Glued Linen Armour- a simple test

[PMBardunias]

The physics of penetrating armor is not as simple as many of the "Force x penetrates armor y" scenarios conjured by authors on weapon performance. There has been some truly abysmal work on this topic. If you found Byth's thesis informative, you should read (all of which and more I can provide if needed):

Stabbing of metal sheets by a triangular knife. An archaeological investigation
International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 27, Issue 4, April 2002, Pages 459-473
P. H. Blyth, A. G. Atkins

and some newer work:

Perforation of sheets by pyramidal weapons such as arrowheads
International Journal of Impact Engineering, Volume 35, Issue 6, June 2008, Pages 457-470
Eddie Cheshire, Marco Rossi, Tony Atkins

Experimental simulation of non-ballistic wounding by sharp and blunt punches, Wong et al. 2008

And lest we forget that we are all armored by nature:

Dynamics of stab wounds: force required for penetration of various cadaveric human tissuesForensic Science International, Volume 104, Issues 2-3, 11 October 1999, Pages 173-178
P. T. O’Callaghan, M. D. Jones, D. S. James, S. Leadbeatter, C. A. Holt, L. D. M. Nokes