[Icelander]

Originally Posted by fula farbrorn

you could use your own armorer and buy sheets of AR500 from https://www.leecosteel.com/ar500-500f-steel-plate.html

looking at that page you might need 30 of their 96X96 inch sheets, though i might be WAY off since im operating on a lack of sleep

Ok, so here's where I really need help from forumites who are hobby smiths, machinists, material scientists or at least more handy than I am...

What kind of equipment do you need to work steel with this kind of hardness?

Won't you ruin the hardening trying to reforge it into other shapes?

Can you do anything with it using the kind of tools that you might have at a home workshop or some kind of garage business working with metals?

What about using the tools you might have at an automobile chop-shop?

If you need specialised tools to work with it, are we talking about tools costing a couple of hundred dollars, a couple of thousand, as much as a car or as much as a new house?

If it matters, assume access to several people with Machinist 10-12, at least one with Machinist 14+ and a bunch of people with Mechanic in the 8-12 range, as well as a couple of custom detailers and/or men who build improvised APCs for the cartels, with Armoury (Vehicle Armor) 10-12, Blacksmith 10-12, Machinist 12+, Mechanic (Automobile) 14+ and maybe some Engineering.

Also, they'd have access to some gunsmiths with Armoury (Small Arms) at 12+.

I don't really know how plausible it would be to assume that the Knight Templars have a member or an associate with Armoury (Body Armour). I guess that Dabbler and 1-2 points in it might make sense for the mechanics, machinists or gunsmiths if they have been trying to custom-build armour for a couple of years now, though.

Originally Posted by fula farbrorn

then you can get the Kevlar for the gambeson here http://www.cstsales.com/aramid_fabric.html

all in all probably a tad under 3k usd not counting the hours spent making it into a suit

The Knight Templars are lucky in that regard, at least if Sewing skill is useful* for working with Kevlar. They can get as many maquiladora girls, seastresses, tailors or knock-off fashion desiners as they want to kidnap and have already been noted for disappearing a lot of girls who work in factories that make clothes or other consumer goods.

*Yes, I assume that you'd need specialised machines and knowledge if you want to cut it or otherwise tailor it, but Sewing might at least offer a default.