Building a Bronze Greek Breastplate (Part 1): Thak Ironworks

I construct a greek hoplite muscular breastplate from silicon bronze. This iconic breastplate is based on the type used in classical Greece about 500BCE.

After cutting the outline from a piece of 18 gauge bronze sheet, the piece is then annealed in the coal forge. It is then dished into a lead shot bag using a domed hammer. After rough dishing, it is placed over a ball stake and worked from the outside. This process of working inside, then outside is repeated several times, gradually refining the proportions until the desired shape is achieved. The piece is annealed several times during this process as work hardening occurs. At this point, the edges are rolled to create an attractive and functional safety edge that also serves to stiffen the final shape. I then planish the outer surface to smooth out irregularities and also work harden the bronze to make it into a durable piece of armor.

I got my material from Atlas Metal in Denver Colorado. It is 0.47 (3/64) CDA 655 Sil/Bronze sheet according to their designation.

A quick google search told me silicon bronze is typically 96% copper with the remaining 4% being mainly silicon, but also possibly some manganese, tin, iron or zinc.