ANST - Info Request

[LannCathal at data-garden.com]

My armor, save for the helm, is made entirely from leather. The elbows, knees 
and kidney belt are hardened with wax. Here is how I did it.
Materials required:
Wax(parafin or bee's wax)
Leather(obviously)
Large towel or other thick cloth
aluminum foil
An Iron (That thingy you use to make wrinkles in clothes go away)
a cover cloth for work area

Place the leather to be hardened on the cover cloth over your flat workspace.
Cover the leather with a layer of aluminum foil and your cover cloth and iron it 
until it gets hot enough to melt wax then take your wax( I used a rather large 
chunk) and rub it over the heated area. When the wax stops melting, replace 
the foil and cloth and iron some more, then apply more wax. Continue until wax 
starts to seep though the other side of the leather.
Once the leather is entirely impregnated with wax, iron once more to get it soft, 
then form it to shape and insert rivets or other hardware to connect it all.
I was able to make two knees, two elbows and a rather large and overly thick 
kidney belt in about four hours.
I precut the leather to shape, but waited til after waxing to cut holes  for rivets.

I would be happy to answer any further questions about this as well as hear 
alternatives as I am preparing to make myself a new set of all leather armor 
(save for the helm).





From:           	"Casey&Coni" <cjw at vvm.com>
To:             	<ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG>
Subject:        	Re: ANST - Info Request 
Date sent:      	Thu, 11 Jun 1998 14:02:29 -0500
Send reply to:  	ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG

> We (Jovian and I) make the piece first with any stitching that needs to be
> done.  Then we get a turkey tin (the ones at thanksgiving always come in
> pairs... this is what we do with the second one) and straddle it across two
> stove burners.  Put in a big ol chunk of wax (beeswax if you're rich,
> parafin if you're not) and fire up the burners to medium.  After it's all
> melted, use tongs to set your piece of leather in there.  You have to hold
> the bugger submerged throughout the process.  Boil it.  I won't give you a
> time to boil it but rather to boil it till all the little bubbles quit
> coming out of each section of leather.  Curved and large pieces sometimes
> need to be done in sections.  Your house will stink so wait til your wife is
> away and tell her the water heater went screwy on you but you fixed it.
> Wear gloves.  Work with someone who can spell  you if you get tired or catch
> fire (thx Jovian).  Don't move the turkey pan til the wax hardens up after
> you're done working.
> 
> Dieterich
> 
> you wrote:
> 
> >   I have another request. I could use some information on cuirre boille
> >armor (quite possible mispelled). I am recently back in after a couple
> >of periods in high school and college an increasing number of years ago.
> >I am trying to use the 'boiled' heavy leather to round off my armor, or
> >at least until I can have some metal (a lot!) shaped into the elbows and
> >knees.
> >   I would appreciate your help/advice/pointers.
> >
> >   Valstarr
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Lann Cathal,
House WolfStar,
Barony of Elfsea,
Kingdom of Ansteorra
.....................
Reality's only fun when you have more than one!
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