The first thing I need to do was test a few methods to harden the leather. (Here is a link to a wonderful PDF on Cuir Bouilli and Wax Hardened Leather by Jean Turner). Using scraps of two different leathers I first tried a water hardening method. In the water method I placed pieces of leather into a water bath held at 180F (using a candy thermometer) for 30 seconds. The results proved inferior for this project. One of the leathers shrunk up almost completely and the other did not seem to harden at all. I am assuming that the later was not a veggie tanned leather which is required for the process to work properly.
That brought me to me second option of wax hardened leather. Please note: it is my understanding that wax hardening of leather is a modern technique and was never used in period. It is a common practice among Scadians when making leather armour so I opted to try it for this project as well. I used pure beeswax for this project knowing that honey was used in the Viking/Norse eras so beeswax must have been available as well. Both leathers seemed to do well in the wax. One got really dark, almost black, and quite brittle once fully cooled. The other had a nice stiffness to it with very little shrinkage of the holes. I decided on this second leather, which is a suede reddish brown leather.
I cut thirteen - 2 1/2 inch squares. I started punching the holes in the corners of the squares when after three cards the hole punch broke. That put a damper on finishing this project today! I went ahead and dipped the three cards I had finished into the wax to see how they would turn out (since I already had the wax melted). The suede texture did not make for smooth cards once out of the wax. So, while still slightly warm I burnished them with the back of a spoon and was pleased to see how smooth and flat they became. I am very happy with how they came out. They are a bit tacky still. I hope that after using them with some wool yarn that they will polish up and become less tacky.
As for the use of beeswax; Sturluson mentions honey twice in the "Heimskringla" (Sturluson, Chapters 17 and 40). If the Vikings had access to honey they most likely had similar access to beeswax.
Sources:
"Heimskringla" or "The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway", Snorri Sturluson c.1225; online medieval and classical library release #15b; original electronic edition Douglas B. Killings with Diane Brendan 1996
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Heimskringla/
Turner, Jean. "Cuir Bouilli Technique - An Historical Method of Hardening Leather"
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