The Armour Archive

Evening all, here is the first hour and a halfs progress on my pavise. it is going to be a generic shape.I'm aiming for a shorter hand held version.I plan on forging the hardware (staples, nails, handle) myself . It isn't based on any one in particular. It will be made of 3 boards held together with dowels. I decided to make it of pine as i'm not totally sure what the originals are made of. I used pine mainly for the fact that it's cheap and there is a ready supply of it in town.

I am using a simple half round chisel to gouge out the central channel, which will then be rounded over on it's front edge. There is really very little to the shield in terms of oodworking skill needed. i know it's a turning chisel, but, it's what i had on hand at the time.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26265750@N00/

HOLY CARP!

Regrind that bloody chisel!

Go look at sharpening instructions for carving chisels and turning chisels..

sharpen it like a carver.. a MUCH longer bevel and lower degree angle..

And remember.. most "chisel" hollowing wasnt. It was hollowed with an adze or similar tool.. then finished with the chisel.

ANd, just to ask a dumbass question.. why the HELL are you carving against the natural grain of the wood?

Like i said, it was a tool i found, never done any carving before. Hey, give me an adze and i'll do it with an adze!

EDIT: just did a quick search and learnt something new to me. when carving, i always thought you went with the grain. i was wrong. i can see why it would have taken far longer doing it properly with a chisel!! Thank you!

Not only that.. (the cut the short way vs the long way), but I was thinking the curve of the growth rings in the wood.

If you look at the end shot where you have the "trough" drawn out.. your trough is reversed to the growth rings.

Not that you can change it now.. but if you make another, I'd highly suggest going the other way..

But it looks good!

Cool project! Please continue to keep us posted.

Cheers,
Tim

Oh yes, i realise that, didn't occur until i started, MEANT to do it the other way, but, oh well.

Right, another couple of hours outside and this is what i have to show for myself. This involved finishing up the gutter and getting it relatively decent looking. the originals are rough, but not this rough i fear. this can be sorted with a rasp. As you can see, the gutter is a little deep, so i'm trimming about 1/4" off of the sides to get a shallower gutter on the back. it will be rounded over a fair bit on the front, no beak, this style doesn't use them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26265750@N00/?saved=1

Tommorrow will see the pegging and gluing of the sides and gutter together and some final shaping. rounding corners off, chamfering edges etc. After this i will make the staples and nails for the strap work, and braid the handle from rawhide. Then, wokring out a cutting plan for the covering and gluing that on, shouldn't be terribly hard, done it on a previous pavise (this is MK3 for reference) . After this, i may paint, or, if someone wants to put this up to a combat test, i will sell it.