Quote Originally Posted by Spartan Tartan View Post
Very interesting. I found that as I read your description I was picturing an experiment with a scrap piece of tartan! If it is true, wouldn't we expect to see regimental kilts of that era to be found stiff like you suggest? Are there any examples of the outcome you describe? Part of me wants to believe that a lack of evidence means that (at the very least) something can be done to treat the effects...
It is acidic:
SO2 + H2O -> H2SO4 (not balanced)

In my personal experience tartan wool was not effected by black powder smoke, though the situation in no way replicated the concentration that might have been found at say Waterloo or Quatre Bras. And i don't understand the hardening, I would think it would just eat away at the wool or leach the dyes. But I'm not a chemist.