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Molding Leather Armor
By Jake Berlin
In order to mould leather armor, soak it in water until it
becomes pliable and soft. Then place it in the mould until it
dries and hardens.
Cuir Bouilli
The application of heat will make the leather harder. If you
were making a cover for a shield, for example, or other
pieces of leather amour, the leather would be dipped
quickly in boiling water before being moulded. This is called
¡®cuir bouilli¡¯, a process employed in making leather armor.
Using vegetable tanned leather with at least a weight of 8
ounces, soak the piece in cold water. This will ensure a
uniform absorption when the leather armor is placed in the
boiling water. Heat a pot of water to 180 degrees
Fahrenheit, then immerse the wet leather for approximately
thirty seconds to a minute, until it darkens and begins to
curl.
Remove the leather from the water and stretch it around
the mould you have prepared, tacking it in place. Allow for
shrinkage if you are cutting the leather armor from a
pattern. Of course you can water-harden a larger piece of
leather, flatten it under a cutting board, and then cut out
the individual pieces of leather armor you want, and then
mould them to the desired shape. At this stage it will be
very stretchy.
The boiling process makes the leather armor thicker and
harder, with a degree of shrinkage dependent upon the
leather itself and the amount of immersion time. The longer
it remains in the water, the more pronounced the effects.
A twenty second immersion can result in a shrinkage of
7/8s, with a thickening of 25%, while a forty second
immersion results in a 2/3rds shrinkage and a doubling of
the thickness. As in any aspect of leather working, it is best
to experiment with scrap pieces of leather first to get the
effect you want.
Types of Moulds / Single Mould
Moulds can consist of one or more pieces. Folding the
leather around the actual object for which a cover is being
made, where the mould is the object, is an option when
making a case for a gun, an arm guard in archery, a sheaf
for a knife or eye-caps for binoculars. Use tacks to hold it in
place while it dries.
A Two-piece Mould
A two-piece mould acts like two slices of bread, with the
leather being the sandwich filling. In this way, leather
armor shields were made. The leather armor is left in the
mould until it dries.
A Three-piece Mould
A three-piece mould allows the creation of items like bags
and eyeglass cases without using a gusset. The leather is
sewn on three sides. Two pieces of the mould are inserted
on either side of the interior of the wet leather, and then a
wedge is driven between the middle. The forms are left
until the leather is dried.
Tools to Use
* Wooden mould
* Brass or steel tacks
Summary
* Make a mould to form the leather to the desired shape
* Wet the leather
* One piece mould: fit the wet leather armor over the
mould
* Two piece mould: sandwich the leather between the
mould
* Three piece mould: fit the pieces inside the leather
* Leave the leather armor to dry before removing
About the Author
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