hivemind

100% beeswax. I don't have anything else, but I have a big 'ol pot of beeswax for waxing armor pieces.

Just a little one, probably only holds 8oz or so. Second one I've made, first was just a test and a miserable failure. Plug is black walnut. Bottle tests watertight. Yay.

Did I mention I used two bolts in each horn so it didn't spin?

I made a horned helm by filling the base of the horn with fiberglass, then drilling a hole and tapping it for a lag bolt that went through the helmet into the fiberglass. I fight both LARP and Dagorhir wearing it. Been going strong for a few years now.

Two layers of 3" wide 15" long 13-15oz straps, sewn onto a 3" wide belt. Outer straps have stainless steel plates riveted on. Inner straps have a stamped steel economy concho on the ends. Suspenders are latigo. Dyed with Fiebing's medium brown, sealed with Super Shene. Sewing done with the Tippmann Boss. It's really hot, so I'm fairly unhappy here:

Couple helmets I'm working on for people: Demon: Fox:

Congrats on getting a good one. The one they sent me is 2/3 holes and insect bite scars. I'm using what I can of it for masks and medieval belt pouches.

I do some work making sighthound collars for rescued racing greyhounds, and I've actually never heard them called "fishtail" collars before. I always just called them sighthound collars. Learn something new every day...

Made these to match a set of shoulders I posted here a while back:

Yes. Them and Raymond's Quiet Press get a lot of damned money from me...

It's tricky, but you can do it in Firefox if you override how Javascripts are allowed to alter your context menus. Oh, nice work too. Can we see the knives?

Finished a rondel, sheath and belt tonight:

Yeah I'd like to see it. You'll have to get used to wearing armor though, it's going to be harder to feel your hits in Amtgard with those little 6 ounce pixie sticks you guys call swords.

If it's just for entertainment, try making it from one of the 6-7 oz single shoulders Tandy has on sale for $15 right now.

Not gonna lie man. Helmets are by far the hardest thing to do in leather, at least for me. It took me ten years before I found a pattern I could make look like something not crap and be comfortable on the field. I hate to be a downer, but really you should cut your teeth on some more basic stuff: arms, shoulders. After that try some gauntlets and gorgets. Then start playing around with wet molding by making some masks or cops. Then try your helmet. That helmet you posted is essentially just an open-faced barbute: The one you posted is also made of plastic, not metal. Something like that is particularly hard to do in leather because leather's going to have to have some seams somewhere. Older types of helmets, like spangenhelms, are much easier to make in leather, as are helms like great helms that don't have much dishing, just curved pieces. But with all the seams/lines/decorative whatevers on that helmet, you might be able to do it by sewing a bunch of smaller strips together. Tedious, but it might work. Sorry I can't be more help. Helmets is hard...

3/16ths inch leather is 12oz, yes. That's the leather I mostly work in; it's legal as armor for Dagorhir, Kingdoms of Novitas and Belegarth. Definitely go with some saddle skirting, but look for 13-14 oz if you can find it. If you buy 12oz you're running the risk that some will be a bit thinner than that. Tandy's "armor and shield bends" are very stiff leather. They're sole bends, meaning it's very thick hard leather meant for the soles of shoes. I think if you're careful and thoughtful with your work you'll do fine on this type of armor. It's all about the cordage, really, and you can always pull that out and re-lace if it's not right the first time. As far as how exactly to do that part, all I can do is show you a few pictures from some Japanese armor and kabuto we took apart a while ago: https://picasaweb.google.com/david.haldenwang/DrewSArmor# That's all steel armor, but lacing is lacing.

Oh absolutely. If you're cutting from down near the belly it's going to be a lot softer and more "stretchy". I'd probably use eyelets in leather like that even in the 12-13oz stuff I normally work in. Honestly, I just avoid those parts and save them for pouches and such.

Well, here's the deal. What Tandy sells as "Armor and Shield Bends" isn't necessarily what you're looking for. To recommend the "correct" leather, we need to know what you're wearing it for. Are you using it at a tap-LARP, or something with heavy boffer combat, or the SCA, or just to ren faires and such? Does your game system have a thickness or weight requirement for leather armor? As for the water forming, hot tap water is fine, you don't need to boil it. Hell, if it's warm where you are just room temperature water is fine. It's not the heat that's important so much as the water. You should be forming them to about the shape you want, maybe a little smaller.

Yeah, you're going to want to wet mold the individual lames. I don't think you need a dummy for it, just soak them for a couple minutes each in hot water, then stand them on edge, bend them around and let them dry 24 hours. They'll keep their shape, but not be too hard that you can't bend them in or out a little to fit them on.

RLW is correct. Most of what I do is for game systems that require 12oz+ to be armor. No need for eyelets in that kind of leather.When I work in lighter stuff I still use eyelets for durability. Here's a pair on feast bracers in 6oz where I used eyelets:

I linked directly from the photographer's Photobucket site... bleh, sorry. Here they are re-hosted by me:

Nope, that's a friend's work: solid fiberglass core, EVAlite foam construction, PlastiDip finish.

I have a front pic....

Finished this last week. Here it is in action on Saturday:

There's an argument that keeps popping up on another (non-leatherworking) forum I frequent: what is the "proper" way to pien copper rivets and burrs? Do you put the flat side out, or the burr out? Which should be visible, and why?