Leathers Colors?

[Tartan Jack]

As I have mentioned before, I am slowly piecing together a GAoP AND 1715/45 Jacobite Highlander Kit. It turns out that, mostly, it is just a slops/belted plaid swap out (unless someone can find me a reference to a pirate WEARING a plaid/kilt).

Now, I am wondering about period leather goods.

Black is ALWAYS popular in modern recreations of gear, swords, and everything else. It is also EASY to match. BUT, how popular would BLACK have been THEN?

What tones of brown and tan are pretty certain?

Are the belts/pouches/shoes similar tones? Mixed?

-My own thinking is caught in the "matching" mode of today. Is that in practice THEN?

It seems belts tended to be small (though, I understand belted plaid belts to have been on the wider side).

Any help/advise is appreciated!

[Monterey Jack]

Black is always the popular color, but if you look closely at museum pcs you'll see they are a really dark brown up til the mid 1700s. IMO you could get by with black in a 1745 setting, but less in an earlier period.

Early tanning methods being smoke-tanned, bark-tanned and brain-tanned. You'd likely end up with a light to medium brown color leather. Now, those leathers are fairly expensive (trust me, aftger nearly 20 yrs i the business I know...) but....

Buying vegetable (bark) tanned leather or "commercially" brain tanned leather and oiling it with mink oil or neatsfoot oil will age the stuff incredibly. Don't overdo it, as lighter weight leather will stretch and become unusable.

Colors, other than browns are basically out of the question til the mid 1800s, when chromium dioxide dying was created.

Hope this helps,

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Good to see you here Monterey Jack! I had a question concerning dyes awhile back maybe you can answer;

The Kansas Redlegs were issued RED MORROCAN leather leggins during the Border war and ACW. I am sure this was sheep or goat leather, but what would they have used for the "RED" dye that wouldn't bleed onto the blue wool breeches?

Bo

[Monterey Jack]

Thanks fer the welcome, Bo; good to be back.

For starters do we know they didn't bleed into the wool for certain? Also, if it was traditionally tanned Morroccan goat, the dye jobs were not always fully penetrating (still aren't) so they might have been color safe then, too. I'd have to look at Morroccan dyes of the period to tell you which they might have used.

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Dunno about whether they bled off or not. Maybe they did. I was asked by some ACW re-enactors to make some legging off of my pattern, but I told them they were on thier own for the red dye. I don't want to be responsible for a bunch of stained expensive wool britches!

Guess they are still on thier own!

Thanx!

Bo

[BILLY BONES]

Don't forget about BUFF leather as well. It was certainly around during the 17th and 18th centuries.

[Will Fiddle]

Stupid Leather question,

Does leather color fade over time as most colors do?

If the museum pieces look "really dark brown" now, might they have looked black back in their hey day? Or at least close to black?

[Capn_Enigma]

Thinking about leather- bound books, it is rather the other way around: Through the contact with the hands, medium brown becomes a dark brown over the decades (except on the very edges, where there is abrasion, of course).

[Monterey Jack]

Thinking about leather- bound books, it is rather the other way around: Through the contact with the hands, medium brown becomes a dark brown over the decades (except on the very edges, where there is abrasion, of course).

A very good point, Cap'n; likewise with baldricks and swordbelts. Worn in all kinds of weather and frequently having to be oiled with natural oils of the time to keep them supple, they would darken over time.

Even the buff colour of some of the coats seems to have gone from a light brown (similar to brain tanned or smoke tanned) to a deep goldern brown just though normal use and age.

[max_bodycount]

Even the buff colour of some of the coats seems to have gone from a light brown (similar to brain tanned or smoke tanned) to a deep goldern brown just though normal use and age.

I must agree with Monterey Jack, as I have seen some original ECW-period buff jackets that seemed to have a richer golden brown color in open spaces except where abrasion occurred. They looked to be of a thicker leather than one might expect in a belt or baldric since they were designed to stop weapons.