A History of the Idea of Glued Linen Armour

[Feinman]

Pliny was wrong about lots of things and this is another one. Vinegar is a fabric SOFTENER - the complete opposite of a fabric stiffener. Mixing vinegar with salt produces hydrochloric acid and sodium acetate. Hydrochloric acid degrades the fibres in textiles, which weakens the material, so it would be pretty silly to apply it to cloth armour.

Yeah, that does seem like a silly idea. It might help to get the fibers to stick together in some kind of felting, but there is no evidence for it, and I doubt it would work better than using pieces of woven fabric --so none of the vinegar / wine stuff makes sense. I just hope some bits and pieces turn up --very frustrating, as reconstructions are expensive and it's basically flying in the dark.