Glued Linen Armour- a simple test

[rocktupac]

Cool that you've participated in some testing too Scott I'm curious though- did you not encounter the same problem I did with the natural glues? Whether they work or not in ideal form I wouldn't have thought to be terribly significant if there is such seemingly fundamental flaw of protein glues as water solubility. Further to that, was the example you found wearing wasn't uncomfortable, etc., the PVA version or one of the natural glue pieces? And if it was one of the latter, was sweat not a problem afterall?

The glues themselves may be water soluble, and we were worried about this when our initial arrow tests, but when we tested separate patches for their ability to hold together during a simulated rain we were quite surprised with the results. It seems that when a patch of laminated linen, whether glued with rabbit glue, flaxseed glue, or PVA glue (and yes, I realize PVA isn't relevant and there is nothing about it that compares to the ancient world--it was only used in any of the testing for curiosity alone), was completely drenched in an artificial rain and allowed to dry it would retain its bond between the layers. We even experimented around with natural waterproofing agents, although none of the sources name any (again we did this out of curiosity). We used beeswax rubbed on and melted on, lanolin spread on, pitch melted on, a mix of vinegar and salt, and olive oil spread on. They all compared very well and safeguarded the laminated linen patches against degradation from water.

The armor that we wore was made from PVA glue. Sweat was not a problem, including the time under the hot sun (which I experienced firsthand). I was running, bending down repeatedly, and jumping at times and found the armor to be completely comfortable and maneuverable.