Linothorax design/construction

[PMBardunias]

Caesar apparently records the Veneti as using it for sails ! (it was also used in later periods for sailmaking)

One benefit of Alum Tawed sails is that the potash, alum is called potash, somehow acts as a fire retardant.

One Property of processed Leather is the "Break In " hard leather with continued pressure and " Use " will soften , I believe this is a problem with the Alum tawed leather ??

Alum tawed hide can be very stiff, but it is regularly worked to give a soft product by drawing it over a post. Its vulnerablity to water may be overstated since it has to be soaked for some time and a simple coating like bee's wax would protect it. I have come across boiling tawed leather in oil to harden it, but I am unsure that it is as amenable as tanned leather and I don't know what this does to the color.

It's use in boot-making as the famous "cordovan" leather means that it must be able to withstand wetness and weather in some fashion.

Its main weakness is that if it does get soaked, it will shrink and reharden in the wrong shape as it dries. How much depends on how tightly it was stretched during the curing process.

For the Bursaphiles, it rots easily in water there is little chance that we would find much in the way of archeological evidence.