Testing Heavy Leather vs. Arrows and Shot

[Harper]

It did better than I thought.

[Kortoso]

6-mm thick leather is pretty thick. How many ounces is that, I wonder?
At least it's light.

[Manveruon]

It definitely does offer a fair deal of resistance, at least to lighter weapons. Seems like it would be fairly effective under the right circumstances.

[Udwin]

6-mm thick leather is pretty thick. How many ounces is that, I wonder?
At least it's light.

Pretty darn heavy - by my calculations, it's around 15 ounce leather. (16 oz = 1/4" thick.)

Generally, each ounce is roughly equal to 1/64 of an inch in thickness.
~1 oz (1/64”) = 0.396875 mm.
So 8 oz leather is 8/64" (1/8") thick.

[Kortoso]

At least it isn't chainmail, haha.

Seriously, though, in-world, I didn't think it would provide that much protection versus steel.

[Elleth]

I'd be at least as concerned about its weather resistance: it's going to get waterlogged and slimy in the first rain.

Interesting.. but academic I think.

[Harper]

I'd be at least as concerned about its weather resistance: it's going to get waterlogged and slimy in the first rain.

Interesting.. but academic I think.

Would its weather resistance be much different than leather boots?

[Elleth]

The piece he's using? Yes, it has much less weather resistance because it's unfinished. When it gets wet, it will get soft and slimy and get marred with every scratch. It still has some internal resistance because there's just so much mass to it, but I expect in constant inclement weather it will start to get scratched and worn fairly quickly. I THINK it will in fairly short order get somewhat more floppy and easy to transmit force through, but I confess I've never actually tried it to see.

You could give it a period wax/oil treatment to protect it from the weather: but that will make it more susceptible to blades, not less.

I know absolutely nothing about boiled leather as armor. Apparently it was a thing - so I assume it works.

My thought though is that for centuries people used thick leather for shoe soles and iron (or lots of linen) for armor: generally speaking, people tend to make the best use of resources available to them they can. Thus, I expect in actual use on campaign... there's a reason medieval Europeans wore linen gambesons and iron maille rather than oxhide.

(though I'm not primarily a student of arms and armor, and could easily not know of something quite common)

[Kortoso]

I, too, have my doubts about leather clothing and armor. Although I haven't tried living in leather armor in a rainstorm. I just assume that it will soak up moisture and get heavy and uncomfortable. Just as we assume that a coating of wax will make it weaker. (?) Or that it would be impossible to cover it with a woolen cloak to keep it mostly dry.

I applaud such tests! We assume so much without personal experience.

But I always look to the historical record. If leather was nearly as good as steel armor, we would have seen a lot more of it. Maybe not that much survived and people didn't think to make much of a record of it.

But the Mary Rose jerkins are of leather, though not as thick I reckon. There are also quilted jerkins and some think that they went together: a leather jerkin over a quilted jerkin. Perhaps this would prove more comfortable and afford adequate protection.

[Peter Remling]

Most scholars assume the Mary Rose armor was destined for soldiers on land. Supposing it was meant for Marines in a Naval battle. Fall off a ship in steel armor, you drown. Fall off in leather or padded and you are less likely to sink to the bottom.

[Elleth]

That is an interesting thought Peter!

I'd think though that a linen gambeson would quickly become waterlogged and at least as heavy as steel: certainly a soaked woolen cloak seems to weigh a ton!

Perhaps that's not an issue actually *in* the water though.

Who's going to jump in a lake wearing armor to find out?

[Kortoso]

Peter, is that a typo? There's a contradiction in your post that leads me to believe that.
Reading the Mary Rose documentation, the conclusion is that these troops were "marines" and were expected to do battle at sea.

But those conditions are quite wet, if even for sea-borne mists. I assume they were smart enough to coat the leather with beeswax or somesuch.

[Peter Remling]

Not a typo, just a thought. Considering the condition the remaining leather goods were in it probably was coated with beeswax or was boiled (cuirbolli).

With regard to leather armor, unprocessed it will absorb water. Boiled in oil or beeswax, the leather wouldn't absorb water so no weighing a ton issue in water.

Again i'm just throwing thoughts out there.