We'll be doing an armor workshop for May training. This will be an opportunity for people to build and work on armor.

People interested in making their own gear should bring the following:

• Metal, leather, buckles, rivets, etc.
• Whatever tools they have.
• Pictures and/or patterns for gear they'd like to make.

I'll be bringing all of my tools, some basic patterns, and little bits of metal, leather, etc that people can buy off of me for cost. I'll also bring some of my books for people to get ideas if they don't have any already.

If you need to buy stuff, here are some good places to shop:

• Leather and buckles - Tandy Leather in Metairie. A shoulder of 7-9oz vegetable tan will be enough for straps and things like forearms. If you plan to make all of your armor from leather, you'll need significantly more.
• Rivets - R J Leahy.com (one pound of 1/8" X 3/8" round head serves most purposes)
• Metal - Old washing machine and dryer cases seem to work well. I'll be bringing a 4' X 5' piece of 18 gauge that people can buy bits from. If you want to buy some metal, let me know and we can discuss options.

This will probably be the only official gear work day, so please take advantage of it.

Anyone planning to come out for this?

If so, please let me know what kinds of materials you'll be bringing. Also, try to check out the Armour Archive for patterns.

I'll have books that people can flip through to get ideas and will be bringing a bit of steel, a little leather, rivets, and whatever buckles I can scrounge up.

I'm also planning to get to the site pretty early, around 9 or so, to allow more time to work for those that want it.

I think I'll be there. Never know with me, though.

Thanks Sir Eric for hosting the workshop. Looks like at least 2 or 3 guys were busy. I guess everyone else already has some good gear and don't need any tips.

Thanks Sir D, for the boxing workout. I've missed that!

I was just going through my tools to finish up what I was working on, and I found a yellow handled file with a ring of green tape, which I do not believe is mine. Stephen?

If it has green tape on it, it's Stephen's.

Don't you put pink tape on your stuff, Eric? )

Pink tape with vagina shaped polka-dots.

where can I get some of that? I know many things I can use that for....