Making your very first piece of armor. With the basic tools and skills you need.

The Simple leather “dog collar” gorget.

(Under Construction)

Why the gorget first

Cheap – Small amount of materials needed

- Few tools needed

Easy - teaches lots of basic skills you’ll need later

Useful - Important to have custom fitted, both for comfort and safety

Fast - Can be finished in one session. (Don’t discount the importance of this.)

Tools

Note: I’m adding links form several site, I’m not recommending any one companies tool over another, I’m just adding links to which ever I can find easier, Tandy Leather and the Leather Factory are roughly equal, Tandy is more user friendly, Leather Factory has more stuff. It’s totally up to you. If you have a local leather store, try there first. And just use these links so you know what to look for.

Leather cutting tool (Scissors, leather shears, Craft/box knife, Jig saw, band saw)

(Nothing cuts THICK leather easier than a power saw with a very

fine toothed blade) You’ll also want scissors for thin leather

https://cart.leatherfactory.com/quikstore.pl

All of the tools on this page are good stuff, I like the PRO SUPER

SHEARS for general cutting.

Punch set You can use a rotary punch, but this punch set can be used to

set your rivets too (if you remove the blade) so you don’t have to

buy a special tool for that plus I just like these, as I find them easier to use on thick leather.

http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?dept=68

I believe the mini munch set will get you though this project, but

eventually you’ll want a mini and a maxi

If you get a rotary punch, go ahead and spend the money one a nice one. Solid metal, etc It’ll be worth it in the long run. Be sure you get one you can replace the tips on.

Hammer Just a hammer, claw, ball peen, whatever, just make it light enough

that you can control it.

Optional tools

Mallet Much gentler on your tools than a hammer, use for everything but

setting rivets…The head can be wood, rawhide, nylon, just not

rubber.

https://cart.leatherfactory.com/quikstore.pl

The poly mallet here is best, my personal one is from Tandy, and

it’s bright yellow so its easier to find.

Strap Cutter Highly recommended, if you’ve ever heard the phrase “every job is

easier with the right tool”, after using a good strap cutter, you

understand exactly what they were talking about. If you buy ONE

extra tool, this is the one, I LOVE this tool… cut a few straps by

hand then ask to try one out in the store, you’ll be sold. Belts

straps, these cut anything

https://cart.leatherfactory.com/quikstore.pl

Get the kind shown here with 2 pieced of wood going

perpendicular to the handle, the top piece holds the leather in place

and makes it 100 times easier. Also Be sure to get some extra

blades (mine came with them) as when you first use it, you can

break them occasionally

Punch block/pad Something to go under your tools when you hammer through the leather, but a piece of scrap leather works fine too. They have these at Tandy and the Leather Ffactory, but I could not find them on the site. Basically a flat square piece of ¼ thick plastic.

Oblong punch Used to punch the slot in the strap that takes the buckle. You can use a bunch of holes close together, but this is a lot easier and only $10.

Bottom of this page.

http://www.tandyleather.com/searchprods.asp?searchstring=poly&pagenumber=2

Rivet set If you are going to use copper rivets, nice, but I use my punch set, I assume you are trying to do this on a budget, but if you have the cash, go ahead, it’s the best tool for the Job.

Look at Copper Rivet & Burr Setter #811000 here

http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?dept=71&pagenumber=4

If you use the rapid rivets you just need a hammer or mallet.

Materials

Leather 1 piece Thick enough to be legal (check your kingdom rules)

Usually oak tanned leather, just over 12oz.

Roughly 6 in wide and 20 in long, but make a pattern and lay

it out first

If you can’t get 12 oz leather, get 2 pieces of 6 oz, and you can sew it together, or rivet it together. You can also insert a steel or aluminum plate at the front of the neck (which is nice) or at the back, for added protection.

Plus a piece of thin stuff for straps (scrap usually works)

6 in by 6 in is probably plenty

(From 4 to 9 oz, I hate to say it but I judge it by site, thin enough to

go through the buckles is the real key, plus thick enough to not

stretch much)

Leather thickness is measured in ounces (if memory serves correct

it’s how many ounces a square foot weighs, eg 16 oz leather

weights a lb per ft^2)

Link to leather

http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?dept=33

Example of Ansteorran rules (mostly up to date)

http://www.ansteorra.org/publications/forms/participants.pdf

Rivets Tandy /Quick leather rivets or copper rivets, if all you have is pop

rivets that works too(albeit poorly), just remember to turn them

over and hammer the side with the washer flat so they look nicer

and don’t tear you to shreds, I recommend these, for this project.

http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?dept=135

Note that you will need various sizes (lengths) so if you can get an

assorted pack, you’ll be much better off to start, since we’ll be

doing small projects first.

Copper rivets are by far the best for this kind of work, and you’ll wear

the leather out before you break one of these (except if you articulate to

steel) but they are more expensive and harder to use

Just go to the Tandy site and type in copper rivet. If you use these I

recommend getting a rivet setter and a small bolt cutter. I’ll write

this up in a project where we use copper rivets later. If you get an

assorted set of different lengths you can skip the cutter, and just

use the setter, by using the right length. Personally I just buy the

biggest kind and cut them off to length.

Buckle I use what are called sandal buckles, and the size I prefer is the one

that uses the 3/8-1/2 inch wide strap, any buckle you like of about this size is fine.

Closed cell foam Camping pad works great for this, you can get it at most camp

stores in various thickness and densities. I prefer the really soft

white stuff, and the heavy duty Army issue green stuff.

http://www.acecampinggear.com/colulcampad.html

This is the first place I found it on the web, it comes with no other recommendation.

Contact Cement Paint both sides, let dry, sticks together instantly… What more can

you ask J

http://www.tandyleather.com/prodinfo.asp?number=251001&variation=&aitem=1&mitem=5

Barge brand is great, but there are tons of different brands out

there.

Optional Stuff

Leather dye Add some color, USMC black is hard to beat.

Daubers Disposable giant q-tips for putting on leather dye, works

fine but hard to get a nice even coat.

Preval sprayer, More expensive, put the dye in the bottle and spray it on nice and

even… this is what I use, except for small stuff where I use a dauber and black dye.

http://www.ppc.au.com/category42_1.htm

First place I found them on the web.

Varnish/poly coat. Paint on or spray on. I like spray , low gloss.

http://www.tandyleather.com/prodinfo.asp?number=2199600&variation=&aitem=3&mitem=19

The Skills you need

Bartholomew has a nice discussion of the basic skills and steps here.. Take a look

http://www.cs.usu.edu/~watson/bartholomew/barmor.htm

Cutting leather

Straight lines

By hand

Using a strap cutter

Straps

Curves

Punching holes

Screw in the appropriate sized punch in the Punch handle.

Set 1 or 2 pieces of leather, on top of a Punchblock or a scrap piece of leather

(Some people use a piece of plywood too, but I think it dulls the tips)

(The scrap/block is so the punch has something soft to cut into, if you go too far,

instead of breaking the tip of the punch)

Set punch where you want the hole

Pound the punch with a mallet

(A hammer works, but over time will mushroom the end of the handle)

Be sure the punch goes all the way through.

With practice you should be able to feel the punch cut through the first piece

and start on the second

Setting rivets

If you are using the rapid rivets, punch a hole in both pieces of leather. Get a rivet slightly longer than the height of the 2 pieces. Slip it through, put on the cap, and pound it flat.

Glueing padding to leather.

Follow the instructions for contact cement, basically, just paint both sides with glue, allow to get partly dry. Then stick them together. Be very careful when aligning the pieces, because the cement sticks on contact when dry (thus the name)

The Steps.

Measure length for neck strap

Measure your neck

Cut out a padding prototype collar

Try it on with tape

Measure around the outside of padding

Mark strap that long

Measure the width of the neck strap

Start at the little scoop in your collar bone in front of your larynx and directly

under your chin.

Measure up the larynx to the base of you chin when looking slightly upwards.

Make sure you can look down with something that thick at your throat

without choking.

Mark a strap with that length and width

Alternately you can cut it a little wider than you prefer and then cut out a small

scoop at the front for your chin.

Cut the neck strap (collar)

Cut the front and back tabs

Decide what shape

Straight easy uses extra strap

Half circle more protective

Asian layer lobster tail nice but is better with rigid material

Cut straps

Cut the straps to length, 5 of the short ones, one long one.

Cut off all the corners to make the straps look neater when on. You don’t actually have to cut them round to to a point, just take about 1/8 of an inch off each corner.