Thanatos Report post Posted January 6, 2012 I just started doing leather working and I have an end goal to this and that is to make fully legal armor for a foam sport I play The armor i want to make is attached below (I will also be making a helmet greaves and bracers) I know Greek armor was made of brass but since that isn't a possibility i decided to go with leather and make it look as nice as possible! So far I have made a frog and plan on making a few pouches and quivers soon. I know I am not ready to make this yet but I was wondering what leather projects would help me learn how to do the things that will needed to be done in the final project? How exactly is the chest made like that... I've been wondering that for awhile now. Thank you, I do apoligize if I put this in the wrong section..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
douglais Report post Posted January 7, 2012 Whew, you've picked an ambitious project. Greek armor is beautiful, so it's a worthy choice. You'll need to master the art of cuir bouilli...French for boiled leather. it's the hot water method for hardening leather. Many people use melted wax also, but I avoid that as being too messy. So, there is lots of info out there on the method. First I'd suggest doing a google search for the term. Ican give you more advice, etc, but I'm pressed for time right now. Talk atcha again in a day or two. Daggrim I just started doing leather working and I have an end goal to this and that is to make fully legal armor for a foam sport I play The armor i want to make is attached below (I will also be making a helmet greaves and bracers) I know Greek armor was made of brass but since that isn't a possibility i decided to go with leather and make it look as nice as possible! So far I have made a frog and plan on making a few pouches and quivers soon. I know I am not ready to make this yet but I was wondering what leather projects would help me learn how to do the things that will needed to be done in the final project? How exactly is the chest made like that... I've been wondering that for awhile now. Thank you, I do apoligize if I put this in the wrong section..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yan Report post Posted January 8, 2012 Before you do your breastplate, start with smaller project, the bracer and greave would be a good start. They are usually easy to do and you will learn the techniques with smaller pieces(so less expensive). There is a lots of ressources in this forum about the cuir bouilli. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos Report post Posted January 9, 2012 What about the design for the muscles how would i go about that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirtclod Report post Posted January 9, 2012 Search drac i know he made some of what your talking about. But i don't remember if he told how he did it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos Report post Posted March 2, 2012 I found the armor he made but he didn't specify how he did the muscles and sadly I can not ask him anymore so does anyone else have any tips? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dmitri Report post Posted March 7, 2012 I just form them over my own stomach when the leather is wet, it seems to get the muscle pattern down just fine......lol Ok all kidding aside mine would look like a beer keg if I tried that. What you can do is do a wet mould for the form as an option, unless you can find a muscled torso at a clothing store that they might me throwing out because of some damage and use that to mould to. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eldorado Report post Posted March 30, 2012 I just form them over my own stomach when the leather is wet, it seems to get the muscle pattern down just fine......lol Ok all kidding aside mine would look like a beer keg if I tried that. What you can do is do a wet mould for the form as an option, unless you can find a muscled torso at a clothing store that they might me throwing out because of some damage and use that to mould to. I would say that it depends a good bit on how thick you want the leather. You mentioned, "fully legal" but for foam fighting. I'm not sure how heavy such leather would need to be. If you are using fairly thin weight, say 4 to 6 oz veg tan, you could use a form, built up with foam in the right places... then wet mold. However, I'd recommend heavier weight, like 8-10oz saddle skirting. Not for the protection, per se, but because it will hold its shape and feel more authentic. If you do that, a form won't be helpful, except to hang the piece on. Leather that thick won't ever notice the shape of the form. Rather, you'll draw out the design of muscle bumps on the back of the piece, then wet the leather in each area a great deal, then push it out from the inside. Its essentially embossing. You can use the handle end of your tooling hammer or anything that is sturdy for pushing. You'll probably use different tools for different parts. I once used the top of a bannister post that had the right shape. I also sometimes use a blunted awl (about the shape of a pencil eraser) to push small dots of embossing from the backside. Some folks use their swivel knife from the backside to help coax greater definition. If you were tooling the front side, you could also incorporate some swivel knife cuts in the right places. But I don't know that I'd do that if there won't be any other cuts. Could look amatuerish. The best news is that if you want this black, you can often get a fairly low grade side of saddle skirting from Tandy for cheap (either standard or the light weight kind)... maybe $99.00, sometimes less on sale. You'll need a whole side probably. At the minimum, you could make a prototype out of this as a tester. When you dye it all black, you'll never notice the quality issues. The Cuirboille approach would be very authentic and would probably look tremendous, but it might be overkill for what you are doing. If the leather is thick enough, you won't need to give it a stiffener. Let us know how it turns out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos Report post Posted March 31, 2012 Ah I will be using atleast 13 oz leather in this as that's min sorry for not specifying! I do appreciate the tips though I am still waiting on money to be able to afford the leather but I have been practicing a bit with belts and sword frogs I want to practice tooling a bit before I make my armor so I might be able to add some designs to it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angster Report post Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) Would it be possible to build up to that thickness? If you're wanting to mold the leather to have that shape, you could accomplish it with thinner leather, just using several layers. What you'd need to do is form the first piece, keeping in mind you'll lose some of the shape as you add additional layers. Then leaving the first piece on the form, add the second, then possibly the third layer. After all of the leather is dry, you can then laminate the separate pieces with leather cement to form a very sturdy, rigid and thick, leather breastplate. You might be able to get away without boiling the leather with this method, as the lamination will help keep the molded shape. Everyone else's advice is sound, though. Practice with smaller pieces first to get the techniques down for making armor. Good luck and we're all waiting to see your finished product! Ohhh, just had a thought. Use the thicker leather to create the initial shape. Emboss a thinner piece of leather to create the muscles, and laminate that to the thicker leather. Just need to make sure the embossed leather has the voids filled with something fairly solid to absorb impacts... Might be an option...? Edited March 31, 2012 by Angster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
