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Guages of Steel

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Sir Ancelyn:
At the risk of repeating something already posted before . . . is there a prefered guage of steel, or even a range of guages, to use for helmets, plate armor and mail?

I am still looking at hounskull helms and have seen some variation in thickness.  My immediate reaction is thicker is better. But is there a point where thick is too thick? Obviously weight is a factor.

Sir Ancelyn:
Or perhaps the sugarloaf would work. is 1350 too late? Great Helm type helmets seem to have been used until quite late.

Thanks.

Sir Ulrich:
Well from my experience thicker stuff may be stronger but it's also heavier. When I wore a 14 gauge great helm at a faire it was so heavy that I felt like I was gonna fall over wearing it. Had to be at least 10 pounds. The 18 gauge one I wore at an armor shop was around 6 pounds and wasn't too bad with the weight.

Sir Ancelyn:
Thanks Conall!  I will keep this in mind when I buy.

Sir Edward:
Yep, historically they weren't real heavy. The SCA uses 14ga steel for helmets typically, as per their safety standards, but 16ga is sufficient to be combat worthy. 18ga would be rather easy to damage in comparison.

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