Fourth Plate Project: Steel backplate

August 12, 2002

Started this backplate on Saturday, August 10 with the hopes of having it wearable by August 24. Pretty ambitios goal for me but doable if I'm not too picky. (Yes, those who know me, know that I can't help being picky.) The pattern was made by Clang. He has also given me all of the general hammering direction so far. I did manage to lay the flutes myself and they are a little asymmetrical and not as sharp as I'd like.

I like the look of it from the back so far, but the profile is still lacking. Maybe it's the way it sits on the floor, but I don't think so. It needs to have a more overall rounded look. The top is starting to curve in but from the shoulder blades down its pretty flat.

I have made a quick raising pass to the left and right of the flutes at the waist. It needs to taper in quite a bit to match up with the breastplate.

August 13, 2002

This evening was spent tweaking the fit of my backplate. It turned out to be a bit too long, so I trimmed a bit off the top. This caused the intial shoulder blade dishing to now be too high, so I had to re-center the apex of the dish. I think it's a little too deep, but is a nice shape, especially from the side.

I actually began planishing the dishes and want to move onto the other finishing work soon. I'm fairly comfortable with the overall shape, so next I'm going to work on rolling the neck and arms.

August 15, 2002

Tonight I did some quick planishing and lots of sanding. I sanded with my craftsman mouse sander in grits of 100, 120, 150, 180 and 240. Then did one pass of 340 by hand. Next I'll progress to a 400 wet sand and a 600 dry, then I'll be ready to buff. After the 600 pass I will roll my edges.

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