Leather Armor "hardening"

[Dink]

No idea about 95% of what your talking about but, for a leather hardener you may want to try benzoin from a rodeo equipment supplier, It does a very good job as a stiffener for bareback riding gloves, and I think it may do what you want.

[druid]

Sorry it took so long to get back here. Got a "you've got a virus!!" virus and it took quite a bit to get rid of it.

Your crossbow is really good looking .

Since you're going for the ''brigandine look'' you could use chrome tan softer leather for the base veste. I did that in my first armor and got 2 good year use (it still good, I just maid a better looking one).

I don't use my armor for paint ball so I don't need to removed trace of paint on it.

For the varnish I used 5 coat of the eco-flow super shene finish on both side of the leather. It's ok, look a little beat up after a many use (but that's the look I was going for), no trace of crack and it has been use at least once under heavy rain for over 3 hrs.

I tested a couple of product :latex base, water base and oil base varnish but this one gave me a better result.

If any one discover something better please post.

Thanks. the crossbow itself, took some doing...lol.

I will definitely look into the chrome tanned leather for the under-vest.

5 coats of eco-flo super. Copy. Thank you.

A couple of things. First, why do you want to put the plates on the outside of your armour, instead of as shown in the first picture ? They will trap bits of paint and paint ball, and, of course, pretty well guarantee that you get breaks if the ball touches you. Plus it's not like any historic example of armour (and for good reason, since the plates on the outside would catch spear points, sword edges, arrows...)

Second, I recommend for your purposes you harden your leather by soaking it in acrylic floor polish. It works quite nicely, should make it easy to clean off the paint that isn't trapped in the crevices ;0 and is really easy to do.

I make hardened leather armour, using various techniques. The acrylic polish is easy to renew, relatively water resistant (nothing is "proof") and the best bang for your buck in terms of ease of production and cost.

Leather hardened by dampening it and then baking at ~150F does not soften up when it gets wet, the structure of the leather has fundamentally changed. But it does break down over time.

Yes, you are correct that it will enhance ball breaks....that in itself doesn't bother me too much though. The entrapment of paintball elements though...that kind of does. If I have the plates inside or outside, the paintball will still break. My own idea was that if "waxed" [or Varnish] were on the outside, at least I could wipe it off more easily than from the open grain of the sueded side of leather [when the plates are on the inside].

I had not even considered acrylic floor polish! Thanks!

Honestly, I'd suggest a 4-6 ounce garment leather for the "coat", and use cut up plates of pickle barrel or kydex for the inside coat of plates part. Super stiff and super light, and unseen, so who cares if it's plastic. I give a second vote for putting the plates inside as well. It's historically correct and a billion times more functional than having them outside, like Peter says.

That's a very interesting idea and I kind of like it! My only "issue" is as I've said earlier though...trapped paint inside the sueded grain of the leather. I guess though, that at this point I have to accept the fact it's going to get stained.......lol....

HOWEVER!! I know I can get Kydex in brown..........hrm........

I LARP a lot in leather armor. I've been in heat and rain and both will affect your armor. Waxing and waterproofing help but the thickness of the leather seems to be the most important element. All the thin elements "wilt" first in negative conditions.

Tandy Leather sells a Sole Bend that is 15oz leather that is compressed for use in making soles of footwear. It's quite expensive but it's so hard that you could get away without hardening it at all and still have a solid amount of protection. If you did harden it, you'd have some pretty protective armor.

I think you've got the ideal form of armor, brigadine, if I'm not mistaken - a soft leather shell with hard plates on top. The soft leather will prevent a lot of your sweat from getting onto the hard leather. There is no stress on the plates so they won't crack.

I would dye it black. If paint stains become a problem, you can just dye it black again. I've never had paint ball paint on leather and I don't know what it would take to block it, or get it out. As mentioned previously, test peices are the way to go.

Mark Charke

To the Sole leather idea...I'm not really trying to break my bank account...lol. Like you said, it's pretty expensive. I have a Tandy location local to me and was pricing them the other day. That's quite a bit over budget, not to mention that the sheer amount of rivets I'm looking at are going to KILL me...lol. As I calculated my armor, I'm looking at no less than 250 rivets for the garment. Brass "quick" rivets are bad enough, I almost choked on my coffee when I priced the copper ones.

No idea about 95% of what your talking about but, for a leather hardener you may want to try benzoin from a rodeo equipment supplier, It does a very good job as a stiffener for bareback riding gloves, and I think it may do what you want.

I will look into that. Thanks for your reply.

Thank you all for your help. I will genuinely consider each of your responses and weigh which might be right for me.

[Peter Ellis]

My only "issue" is as I've said earlier though...trapped paint inside the sueded grain of the leather. I guess though, that at this point I have to accept the fact it's going to get stained.......lol....

I will look into that. Thanks for your reply.

Thank you all for your help. I will genuinely consider each of your responses and weigh which might be right for me.

Just an observation - there's no need to use a suede for the vest. In fact, your garment will be stronger, more durable and in pretty much every possible way better if you make the garment with a full grain leather rather than a suede. And, you'll get away from the concern about paintball dye on the suede

[druid]

thanks, that was my thought also. I had thought about a Cuirass Armor Leather style armor but it's not quite accurate to what I'm trying to depict. Since it's a Greek/Roman design [which is still an ancient design], it's just not "me" on the field...lol.

I have some time and a lot of though that is going to go into this project.

Edited August 27, 2010 by druid

[CDragonworks]

I find that a coat of wax keeps them from staining... you can also spray them with lacquer to help stiffen and seal after doing the hot water harden... I use the laq on top side of horse tack and wax/oil the bottom...avoids staining... Good luck whichever you try! Cat

[druid]

OK so if I abandon the Coat of Plates idea and go with a Cuirass style, how do I mold the plating after I dump it in hot water/wax? Do i use a seamstress dummy like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/...4=263602_263622

Edited September 12, 2010 by druid

[hivemind]

If you have one that's a great idea. Another would be to simply mold it on the metal armor you're trying to replicate. I do not recommend trying to mold it on your body if you do wax, but if you just water harden you can just do that.

[druid]

If you have one that's a great idea. Another would be to simply mold it on the metal armor you're trying to replicate. I do not recommend trying to mold it on your body if you do wax, but if you just water harden you can just do that.

Well, I have neither the dummy/mannequin, nor the metal armor. ..lol.

I guess I could see if one of the major department stores might have one that's broken or something.......

[HellfireJack]

I just saw this mentioned and had to comment....

From a leather working stand point the idea is awesome. But... from a paintball players perspective though not so much.

Unless you're doing this for the shock and awe/look factor I would advise against hardened body armour when playing. I have years of experience both managing a paintball field/air smithing/playing and it won't help your game one bit. A good percentage of paint balls bounce off of the body and that doesn't count at most fields unless you call yourself out by mistake.

Sticking a sheet of hardened leather between you and the ball almost guarantees that they'll break on you. This is why experienced paintball players wear neoprene and why pro rules allow only so much of it. The leather wrap-around headgear will only hold in moisture, fog your lenses and make it harder to breath and see.

If I were to contemplate doing this for looks I would create the mask and armour and wear it off the field and then make a duplicate of any body armour in grey and black neoprene to maintain the style on the field.

Edited January 4, 2011 by HellfireJack

[druid]

I just saw this mentioned and had to comment....

From a leather working stand point the idea is awesome. But... from a paintball players perspective though not so much.

Unless you're doing this for the shock and awe/look factor I would advise against hardened body armour when playing. I have years of experience both managing a paintball field/air smithing/playing and it won't help your game one bit. A good percentage of paint balls bounce off of the body and that doesn't count at most fields unless you call yourself out by mistake.

Sticking a sheet of hardened leather between you and the ball almost guarantees that they'll break on you. This is why experienced paintball players wear neoprene and why pro rules allow only so much of it. The leather wrap-around headgear will only hold in moisture, fog your lenses and make it harder to breath and see.

If I were to contemplate doing this for looks I would create the mask and armour and wear it off the field and then make a duplicate of any body armour in grey and black neoprene to maintain the style on the field.

Awesome, thanks for answering.

I'm 40 years old and I've been playing since 86 - so the game isn't new to me. The thing is, I'm not at all concerned about 'bounces.' Since I've given up tourney play in 02 - I only play rec and scenario ball for fun anymore.

I'm all about a "look" or a "persona" in this project. The 15-30 minute reinsertions keep me in the game, which I play all day or all weekend long. Think about "Halloween" games "in costume" at many of the bigger fields...Sherwood Forest, Skirmish [my home field] and EMR...It's all fun for me and nothing "all to serious" anymore.

I just want a "wow" factor on the field....but I don't want the leather ruined by Evil or Draxxus paints either. Even PMI Premium is difficult to get out of Jerseys...and I Scotch Guard the crap out of them the day before.......lol.

I was originally going to go for a "Coat of Plates" type of armor but I think I will change that to a http://www.swordnarmory.com/Roman-Steel-Muscle-Plate-Cuirass-Armor-Leather-p/ni36368.htm]Cuirass[/url] or Lorica Segmentata style breast and back plate. It will be easier to carve but more difficult to make into hardened armor. I'm going to need a dummy or mannequin to mold the hot, waterlogged leather on.

Edited January 5, 2011 by druid