Hardened leather armour 15th century English recipe

[Russ Mitchell]

From Nicolle, David. Jawshan, Cuirie, Coats-of-Plates: An Alternative Line of Development for Hardened Leather Armor, in Compantion to Medieval Arms and Armour, ed. David Nicolle, Boydell Press 2002.

There are several recipes, much too long to transcribe here, but I'll transcribe one sample for y'all:

[p204]

Al-Tarsusi's instructions for the making of leather shields similarly reflects the high level of leather technology in Egypt at the time, and they also have similarities with the making of the cuirass:

Take a clay mould with the dimensions you require for the turs [round shield] or other form [of shield], or better still go to the potter and ask him to make a mould of the sort you require. Cover it with teh skin which you have chosen, lay it long-ways with the 'bowels' and the 'glue' to soak into it, and leave to dry. Do the same sideways with the ground up spleen or with blood. Scatter over it crushed marble through a sieve, leave to dry, and attach it also lengthways and breadth-ways in the same manner as you did the first time. Smear it with the fish glue and the spleen; sieve over it the scrapings of shaburqan ['hard iron' or 'natural steel']; that is to say the iron filings abundantly, leave to dry. Smear with spleen and fish glue, sieve over it pulverized glass and marble abundantly, leave to dry. Replace the fish glue, with plenty of iron filing, as much as will be soaked up, and leave to dry. Again attach lengthways and breadthways, then 'powder' it with wood-dust which you have reduced to ash, and again leave to dry. If you want your shield 'sculptured,' double it [meaning unclear] and do as you would for ceramics [probably indicating that the resulting shield could be shape d much as a potter shaped clay].* If you want it to have a picture, put on it whatever you want.... This shield cannot be penetrated by an arrow or any other device. Dry it well.

*I disagree with this interpretation, given the well-known muslim embossing traditions for leather throughout North Africa.

I have done a VERY ad-hoc test of this, though without a quality mold (anybody wanna donate a used bowl-type metal roundshield for the purpose? Be happy to send it back when it's all done), and it seems to create a primitive form of molded ferrocrete shield, where I believe the spleen is acting sort of like little tiny band-aids to help hold the stuff together. No clue about the blood. The ash is obvious, similar to the german crossbow-maker's solution for waterproofing hide glue -- it creates a slight lye with alters the glue proteins, making it a one-way bond rather than a reversible one.

[Russ Mitchell]

While the board was down, a gent named Tod very generously offered to check the Ashmolean for us, to see if there's more to these recipes.

[Galleron]

For to make a dowblet of fenste.

Take lether that ys hallf tannyd and dry hym and shaue the flesshe syde and take glue with water and set hyt ower the fyer and melte yt with water and then all hote ly yt apon the lether on the flesshe syde and strawe theron the powder of glaste....
....flesshe syde to flesshe syde and nayle hym to the s cyllde and lete hym drye and there nother sper nother e3e tole enter theryn.

I'm having trouble following this.

It seems, in general, like this procedure has us making a thing with two thicknesses of leather glued together with the flesh sides toward each other.

If it is for a "dowblet of fenste" why do we "Nayle hym to the scyllde"? I am presuming the "scyllde" is *shield*. Is this the conflation of two different projects?

Do we suppose that "shaue the Flesshe syde" is *shave* the flesh side? If so, why?

What is "powder of glaste"? and why do we "strawe" (shrew?) it thereon?

I'm assuming that "nother sper nother e3e tole enter theryn" means that "neither spear nor (something) (shall?) enter therein". Is e3e a typo? What does it really say?

Mac

I wonder if "glaste" was isinglass.

[Russ Mitchell]

It's conceivable. I know that reaching for cognates is very dangerous when working with this sort of thing (Terry Brown has done some work on fight-manuals in the manuscripts, and what you get from guessing is MUCH different than many of the actual terms), but it's something that makes perfect sense in context. What I don't particularly get, if it's isinglass, is why it's referred to as separate from the glue, and why it's being applied in powder form.

[Kel Rekuta]

Russ,

I recently examined a number of turs in collection at the Royal Ontario Museum. Two of them are amazingly translucent. Regardless of being painted or not, they are all too thick to be single layers of rawhide. They are undoubtedly doubled. Many have rolled rims so I suspect that's whats meant by sculptured.

The bit about the spleen is a new one... eww.

[Russ Mitchell]

Would love to see images if you took them, just to see construction details. Seriously translucent meaning the fibers weren't stretched in any way, shape or form (as you know being a leather guy, but a lot of others might not)... that's good for a shield.

[Kel Rekuta]

I took a few since I was there to view all the weapons and armour in the Near East reserve collection. The curator is interested in having them catalogued into a data base. Not really my area of interest but to get access to the shields I may have to cough up the time. Anyway, this one was particularly interesting to me. At a guess its 24" in diameter and about 1/2" thick. I'd have to find my notes to be sure.

[Russ Mitchell]

Impressive - the inside is about like I'd expect... the OUTSIDE is something else entirely.

[Tod]

While the board was down, a gent named Tod very generously offered to check the Ashmolean for us, to see if there's more to these recipes.

That would eb me. If you tell me exactly what you want me to find out I'll give them a call and then go in and get the info. you want.

[Armand d'Alsace]

In Sweden, "Egg" still means "Edge", so I wouldn't be surprised if the text basically says "proof against cut and thrust".

[Kel Rekuta]

I found my notes this morning. There is a very high probability this one is rhino rawhide so would in fact be a single layer. Well I guess that plan for a repro is out the window.

[Kel Rekuta]

While the board was down, a gent named Tod very generously offered to check the Ashmolean for us, to see if there's more to these recipes.

That would eb me. If you tell me exactly what you want me to find out I'll give them a call and then go in and get the info. you want.

A period recipe for casein glue would be very helpful. A number of redactions have been available over the years but I've never seen a period text on the topic.

[Mac]

Kel,

Both Theophilus, and Ceninni have cheese glue recipes. This PDF quotes both of them. http://www.rocks4brains.com/glue.pdf

Mac

[Mac]

In Sweden, "Egg" still means "Edge", so I wouldn't be surprised if the text basically says "proof against cut and thrust".

Thank you Arngrim!

Mac

[Mac]

I wonder if "glaste" was isinglass.

G,

I thought of that, but rejected it for the same reason that Russ did. In addition, the full recipe has us mixing the glass with iron filings. (see posting above by Bertus) It seems like the author wants to fill the glue joint with hard stuff. This fits in with the recipe that Russ quoted, where we are to add crushed marble to the joint.

It still leaves me wondering if these additions are meant to be structural, or magical.

Mac

[Russ Mitchell]

Tod,
Confirmation that the modern transcription we have matches what's in the manuscript would be fantastic, next time you're over that way.

Mac,
While I didn't take any special care with the attempt I made to test out the Mamluk version of the recipe, I found out two things:

1) it glued rawhide together much better than straight glue did (hide glues seem to secure tanned hides, even partially-tanned ones, much better than dense rawhides, probably b/c of penetration issues)

2) the result WAS hard. Even my done-like-ass version would shrug arrows and sword strokes completely (though not a good slapping with a fokos, which went right through it). I could easily see this principle being used to make decent armor, particularly if what you have is thin skins, and what you want is thick ones.

[Mac]

From Nicolle, David. Jawshan, Cuirie, Coats-of-Plates: An Alternative Line of Development for Hardened Leather Armor, in Compantion to Medieval Arms and Armour, ed. David Nicolle, Boydell Press 2002.

There are several recipes, much too long to transcribe here, but I'll transcribe one sample for y'all:

[p204]

Al-Tarsusi's instructions for the making of leather shields similarly reflects the high level of leather technology in Egypt at the time, and they also have similarities with the making of the cuirass:

Take a clay mould with the dimensions you require for the turs [round shield] or other form [of shield], or better still go to the potter and ask him to make a mould of the sort you require. Cover it with teh skin which you have chosen, lay it long-ways with the 'bowels' and the 'glue' to soak into it, and leave to dry. Do the same sideways with the ground up spleen or with blood. Scatter over it crushed marble through a sieve, leave to dry, and attach it also lengthways and breadth-ways in the same manner as you did the first time. Smear it with the fish glue and the spleen; sieve over it the scrapings of shaburqan ['hard iron' or 'natural steel']; that is to say the iron filings abundantly, leave to dry. Smear with spleen and fish glue, sieve over it pulverized glass and marble abundantly, leave to dry. Replace the fish glue, with plenty of iron filing, as much as will be soaked up, and leave to dry. Again attach lengthways and breadthways, then 'powder' it with wood-dust which you have reduced to ash, and again leave to dry. If you want your shield 'sculptured,' double it [meaning unclear] and do as you would for ceramics [probably indicating that the resulting shield could be shape d much as a potter shaped clay].* If you want it to have a picture, put on it whatever you want.... This shield cannot be penetrated by an arrow or any other device. Dry it well.

*I disagree with this interpretation, given the well-known muslim embossing traditions for leather throughout North Africa.

I have done a VERY ad-hoc test of this, though without a quality mold (anybody wanna donate a used bowl-type metal roundshield for the purpose? Be happy to send it back when it's all done), and it seems to create a primitive form of molded ferrocrete shield, where I believe the spleen is acting sort of like little tiny band-aids to help hold the stuff together. No clue about the blood. The ash is obvious, similar to the german crossbow-maker's solution for waterproofing hide glue -- it creates a slight lye with alters the glue proteins, making it a one-way bond rather than a reversible one.

Russ,

How closely did you follow Al Tasusi's recipe? Did you use spleen and everything?!?

I think the blood is there to form yet another sort of glue. According to this brief reference, the alkali from the wood ash would be useful here. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top ... bumen-glue

Can you tell us more about the waterproof hide glue thing? Where is it from? In your experience, how well does it work? Does it compromise the glue in any way?

Mac

[Russ Mitchell]

Left out the spleen/blood, for the simple reason that I didn't have any conveniently around to use. I followed the "caveman" version of Tarsusi's recipe, insofar as I accidentally put in WAY too much glue, way too early, and so my version wound up having too much added at once, rather than add a bit, let it dry, add a bit.

My experience with wood-ash and hide glue found that it did a reasonable job of waterproofing the glue without further issue. I was absolutely NOT operating under lab conditions (and simply putting lye into hide glue in order to get the same results didn't work), so ymmv. The basic idea is from Theophilus, and what I gather after consulting with a polymer specialist is that it would alter the protein so that the reaction was no longer reversible b/c of the presence of water.

EDIT: I originally read the recipe as calling for the material to be put in lengthwise then breadthwise. Now I read it a bit more closely and think you're right, and the spleen/blood is specifically being used to hold thin layers of hide to each other between applications of iron filings and marble dust. This would be different from what happened when I did it, and likely would be significantly stronger.

My garage is a mess, but I have most of what I'd need, if I recall correctly, to redo this, with the exception that I've nothing even remotely worthwhile to use as a mold. I should be able to get blood from my grocery-store butchers easily enough (or just buy some meat and let it drain).

[Kel Rekuta]

Kel,

Both Theophilus, and Ceninni have cheese glue recipes. This PDF quotes both of them. http://www.rocks4brains.com/glue.pdf

Mac

Thanks for that link to the pdf. I have Cennini's extremely vague recipe but didn't have any luck with it using commercially available cheese curds. The whey cheese issue may have been the problem. Good to know.

[Mac]

Left out the spleen/blood, for the simple reason that I didn't have any conveniently around to use. I followed the "caveman" version of Tarsusi's recipe, insofar as I accidentally put in WAY too much glue, way too early, and so my version wound up having too much added at once, rather than add a bit, let it dry, add a bit.

How many layers of hide did you use? Did you put the ground marble and iron filings between layers, or only on the surface?

My experience with wood-ash and hide glue found that it did a reasonable job of waterproofing the glue without further issue. I was absolutely NOT operating under lab conditions (and simply putting lye into hide glue in order to get the same results didn't work), so ymmv. The basic idea is from Theophilus, and what I gather after consulting with a polymer specialist is that it would alter the protein so that the reaction was no longer reversible b/c of the presence of water.

I have searched Theophilus and not found any mention of putting wood ash in hide glue. Am I just missing it, or are you remembering this from a different source?

EDIT: I originally read the recipe as calling for the material to be put in lengthwise then breadthwise. Now I read it a bit more closely and think you're right, and the spleen/blood is specifically being used to hold thin layers of hide to each other between applications of iron filings and marble dust. This would be different from what happened when I did it, and likely would be significantly stronger.

Do you think he is telling us to put the layers of hide on in alternating orientations, or to brush on the glues and powders in alternate directions?

My garage is a mess, but I have most of what I'd need, if I recall correctly, to redo this, with the exception that I've nothing even remotely worthwhile to use as a mold. I should be able to get blood from my grocery-store butchers easily enough (or just buy some meat and let it drain).

I hope you will take some pictures of your next one and show us what you did.

Mac

[Russ Mitchell]

Between two layers, not on the surface. Theophilus mentions the wood ash as a waterproofing agent in a cheese-glue recipe, not one for hide glue. Nicolle references it in his article (which is really a must-read for the subject, especially if it turns out that folks as far away as England were looking at the same ideas, even if they eventually reject them). Though now as I re-read the recipe, I think it's calling for hides to be used, and it's those he means to lay lengthwise and then breadthwise.

This makes much more sense given the extensive availability of lightweight hides (goat, etc) such as are being used to make jawshan, in an area where they're re-using the stuff extensively (one of the other recipes referred to literally takes lots of scrap hide and creates a composite/"polymer" material with it in order to make lamellar scales.) The maghreb is great country for camel hides and such if you want to make lamt shields, and further east is good for rhino and elephant. Egypt has plenty of camels, but it's got metric craptons of goats.

EDIT: I hit a farmer's market this weekend and a guy I buy meat from there will almost certainly help me with spleen and blood, so I'll do it up and photo-document the process as soon as i can get that stuff and something to serve as molds.

[Kel Rekuta]

This is all very interesting. Great topic!

[Mac]

Between two layers, not on the surface. Theophilus mentions the wood ash as a waterproofing agent in a cheese-glue recipe, not one for hide glue. Nicolle references it in his article (which is really a must-read for the subject, especially if it turns out that folks as far away as England were looking at the same ideas, even if they eventually reject them). Though now as I re-read the recipe, I think it's calling for hides to be used, and it's those he means to lay lengthwise and then breadthwise.

This makes much more sense given the extensive availability of lightweight hides (goat, etc) such as are being used to make jawshan, in an area where they're re-using the stuff extensively (one of the other recipes referred to literally takes lots of scrap hide and creates a composite/"polymer" material with it in order to make lamellar scales.) The maghreb is great country for camel hides and such if you want to make lamt shields, and further east is good for rhino and elephant. Egypt has plenty of camels, but it's got metric craptons of goats.

EDIT: I hit a farmer's market this weekend and a guy I buy meat from there will almost certainly help me with spleen and blood, so I'll do it up and photo-document the process as soon as i can get that stuff and something to serve as molds.

Russ,

I still can't find any mention of wood ash in Theophilus' glue recipes. Have you got a page number for that?

I just finished rereading the Nicole article. It's a long and arduous slog, punctuated by the occasional nugget of gold.

Good luck hunting down the blood and spleen for your next project. It will be very interesting to see what it does!

Mac

[Russ Mitchell]

Let me see if I can dig it up -- it may be something I discovered serendipitously when I was working on this. (I have slept MANY times since last I worked on this problem)

[Ismaels-Legacy]

Take lether that ys half tannyd and drye hym, and schave the flesshe syd;

Ok, so we've got partially tanned leather that is dried once and scraped, removing loose material....

and take glwe wt water, and set yt over the fyere, and melte yt wt water,

Melting the glue in hot water certainly makes me think that this is hide glue....

and then al hote ly yt a pone the leder on the flesshe syde,

Now, gluing the flesh side with HOT water will cause several things to happen. The leather expands with the moisture, becomes denser as tannins are removed, and if it reaches a certain temperature (Around 190 degrees F) starts the Cuir Boli process. By doing this on the flesh side, it allows the grain side to be oiled after completed, preventing the surface from cracking.

and strawe ther on the powder of glasce bete yn a brasene morter wt fylyne of yrene y mellyd to geder; and then laye a nother pece of the same lether flesshe seyde to flesshe,

To me this sounds like a method to make the material's core similar to fiberglass. If this is the case, it's an ingenious idea since it encases the hardened parts in the center of the item, leaving plenty of fibrous material on the inside and outside (To prevent shattering from bludgeoning blows) but also keeps it from the elements (Which would damage the hide glue unless steps were taken to prevent such, which does not seem to be part of this recipe).

and nayle hym to the scylde and lete hyme drye, and ther nother sper nother ege tole enter ther ynne.

So....I'm guessing this is a shield facing or is it more of a colloquialism in which 'shield' is what the form is called? (Please forgive my ignorance in this part if it is WAAAAY off base! )

[Mac]

Ishmeal,

I don't think the thermal mass of a coat of hot glue is going to be sufficient to bring the leather, as a whole, up to the water hardening temperature. Besides, we have already been old to dry the leather. Thus, it would not have the necessary water content for the process.

Mac

[Russ Mitchell]

It's also got what amounts to two rawhide cores sandwiching glued-in iron filings and (if similar to al-Tarsusi, something akin to ground glass or marble dust). This thing will be PLENTY stout as it is. Though the ability to treat the outside of the garment as one would pretty much any other leather garment is pretty cool, I agree.

I've misremembered the Theophilus recipe: it's not wood ash, but quicklime (cheese-glue recipe, pp. 16-17 in the 1961 Lawson edition): "mix it with quicklime and stir it until it's as thick as lees."

[Ismaels-Legacy]

This whole thing really intrigued me so I started looking into the actual use of powdered glass and iron filings. From what I've seen, it seems like the powdered glass, when mixed with liquid or some form of cementing compound can create a very solid layer. It's been used in various mixtures for thousands of years for everything ranging from glazing on pottery to beads and glass repair. The iron filings have me stumped, really. The only function I can come up with is coloration (As was used to make blue-black beads) but that would serve no purpose in this application. All I can come up with is that it may strengthen the rigidity of this ceramic layer?

So far, after looking things up, it seems like this center layer of powdered glass, glue, and iron would create a rather solid layer of protection.

[Russ Mitchell]

I'm guessing the iron is there mostly b/c it's hard, and MAYBE b/c it may bend where the other stuff will want to go all crackly.

[Mac]

and MAYBE b/c it may bend where the other stuff will want to go all crackly.

That's a good point Russ. Filings have an actual length, as well as being somewhat flexible. Perhaps they act more like fibers than granules.

Mac

[Mac]

Russ,

Thank you for checking into the Theophilus thing for me. That's what I was finding as well. I was sort of hoping you had found something that I hadn't.

Mac

[Mac]

So, who is going to make an experiment on this? We can get *some* information by trying it with fully tanned leather, and I think that is worth something.

To *really* see what this recipe can do, we need to try it with half tanned stuff. Has any one out there got some?

Mac

[Kilkenny]

So, who is going to make an experiment on this? We can get *some* information by trying it with fully tanned leather, and I think that is worth something.

To *really* see what this recipe can do, we need to try it with half tanned stuff. Has any one out there got some?

Mac

Well... I have some (thanks to Kel). But I am not at all sure about tackling the project.
Lots on my plate these days.

[Russ Mitchell]

I can tan some swatches up and do a little test. Take me a bit, though -- I have to "uneff my garage," tan the stuff, and get in the rest of the materials needed.

[Kel Rekuta]

Well, I'm all for it. I have two clients interested in persian leather shields since November but my research into production technique has been spotty until this week. (Thanks guys!!!)

I intended to use hide glue and press two layers of bovine rawhide. The half tanned I have (as does Gavin) is pretty thick stuff to double up. It would be a whopper of a shield even at a 20" diameter.

I have to make the press dies first though... And find blood and spleen. Yeesh. Powdered glass and iron fillings should be simple enough, although powdered marble would be easier than powered glass.

I think Russ will get at it before I do. In the meantime, I have to try to import some of these scabbard butts from the UK. They should fit the bill much better than what I have on hand.