Probably not. From a logistical standpoint, animal skin glues dry in a matter of hours in this type of use. Boiled linseed oil might take several days.
From a materials standpoint, animal skin glues dry to a hard, brittle substance. Linseed oil "dries" to a fairly gummy, flexible substance.
I'm willing to bet that the hardness of the glue combined with the strength of the fibers throughout the armor is what makes it effective. I'd be willing to bet that the linseed oil wouldn't bind the fibers of the linen tightly enough together to prevent them being pierced by an arrow.
That said, it's hard to make a direct comparison between historical and modern boiled linseed oils[0]. Historic BLO was literally boiled with white lead. I believe what you buy at the hardware store today as BLO is typically stand oil or linseed oil with some other metallic driers added, as the use of lead in all forms has fallen out of style :-)
OBLIGATORY WARNING: When people talk about oily rags spontaneously combusting, they're talking about linseed oil and a few others. If you do anything with linseed oil, boiled or otherwise, please take a few minutes to understand how to dispose of your rags safely so you don't burn your place down.
I don't know if you've ever worked with double boiled linseed oil -- the actually boiled kind not the chemically modified kind -- but that definitely dries to the point where it will shatter instead of bending. Some experimentation with impregnating paper with it makes me believe it'd be excellent for fabric armor like in the article.
Obviously it'll be a much slower process since the linseed oil takes so long to cure but depending on availability of materials it might still have been used.
I have not, I've only ever used the hardware store stuff. This is really interesting info; thanks! Where does one get this stuff? Please feel free to reach out by email. Address in profile.
I found mine at a small company that specializes in it. Don't think they ship internationally. Got me a 5L jerrycan which was the smallest size they would sell. Should last me more or less a lifetime with the rate I use it.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help. You could try looking around the wooden boat building community, it's not an uncommon finish for pulleys and the like on wooden boats.
From a materials standpoint, animal skin glues dry to a hard, brittle substance. Linseed oil "dries" to a fairly gummy, flexible substance.
I'm willing to bet that the hardness of the glue combined with the strength of the fibers throughout the armor is what makes it effective. I'd be willing to bet that the linseed oil wouldn't bind the fibers of the linen tightly enough together to prevent them being pierced by an arrow.
That said, it's hard to make a direct comparison between historical and modern boiled linseed oils[0]. Historic BLO was literally boiled with white lead. I believe what you buy at the hardware store today as BLO is typically stand oil or linseed oil with some other metallic driers added, as the use of lead in all forms has fallen out of style :-)
OBLIGATORY WARNING: When people talk about oily rags spontaneously combusting, they're talking about linseed oil and a few others. If you do anything with linseed oil, boiled or otherwise, please take a few minutes to understand how to dispose of your rags safely so you don't burn your place down.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linseed_oil#Modified_linseed_o...