On Jul 24, 2013, at 11:01 PM, jeffery vitale <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> so im looking for a blacksmith to potentially make mine and my cousins first armor was wondering if one locally can do maybe even whatch as its made?

As others have alluded to, you seem to be really looking for an armorer. While there are folks in the SCA doing blacksmithing, armor tends to be more about "simply" bending and dishing sheet metal, not heating it up and beating on it on an anvil.

Unfortunately, with this being during Pennsic, many of the people you want to talk to, are off at Pennsic.

Unless you've fighting for a little while, to make sure you really want to do this, I would borrow some armor. Many local groups have some useable loaner armor. Maybe not the nicest looking armor, but it will give you a chance to see if you like get hit with wooden sticks, before you spend hundreds of dollars buying or making your own. 

Here is a file in the COMBAT section in the Florilegium, which has reviews of many SCA armorers. If you can find one locally, you might be able to watch some of the work being done. In my own barony, down here in Ansteorra so not useful to you, there are two individuals who open up their shops and have weekly armoring, where you can learn to make your own armor or possibly work with others to make yours.

armorers-lst (86K) 4/19/10 List of and reviews of SCA armorers.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/armorers-lst.html

There is much more to making armor, than just beating the metal into shape. Some of the other files in this same section can help with this such as:
armor-books-msg (15K) 7/30/12 Books about medieval armor. Reviews.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/armor-books-msg.html

helm-padding-msg (29K) 8/28/10 Period and SCA helm padding and strapping.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/helm-padding-msg.html

rattan-msg (72K) 3/19/12 Working with rattan. Rattan sources.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/rattan-msg.html

W-T-Shields-art (20K) 1/19/01 "War and Tourney Shields"
by HL Aaron of the Black Mountains.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/W-T-Shields/W-T-Shields-art.html

shoes4combat-msg (16K) 5/27/11 Footwear suggestions for SCA combat.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT/shoes4combat-msg.html

In another message you asked about leatherwork. Yes, often major and minor pieces of armor are made out of leather instead of metal. I encourage you to learn some leatherwork, since you can use those skills to make belts and other SCA oriented items. I have several files in the CRAFTS section on leather work, such as:
leather-msg (86K) 7/25/04 Working with leather. tanning.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CRAFTS/leather-msg.html

leather-dyeing-msg(52K) 3/10/13 Dyeing and painting leather.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CRAFTS/leather-dyeing-msg.html

Lea-Hardware-art (8K) 10/ 6/07 "Leather 'Hardware' for the Woodworker" by Master Sven Odin Eye.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CRAFTS/Lea-Hardware-art.html

lea-tanning-msg (58K) 7/22/04 How to tan leather. Types of tanning.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CRAFTS/lea-tanning-msg.html

lea-tooling-msg (55K) 6/26/05 Leather tooling. decorating leather.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CRAFTS/lea-tooling-msg.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          [log in to unmask]
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****