The historically accurate samurai replica armor continues. These are the sode, or shoulder pauldrons. As before I cut them all from sheet metal and punched hundreds of holes with a metal punch.  Then I shaped, primed, and painted them. The most difficult part was getting the lip on the top edge of each lame to match their historical counterparts.  Since silk lace is cost-prohibitive, I continued using shoelace to bring the whole thing together.

I also found a forum where I chatted with none other than Samurai historian Ian Bottomley and armor restoration expert David Thatcher who steered me through several assembly questions.

I inherited an anvil and a pile of sheet metal, which was just begging to be made into armor.  After considerable research (and finding exquisitely detailed instructions from an English speaking armorer, cf. sengokudaimyo.com) , I identified a type and style of armor with the aim of reproducing a historically accurate (within reason) suit.  The learning curve has been steep. Cutting and cold working steel broke my jig saw and burned out my bench grinder (I nearly broke my sewing machine).  Whether "knitting" chain mail, using a metal punch, or lacing armored plates, I found the work is almost meditative given its slow and repetitive nature.