The Empire of The Iron Mountains - Re:leather for plate armour backing

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Murdoc
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Posts: 13

leather for plate armour backing - 2006/02/09 13:33 I'm in the process of making some new plate bracers. I've done the smithing thing for a number of years, so I've got the metal working all squared away. Where I'm running into a new area is with the leather that I'd like to use to both back the bracers and secure them to my arms. I see the clases that are this weekend, would love to go but won't be available. So, a series of questions...

1. I'm looking for leather to get to use for this purpose, and I've found tandyleather.com. I'm looking at "Armor/Shield Leather Bend #2 #W9099-02" under their web specials now. Looks think enough. What does "sold by the bed" mean? Will this leather be too stiff to use as backing for plate and in direct contact with skin? Would saddle skirting be better? Maybe I'd have to soften the material? Is there a better option all together? Again, note that the leather wouldn't be the armour itself, it's really just more for backing and securing purposes. The majority is plate.

2. What's with leather rivets being so expensive?! I can get rivets from ACE Hardware for pennies a piece. Why the big difference? Do I really need these rivets? Isn't a rivet a rivet?

3. Riveting leather to leather, I assume that I'd want to line the punched hole with some sort of gromit, yes?

Other than that, apologies for not showing lately. Things have been busy. I'm looking forward to playing again soon.

Regards,
Murdoc

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Takezu

Admin

Posts: 717

Re:leather for plate armour backing - 2006/02/09 15:02 Well you are in luck because the classes are not this weekend a month from this weekend.

1. Armor leather is WAY to thick to be used to for backing leather. I would use a 4-6 ounce leather. That will be thick enough that you will not see wear and tear when the plates move on the leather.

2. Most leather rivets are double domed rivets meaning that they have a nice rounded cap on both ends and look a lot nicer then the hardware store rivets.

3. For leather to leather riveting a double domed rivet should be fine with out a gromit.

Takezu It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. --Aristotle

Patriotism: The willing act of putting one's life & well being at risk for politicians who are not similarly disposed.

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Murdoc
User

Posts: 13

Re:leather for plate armour backing - 2006/02/09 18:08 Yeah, I noticed the date after I posted the topic, of course. So cool, I'll sign up for some of those in the near future, sound like fun to me.

1. So what does "sold by the bend" mean then?

2. 4-6oz leather you say for backing purposes. Would that be too weak to support itself without distorting when it came to also being used to secure to the arm? My plan right now is to rivet the metal to the leather, but have the leather wrap almost all the way around the arm where the plate would just be approx 1/2 of it. The leather would then have 4 sets of D rings to be used as holes to lace the bracer up. Example at <http://www.theinnerbailey.com/bracerssherwood3.htm>. Would I need a certain sort of leather that would hold better?

3. What about riveting metal to leather? Think I'd need a gromit for that?

Murdoc

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Rewth

Admin

Posts: 1532

Re:leather for plate armour backing - 2006/02/09 21:49 1. "by the bend" basically means by the whole piece. you can't buy a piece of the bend, yu have to take the whole thing. kinda like "by the side", you get the whole side. yer just dealing with a "bend" isntead of a side" which i think is 8-9 square feet and a different part of the cow, but don't quote me on that.

2. i think takezu thought you were simply planning to line the metal with leather. which 4oz would be fine. i'd use a simple deer skin, prolly picked up at the bulk table from one of the flea markets south of ft. C.

but.. given your example, i'd suggest that you make leather bracers, then rivit the plates to it. so the leather is 100%, half of which is covered by metal. don't try to do two separate pieces of leather attahced to the plate. you'll have two "seams" that will be points of failure. either way yer prolly looking at 5pts of armor. and on that note i'd look for 8-9 oz minimum, 12oz if at all possible. the bends you are looking at are 14-16oz which is jsut shy of 1/4 inch. that is some hella thick stuff. you might be able to find something less thick that works jsut fine, but the price tag there is pretty damn good.

3. honestly i can't tell you. i've never put metal on armor without a layer of leather on both sides.... i would think a grommet on the metal side wouldn't hurt. but it may not be neccesary. "But right now I'm a little concerned about my pants, since I don't know where they are." - Valathina Nailo

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