Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
DreadPirateRedbeard

Need help with curboli hardened leather

Recommended Posts

I do SCA reenactment and provide armour for some of the fighters in chain maille. I want to expand my products to include curboli hardened leather armour. I was shown years ago before I got into leather at all, by Scott Milbrandt before he died. Can anyone help me? I searched through pages and pages of this forum and didn't find anything. Thanks much in advance.

Dirkin

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Try searching for " cuir bouli ". It means "boiled leather", but not that you should actually put boiling water on the leather, or the leather in the boiling water. The term (it is supposed) comes from wetting leather to the point that little air bubbles start escaping from it- aka soppin' wet. Once it's that wet, it is formed and then allowed to dry. There is a method for 'heat treated' leather, and I'm sure you'll come across it in the search results, but as far as I can tell, it's best used for 'scales' or other ultra hard pieces, where there will be little or no flex.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Greetings fellow leatherwork new guy in Arizona! Granted, you're much better than I am :P. Aaaanyway, a few weeks ago I had found some interesting stuff on cuir bouli at these links, in addition to the threads on this forum:

http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/thorgr...ir_bollei.shtml

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Art...or_Improved.htm

http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/hl.html

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=94793

Hope that helps!

~Noah

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Step one is probably to get comfortable with water forming stuff like elbow cops, bracers and lames for articulated spaulders, archer's knees, etc. Once you've got a good technique down for waterforming 12-15 oz leather (and decided that that's not making stuff hard enough), you get to delve into the potentially explosive fun of melted paraffin, vats of melted beeswax, etc.

Seriously, though, try waterforming some sole bends and see if that's making stuff hard enough for you. Stuff like this:

ivanbracers1.jpg

ivanbracers5.jpg

is pretty damned heavy-duty when you're done.

Good luck man.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I gotta say that everyone here so far has been friendly and helpful. I ran into problems as a newbie on different forums (no leather forums). I was discouraged as a newbie to the art of chain maille and told not to do certain projects as they were too difficult for a beginner to do. I did them anyway and they came out OK, not great but OK. You great people will be seeing a lot of me and my numerous questions. Thanks you everyone for your fast responses and for being downright cool. Well, I'm off to post another question.

Dirkin

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I gotta say that everyone here so far has been friendly and helpful. I ran into problems as a newbie on different forums (no leather forums). I was discouraged as a newbie to the art of chain maille and told not to do certain projects as they were too difficult for a beginner to do. I did them anyway and they came out OK, not great but OK. You great people will be seeing a lot of me and my numerous questions. Thanks you everyone for your fast responses and for being downright cool. Well, I'm off to post another question.

Dirkin

dreadfull sea scavenger with the affluent mars facial fur.....

This website is amazing ...these people have been more than helpful to me....even with my repeated questions and small details that would seem silly to a well versed leatehrworker......I love it here

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...