Scabbard color for the gladius

[Marcus Mummius]

It is very difficult to paint rawhide!

[Theodosius the Great]

Hi Marcus,

I wasn't going to 'paint', I was going to 'dye'.

[Octavianus]

Salve fratres
Maybe they are talking about Parchemin, the very thin rawhide used to write. And sometimes it's used to make lampshades too. It's not as hard
as the rawhide used in dog's bones. And it's easy to paint, otherwise ask the medieval monks about it... 8)

Pr. Min. Octavianus

[Matt Lukes]

Ah, of course- if you can get goatskin leather, you have to be able to get goatskin rawhide (ha) don't know what I was thinking there. Anyway, it's totally the wrong stuff- you want tanned leather, not rawhide. You ought to be able to get goatskin leather from Tandy too.

Matt

[Matt Lukes]

This is what you want Theodosius:

http://www.tandyleather.com/prodinfo.as ... =3&mitem=3

It's sheepskin, but the source doesn't really matter- that it's 1oz. leather is the main thing.

Vale

Matt

[Theodosius the Great]

Found it,

[Caius Titius Verus]

I repainted the black deepeeka leather, and must say, until now the paint seems to hold up.

Though it depends on what color you want to use, if you want to paint it very brightly I would change the leather. I painted it in a dark green so...

greets,
Caius

[Magnus]

What if you sanded the leather first? That might help the paint bond....mind you, you should probably sand it anyway.

[Theodosius the Great]

Finished ! I used 1 oz. sheep skin and contact cement. It went better than I had hoped.

Thank you for your suggestions, everyone

[Uwe Bahr]

Avete omnes,

I have the same black scabbard and I learned that You all wished to change that colour. Is it only a question of taste or is black colour for the scabbard historical totally wrong?

Uwe

[Theodosius the Great]

Ave, Uwe.

Is it only a question of taste or is black colour for the scabbard historical totally wrong?

Both. (Well..for me anyway)

I heard black was almost certainly not used much (if at all) by the Romans.

[A_Volpe]

I thought I had read somewhere and have been told that the color black was considered a Bad Omen color to the Romans.

I don't quite remember the story, but was it Licinius Crassus(spelling?) who decided to wear black before a major battle and his troops freaked out and ordered him to change clothings - only to lose a massive defeat anyway.

[Uwe Bahr]

Avete Theodosius et Dudicus,

so I will have to re-color my gladius sheath; I must work over the gladius anyway - it is the one with the black (plastic ?) grip and with a too small hand guard.

BTW Dudicus, You had surely plate A in Graham Sumner's excellent Men-at-Arms "Roman Military Clothing (1)" in mind; it shows Crassus as he is 'replacing his black coat against a purple one (Plutarch, XXIII)'.

Uwe