08-04-2005, 01:36 PM
I was discussing quilted linen armor with a friend of mine whose hobby is making linen quilts. She found the idea fascinating and put some thought into how she would make a quilt that was to be used for armor.
Based on her experiences working with linen she said the resistance of a quilted linothorax to penatration would be greatly increased if the angle the layers were cut at was rotated for each layer. That is if the first layer were cut parallel with the weave, the second layer bias cut (45 degrees to the weave), the third layer cut 90 degrees to the weave, then another bias cut layer, then another parallel layer, and so on. This, she said, would make for an extremely strong quilt.
It would also require more linen to make, but then you would not need as many layers to achieve the same degree of protection.
Based on her experiences working with linen she said the resistance of a quilted linothorax to penatration would be greatly increased if the angle the layers were cut at was rotated for each layer. That is if the first layer were cut parallel with the weave, the second layer bias cut (45 degrees to the weave), the third layer cut 90 degrees to the weave, then another bias cut layer, then another parallel layer, and so on. This, she said, would make for an extremely strong quilt.
It would also require more linen to make, but then you would not need as many layers to achieve the same degree of protection.
Dan Zeidler
Legio XX
Legio XX