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+--- Thread: How to Build a Leather Musculata (/showthread.php?tid=22690)
How to Build a Leather Musculata - M. Demetrius - 06-02-2013
All right. Leather musculatas. Suppose a fellow wanted to make one. Surely he would start with vegetable tanned leather. What thickness?
Once the leather was wetted, stretched into shape, beaten, tweaked, etc., what would be the best way to stiffen it? If not treated with something, the next time it got wet, it would begin to reshape itself. I know this to be true from having made tightly-fitted pistol holsters. Since the Romans didn't have volatile solvent lacquer like we do, what would they have used?
:?: :?:
How to Build a Leather Musculata - Vitruvius - 06-02-2013
Ave, Dave,
Since I don't know how to do the trick, could and would,if possible move my last answer to this thread? I would appreciate it and Many Thanks for a. starting a new thread, and b. trying to move my last answer.
Thanks,
Salve, Vituruvius......Larry Mager
How to Build a Leather Musculata - richard robinson - 06-02-2013
when Petermac made mine he shaped it while wet and dyed it with ravenoil. i know that this is not the answer you were looking for. I grew out of it years ago and it is sad that it fits Peter's teenage son very well ;-)
However the musculata that we based it on was moulded into a cast of John Harris (who was powerfully built), John Haris lay in cement (with plastic between himself and the slurry), "sucking back" until it set. The leather was then boiled in wax and formed into the mould, A similar way may be achieved with hot water I believe.
The cuirass lives to this day on an armour stand, It was crafted ( I think) in the late 70s,
regards
Richard
How to Build a Leather Musculata - M. Demetrius - 06-02-2013
Larry, I'm not a moderator any more, so I can't move threads. You can copy your question and paste here as a reply, however, and request that a moderator delete your previous post, since you'd rather have it here. The Staff likes to keep things on topic when possible.
Richard, was the leather simply pressed into the concrete mold? What held it in place as it cooled and dried?
How to Build a Leather Musculata - Agraes - 06-02-2013
With bone or skin glue you can get a really hard leather. Some people have proposed on experimentation basis that the term 'boiled leather' actually comes from the heating of the glue, not the leather itself. Once it is liquid you can brush it over leather or dip it into it.
Here a few objects made with that technique:
http://astelier-medieval-du-cuir.over-blog.com/categorie-10370860.html