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hivemind

Leather Arms

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Just a quick shot of some arms I'm working on for myself out of 16 oz leather. They're not nearly done, but you can get an idea so far:

elbow1.jpg

The elbows are together with Chicago screws for now (they're really useful for testing things out), but the final product will be done with peened copper rivets. I'll lace the vambrace and put a single strap on the rerebrace. Gonna dye it a dark red with black.

You can see the rest of the other arm cut out and shaped on the table behind.

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16oz! What did you do to form it? Won't copper rivets stop some of the articulation? Please post pictures when you are done of you modeling them.

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The forming is just hot water, I don't do any kind of wax impregnation.

I have to be careful when I use the rivets and not draw them tight. Probably also add a washer between the layers of leather. But, even if I do draw them too tight, they'll smooth out eventually - it's leather. :)

What I'm trying to figure out is how to slick the insides of the cutouts on the cross besegews. Bone folder maybe? I dunno...

Edited by hivemind

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One down, seven to go (arm, leg, leg, torso, shoulder, shoulder, gorget):

elbow2.jpg

elbow3.jpg

elbow4.jpg

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Got both arms done.

elbow5.jpg

elbow6.jpg

elbow7.jpg

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I think the gorget is next, because I simply can't keep the arms immobile without attaching them to something higher on my body. Yesterday, I laced them onto my chainmail (I punched two holes right below the point of the rerebrace (upper arm) and ran a lace through them and up through the chain) but the final solution will be to hang them from the gorget.

So, gorget next, then legs (need the protection there badly) then pauldrons, then a back-and-breast, then some scaled gauntlets to finish it off.

Damn, it's nice to work on something for myself for a change. :)

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I think the gorget is next, because I simply can't keep the arms immobile without attaching them to something higher on my body. Yesterday, I laced them onto my chainmail (I punched two holes right below the point of the rerebrace (upper arm) and ran a lace through them and up through the chain) but the final solution will be to hang them from the gorget.

So, gorget next, then legs (need the protection there badly) then pauldrons, then a back-and-breast, then some scaled gauntlets to finish it off.

Damn, it's nice to work on something for myself for a change. :)

Strong recommendation against attaching those arms to the gorget. Instead, sew a leather patch on your gambeson at the shoulder, punch a pair of holes through the patch before sewing it in place, and run a tie from there through a pair of holes in the top of your rerebrace.

Hanging them off the gorget will pull the gorget as your arms move and not provide adequate support for the arm harness.

What will you be using this harness for ?

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It's being used for Dagorhir and LARP combat.

You may be right about the gorget, thinking about it more. Tying them to the maille was fine, but I did that at the point of the shoulder, plus the maille's pretty heavy and immobile already. The attachment point to the gorget would be a lot further up my shoulder, and the gorget isn't remotely close to as heavy as a chain hauberk.

Can't hurt to try pointing them to the gambeson first. I just don't wanna hand sew anything - I'm lazy like that... :)

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From the ones I've seen, most people attach the rerebrace to the spalder/pauldrons and then the pauldrons attach to the gambeson as mentioned above. It's a good anchor point and provides good mobility. Then the gorget covers the attachment points and collarbone.

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The legs, they are done...

legs1.jpg

legs2.jpg

legs3.jpg

Thanks to my pals Wayde and Brett for drinking with me while I finally finished them.

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nicely done, dude.

willing to share the pattern?

cheers,

Gunter

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Sure, lemme see if I can assemble all of it and take a pic.

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I can do this for you:

artipattern.jpg

I don't have a pattern for the rerebrace (upper arm) or cuisse (upper leg) because they're easy and I just eyeballed them, and I don't have a pattern for the knee cop because I just extended the elbow cop pattern an inch in every dimension and made the pie cutout 2 inches wide. The only other odd, non-obvious thing I did was when I was attaching the four lames and the cop together (the five pieces that make up an elbow or a knee) I added a #10 galvanized washer between the two pieces of leather, and then another below the copper burr, then didn't ram the burr down all the way before I peened it over. This left the leather more able to articulate the way is should. Once they break it, thy flop around just like steel would at the articulations.

Edited by hivemind

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