Quick Repair of Torn Strap in Lorica Segmentata?

[rszebras]

I have a leather strap in the inside of my Deepeeka lorica segmentata that is torn, although not completely, and I'm trying to decide the easiest temporary fix. Drilling out all the rivits and replacing it isn't an option, as I don't really know how to do it, and I have two events scheduled over the next two weeks and don't have time if I did know. So, what's the best way to do it? I have a photo posted so you can take a look.

I was thinking about getting some type of thread (any suggestions?) and sewing vertically (five or ten times) at the location of the two arrow marks on the photo. I'm concerned it might tear in that location though. But again it's temporary.

Thanks for any help.

Randy Sampson

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

You could sew a strip of leather over the area to reinforce it untill you are ready to do a more permanent repair?

[FAVENTIANVS]

That happened to me many times when reenacting flavian... so I sewed it many, many times more... and it stood!

[rszebras]

Thanks for the great suggestions. Would a cotton thread be acceptable or should I use something else? I'm leaning toward just sewing it repeatedly per the latter post. But I may try patching it. Thanks again for the help.

Randy Sampson

[Magnus]

You could sew a strip of leather over the area to reinforce it untill you are ready to do a more permanent repair?

Ditto to what Byron said. I'd use waxed linen thread...not for authenticity purposes, but only because it's a lot stronger.

[rszebras]

Thanks a lot, Matt. I will use waxed linen thread and a strip of leather similar to the straps and stitch it up. I think that's the way to go from the feedback I'm getting.

Randy Sampson

[rusty myers]

leather weld glue and some 2 oz leather cut to overlay the strap will work well too. Leather weld holds better than almost any other glue out there. just cust about 3-4 inches of leather, spred the glue, and attach it. It will hold for a few months at least.

[A_Volpe]

When I first got my Deepeeka seggie, I had all of the shoulder plate straps stretch out, fray and break within 2 months of use. Now after a few years the girdle/belly plate straps are starting to fall apart.

The leather, as you can tell, is poor quality, and those rivets and rivet plates/washers are tin or aluminum - way soft and pretty easy to remove.

For a temporary fix, I used strips/ties of leather to tie the plates together - I looped one end of the string around the rivetplate (inside where it meets the plate), and tied it to the "broken" strap, careful to tie it so the plate was in the right position/spacing within the others. I ended up with little bits of string and ties on nearly every single strap!

You could also just loop the string around an entire plate, and tie it to another, but the strap will show...But it is secure for a temporary fix.

The best thing to do is to re-rivet all of the [shoulder] plates with better leather and better rivets. Check leg xx's site www.larp.com/legioxx

re-doing the shoulder straps solves a number of problems - you have the chance to cut down the shoulder plates to a smaller, correct size, and also be able to better size it to your body.
You'd be replacing it with proper, stronger leather which will last you much longer.

the process isn't all that difficult. It just takes a little time, patience and some thinking/planning ahead. If I remember I think I spread out the work on my shoulder plates over the course of 2 weeks, an hour or 2 each nite or so. And it's surprisingly easy. My hardest part was cutting down the plates from 3" wide to 2" wide. The plates are of inconsistent thickness/gauge, so that's what took me the longest. Riveting was pretty quick.

I recommend getting copper roofing nails, should be available at any hardware store. Look for 1/4 diameter flat heads. I think standard size is 1 inch long shanks, but when you cut them down, you can save that shank and use it as a rivet for belts, or even other parts of the seggie! (then you don't need to buy other rivets)

Also get yourself some brass sheet stock - You should be able to find suppliers online or at hobby shops - get yourself a few sheets of 18 gauge brass. Draw a grid of ca. 1/4" or larger squares, grab a drill with a 1/8" bit, and drill holes in the middle of the squares and cut out the squares with tin snips...Now you have a bunch of rivet plates/washers. You'll use them both in the seggie and for belts....and other uses!
You'll only really need washers for the big shoulder plates, and the 4 back/scapular plates on the back of the armor.

also - always a good idea to have a small bag of leather ties and lacing for such emergencies. they are extremely useful.

[rszebras]

For a temporary fix, I used strips/ties of leather to tie the plates together - I looped one end of the string around the rivetplate (inside where it meets the plate), and tied it to the "broken" strap, careful to tie it so the plate was in the right position/spacing within the others. I ended up with little bits of string and ties on nearly every single strap!

Thanks a lot for your really helpful advice, Andy. There's a lot of good information there so I'm printing a copy of your post for future reference. Maybe replacing the straps is something I can in fact tackle sometime soon. I intially had my doubts. I guess the key is to get good quality leather for the repair. I was thinking about going to a local Tandy Leather store for some advice on the leather straps.

I'm having a hard time trying to visualize your suggestion that is quoted above. Are you saying to loop the leather tie beneath the lower rivet (the lower of the two red arrows) and between the plate and strap so the tie is basically carrying the weight by resting on the bottom of the rivet? And then tie that off above of course.

Randy Sampson

[rszebras]

leather weld glue and some 2 oz leather cut to overlay the strap will work well too. Leather weld holds better than almost any other glue out there. just cust about 3-4 inches of leather, spred the glue, and attach it. It will hold for a few months at least.

Thanks for the suggestion, Rusty. That sounds like an easier fix than stitching a leather patch on the existing strap. Although I'm trying to think which one would hold up longer. After Matt's post confirming that patching would be a very good idea, I thought that would be the route to go. Now I'm pondering your idea.

I'm curious if anyone else out there has had similar issues and how they went about fixing it -- stitching or patching?

Randy Sampson

[Renius]

This is a good post for me having recieved my Deepeeka Segmentata less than 2 months ago. Kind of scary thinking about all the repairs I have to look forward to in the future. Part of being in a legion though.
Does any one have tips for maintaing the leather that comes on the Deepeela segmentata? Thanks for any answeres.

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Renius/Greg German

[Dean Cunningham metalsmim]

Sean of LEGIX taught me the trick of using a leather thong. Use it on the inside wrapped around the top rivet and the bottom rivet. It should work if the leather above the top rivet and below the bottom rivet are intact. It's a good field expedient repair.

[Hibernicus]

Thanks Dean. It's one of the suggestions we sent to Bishop that he refers to in Lorica Segmentata vol 1.

I had 4 of 6 internal leathers tied together for a couple of years on my Corb B seg. I got crushed under a 3-4 deep pile of bodies at an SCA War. 4 straps tore apart! YIKES! Ot took maybe 15 minutes to repair the damage by internally tying the seg back together with thongs.

[Renius]

Sean and Dean thanks for the thong idea, even though I don't fully understand how you do it. Could either of you please give some more details on how to usr the leather thong idea, type of leather dimensions or measurements etc. Thanks

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Renius/Greg German

[Dean Cunningham metalsmim]

Here is a very crude illustration of what I mean. Just a leather strip or thong tied like i've indicated.