Torvaldr Hardened Leather re-conditioning

[Torvaldr]

Just thought folks might like to see this again.

To Re-stiffen your hardened leather

After a while you may notice that your hardened leather will begin to soften somewhat. Especially pieces that get a lot of direct impact abuse. Bazuband forearms, and knees take a lot of wear. How quickly this happens is impossible to predict. It depends on the amount of use and wear, how much direct impact they get, how often you fight, and environmental issues that I can't predict. And finally you have to remember that leather is skin. It is an imperfect medium. Eventually it is going to break down. But there are things you can do to help improve its durability and functional life span.

To recondition any of the hardened leather preheat your oven to 200 degrees. This is usually the lowest setting possible on a typical home oven. Remove any padding from your pieces, and remove any thongs, laces, or nylon cords. The leather thongs and laces will be brittle, and the nylon will likely melt. Put the pieces on a cookie sheet or baking pan and put in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. DO NOT GO OVER 20 MINUTES! If you go over 20 minutes you risk warping or causing the leather to shrivel. Best to go 15 minutes and play it safe. Then remove the pieces from the oven and let them cool completely. Then check them for stiffness. You can rebake them as many times as you want, but be sure to let them cool completely before each baking. One very cool thing about rebaking your natural brown gear is that you might notice that all the impact fractures on the surface of the leather disappear. I have a number of customers that rebake their gear after each time they use it just for the cosmetic effect! Normally it only takes one or two bakes to return them to stiff. But if after 6 or more consecutive bakes they do not regain any stiffness, it could be that the leather itself is starting to break down. At that point there is not much anyone can do. Sorry, nothing lasts forever. But if you take a little care and follow the above procedures you should be able to get a nice long functional life out of my armor.