Leather Lacquer

theresaemmerich · Post by **theresaemmerich** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:55 am

I'm constructing a set of early unified shilla era (Korean) armour. I would like to lacquer the leather for the brigantine, but can find very little info on types of lacquer that are compatible with leather, won't peel, crack or chip on a semi-flexible substrate. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Kilkenny · Post by **Kilkenny** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:03 pm

I'm fairly certain that lacquer is inflexible, pretty much as a matter of definition. I was under the impression that lacquered leather armour was treated with so much lacquer as to make the leather stiff and inflexible.

Were I going to try to achieve the effect using modern materials, I might try soaking in polyurethane varnish. I have had reasonably good results finishing hardened leather armour by dipping it in acrylic floor polish as the finish coat. I've also used acrylic floor polish as a simple and moderately effective method for hardening leather armour. Just put the piece in the floor polish and wait for the bubbles to stop (or nearly stop... seems there's always one stream that just won't end

). Then hang to dry and you get a finished piece that is shiny, semi-hard, and easily repaired with another dip in the polish.