Leather Cuirass Lorica Musculata, I used to think no way but

[Marcus Mummius]

With all respect to leatherworkers, making one from metal is much more difficult. It takes hundreds of hammerstrokes.

[Theodosius the Great]

Antonivs,

The best looking, cheap musculata you can buy off the shelf is, IMO, this one. It's priced just over $300 if you want both the front and back plate.

It's better than Deepeeka's current model because it doesn't have that stupid lip at the bottom. And you may be able to hammer out those extra muscles.

Anyway, you can buy these in different colors : brass, antique brass, and steel here : [url:1buq0f8v]http://www.by-the-sword.com/acatalog/Decorative_Body_Armour.html[/url]

They even have a leather version, but it's more expensive for some reason :roll:

~Theo

[AntonivsMarivsCongianocvs]

Salve Theo,

To fit maximum chest size 43 inches

The breast plate does look very good and I would imagine I 'could' bang out the extra ripples but... at 6 foot 2 I have a 48" chest... the cuirass only fits up to a maximum of 43... and that is the maximum.

Sometimes being big has its advantages but... sometimes... well, you get the idea.

Salve Byron...

What would it take to make one from brass or a bronze material? If you can form a shape in leather, you could learn to hammer metal too, or am I being naive?

You are correct I could learn how but, the hammering is something I haven't tried before and I'm not sure I could do it without several attempts and even then, I don't know how to make it smooth after all the hammering. Also, I don't have an anvil and I think my banning would drive the neighbors crazy!

Anyways... I'll get back to working on other parts again this weekend.

[Theodosius the Great]

Well, the next best one I can find that's on the market is this one

I know, it's $800. And the back is totally wrong. The shoulder straps need to be replaced but overall the armor is fixable. The muscles look good - better than the ones on the last example I posted.

It says nothing about measurements, though.

~Theo

[Tarbicus]

Also, important to take into account: a breastplate costs 510 and the backplate another 490euro! So about 1000euro in total :?

Ouch! I didn't realize they were separate. That's a bit steep.

It is steep, but I think by far the best shaped if you want a cuirass without the dip in the bottom rim to follow the lower stomach line.

I've kind of fallen in love with this one, if I ever decide on a triarrius impression:

http://www.art-connection.de/pages/roem ... rp201.html

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

almost 1000 US$??

funny since the cost of making it and the cost of the material itself are ridiculousely cheap!

M.VIB.M.

[Marcus Mummius]

almost 1000 US$??

funny since the cost of making it and the cost of the material itself are ridiculousely cheap!

M.VIB.M.

Are you talking about the metal version? Thick brass sheets aren't very cheap anymore...

[Tarbicus]

almost 1000 US$??

funny since the cost of making it and the cost of the material itself are ridiculousely cheap!

M.VIB.M.

I'd love to give it a go myself but don't have the time. Nor do I have the facilities or live in the kind of neighbourhood where, if repeatedly hammering sheets of brass or steel, I wouldn't end up with one of these little beauties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-socia ... iour_order :wink:

[Magnus]

You would think a company like deepeeka could make a stamp and die large enough to do one though...perhaps the muslces not as deep as the ones shown in this thread.

[Matt Lukes]

It's almost as if the makers of steel and brass cuirasses ($60 to $200 range) went out of their way to make them inaccurate.

But the maker of this cheap plastic costume piece looks like he did some research!

Yeah, but it's easy to sculpt something nice and accurate and another thing entirely to shape it from sheet metal, especially thick enough to be real armor.

[Matt Lukes]

almost 1000 US$??

funny since the cost of making it and the cost of the material itself are ridiculousely cheap!

M.VIB.M.

hock: Uh, I don't know where you get your metal, but even though I buy large sheets directly from a brass manufacturer, it's damned expensive. And the work necessary to do all that shaping is daunting- have you ever tried it yourself?

[AntonivsMarivsCongianocvs]

Salve,

As far as purchasing brass sheets, I was able to pick up a 3 foot by 1 foot sheet of .040 (18 gauge) brass for $34.00.

Larger I'm sure would be more but, EBay is a pretty good source.

I brought it to fabricate the visor (brow) piece for my Attic Helmet. I was going to use the left over to make plates for my belt. I'm most likely going to weld very thin " artist's medium embossing brass" to the thicker 18g brass, the thin brass would be embossed but, that's a different thread. :roll:

[marsvigilia]

Actually that gives me an interesting idea. What if the muscular form was done in something extremely thin and easy to work, and behind it was a much heavier but relatively flat armor that would actually provide the real protection. Maybe the inner layer could even be iron. That would be cheaper than brass by a long shot.

Just an idea.

[Wes]

Here are a few leather dressing formula's

Here is one that the U.S. Army was using for its trench shoes in WWI:

1 lb beef tallow (or lard)
1 lb beeswax
1 pint neatsfoot oil
4oz carnuba wax


Depending upon the wax, I use about a 60/40% wax to oil mix, and add oil or wax to adust for the seasons. (but I have had hard wax and gone 50/50, and have had soft wax and gone 70/30).
Over the years though, I do not pay attention to the ratios or the percetages- I just go by the "feel" of the consistency of the cooled and rehardened mix.

I use it on pouches, shoes, boots, etc.

Wes

[marsvigilia]

I have had good luck so far using lanolin on leather.