A Bit Of A Question About A Piece Of Arm Armor.

[Firesstorm]

Good afternoon all, I'm an utter novice at leather work, but I have a project in mind that I need some advice on. I have been browsing around the forums for some time now, and I have a rough Idea of what I want to do, but no clue how to go about it!

I'm attempting to make a piece of realistic-looking armor to look sort of like a prosthetic arm for a Steampunk costume I'm working on, and I was thinking of molding the leather to my specific shape so I could have good forearm/ elbow/ upper arm and shoulder joints that I knew would fit, but I need some advice on molding, sizing, and in general what kind of leather and material I should use. I was thinking around 10 oz. Veg Tan leather, with a wet mold process using my own arm to shape it then an oven bake technique I was seeing discussed on here, and I was wondering if anyone had some tips on what kind of tools or techniques would be best for a beginner to use for a project such as this?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

[RuehlLeatherWorks]

You could technically do this project with just a knife and hot water, but that would look a bit messy.

First thing first, start at the following site: http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

Now, when I do arm armor, I use 10 oz vegetable tanned leather. I harden it using the water hardening technique listed here: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Articles/Perfect_Armor_Improved.htm

But instead of immersing the leather in water, I pre-soak it in the hottest water that I can get from the tap. While it's soaking I then heat a pot of water to around 190 degrees. Once it hits that temperature, I set the soaking leather in the sink and very carefully pour the simmering water over the surface of the leather. You'll be able to see the color change so you can really judge what parts of the leather need more effort. When you finish this, you CAN form it around your own arm, but wrap it in a dish towel first.

The leather will start to cool and harden, so keep it on your arm until it starts to hold it's own shape. Ultimately, what you're looking for is the leather to hold it's shape while sitting on a flat surface without collapsing. After this has dried and hardened (I typically wait 24 hours. You can take an edge beveller to the edges (Inside AND outside, since that can get really sharp once hardened.) Just a reminder, Make sure you oil the surface BEFORE you try to flex it in any way shape or form. If you don't add a little oil, it WILL crack the surface.

For this project, you'll probably want spalders, rerebrace, vambrace, and elbow cop. If you feel ambitious, I'd make a gauntlet with articulated fingers that would look awesome as a prosthetic.

[Firesstorm]

  On 10/31/2011 at 7:32 PM, RuehlLeatherWorks said:

You could technically do this project with just a knife and hot water, but that would look a bit messy.

First thing first, start at the following site: http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

Now, when I do arm armor, I use 10 oz vegetable tanned leather. I harden it using the water hardening technique listed here: http://www.daviddfri...or_Improved.htm

But instead of immersing the leather in water, I pre-soak it in the hottest water that I can get from the tap. While it's soaking I then heat a pot of water to around 190 degrees. Once it hits that temperature, I set the soaking leather in the sink and very carefully pour the simmering water over the surface of the leather. You'll be able to see the color change so you can really judge what parts of the leather need more effort. When you finish this, you CAN form it around your own arm, but wrap it in a dish towel first.

The leather will start to cool and harden, so keep it on your arm until it starts to hold it's own shape. Ultimately, what you're looking for is the leather to hold it's shape while sitting on a flat surface without collapsing. After this has dried and hardened (I typically wait 24 hours. You can take an edge beveller to the edges (Inside AND outside, since that can get really sharp once hardened.) Just a reminder, Make sure you oil the surface BEFORE you try to flex it in any way shape or form. If you don't add a little oil, it WILL crack the surface.

For this project, you'll probably want spalders, rerebrace, vambrace, and elbow cop. If you feel ambitious, I'd make a gauntlet with articulated fingers that would look awesome as a prosthetic.

Thank you so much, this is exactly the advice I needed! I'll try it as you said, and see how it turns out! The funny thing is, 10 oz. Vegetable tanned leather was exactly what I was going to get, so I'll just go along with that plan, and get the patterns you suggest! My thanks to you mate, and finally: