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carlviking β Leather armour - Front
Published: 2013-10-13 12:32:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 14529; Favourites: 133; Downloads: 116
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Description
Back view of the scale leather armour I finished a short time ago.Each scale is made out of thick (~3mm) cow leather boiled in bee wax (it gets really much harder)
The borders are made out thinner (~1mm) pig leather, also boiled.
Everything is hold together only with thick leather strings.
The whole armour is made of approximately 200 scales, i.e. almost 2 square matters of leather.
It needed me about 30 hours to finish.
It offers a great addition to the chainmail, blocking most of the strikes to exposed parts.
if you are interested to make yourself one, I can provide a template
EDIT, Tutorial here :
Picture taken by "Vincent, juste Vincent" www.facebook.com/pages/Vincentβ¦
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Comments: 38
hey just wondering for a friend, have you got any info to base the armor on? as he has similar plate, but cant find any info about what they could be based on.
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I recently found this text online :
"The lamellar armor in Occident dates as far back as the Roman empire at least, and it can be found sometimes in Frankish context up to the Viking Era. In Byzantium, some have been found until the Xth century as well as more in the Est toward Novgorod.
This is a suit of amour that might be much appreciated by riders because it doesn't impede much the movements, and Viking reenactors are adopting it in steel or in leather, justifying this equipment by a peculiar find: a set of steel lamellaes from Birka.
Image : scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hβ¦
But, they do come from a separate burial that have long been identified as a non Nordic culture (Magyar? Byzantium? ...)
There goes our only shot at justifying the steel lamellar armor suit for Vikings. But what about leather lamellars?
Not much to say: as of now, we do not know of any archaeological proof that leather lamellars did exist in Occident in this time-frame. To find some you would have to travel far to the Est, to the steppe people for example."
So, not much, but this kind of armour was used during the viking age by cultures that had contacts with vikings...
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thanks, had a fair idea of the lamellar anyway, was just more curious of the square/rectangular plates you used, just that they are very large compared to most i've seen and a mate has gotten similar but just half the size i'd say so just wanted to see incase you had a find you had based yours off, so he could do the same. as most i've seen before and usually odd shapes
Thanks for the info anyway
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A question a friend of mine asked me today:
Why bother in use this armor over the chainmail?
As he told me: It's like adding a ply cover over a tank. And that this scaled is useless, as leather can bend, unlike metal.
What can I say to him, please?
Thanks again.
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That is indeed a good question...
In fact, an even better question would be: why bother wearing a chainmail under such an armour ?
The reason is that chainmail offers really good protection against cutting strikes, and a decent one over piercing strikes, even arrows.
But, it offers almost no protection at all against the blow itself: an hit to the arm with an axe or mace will break it as if there were no armour at all.
To avoid this, people usually wear a gambeson under the mail (heavy padded clothes).
But even a heavy gambeson does not block all the blow, and they are really movement-impeding.
Boiled leather, on the contrary, is really resilient to blows.
When boiled in bee wax, the leather turns almost as hard as wood, but less brittle.
So, a light gambeson or even a woollen shirt is sufficient to block most of hits: I can take heavy hits with an axe and barely feel it... no fake
The real question is then: if boiled leather is that good, why bother with chainmail ?
The main reason is that the boiled leather being really stiff, you cannot put it on articulations.
You can see on the picture that it has large weak points under the arms or around the neck.
As these points never receive hard blows but only vicious piercing strikes, the chainmail is sufficient, even over a light gambeson.
Another reason is that boiled leather is not totally effective against arrows or spears:
Some will be deflected by the scales, others will get stuck between two scales and perhaps pierce through.
In this case, the chainmail will probably absorb the remaining force and block the projectile.
So, to summarise, no, chainmail is not such a good armour, just really efficient against cuts.
It makes it a perfect armour to wear against light swords, spears and arrows, but not sufficient against maces, axes or greatswords.
As metal plates or scales were really rare and expensive during the Viking age, boiled leather lamellar armours remained one of the best thing you could wear at the time.
I hope this will convince your friend !
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I am the friend he's talking about.
First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on your awesome galery. As someone who is into LARP andΒ reenactment, I can't help but admire your collection.
I disagree in some on the points you make. Chainmail is a superb kind of armour. It was used in the roman times (they called it lorica hamata) and knights on the XIV century also wore it under their plate armour. That's about two millenniums! People would have invented something else if chainmail was not an efficient kind of armour. Also, because of the pattern in which the rings are arranged, it can disperse a lot of force, a bit like modern kevlar. Of course, if someone hits you with a mace or a great axe you'll get a broken bone or two, but that doesn't mean that chain mail is completely useless against heavy blows.
The main reason for boiled leather to be used as an armor is that it's a lot cheaper than chainmail, and still provides an excellent protection. However, regardless of how you treat the hide, leather will always be softer than steel, and thus chainmail is a better protection against cuts and piercing attacks. In History, people who could afford mail wore it instead of a boiled leather armour. Proof of this is that early medieval art depicts noblemen in chainmail and peasants usually wearing leather. If someone wore both chainmail and leather armour, the leather would be underneath the chainmail. That way, the leather armour would still protect against contundent blows without being damaged by cuts an stabs.
There is one last point I want to make: when, in the late middle ages, plate armour is developed, knights start getting ride off their shields; with so much armour they no longer needed them. Now that profesional warriors have both hands free, two handed weapons start and blunt weapons start to proliferate. Therefore, chainmail didn't use to face maces nor greatswords.
To summarise:
-Chainmail was the best armour of it's time. Really good against cuts and stabs and, in combination with padded armour, can disperse a lot of force.
-Boiled leather was a really good armour, just not as good as chainmail. If someone wore leather and chainmail, the leather would most likely be under the chainmail (though it probably would de a softer kind of leather).
-Not only chainmail offers, in combination with softer armour, good protection against heavy blows, but also, blunt weapons weren't that common through the early middle ages.
I understand that in a reenactment battle leather is more comfortable to wear, as it absorbs more force and the blunt reenactment weapons won't ruin it, but I still think that, in an historical context, chainmail is better than boiled leather. Maybe not a lot better, but better anyway.
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Hi,
First, I thank you for your kind words. I trying my best at crafting decent gear without being a professional.
Then, I think you misunderstood my message: I'm not saying than boiled leather is better than chainmail, I am saying that they have different properties that makes a great combination.
I totally agree that chainmail is one of the best invention in armour history, and its longevity attest it.
It is unmatched in its comfort of use and it ability to stop cutting and piercing blows. (before metal plates, obviously)
And, yes, if going to a fight involvingΒ mainly spears, light swords and arrows, like during the Antiquity or the crusades, chainmail would be my first choice of armour.
But, during the Middle Ages, and beginning with the Viking Age, Weapons in Europe tended to get heavier and heavier, to match the increase of armour quality.
As an example, during the Viking ages, swords were fairly heavier and longer than during the Roman Empire, and the use of axes was common.
At this point, the need for an extra layer of rigid armour became clear.
The only other option was to make thicker or more rigid padded armours to wear under the chainmail, but this gets really too movement-impeding.
Armours going from the boiled leather armour to the 15th century full plate armour, passing by the 13th century metal "strips" were designed with this goal in head.
And they are really good at it !
So, globally, there is only two point I disagree with you:
- A chainmail armour is not really good at dispersing the force: the padding is. I did a lost of tests with friends and chaimail or not does not change much to the bruises you get from heavy blows. I agree you feel the difference front of light swords of spears, yet.
- No, you should not wear boiled leather under your chainmail: it would make no more sense than putting chainmail over your metal plate armour.
Β In fact, the rings would risk to break when caught between the weapon edge and the hard surface underneath.
Β The goal of the rigid layer is to disperse the force over the chainmail and padding, and then the inertia of chainmail can be useful at topping the strength of the blow.
Overall, you can observe the same pattern during all the middle ages: padding, chainmail (if rich enough), rigid layer.
And, thanks to this rigid layer, the strength of heaviest blows gets reduced, and the padding can be limited, offering more freedom of movement.
If you are not convinced, I invite you to test by yourself to receive heavy blows with different kinds of armours.
I myself got so many bruises through my chainmail that I decided to add the boiled leather armour.
And perhaps you do not get how rigid boiled leather can be: even if not as strurdy as metal, it can get as rigid as wood, for example.
Thanks for taking the time to exchange on this subject.
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This is an awesome piece. I too would love a template for this.
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Thanks for asking: it gave me the motivation to finally do it...
Here it is: just out of the oven !
carlviking.deviantart.com/art/β¦
Enjoy !
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As a smith working primarily in metal, id love to see your template. I think this would look very nice with a decent gauge steel!
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If you are still interested, I did a Tutorial on how I made this armour:
carlviking.deviantart.com/art/β¦
Enjoy !
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I'll make sure to tell you as soon as I will have done this tutorial
But, I think that smaller scales are required when working with metal, since you don't have the flexibility of leather...
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Thanks !
But, lord Stark ? He doesn't have this kind of armour, for what I know ... Does he ?
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right... it's somewhat different. Bad memory
v030o.popscreen.com/eGh6eWRzMTβ¦
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Yes
Which have been reproduced very well there :www.deviantart.com/art/Ned-Stark-366531784
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Looks really nice !
I'm interested too in a tutorial !
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If you are still interested, I finally did a Tutorial:
carlviking.deviantart.com/art/β¦
Enjoy !
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Yeah !
I've already seen it !
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I'll hope I will be able to do it soon !
I'll make sure to notify you when it will be finished.
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Thanks !
I'm glad people seems to like it : it still seems strange looking to me...
But that is usual with self-made stuff, I guess !
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Thanks : you really are too kind !
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You're very welcome and thank you for the kind words.
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Very nice work!
I'm also a leatherworker, and, actually, I'd be interested in making an armour of that type. I'd be very interested by your template!
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Thanks !
I wanted to send you a quick explanation.... and had to admit it would be a bit more complicated than it seemed. :S
So, I decided to do a complete photo-tutorial to publish, but it will take some time to be ready ... I'll notify you when I'll post it.
In the meantime, here is a very short and not helpful tutorial :
1) Cut 200 rectangles in leather
2) Do 2 holes in each scale corner (yes, 1600 holes total)
3) Boil them few minutes in bee wax
4) Make strips on thin leather and boil it too (plus straps and all)
5) Assemble !!!
.... not helpful, isn,t it ?
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It's something I can work with, thanks a lot!
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If it can help : scales are 9 x 6 cm.
Holes are placed at 5 mm from the border and one centimetre from each other.
But, I'm 1.82 m high and almost 1m of circumference, so you may want to adapt it to your size.
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That's also very helpful, I'll scale the pattern for my smaller build! (roughly 1.70m)
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If you are still interested, I did a Tutorial on how I made this armour:
carlviking.deviantart.com/art/β¦
Enjoy !
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That's great, thanks a lot!
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You are welcome,
Good luck in your craft !
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