For almost eight years now, I've been pondering how best to replace the veg-tan weapon belts I wore at Marathon 2011 and 2015. Given my suspicions that the Achaemenids tanned leather with fat or oil, as did Eastern Mediterranean peoples before them, I decided last year that my best option would be a strap of buff leather. This is made from cowhide (perhaps originally water buffalo or European bison hide, thus the name) which is tanned primarily with fish oil in a process similar to German buckskin and American chamois.
An important note: Like "chamois" leather (named for a species of wild European goat but in the U.S. actually made from domesticated sheep), "buff" leather can be a very misleading term. Most items sold as being made from "genuine buff leather" appear to have their top grain intact or are finished such that you can't tell. It makes one wonder what sellers think "buff" means. When I refer to buff leather, what I mean is cowhide tanned with fish oil in a process that gives it a suede surface and a creamy yellow color (also called buff). This kind is rare and hard to obtain nowadays. Most of it in the States goes to the reenactment market, where it's used to make early modern military accoutrements like sword belts.
I've found one person in the U.S. willing to sell unstitched buff by the piece: Roy Najecki of Najecki Reproductions. You can read up on ordering it at his
Cartridge Pouch/Box Shoulder Carriage page. Be forewarned that it's not always easy to catch Mr. Najecki on the phone or by e-mail and delivery may take a while, so if you decide to use a buff strap for your belt, order it well ahead of when you need it.
It looks good, and it's heavy and firm yet flexible. So why wouldn't you decide to use it? Well, in the description above, you'll hopefully notice something that I overlooked: Modern buff leather is tanned not only with oil but also sulfur. This may have something to do with the fact that it smells like burned rubber, and it smells
strong. When I first received my strap last fall, I didn't even want to be in the same room with it. I've been storing it in the garage ever since then in hopes that the smell would fade. It has, but it's still very noticeable. Several folks offered suggestions to ameliorate it, such as washing with saddle soap, and I experimented with small bits cut from one end, but nothing appeared to work. I'm still on the fence about wearing it in public unless it's become tamer by the next big event.
It's also not cheap, although because belts are so narrow, the $35 per square foot sticker shock isn't as bad as it sounds unless your belt is going to be enormous. My 1.5x42-inch strap came to $15.31. The next item I'm reviewing here isn't all that much cheaper.
Chrome-tanned leather such as this
Realeather suede belt strap can make a fair substitute for fat-cured leather in appearance and texture. What more is there to add? Well, it doesn't smell, and its texture probably won't be be negatively affected by rain to the extent that a natural tannage would be. The color is a bit darker as you can see, though not as yellowish as lightly-smoked braintan, but the main flaw with this strap is that it's about half the thickness of the buff. Will it support the weight of a fully-loaded bowcase without sagging a lot or ripping? I can't confidently state that it will, unless your bow and its case are a lot smaller and lighter than the ones I use (and the Grozer Old Scythian is already one of the smallest I've seen for sale in its price range).
So there you have it. While either of these will probably
look more correct than a veg-tan belt, both have their own major caveats. The search for a perfect solution continues.
