01-08-2009, 02:09 PM
Obvious statement 1:
Leather comes from the skins of animals. Usually, leather comes from the skins of animals used as food.
Obvious statement 2:
The Romans evidently ate lots of pig, goat, and sheep meat, but not so much beef. Not much venison, either, although further in the North, red deer (elk) skins are often as large as a small cow, but much stretchier leather. Great for garments, not so good for belts.
Obvious statement 3:
Cow skins are bigger and thicker than goat, pig, or sheep, and not nearly as stretchy. Ergo, there would have been more pig, sheep and goat skins than cow. Perhaps (and this is only a logical perhaps) the longer, thicker, less elastic straps of leather from the cow hides were reserved for those times when long leather was needed, such as for horse reins, saddles, harness straps, etc., and the smaller leather skins were used for other purposes.
Having said that, the process described here would be many times more complicated and labor-intensive. Labor was cheap. Goatskin was more plentiful. Either one would be quite strong enough for a belt. In the end, the product would serve the same purpose. Either could have been used. From what I've read, and I can't give references here, there appears to be much more goat skin product than cow skin in the artifacts found.
But I'll bet Jurgen would freely agree, the labor part of making a sewn, lined belt is significantly more expensive for us today, than simply using a regular belt blank. And once the strap begins to taper, or have "knobby" terminals, like some did, the sewing process becomes more tricky and time consuming. To fold and sew the often seen trilobate leather belt terminal will be a real nightmare of cutting, sewing and hair pulling.
Obvious statement 4:
The majority of us will probably greatly admire the work that goes into making belts in this perceived Roman method, but will continue to use solid straps anyway. I was astonished at Jurgen's comment about his stitching not looking good. It's near perfect in spacing, angle and stitch length! Most excellent work, and another laud for your diligence.
The belt I made from a cowhide belt strap with 15 plates, 64 rivets, two handmade frogs and a purchased buckle took about 20 hours of labor, part of which was learning proper riveting technique. To have sewn the strips together would easily have added at least another 20, I'd guess (estimated from having sewn quite a few leather garments in the past). At say, ten dollars an hour, that is 400 dollars for a belt. Is it worth it? I don't know. Maybe...but maybe 200 is still too much? Hard to say.
Leather comes from the skins of animals. Usually, leather comes from the skins of animals used as food.
Obvious statement 2:
The Romans evidently ate lots of pig, goat, and sheep meat, but not so much beef. Not much venison, either, although further in the North, red deer (elk) skins are often as large as a small cow, but much stretchier leather. Great for garments, not so good for belts.
Obvious statement 3:
Cow skins are bigger and thicker than goat, pig, or sheep, and not nearly as stretchy. Ergo, there would have been more pig, sheep and goat skins than cow. Perhaps (and this is only a logical perhaps) the longer, thicker, less elastic straps of leather from the cow hides were reserved for those times when long leather was needed, such as for horse reins, saddles, harness straps, etc., and the smaller leather skins were used for other purposes.
Having said that, the process described here would be many times more complicated and labor-intensive. Labor was cheap. Goatskin was more plentiful. Either one would be quite strong enough for a belt. In the end, the product would serve the same purpose. Either could have been used. From what I've read, and I can't give references here, there appears to be much more goat skin product than cow skin in the artifacts found.
But I'll bet Jurgen would freely agree, the labor part of making a sewn, lined belt is significantly more expensive for us today, than simply using a regular belt blank. And once the strap begins to taper, or have "knobby" terminals, like some did, the sewing process becomes more tricky and time consuming. To fold and sew the often seen trilobate leather belt terminal will be a real nightmare of cutting, sewing and hair pulling.
Obvious statement 4:
The majority of us will probably greatly admire the work that goes into making belts in this perceived Roman method, but will continue to use solid straps anyway. I was astonished at Jurgen's comment about his stitching not looking good. It's near perfect in spacing, angle and stitch length! Most excellent work, and another laud for your diligence.
The belt I made from a cowhide belt strap with 15 plates, 64 rivets, two handmade frogs and a purchased buckle took about 20 hours of labor, part of which was learning proper riveting technique. To have sewn the strips together would easily have added at least another 20, I'd guess (estimated from having sewn quite a few leather garments in the past). At say, ten dollars an hour, that is 400 dollars for a belt. Is it worth it? I don't know. Maybe...but maybe 200 is still too much? Hard to say.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
