The Armour Archive

What thickness of leather would be ok to use to make a Coat of Plates?

Is upholstery leather thick/strong enough?

I will more than likely be using plastic plates, not steel so the weight will be lower and less stress on each rivet point. But any one blow will put stress over a larger area I think and do not want the leather to tear.

Sowhat do people recommend please?

Cheers,
Digby

If you're suspicious of your CoP leather, you could always sandwich some middleweight awning canvas between leather and plates. This construction would come out very strong.

Leather alone, I think you want about 6 ounce weight leather, on up to 7-8 oz.

To spread the load on the material, various kinds of big-headed rivet schemes come to mind: wide heads, ornamental washers/small plaques under the rivet heads.

Thank you...

approximately what mm is 6 oz?

I would think thin leather with plastic plates is fine. Even with metal plates a 4oz leather should have a good enough temper to bare the weight of the plate but if you were concerned about it I would use a linen backing instead of some form of cotton. Linen does not hold stains or smells the same way as cotton and makes it a better fiber for the job not to mention more period

Upholstery leather runs on the order of 2 oz. It also tends to be rather on the soft side. It should be able to hold up, but calls for a different riveting pattern than you might use in a sturdier leather.

In a 7-8 oz leather I would be comfortable doing a row of single rivets along the top edge of belly plates, or vertically down the center of the side plates on a cop. With upholstery leather, instead of that single rivet at each point along the line, I would use a cluster of three rivets in a triangle, with each about the diameter of the rivet head away from the others in the cluster.

Backing the upholstery leather with canvas is a good idea. Another option for fiber is Hemp, which is both period and makes a really strong canvas.

The conversion from ounces to mm is here:
http://reviews.ebay.com/How-the-Thickne ... 0000858717

I used a utility hide for my COP with plastic plates 3 years ago. It was 3-4 oz thick and oil tanned.

Awesome!...

Thank you gentlemen.

The important thing is strength and temper. You want a medium temper. Or it won't bend. 6-8 oz is good. To test strength cut a small hole small enough to just fit your finger in at the edge of the leather a little less then 1/4" from the edge. Stick your finger in the hole and pull hard. If you can't rip it you're good. If it rips easily it's not what you want. This is a very important test. Numbers alone don't help you.

The last leather coat of plates I made I used black motorcycle jacket leather. I'd say it was about 1/16" thick. I backed it with cotton duck canvas. It worked great.

Steve