posted 09-18-2000 12:27 PM               

I need some sources on the construction of shields. Can anyone supply a reference?

I'm mostly interested in making a kite type cavalry shield, but I'm quite desperate, so just about any info would be appreciated.

Unfortunately the closest museum I can visit to get info is, well, probably on another continent.

Marius Bester
South Africa

P.S. Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that I already did a search on this site. Some info seem to be available but I need more. To start with, what are the basics of shield construction. How do you for instance fit those darn planks together

posted 09-18-2000 02:16 PM            

quote:

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The kite-shaped shield is made of wood. None has survived, so any reconstruction is based on earlier circular shields and later surviving examples. A drawing of a now vanished 12th-century shield from Norway suggests that it was made from planks (presumably) glued side by side.(1) However, surviving 13th-century shields, including one which may have originally been made in the late 12th century, are constructed from a single piece of wood.(2) The leather covering is again hypothetical. It is also just possible that in the 11th century some kite shields were even of laminated construction.(3) Though those seen on the (Bayeaux) Tapestry appear flat (since dinner is eaten off them) others may have been slightly curved to the wearer (as Anna Comnena noted of those carried by Italian Normans.)

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(1) Not just glue, IMO, even though some ancient hoof-glues could be quite as strong as modern adhesives. Since the planks would have been laid edge to edge, rather than overlapping (carvel- rather than clinker-built, to use the shipbuilding term) a modern reconstruction could use tongue-and-groove planking. However, I've read suggestions that in-period construction involved wooden pegs or dowels fitted into pre-drilled sockets on the mating faces of the planks; the technique is used both in shipbuilding and furniture joinery. There may also have been either wood or metal cross-bracing, which was certainly present on the round shields directly preceding the kite.

(2) Here we're talking a big "single piece of wood", and with all due respect to Mr. Gravett, I'm not convinced that it should be considered as standard construction. Rather the reverse. I'm more inclined to think that these shields survived because they were unusual, or owned by wealthy persons (the two facts possibly connected) and that more ordinary shields of plank or ply construction, at the end of their working life, were stripped of any useable metalwork and chopped up for firewood. Another problem about a shield made of a single sheet of wood is that any damage suffered affects the integrity of the entire structure, rather than just one or two planks. (Though I may be completely wrong about this.)

(3) Not unreasonable: planks too thin to make a worthwhile shield when laid side-by-side in a single sheet can become surprisingly strong when the grain of one layer lies at 90 degrees to that of the other, and the whole thing is stuck together with one of those strong glues I mentioned earlier. It also means that the shield can't be so easily split along the grain. According to Peter Connolly, plywood of this sort was used by the Romans to construct scuta - the technology may have been lost during the Dark Ages, but IMO was not. Enough cross-planked "battleaxe-proof" doors exist in castles all over Europe to suggest that what was known to be effective for doors would (probably) not have taken much imagination to apply to shields as well.

The Twentieth Legion website http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scutum.html has some useful information and diagrams for using modern plywood, including how to build a "shield-press" to help form flat sheets into the curved cross-section appropriate to a Roman scutum. I imagine something similar could be done for kite-shields.

I hope this helps.

posted 09-19-2000 12:41 AM               

Basically you get a couple of sheets of 1/4 inch plywood, some wood glue, canvas big enough to cover the shield, a a couple of 2x6's and some ratchet tie straps,bolts or screws, leather strapping. Rawhide or thin metal to use as an edge binding.

1. Cut the plywood to shape
2. Cut the 2X's to the radius you want the shield to bend. And to the width you need.
3. Soak the plywood in warm water for an hour or so.
3. Dry off the excess water and liberally cover the back side of one plywood piece and the front of the other with the glue.
4. Line the pieces up and lay them on top of the tie downs.
5. Line up the 2X's and start tightening your tie downs.
6. Let dry for about 2 days or until you're sure the shield has set up.
7. Run some screws or bolts through the face of the shield to attach your strapping (make sure you countersink the heads. fill with wood putty
8. smooth the edges, cover with canvas, . let dry and paint and apply edging.
9. enjoy your shield
10. If it seems like too much work check some of the armour sites a few armouries sell shield blanks.

For Viking round shields check out this site: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shield/shield.html
------------------
Ecstasy is found on the back of a horse, at the breast of a woman and in the pages of a good book

[This message has been edited by Lee (edited 09-19-2000).]

posted 09-19-2000 02:08 AM               

I was too lazy to do a proper internet search on shield making and instead threw the question onto Netsword. So in reply I get some very nice answers and find myself without an excuse ("I still need to figure out how to do it") to start doing the actual work, i.e. making the shield.

Nou mag ek nie meer lui wees nie. Darn, you've spoiled my internet search.

So what I'm trying to say is thanks for your responses...and I'll let you know how it turns out.

posted 09-20-2000 04:19 AM               

The thanks must go to Lee and Peter.

I also see that you used the "cool" smiley face. Now as I understand it the sun does not shine all that often in the UK, and I just wanted to ask why you picked a smiley with sunglasses?

Marius Bester
From a sunny South Africa

posted 09-20-2000 02:16 PM            

You'll almost have me believing Australians don't drink Fosters any more...

Ja, de Engels jongkerels ("blaardy Poms" ) drinken biertjes in een donker stamcafé, maar is de "Six o'Clock Swill" buitenshuis of binnen?

It hardly matters (he said in the voice of experience) - whether you've een kater, a hangover or just feel "a bit fragile", it's sunglasses afterwards, that's for sure.

Enough mangling of languages (if interested, that taal was mostly "Phrasebook Flemish" - I speak (slur) it much better after a few Duvels and a borreltje or two.)

Glenn, I don't know if you've seen the new thread on "Modern Swordmaker's Marks" up in the "Medieval Weapons" section, but I thought it was a good idea and went trawling. What (if any) mark do you stamp or etch on the blades you produce?

posted 09-21-2000 10:04 AM               

"nah mayit, oi drink vic bidder, so youse dont git fosters flop!"

posted 09-21-2000 01:36 PM            

Here's an on-topic question: that shield press and the lengths of 2x4 will work for a shield which curves in just one plane, around the user - but how would someone go about making a concave shield, as per Anglo-Saxon period illustrations? I'm guessing a sort of wooden frame, which would support the edges of the shield but not the centre, and then a lot of weights piled in the middle. Sandbags, maybe, to conform to the curve in the wood as it develops? Would heat be involved? (After watching a documentary earlier tonight showing how sections of furniture, and barrel-staves, are curved using steam.)

I assume whatever method was used would also work for small "deep-dish" bucklers, as per the illustrations in MS I.33 - here I'm assuming, from the way they're drawn and coloured, that they were wood with metal bracing, not metal overall - unless of course that wood is really cuir bouilli, which is supposedly quite easy (whatever that means ) to mould.

posted 09-21-2000 07:45 PM               

Find a T-junction on a deserted country road, and locate the Stop sign. In the UK at least, this will be a triangular section of aluminum sheet clearly designed to serve as a shield blank. Use a log or section of telegraph pole (also available on many deserted country roads; exercise caution when felling, as telegraph poles usually carry high voltage cables...) as a former over which to bend the blank into the required shape. Fit handles to taste. Probably also a good idea to paint the front...

(Alternatively - and legally - ask nicely at your local highways depot, and they'll probably give you a couple of old signs for free)