More information on dishing techniques has arrived, from Tom Holt, in the U.K.
I'm a novelist by trade; I write historical stuff, and I'm obsessive about detail. So when I started a book about armourers, I decided I'd have to learn how to do it before I could write about it. I plan on writing at least one book about a swordsmith; so a contact point with people who really know about the subject would be really useful."
I complimented him on his description of dishing, and he said "Well, I'm a better writer than I'm a tin-basher... Not that that's saying much.
The SCA hasn't really taken hold here in the UK. We do have two very good armourers, though; one of whom (Roger of Lancaster) was kind enough to teach me the basics.
I've used pop-rivets on my spangenhelm too; now that I've made up a long sett, i suppose I ought to replace them with proper rivets."