different types of COPs

[Sir Wolf]

http://www.hoashantverk.se/hantverk/hoas_rustningar/index.html

cant remember if i posted this here before or not (starting to lose my mind) here are a bunch of the visby coats of plates.

[Sir Brian]

WOW! I don't think you posted these before! They look great! Thanks for posting this because as I was looking at them I had an epiphany! ~ (And yes it hurt a great deal but surprisingly there was very little bloodshed involved! )

I was just telling Sir Andrew and his lovely Lady Constance that I had purchased some scrap black leather from Tandy a few weeks ago and they had sent me nearly half a hide of decent grade leather, I was wondering what I could possibly do with all that leather and seeing these COPs I now know what I’ll be working on! ~ Thank you for inspiring me on a new project Sir Wolf! 

[Sir Wolf]

i would use a very supple piece of leather if i used leather at all. we know a lot of coats were made out of heavy linen material as well. glad to have helped. I think COPs really add to ones kit

[Dragonlover]

 I would have to agree with sir Wolf there, sir Brian. I don't know the weight of your hide,
 but it would definitely be better (and easier!) to use a lighter grade as compared to "iron sole" etc...

[Sir Brian]

Oh it isn't armor grade leather...(I'll pause here so everyone can fully grasp the vast extent of my ignorance concerning the various grades of leather)... 

It is no more than a 1/8" thick and moderately supple. The main question I am more concerned with is the gauge of steel I should use considering where I work IRL. I have a wide selection available to me from wafer thin stainless steel used for Electromagnetic bonding to Ice breaker hull! 

[Sir Edward]

I'm guessing you'd probably want to aim for about 16 ga steel plates.

[Sir Matthew]

If it helps, the plates in my Brigandine are 2-3 mm thick.  This Brig was patterned after an example the guy who made it saw in a French museum.  I think he said it was dated mid-1500s, but maybe this gives you an idea what to shoot for.

[Sir Ulrich]

I'd love to own one of those. Wonder how much reproductions run for...

[Sir William]

Nice examples of the CoP; I'd be interested to see how yours comes out, Sir Brian, when you make it.

[Sir Brian]

Yeah I'm afraid I had to back off from that idea...too many projects to work on this off season such as paint my soon to arrive new heater shield and make a new surcoat with my improved heraldry, so I may end up outsourcing the COP to a one of our resident armorers! 

[Sir Wolf]

i would say no more than 18 guage.