Thank you all for the complements about my buckler. The more threats of mutilation and degradation the more you warm my heart
This is my first posting on the AA, though I have been lurcking here from time to time.
It took me almost 70 hours to make the Gimsøybuckler, including experimenting and making of the special forging tools needed to shape the iron fittings and rivets. It's almost totally handmade, and included forging 32 rivets with rounded heads, and 10 smaller ones for holding the edge band. Have any of you made your own rivets from ironrods? I tell you it is a bitch if you want the heads large enough (I look with horror on the moment when I have to start making the truly largeheaded rivets for my coat of plates...).
It seemed like some of you wanted more details on weight and dimensions of the buckler, so here are some:
- My reconstruction weighs 2,1 kg. I have not weighed the original yet, but it is probably a bit lighter. The plate fittings on the edge and on the back of the buckler is originally less than a millimetre thick, actually more like 0.75 mm. I did not dare to make the edge thinner than 1 mm because we fight with metal weapons and I feared they would chew up the edge too quickly. Thin spring steel would probably be best, even though that is too early to be historically correct (14th century).
- The total diameter is a little more than Anders mentioned - about 40 cm on my reconstruction, 39,3 - 40 cm on the original.
- All the seemingly round iron fittings on the front are actually forged down to a half circular cross-section, so they are less than half as thick as they are wide, about 8 mm x 3 mm.
- The metal boss is 2,5 cm deep, and the dishing area is about 11 cm wide (10,5 cm on the original). Including the wood it is about 4,5 cm deep, or slightly more. On the inside the hole in the wooden shield plate is 12,5 cm wide. My metal boss is made from 1,5 mm iron plate, the original from 1mm.
...I guess that's enough with the measurements.
About the shape of the boss, it is a plain, slightly flattened hemisphere without any fancy angles. What you see on the picture of the original is a thin band of some silver or tin like metal put on the boss as a decorative circle, or for some other yet unknown reason. I have seen traces of this on some of the other bucklers as well but have not had the opportunity to check it out more properly. I omitted the silver/tin detail on my copy.
Well that should answer most of the questions.
Good day to you all
Vegard
