If you are talking about bending the bronze around some one's leg and actually hammering on it, I would emphatically say NO.

It would hurt a little.

If you are talking about pulling a mold from some one's leg, casting it in steel, and using that as a buck to hammer over, I would say it's not cost effective nor is it necessary.

You can form bronze using the same stakes and hammers that you would form steel with. Working it hot is also an historically accurate way of forming it as well. There is also no shame if you need to anneal the piece you're working on.

If this is a project you're working on, message me and I'll be happy to answer any specific questions that will come up for you.

Octavia,
I have made a few pairs of greek and roman greaves. I currently fight in roman greaves that are a little extender to make them SCA legal. oona-ondraedan.smugmug.com/gall...-M-LB and oona-ondraedan.smugmug.com/gall...P-5-9

You do not want to do any forming on a persons leg. You take the measurements and form on stakes. If these are for SCA fighting then bronze is not the way to go. To be thick enough for protection will cause them to be heavy. I hammered a set from 20 guage that were much heaver than my 16 guage mild steel and the knee folded from a low shot at a practice. I would suggest greaves made of mild steel and have them plated. You can ge a kit to do electro plating for around $100 dollars. This will be cheaper than buying a sheet of bronze large enough to hammer the greaves from.

They do not need to extend as far above the knee joint as mine do but a sword tip over the top of of the greaves hurts like hell if it catches the bend of the joint. They do need to wrap around the sides of the knee to be legal for SCA combat.

If they ar just ment to look good then you can get away with 22-24 guage without them being to heavy and you can make the calf wrap without straping because there will be a little flex in the metal.

Let me know if you need any more info.