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My Kit...14th Century for CotT (SCA Legal)
Don Jorge:
Ah sorry, I didnt know spring stainless and spring steel were two different things. Is Spring Steel the same as Heat treated mild steel instead of CR mild?
Sir Edward:
Yep, I've only gone with stainless so far on my newest sets of gaunts, and my fencing helms. Basically the items that I know are going to sit in sweaty gear bags. Going forward I really want to go with spring steel, for the reasons cited by Mr. Hedgecock.
Ian:
--- Quote from: Belemrys on 2013-11-25, 23:30:49 ---Ah sorry, I didnt know spring stainless and spring steel were two different things. Is Spring Steel the same as Heat treated mild steel instead of CR mild?
--- End quote ---
Any still with the addition of chromium is a stainless steel. Steer clear if you're going for historic.
Mild steel cannot be heat treated because it's carbon content is too low. Mild steel is a very soft variety of steel. There is no such thing as heat treated or hardened mild steel. You can work harden mild steel, which means that it gets a little harder by beating the crap out of it with a hammer, but it's still bendable.
Medium and high carbon steels can be heat treated. 1050 spring steel is off this variety. When a steel is heat treated, it's first heated to a high temperature and then quenched in oil or water to cool it rapidly. This realigns the structure of the steel and makes it very hard. The problem is that things that are very hard are usually brittle. Like glass, which is very hard, but shatters, so too will steel that has been quenched and left to be. If you hit steel in this state it will literally crack and/or shatter.
This is where tempering comes in. After steel has been hardened, it is then re-heated to a temperature not quite as high as the hardening temperature, and then allowed to cool very slowly. This softens the steel a little bit, relaxing some of the realignment caused by the hardening. This leaves the steel in a state that is both hard, but flexible. Spring steel is called 'spring' because when it flexes, it springs back to it's shape without bending. Mild steel on the other hand bends and stays that way. So, an armorer will shape spring steel to it's final shape, then harden, then temper. Then it will hold it's shape basically forever.
Properly formed spring steel that was finished by a capable armorer is also much more naturally corrosion resistant than mild steel. But like Jeff Hedgecock said, no armor (even stainless) is maintenance free.
TLDR: If you can pay for it, heat treated spring steel is worth the investment and the armorer's skill who can work with it.
Sir James A:
Sir Ian has covered the steels very well. I'll add a small summary here, since there are, roughly, 4 types of steel for armor. Heat treating refers specifically to "hardening" the steel. It can also be referred to as "case hardening". It is completely different from when you see someone heat up a piece of steel and start hitting it over the anvil or forms - in that case, they are heating it to soften the metal to a more workable state. Heat treating involves quenching, and makes the steel harder; the key is in slow cooling or fast cooling and how the steel reacts to it.
Mild Steel: $
Mild steel cannot be heat treated. It is the most affordable, easiest to work with, and most common kind to find on the market. Some european armorers may refer to it as "sheet iron" or "plate iron". Hot rolled and cold rolled refers to how it is processed into a sheet. Cold Rolled steel is preferential for armor since it is a harder steel than Hot Rolled of equal thickness; the heating softens the steel by some kind of chemical molecular wizardry stuff, and the armor made from it is softer because of that.
Stainless Steel: $$
Stainless steel cannot be heat treated - but - often needs to be heated during shaping since it "work hardens", in that shaping it makes the piece harden up a bit. This can lead to cracks if it isn't heated to re-soften it to a workable state. The primary differences are stainless steel in the same thickness is harder than mild steel, and is highly rust resistant.
Spring Steel: $$$$
Spring steel can be heat treated. It is from the addition of carbon in the steel. Sometimes called "high carbon steel" instead of "spring steel" too. As Sir Ian said, it's the closest thing to medieval steel you'll find within any normal person's price range.
Spring Stainless: $$$$$$$$
This is a relatively new steel on the market for armor. It's very expensive, very few people work with it, but it's the best steel you can get short of titanium-infused adamantium. It has the light weight of historical steel through it's capability to be used thinner than mild steel and still heat treated, and it is also highly rust resistant too. It's primary drawback is needing to take a home equity loan or sell internal organs to afford it.
Don Jorge:
I think I have a spare kidney...it is amazing to see how prices vary from armorer to armorer.
The Surly Anvil (John Gruber) quoted me for a Bascinet and shovel visor, splinted arms, legs, greaves and shoulders and a COP (for some reason made of Spring instead of simple mild which really is all that is needed) about 6k and if I wanted fingered spring steel gauntlets 1500 more...
Mad Matt about 2k. Although maybe that didn't include the bascinet made of Spring Steel...but I cant see why that would raise the price that much more (It had a great helm in the quote instead of the bascinet and visor).
Anyone know a good place to get splinted spring steel armor?
Thanks,
Jorge
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