thickness/pattern for lamellar armor

[Moginheden]

I'm planning on making a leather lamellar chest piece. From what I can tell the most common historically used pattern was this:



This image shows a center ridge but I don't think that was too common, (it would be hard to shape the leather that way.) But the place where the ridge was would only be 1 piece thick.

What I'm wondering about is making this pattern with 1/8 inch thick leather. It would be doubled for most of the surface of the leather, and at the corners would be 4 thick due to the row above/below overlapping.



It would only be 1 layer thick in the very middle of each Lamella though.

[Moginheden]

I could also use a pattern like the skirt of this, (obviously altered for my shape):


This pattern is exactly:
-25% 2 layers thick
-50% 3 layers thick
-25% 4 layers thick

[Moginheden]

The first pattern is a lot more flexible, almost chainmail depending on how tightly you tie the lacing. The second one would be very stiff and use more leather, (so heavier)

What do you guys think I should do? Is there a 3rd pattern that would make more sense?

Should I use thicker leather on the first pattern? (double 1/8 leather is cheaper than a single layer of 3/16 leather)

[Cib]

There are zoodles of ways to lace lamellar and scale. The 2nd one looks nicer. I like how they used the rope/sting/stuff to add a dint of color to it. You might consider using a mix? A flexible loose pattern for the shoulder, and waste arias, with the stiffer stuff over the chest and hips.


Discussions I have seen on lamellar:
www.dagorhir.com/forums/index.php?topic=12067.0
board.belegarth.com/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=25970&hilit=lamellar

Unfortunately, the really good thread on lamellar and scale was on the old Bel board and got deleted

[Cib]

Oh, and also, weight wont be a problem with leather, even 4 layers thick. So don't worry about that!

[Cib]

I am personally a fan of scale armor. Maybe that is another reason I like the send peace, it is kind of a mix of scale and lam.






^This one isn't scale, nor lam I don't think, but interesting^

www.larp.com/legioxx/squamata.html

;D