leather for armor

[Vinkimus]

I'll cut right to the chase;

I want to make an armor (renaissance style) for my Arma course and I need an advice concerning the appropriate leather. I will order the piece from Tandy leather UK and I am between these two options (please take a look at them at Tandy's webpage if it's not too much trouble)-"armor/sole bend" and "select import saddle skirting".

I know the leather must be heavy (14-15-16oz) and also good for water hardening.Secondly but also important is to have a large enough piece in order to make the whole thing. I contacted them to give me some info and they told me that "armor sole bend" is about 14sq feet (which I think is not large enough). They also said that it is fairly hard on its own, apart from the possibility of the hardening procedure.Does this mean that I won't be able to shape it? Also, by saying "very hard" could they mean that it doesn't need to be hardened?

The "select import saddle skirting" is twice the size at the same cost, approximately the same oz, and seems more pliable. I'm leaning towards this one. Which would you recommend from the two mentioned? Has anyone tried both of them? How do they perform? I wait for your advice in order to make the right choice!

Edited October 12, 2009 by Vinkimus

[Angster]

Personally, I've used saddle skirting for armor before, but not the armor/sole bend leather. Saddle skirting will harden up just fine with heating the wet leather (either by using hot water when soaking it before forming it, or heating the leather as it is drying).

I would imagine the armor/sole bend leather would be flexible enough when soaked... It's just a more, fibrous?, type of leather, so stiffer when dry?

[Peter Ellis]

I'll cut right to the chase;

I want to make an armor (renaissance style) for my Arma course and I need an advice concerning the appropriate leather. I will order the piece from Tandy leather UK and I am between these two options (please take a look at them at Tandy's webpage if it's not too much trouble)-"armor/sole bend" and "select import saddle skirting".

I know the leather must be heavy (14-15-16oz) and also good for water hardening.Secondly but also important is to have a large enough piece in order to make the whole thing. I contacted them to give me some info and they told me that "armor sole bend" is about 14sq feet (which I think is not large enough). They also said that it is fairly hard on its own, apart from the possibility of the hardening procedure.Does this mean that I won't be able to shape it? Also, by saying "very hard" could they mean that it doesn't need to be hardened?

The "select import saddle skirting" is twice the size at the same cost, approximately the same oz, and seems more pliable. I'm leaning towards this one. Which would you recommend from the two mentioned? Has anyone tried both of them? How do they perform? I wait for your advice in order to make the right choice!

I've worked with both and I make hardened leather armour on a very small commercial basis.

I work primarily with the saddle skirting as it is very much easier to do any forming/molding with than the sole bends and also can be had in larger pieces. This last can be important for some items of armour in that you may not be able to cut the pattern from a sole bend.

Sole bend can be hardened, but for most purposes it's dense enough that you don't need to harden it.

[Vinkimus]

Thank you guys for the help.As I said,I'll probably buy the saddle skirting mostly for its size-cost ratio,especially after you verified it's easier to mold/form.I wish I had enough to spare to buy and try both of them.Since I have little experience in hardening the sole bend would probably spare me from a lot of trouble with its density, but then again 14sq feet are not enough for a full upper body armor and 2 pieces cost about 340$-quite a lot for now...I suppose I'll have to go with the saddle skirting.At least I'll be able to use scraps for tooling!

(assuming there will be scraps!)