Leather Bauzbands

[aarhun]

I have been lurking off and on for a while and thought I would post my latest project. These are Bauzbands which are used as forearm armour for SCA Heavy Fighting. They are made from 15 oz Veg Tan, Tooled, Wet Shaped, Baked on a wooden blank, Dyed, Padded and Strapped. Any comments or thoughts would be welcome.

[Spider]

These are awesome. Hmm, you're giving me ideas for my riding suit

[Thistledown]

Nice work. If I may make some comments that may improve ? Put the "hinge" strip on the inside, and try to work something similar for the buckles and straps ? At the moment - I think these parts look like they are a bit of an afterthought, not up to the quality of the rest ?

[Peter Ellis]

Nice work. If I may make some comments that may improve ? Put the "hinge" strip on the inside, and try to work something similar for the buckles and straps ? At the moment - I think these parts look like they are a bit of an afterthought, not up to the quality of the rest ?

When I make these, I put the hinge on the inside, and I run the straps from the inside through slots near the edges (not too near, 1/2 inch in at least). The hinges pretty much disappear, except for the rivets holding them. The straps look more integral - and they really are more integral, because being mounted on the inside and then coming out and pulling the piece together they distribute stress better.

Overall, I think the OP's work is terrific and am especially impressed by the attention in creating the quilted padding. Too often nice pieces like these get some blue foam glued inside, rather than a quality of padding that matches the rest of the work.

[aarhun]

Thanks for the comments everyone! Just got back from a week of Business Travel so I am getting caught up. I agree on the hinge going onto the inside. I will take a look at doing that this weekend when I have some time. I think the "Unplanned" look may be more what I used to make the strap. It is one of those things that I thought was going to look good when I did them but did not turn out as nice as what I had envisioned.

[hivemind]

Nice work man. What's that, about $20 worth of copper rivets and burrs? I'd never peen all those just for decoration...

Edited September 22, 2010 by hivemind

[aarhun]

Actually, there are sixty-five rivets in each Bauzband. They go with a chest piece, gorget and shoulders set that match them. I have since stopped using this gorget and am working on a much smaller version. Just to hard to move around when you have a head and neck like Uncle Fester...