The Armour Archive

http://hightowercrossbows.com/shieldhowto.htm

I found this a couple of days ago, has any one tried making a curved shield this way?

I use a similar technique for forming my wooden shield blanks (cheeper for newbies, I fight w/ aluminum and a Vitus wood shield personally) BUT I had 'help' when cutting the D shapes from 2x6's and they never lined up properly when on the form. Instead I have twice as many D shapes and they are connected by 2x4's so they can be adjusted up and down as necessary. I also use 4 ratchet straps and C-clamps only on the corners rather then C-clamps on all of the edges. I just happen to have old ratchet-straps that I can use and not enough C-clamps.

The rest of the technique for edging is pretty standard although I like to add aluminum C-chanel around the ply-wood edges and before the rope for better durability.

These make decent shields but they are not as cheep as you might expect and they don't last as long as an aluminum shield or better yet one of Vitus's epoxy coated shields.

Good luck.

Sean

I haven't, but it looks like it will work just fine....I will probably try this out myself, eventually. If you use this method, give us a few pics and show us how it turned out.

http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/olafvanta/ ... hields.htm

I have made a press in this manner and it worked very well.
Although I would recommend mounting the bottom's of the four sections onto a piece of plywood.

Regards,
Edmond

Edmond De'Veraux wrote:http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/olafvanta/ ... hields.htm

I have made a press in this manner and it worked very well.
Although I would recommend mounting the bottom's of the four sections onto a piece of plywood.

Regards,
Edmond

That one looks a little more thought throug then the one i found

We made a pattern out of poster board for the curved wooden slats that make the actual form so they would all be even.

We mounted them on 2x4's instead of a single sheet of plywood, this made clamping significantly easier.

We used 4 clamps; one of each corner, with angle iron under them to keep the middle from mushing upward.

Works great, though we are unhappy with the depth of the blanks. We will be making a new one that is deeper.

We have been selling shield blanks to the local SCArks to recoup the cost of our press and our own shields, it's our new strategy of "paying for our hobbies with our hobbies".

Edmond De'Veraux wrote:http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/olafvanta/ ... hields.htm

I have made a press in this manner and it worked very well.
Although I would recommend mounting the bottom's of the four sections onto a piece of plywood.

Regards,
Edmond

I agree. However, I like the flexibility of moving the sections around to accommodate different sized shield blanks. Mounting them to a board would not let you do this. Storage of the sections are easier if they are not all attached to each other. Below is a 24x24 tournament shield blank. If you are always going to make one size blank all the time, and storage is not a problem, connecting them together might make life easier while pressing your shield.

That's so beautiful, I want to weep, William.

Christopher

Thank's for posting this. I know most of my posts have been "How do I do this?" and "How do I do that?", so I was holding off for a week or so before I posted another How do I...

I will price it out and see if it is will be cheaper project for me to do rather than buying a aluminum sheild (and making my wife mad for spending too much money). Heck, I might be able to tie the 2x6's in with a bedroom loft project I am doing for my girls.

Armyeric

Heres the one I made. I have a top half to it but found that I personaly prefer using the traps instead.
This one will do a shield up to 26" wide and 36" long.

[img]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f320/ ... 010128.jpg[/img]

I've always had good results with 4 pipe clamps and some drywall screws.

I start with a 1/4 sheet of ply wood, Glue them together lavishly, use the pipe clamps to get the right curve, screw in drywall screws around the edge, let dry, and cut out the sheild shape.

And pipe clamps are easy to store....



Haldan

Got any pics, Haldan? I'm having trouble visualizing it working with clamps without some sort of form.

Thanks,
Christopher

Very rough picture

What is the arc that most put into their sheilds...or is it personal preference?

What are the dimensions used for an average kite shield?

RenJunkie wrote:Got any pics, Haldan? I'm having trouble visualizing it working with clamps without some sort of form.

Thanks,
Christopher

You don't absolutely need a form to bend the plies -- you can bend in just air. These pipe clamps were simply placed across the rectangular blank, bending the glued sheets into them. You can do the same thing with cables and turnbuckles or ratcheting nylon tiedown straps. Tighten, start the bend with a good shove to the centerline, and tighten down more to hold it there.

The minus is that because of leverage effects, most of the bending power is right in the middle of the shield. The resulting curve once the glue has dried is more parabolic than circular. Forming ribs will shape the curvature into a circular arc.

What is the arc that most put into their sheilds...or is it personal preference?

Eric, while there's room for taste, a good many people like a curve about three inches deep at the center. In bending wooden shields, make the form curvature some deeper, like four to five inches, to compensate for the wood springing back.

Cossack Odo wrote:http://hightowercrossbows.com/shieldhowto.htm

I found this a couple of days ago, has any one tried making a curved shield this way?

I've used Sir Bartholomew's method several times, to good effect. I've made kites and a center-held oval, but a heater would be plenty easy to do.

I use a much simpler method and it works just fine.

I use one of my large armouring stumps and use ratchet straps to pull the shield blank around the stump. Once the glue dries, walla, curved shield.

Ingelri

Dimensions for a "standard" kite shield, what are they?

Cossack Odo wrote:Dimensions for a "standard" kite shield, what are they?

I dont think there is a standard..
I know a few that are about 24inches acros and 36inches long.

then i shall start there and change it as i see fit

Cossack Odo wrote:Dimensions for a "standard" kite shield, what are they?

Mine is 24x48. That seems to be the period dimension. I don't think there is a standard or average.

I expected to get a couple of different replys to that. I may make both out of the two responses i have gotten so far. See which one is better for me.

Yeah im making one 24 x 36 to repalce a friends old one.
48 Seem really long lol. Great war shield I bet...

i'm going to make them both. Keep one as a spare

Greenshield curves his shields on 2 stacked beer kegs. This way our shields are born with happy thoughts.

Uric

From what I've seen on the MCS effigy site, the heaters get shorter as time rolls on. Earlier periods have long heaters, sorta like a kite without the round top.

Course, it could also be artistic liscence. But they sure look longer earlier in the Middle Ages.

Thanks for the diagrams. I'll probably see what happens using that. I plan on using every technique I can do practically and see what's best in each.

Thanks,
Christopher

I am going to make a punch kite, what would be best as the grip and how should i attach it?

Punch kite? Center held?

center held,with a shield boss....

Attach it like you would a round shield
Large rivets or bolt it on.

over this coming week i will be getting the supplies to try this, i will post pics of how it turns out

apart from the jig:

I take it most of you layer your wood.
For as far as we can easily establish most shields seem to have been made from one layer of wood (and gesso and whatnot). I've mostly been working obn 15th century shields. The Met has a shield that was investigated because they were taking later painting off it and that is one piece, despite a very complex curve. In the Frossairt exhibition here at the armouries we had a pavise that was one layer, etc, etc.

How would you guys go about forming a complex curve in a single layer of wood?

I aim to make a jousting shield that is bent towards the blows, is 54cm high, 42 cm wide and curves to a depth of 20 cm, and is 25-30 mm thick

I just don't want to carve it, really, but building the jig will use more wood than just buying a block and cutting it up, I think.

Arne Koets wrote: How would you guys go about forming a complex curve in a single layer of wood?

That's a pretty big chalenge. First I would start with a section of old-growth hickory a good 30" in diameter. I would take a section of trunk 10-20% longer then the final desired shield length. I would split it in half to make 2 shields. While the wood was green I would try to use as much of the outer layer of wood as possible because it is the strongest. I would adze in the rough shape and then scrape/plane it down to the finish shape. It would create a LOT of wood chips but old-growth wood wasn't as rare then as it is now. It would take a damned long time but that's OK because labor was cheaper in period.

There is a reason I wouldn't do this for a practice combat shield when I have aluminum available.

Sean