Rawhide Shield Edging

[Flavius Promotus]

One thing is obvious from the book, and that is rawhide was used to reinforce handgrips. I'll use my doggy chews for that.

You are right! (cp. James, 163)
Hmmm... have to buy a doggy chew bone :?
Given the fact that wet rawhide starts to get very smelly, I'll have to wash my hand relatively often...

Faventianus, I'll try to explain the difference between rawhide and leather. However, I am no expert on this matter, so whoever knows more about this, feel free to correct me (politely :wink: ).

Leather is tanned animal skin, which has either been tanned during a natural process (think of bog bodies), or - usually - during an artificial tanning process using either oak, alum, chrome (modern way of tanning) or other substances. Leather is flexible, long-lasting (if treated well), and watertight if properly greased. Leather can be cut relatively easily.

Rawhide is untanned animal skin (but fat, fur and flesh have to be removed, too). Rawhide is stiff, sometimes almost semi-transparent, and very tough (hard to cut with a knife - a saw works better). If you soak rawhide with water, it becomes very soft, can be cut easily, and its volume increases. It shrinks and becomes hard argain when you dry it.

While leather does not decompose in a wet surrounding (think of Roman shoes from wells), rawhide does! That's the reason why we have no finds of rawhide from e.g. Europe, while there have been finds from extremely dry climates (Egypt or Syria = Dura-Europos!).

Rawhide is used for drums, lampshades, as a replacement for window glass in primitive cultures, and for covering the wooden core of a shield.

Northern bogs have revealed shields with a layer of leather on their wooden cores, but this is obviously the result of a natural tanning process (the rawhide slowly turned into leather - but Caius Tarquitius knows more about this).