The Armour Archive

I think that I am finally getting better... yes, I know the boss can always be deeper


the stats:
20" diameter
7" Boss Diameter
wood is 1/2" marine plywood
Boss is 14g. mild steel
all stainless steel rivets at 3/16"
the edge is rawhide dog bone
I use general finish milk paints
the handle is walnut.
I used a honey colored gel stain for the back.

and I used the tutorial "how to make a round shield that will last" and then made some modifications.

everything was done with hand tools. and it is not perfect but I am happy with it.

the coloring its the main color of my family crest and then my favorite color.

I don't fight, only 17, and I am not in the SCA ( ). but anyways. I built it with my father who is a woodworker by trade. (well he owns a woodcraft retail store) but it took about a week.



now I swear the boss isn't dented in, It just the lighting!!! I plannished that for like 4 hours!

and the back:


what do you think?
Any suggestions for the next one, (other than make the tacks evenly spaced and lined up)

also, I want to strap it now, would it be accurate to put a strap on the left side of the back that I can slip my arm in so it stays up against my arm?

AND, how would I get it to hang on my back, its more of a decoration for my costuming than anything, is there a way to strap it like a baldric or anything?

thanks lots!
~Casey

First: looks good! Planishing for four hours? tedious....

As for adding a strap on the left side of the back, go for it. It is a good modification for carrying and it helps with if the shield were to get it from the opposing guys left (that is actually a very nasty historical trick).

Improvments: Like you said you could make the boss a bit deeper... You could also add some leather strips across the back to add strength to the who unit. The biggest thing that I noticed was, you could mak it bigger! According to Paddy Griffith, author of the Viking Art of War, a traditional shield was about a yard in diameter (36 inches). My current shield is 24" and I find that I wish it were bigger, of course, I fight, and you said yours was for hanging, but that is my two cents.

Moral of the story: Good Job, keep going, each one gets better!

Did you read my how to make a shield boss essay? Anyway I have an air planisher now but hand planishing a boss takes me about 15 minutes. Here's some tips.

A shot put makes a great planishing stake for bosses.

Start on one side and do a swath about an inch wide going up across the middle and over to the other side. Turn the boss and do the same thing so you get an X don't bother planishing the middle twice. Then fill in the remaining areas.

You've gotta hit hard but also very often I generally just do it with wrist motion. Basically you need to wack it and pinch the metal between the stake and the hammer. You do this so that the entire surface of the boss is covered in little facets where your hammer hit. Probably a couple thousand strokes.

Lookin good so far though. Hope this is helpful.

thanks, both of you!!

Sulan, as for sizing, I also only had enough material to do a 20" diam. sheild, I still had to biscuit 2 pieces together. its just what I had laying around. I am going to make it bigger for my next one.


Mad Matt: in the way of planishing. well, I only have a peice of 1 inch round stock that is sunk into a tree stump stand. I used a tutorial for a dishing hammer to round and polish the head. and I don't exactly have a flat headed and polished hammer for proper planishing. infact I don't even think the one I use is heavy enough. its like 1/2 a pound, and most of the stuff I do is in 14g.

thanks for all your advise!!!

~Casey

I use a light autobody hammer I don't like heavy planishing hammers. Harbour freight should have em for about $3 that's what I payed for mine at princess auto. Any hammer will do though just gotta have a flat face. Hell a claw hammer will work fine as long as it's not the type with the textured face.

Great Job!

That looks really good. The rawhide edging is such an incredible improvement over the garden hose the SCA used as a standard for so many years.

I have only made sheilds for SCA combat, but I have made a lot of round shields. Take my advice for what it's worth.

I don't make my bosses. I buy them. It seems better to let others who are really good at it do it. I am no good at making them. Sixteen guage dents up, but it is a lot lighter than fourteen guage.

1/2" is a little heavy, but with a sheild that size, you wont have many problems. You look like you are a pretty big, strong guy, so I wouldn't worry about it. I use 1/2". Most folks like 3/8".

I really, really like the paint job.

You didn't do three things that I do. This isn't a criticism. Your sheild looks better than about 90% of the sheilds I saw at pennsic. Truly a cool sheild.

The first thing that you might consider doing on the next one is to cover the front with some cloth (I use cotton) and some water proof wood glue. I slather the glue on, and then lay the cloth across the top. Then I clamp it around the outside with about a zillion clothespins, and let it dry. The Sutton Hoo sheild was faced with leather, but I don't want to shell out that much money. I find that this makes the sheild a lot stronger. The sheild I used at Pennsic this year was made this way. It went through 1000 fights, all the battles last year, and all the battles this year. The wood (12mm poplar plywood) worked out to be stronger than the metal edging I put around the sheild, under the (at first) garden hose or (now) rawhide edging.

The second thing is to taper the crossbar. This reduces weight and makes the thing look cool. A block plane is really handy for doing this. Here's a pic



It's a little tough to see in the pic, but the crossbar gets down to about an eigth of an inch (or less) at the very edge.

The third thing is that you didn't use the stain to help emphasize the faux planks on the back. If you mask out every other "plank" with masking tape and then restain it after the first set of stain, it emphasizes the faux planking, and makes it look a lot less like plywood.

Also, you might find this really cheezy, but instead of standard washers, I hammer US 1 cent peices (pennies) until they are about the size of quarters, and drill a hole in them. Though they do contain copper and tin, it is a stretch to call them "Bronze". It does look a lot better than what I used to use.

That is a great sheild.

freiman

Oh, yeah, you can put a shoulder strap on it. Drill a hole at the ENDS of the crossbar, and rivet a D-ring to it. Then you can attach a strap.

I wouldn't worry about a side strap rig to keep it flat to your forearm. A roundsheild (especially a smaller one like that) is usually kept perpendicular to the forearm and out away from the body. Preferably close to your opponent's weapon shoulder (or his baskethilt).

I don't use it that way, but most folks do.

And I want to say it again, that is a great looking sheild.

freiman

Hey, Casey,

Would it be too much trouble to give us some close up pics of the shield?

f

Not trying to be a butthead but...

It looks really lumpy in the picture. You say it's not... so I'm curious to know what you finished it with? Wire wheel in a drill maybe?

When I used wire wheels to finish my stuff it always looked like that too. Regardless of how smooth it really was. Got to keep all of your brush strokes going the same way, and even then it leaves different shadows when you start a new pass with the wheel. It's not a dent, it's a streak in the sanding.

If I'm not polishing something on a buffer I always like to make the last finishing pass by hand. Steel wool, scotchbrite, sandpaper. Doesn't matter what I use as long as I go after it by hand. Seems to even stuff out a bit more for me.

Otherwise it looks great. I really like the earthy-ness that the paint colors give it.

Thanks guys!!!

well, as for close ups, I will in a bit!

Freiman Thanks for the great tips and I will probly work those into my next one!!

Mattmaus, for finish, I used a grind-o-flex flap wheel on a drill grits 60-120 not the greatest

~Casey

Close up pics!!























sorry its a bit pic heavy
~Casey

Dude!

Forget what I said about the washers. Those washers totally freakin' Rock!

It does look like the crossbar (Oak?) is adding to the weight in a way that you don't have to have. If you like the look, that's cool. If not, use the plane.

Also, using clothespins as light clams really helps me with the rawhide application too. You need less nails that way. I think that less nails means that the sheild is stronger around the edges.

You also don't need to apologise for including pics. We like pics.

That is a really, really good looking sheild.

And I am a bit of a sheild snob.

freiman

sheild snob?? not at all, you've been very helpful!!

the washers are nothing more than an unvenly cut 1/2" square of 14g. mild steel. I just cut a rectangle out with my shear and then just cut them smaller, finished the sides, and punched a 3/16" hole in it.

yes as for the cross bar, I am deffinantly gonna break out the lee nealson planes for that!! (yeah, I got a whole set )

anyways, as for a pic heavy warning, I post the majority of my work over at the Ring Lord forum (maille forum) and they perfer there if you warn for the 56k users.

~Casey

This whole thing looks great, and the square washers tend to add to the look. The only possible critiques would be to plane down the handle where it is mounted to the shield, and reduce the number of nails holding down the rawhide. These things would bring it into the range from Really Frickin Cool! to Kick-*ss Awesome!!