before hammering work on your anvil.

My questions to you are:

1.  Are you able to fabricate a NUMBER 3 GAUGE suit of armor?

2.  Do you have any concerns or objections about fabricating a  NUMBER 3 GAUGE suit of
armor?

3.  What would be the additional cost for making a NUMBER 3 GAUGE  suit of armor?

 

Bill says about that.....

Hmmmm....no question that this fine gentleman knows that gauge sizes go heavier as the integers go down...he realized that his armour would end up being quarter of an inch thick.  This email came after I had talked him out of stainless steel!  Even so, I passed on this job because the end product would still be in excess of 250 pounds.  Nice fellow though....he came back later with an alternate proposal which he would actually be able to walk in, something in sixteen gauge.  The pictures were quite interesting...his sketches implied that this fellow actually might be Tony Stark.  Hmmm.  Never made an armour for a super hero before!  So this looks like it could be interesting, and I think I'll take that job. 

 

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And the list goes on.....