Master M the armourer

The Greenwich programme featured a reconstruction cameo involving the skilled armourer Emrys (he only uses a first name), also known as Master M. He made a breast plate for Tony Robinson, offering a glimpse of what Henry VIII's armourers would have been producing on the site.

Armourers have always had to tackle a fundamental problem: a suit of armour (or full harness) has to offer protection yet at the same time be flexible and not hinder movement. By the 15th century knights were practically fully encased in steel, so great skill was involved in creating armour that met these requirements. Master M uses the same techniques to produce traditional armour today.

'I would like to think that any 15th-century armourer could walk into my workshop and recognise all of the tools and formers that I use,' he says. 'I've been making armour this way for over 32 years. I'm still learning the trade. The learning curve isn't quite as steep as it was, but I pick up new things all the time. I promised myself that the day I didn't have anything left to learn I would pack it in.'

Working with sheet steel, Master M marks out the various parts of the harness using card patterns. After cutting out the steel into the required pattern, the process of shaping the metal starts with hammering over various 'formers', or into the bowl-shaped depression of the tree-stump block. Scratches, marks and imperfections are removed by plenishing the metal (fine hammering) and then the elbow grease comes out for the polishing.

Though it can take up to six months to create a full harness from scratch, some parts are harder to make than others. 'The greaves (protection for the lower leg) have to be the hardest part,' says Master M. 'It takes a lot of work to make one with its delicate curves, but to then make the other to match like a mirror image can be the hardest part without a shadow of a doubt.'

A suit of armour isn't the sort of thing you can buy off the shelf, so every part is made to measure: 'I do it exactly the same way as they did in the 15th century. Some people come in to be measured up, but many send me wax or plaster casts of parts of their bodies – like their legs for making greaves. Sometimes I need to go to the client to measure them up and that can take me all over the world. The ideal situation is to have the client do several fittings as the suit comes together. The hardest individual piece I've ever made was a Greek style helmet with a swan on the top for the film Alexander the Great. It just took for ever to do.'

So has any job ever made him regret starting as an armourer? 'No. There is something about the beauty of steel. I just adore working with it.'

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