Rawhide on shields question.

[Thorsteinn Raudskeggr]

If I use my leather awl with waxed linen thread to sew the ends of the dog chew rawhide together (so that it forms a circle slightly smaller than the circumference of the round shield) will it hold together when it dries onto the edge of the shield?

Should I tack it onto the shield before or after it dries?

-Ivan

[Samuel]

Id scribe a channel and make it flush with the front then sew it around if your gonna cover it in canvas. that way there isnt a hard edge under the canvas... could also glue the hide then sand the edge of it to remove the edge.

[GenericUnique]

Rawhide will shrink as it dries. I just tacked mine on with carpet tacks - it fitted snugly after drying. I can't see how thick your thread is, but I'd imagine decent linen thread, waxed, should be ok. Saddle stitch (two needles, one on each end) will mean it won't all come loose if the thread snaps later...

[Kelby]

Triple-stitch it just to be sure.

To be clear: using a saddle-stitch have three threads between hole on each side. By the time you are done stitching you will have sewed up one way, back the way you came, then once more the way you went originally.

Once the rawhide starts to shrink down, there is a lot of pull on the places where you stitch the rawhide end to end. You want to make sure the joined ends don't pull themselves apart.

I also suggest that when you go to stitch the rawhide down AFTER it dries, make sure you do a couple extra stitches on each side of the seam in your edging. If you take shot right on the edging, it can sometime blow out the entire seam if you don't have it held tightly to the shield. If you have it tied down on each side of the seam, it is less likely to blow out.

[Rasper77]

I use Artificial Sinew to stitch my rawhide together and its always held fine.

[Thorsteinn Raudskeggr]

Remember: I'm not stitching the edge, I'm tacking. and I don't have the money for artificial sinew.

[Thorsteinn Raudskeggr]

It has come to my attention that making a shield using nails to hold on the edge would be better. I am thinking of using wide headed 2" nails and dealing with them like the nail on the right in the pic below. Think it would pass SCA inspection?



-Ivan

[Kelby]

I couldn't say one way or the other with regards to legality.

Plus I'm not sure how that is going to be cheaper than a spool of artificial sinew... Your shield will be a lot heavier with all that metal in the edge too.

As far a durability goes, I've never had any luck with tacks/nails. They always get loose and fall out when the shield gets hit. You end up with pieces of rawhide falling off in the middle of the fight.

[Amanda M]

My shield has hose edging tacked down with little teeny carpet tacks. It's covered in canvas so even if they did come loose they would be under a glued down layer of fabric. The weight they add is pretty much negligible. Fabric and a good paint job covers a multitude of sins.

[Thorsteinn Raudskeggr]

check that. Sinew it is. at about $2 per 20 yds it should do well. I have my rawhide sewn into a circle, and it is still in the water. Do I pre drill holes then sew on when wet or do I wait till partly dry and sew through the rawhide or do I wait till all dry?

[Laurie Wise]

Back in the 80s, Kirby made several Scottish targes for the Clan Fraser Association of So. Cal. using plywood and rawhide. The wet rawhide was stretched over the plywood and cross tied with rawhide strips to snug it down tight on one side. When it dried, he used square nails from Tremont Nail Company to tack the edges with. Then cut the excess and strips off. Then covered the opposite side with rawhide and did the same thing. This way both sides were covered. The inner side had hide hand holds like the originals we had pictures of. The outer side was decorated with more nails.

A friend of ours went to Scotland to learn how to make targes from a Master shield maker there. He said Kirby's method was exactly how the Master made his.

[GenericUnique]

Remember: I'm not stitching the edge, I'm tacking. and I don't have the money for artificial sinew.

Oops
For mine, I just tacked the "sides" of the rawhide down to the front and back of the shield, no sewing. As long as I made sure there were a pair of tacks on each side near the end of a piece, there hasn't been any problem with the end of a strip of rawhide coming up off the board - it dries pretty rigid, after all.

One thing I did make sure of though was to overlap upper over lower pieces, starting at the bottom of the shield (it's a kite).

[Malcolm MacLachlan]

check that. Sinew it is. at about $2 per 20 yds it should do well. I have my rawhide sewn into a circle, and it is still in the water. Do I pre drill holes then sew on when wet or do I wait till partly dry and sew through the rawhide or do I wait till all dry?

I always use a combination of duct tape and clamps and let mine dry completely before I drill the holes through the rawhide and shield for stitching. Rawhide pulls and shrinks as it dries and I like that to get that out of the way so my stitching isn't trying to cut through the rawhide. Plus it's a ton easier to drill and sew when it's all dried up.

[Kelby]

Wait for it to dry completely. You will be amazed at how much the rawhide shrinks once it is completely dry. It make take up to 48+ hours. Be patient.

When you go to drill through the edge, space your holes about 1/2"-3/4" apart. Be sure that you are leaving enough room that you aren't stitching too close to the edge of the wood.

Make sure you are drilling through plumb/perpendicular to the face of the shield, that way the drill bit is not coming out in the wrong place on the back. Use a sharp 1/16th inch bit and let it do the work for you. Don't push hard or you will break that tiny bit... have a couple extra bits ready for when you do break one (and you will!).

[Laurie Wise]

Yes, you have to let it dry completely to insure complete shrinkage. Once it's dried thoroughly it's extremely hard and resilient. Tough bugger to cut the excess off.

[Thorsteinn Raudskeggr]

Dang. Cash ran out, no sinew for me, but I do have many, many nails that will work for the 'bent over annealed nail' idea. I will sew the rawhide together in a circle today and stretch it on, clap it down and wait.


The first time I did rawhide on a kite shield I tacked it down wet. That didn't work so well.

This time it's a small round, I'm sewing the ends together well, and making a closed circle of rawhide before I do it.

Should work out better I expect.

[Corby de la Flamme]

Fun shoemaker's fact: This technique for the right hand nail is called clinching.

Easiest way to do it is to hammer the nail through the shield while setting the back of it against something anvil like. As you hammer, the nail will turn over and grab the wood.

[Halberds]

Fun shoemaker's fact: This technique for the right hand nail is called clinching.

Easiest way to do it is to hammer the nail through the shield while setting the back of it against something anvil like. As you hammer, the nail will turn over and grab the wood.

That is a neat idea... clinching

Fast easy and cheap.

[bkillian]

I use a good staple gun to tack down the rawhide edge on my shields. Once it is dried I cover with canvas. it is much faster than clinching with nails. I have tried that a couple of time and it is time consuming compared to the staple gun.