01-25-2011, 09:35 PM
Oh, VERY cool page, thanks Paul!
I would not recommend dog chews for rawhide. They are mostly made from smaller bits and scraps, but what you want is a single continuous sheet. Worse, they are boiled or bleached, so the rawhide is white and a rougher texture, whereas the simple rawhide bought from a leather supplier is a greenish-brown translucent color, and smooth.
Using rawhide to cover a shield can be difficult! The only treatment it gets is to soak it to make it flexible (anything beyond that could make it "leather" rather than "rawhide"!). And as it dries, it shrinks with incredible strength. Many of us have seen beautiful and laboriously-made wooden shield cores warped or folded into kindling by shrinking rawhide... Search around on RAT for relevant discussions. There is also at least one very good one on the Kelticos board (which you'll want to read completely in any case!),
http://www.kelticos.org/forum/index.php
Good luck!
Matthew
I would not recommend dog chews for rawhide. They are mostly made from smaller bits and scraps, but what you want is a single continuous sheet. Worse, they are boiled or bleached, so the rawhide is white and a rougher texture, whereas the simple rawhide bought from a leather supplier is a greenish-brown translucent color, and smooth.
Using rawhide to cover a shield can be difficult! The only treatment it gets is to soak it to make it flexible (anything beyond that could make it "leather" rather than "rawhide"!). And as it dries, it shrinks with incredible strength. Many of us have seen beautiful and laboriously-made wooden shield cores warped or folded into kindling by shrinking rawhide... Search around on RAT for relevant discussions. There is also at least one very good one on the Kelticos board (which you'll want to read completely in any case!),
http://www.kelticos.org/forum/index.php
Good luck!
Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
