Shield Construction and Materials (Making my own shield.)

[EdwardWellcraft]

So I'd like to make my own shield, but would like to try to find some more information on historical shield design and materials first. I don't think I'll have access to hide (though I can probably get some leather) and I don't have a way to heat mold wood or anything of the sort, so the shield is going to have to be pretty simplistic. So a couple of questions that you lads might be able to answer.

1. What type of wood is best suited to shield construction, especially if I can't cover it in hide or leather?
2. How large would an Anglo-Saxon round shield have been? Even if I can't do the hide construction technique I'd like to approximately mimic an Anglo-Saxon shield.
3. How was the handle constructed at the time? I've seen both a single handle set in a boss or simply on the back of the shield, and also a handle combined with an arm strap and I don't know which style was used by the Anglo-Saxons.
4. Any ideas on the best construction method? I'd figure on gluing in place, and maybe putting in one or two reinforcing straps across the back. Like I said, I probably can't do a hide covering, and for that matter probably can't pull off a metal rim, so I'd need some way of keeping the shield strong. Plus it won't be disposable like a shield would have been.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[FrisianDude]

I'll be reading this topic with interest; I was just thinking about making a shield a few hours ago. Mine would probably be a kite one, though, as those are more awesome. I don't know how best to construct a shield without leather, though.

 

[Urlik]

check out these sites

http://www.millennia.f2s.com/reconstruction.htm

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-769-1/ahds/dissemination/pdf/vol25/25_141_144.pdf

http://www.regia.org/shields.htm

http://www.ehcg.net/articlepic/viking_shield.pdf

 

[Al_Mansur]

I made a germanic/viking shield 3years ago, but not really historically accurate.

 

[Uhtred Ragnarson]

norse liked to make their circular shields from lime-wood, about a meter wide, 2-3 inches in thickness, with a single handle under a iron boss at the center of the shield. Most germanic tribes from 7th - 11th century used this kind of shield.

greeks (classic hoplites) used the same kind of shield as vikings, a meter wide, but it was 3 inches thick, 2 of oak, 1 of bronze on the outside facing the enemy. It had an iron hand at the center and a small leather strap near the edge for your elbow. They wouldn't punch with this kind of shield (called a aspis/hoplon), but bash with the whole shoulder.

viking shield is definitely easier to make  especially if you actually wanna use it

 

[Merlkir]

2-3 inches seems way too thick to me:

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_shields.htm

greeks (classic hoplites) used the same kind of shield as vikings, a meter wide, but it was 3 inches thick, 2 of oak, 1 of bronze on the outside facing the enemy. It had an iron hand at the center and a small leather strap near the edge for your elbow. They wouldn't punch with this kind of shield (called a aspis/hoplon), but bash with the whole shoulder.

Also quite wrong - the aspis was nothing like viking shields - certainly NOT covered in an inch of bronze, you couldn't possibly lift that. Your description of the grip is also wrong - there was a fixed metal sleeve for the elbow in the centre and two strings going around the edge of the shield which you grasped with your fist - the center was resting on the elbow and half of the shield protruded to your left side. It's also not called hoplon.

Please, do not spread this false info.

 

[Uhtred Ragnarson]

in fact, I have seen it written in hard text as aspis and hoplon (which I noted in my post). And in regards to the comparison of shields, I meant similar in terms of width (about a meter, covering thigh to chin) and the circular shape. 2-3 inches is very appropriate for a shield standard in Viking Age shieldwalls. Also, yes I was wrong about an inch of bronze (it was probably only a centimeter or two thick), but I was just trying to illustrate the point that a hoplite's shield was extremely stout and probably the strongest used by any warrior in history, and they were about 2 inches in width, with the oak, and they WERE faced with bronze. And the handle/grip system was not standardized as there never was a Greek army. I'm sure city of Argos used a different method of holding than Sparta, Athens, Thebes or the dozen other city-states. I have seem them harnessed to the arm in many different fashions.

Please, do not misplace your corrections.

 

[Kvedulf]

The majority of viking age shield remains excavated are no more than about 12mm thick and the majority are around 9mm thick.  I think.

EDIT: From here: http://www.ehcg.net/articlepic/viking_shield.pdf, linked by Urlik earlier:

Construction and dimensions
Shields were typically 80-90 cm in diameter [1] (Table 1). The board was flat, and made of a single layer of planks butted together. The Gokstad shields were made of seven or eight white pine [2]
planks of varying widths [3]. The planks were usually only 6-10mm thick (Table 2), and were bevelled even thinner at the outer edge (Fig. 1; Table 2). There is no archaeological evidence for
laminated (ie. cross-ply) construction (Härke 1981) though contemporary poetry and slightly later legislation suggests it (Dickinson and Härke 1992; Nicolaysen 1882).

It's the first sentence in the PDF.

EDIT 2: After looking through Table 2, I noticed that of the 20 shields in the table, 9 of them had a width greater than 10mm.  However, 8 of those were boards that also included the grip.

Cheers
Kvedulf

 

[Urlik]

you couldn't lif a shield that was 1 yard diameter and 2 or 3 inches thick with a central grip unless you had superhuman strength and stamina.

as seen from the construction of their longships, the Norse were master carpenters and they could easily make a laminated/cross-ply shield.

apparently they made a glue from cheese (and it is posible to make this glue yourself) but there were also glues made from boiled up animal bones/skins and fish bones/skins and swimbladders (but the cheese glues seems to be the best)

if the Norse (and the Anglo Saxons) made their shields from cross-ply laminate, with a strong permanent glue, the shield would be light but strong.
add a leather layer to the top and a hide strip around the rim and it should take a lot of hits to break it.

it would also be easier to make a shield with a convex face if it was made in this way

I would start with a large shallow bowl (~3 foot in diameter and a couple of inches deep)
in this I would lay a 1200mm diameter circle of leather (which will be the face of the shield)

I would then put the strips of wood to be used to this I would glue the first laminate layer (4 or 5 mm thick strips x 1000mm long x 200mm wide, tapering towards the ends to fit the curvature of the bowl. similar in shape to the sections of an unwrapped globe) in a barrel of hot water to soften them, then mold them into the bowl to shape them to fit perfectly.

once they were fitted in place and dried out, I would glue them in place and then put in the second layer
depending on how thick the laminate is, it might be possiblt to go to 3, and at the extreme 4, layers.
these should be at 45 degrees to the first 2 layers and at right angles to each other to get the best tensile strength in all dimensions of the shield.
so layer 1 would run horizontal, layer 2 would run vertical with layers 3 and 4 running along the diagonals.

once all the layers are in place put weights on it to hold it all together and compress all the joints as the glue sets.
get the leather that is around the edge of the shield and pull it round the edges and secure it down to cover the edge,
then glue a strip of thick (possibly water hardened) leather (200mm wide) around the edge of the shield and fold it down onto the face and back and rivet in place front to back.

once all the glues have cured add the boss and grip and then get out the paints

 

[Merlkir]

in fact, I have seen it written in hard text as aspis and hoplon (which I noted in my post). And in regards to the comparison of shields, I meant similar in terms of width (about a meter, covering thigh to chin) and the circular shape. 2-3 inches is very appropriate for a shield standard in Viking Age shieldwalls. Also, yes I was wrong about an inch of bronze (it was probably only a centimeter or two thick), but I was just trying to illustrate the point that a hoplite's shield was extremely stout and probably the strongest used by any warrior in history, and they were about 2 inches in width, with the oak, and they WERE faced with bronze. And the handle/grip system was not standardized as there never was a Greek army. I'm sure city of Argos used a different method of holding than Sparta, Athens, Thebes or the dozen other city-states. I have seem them harnessed to the arm in many different fashions.

Please, do not misplace your corrections.

Seriously? Bull****. A plate of bronze two centimeters thick covering a shield (and I'm calculating it very quickly, but nevermind, roughly correctly) would weigh 125 kilograms. That's what a buff hockey player weighs.

Please, provide us with a depiction of a greek soldier having a different shield grip to what I described. True, they weren't a standard equipped army, but the design was specific to a phalanx and thus didn't change among people using the phalanx.

Also, a couple of people have posted sources for viking shields being much thinner than what you're saying. Stop the bull****!

 

[Farmind]

... 1. What type of wood is best suited to shield construction, especially if I can't cover it in hide or leather?

One good material for shields is the Linden ("Tilia Cordata" aka. Lime-wood, Basswood).

When wooden shield is struck, the wood normally splits along the grain. To prevent the shield from splitting, strips of wood needs to be cross-glued into plywood. This cross-gluing makes it possible to make rigid curved forms.

The main advantage of North-European Linden is that the wood does not have grain. A shield can be build from large planks which are glued together side-by-side. The glue is usually cheese-glue or hide-glue. Swim-bladder glue or fish-maw glues are much better, but the raw materials for these glues are also more difficult to obtain.

Currently the best commercially-available material for wooden shield is plywood made from North-European Birch. It can be soaked and bend into curved shapes using forms, and becomes rigid and durable when dry.

 

[hruza]

Seriously? Bull****. A plate of bronze two centimeters thick covering a shield (and I'm calculating it very quickly, but nevermind, roughly correctly) would weigh 125 kilograms. That's what a buff hockey player weighs.

Greek hoplite shields were indeed covered in bronze. But not two centimeters thick of course. It was just thin bronze layer few millimetres at most.

See: HOPLON CONSTRUCTION

 

[Uhtred Ragnarson]

thank you hruza. Aspis is not the only correct name of the hoplite's shield.

Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience, a bible of hoplite warfare, doesn't refer to a aspis once, instead calling it a hoplon.

Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry calls the same shield "hoplon" and it "was of heavy construction and quite large. It was built on a wooden core which was faced with bronze and backed by leather. It was held by an armband (usually bronze at the center) around the forearm and a handgrip" (35). Page 34 states, "On its inner concave surface, the hoplite's shield usually had two brackets, through one of which the forearm passed, while the other was gripped by the hand."

I know what I'm talking about...

 

[Aethelred]

The claim of three inches thick suggests otherwise, especially if you believe 1 inch of that was bronze. That's just not feasible.

As to the original question, if you don't want to cover your shield with leather or hide, you can use fabric. Mike Loades tested shields (I think in the Weapons that Made Britain series) and found that a fabric facing is still much better than leaving a shield uncovered, since it makes it much harder for the shield to explode when penetrated. Of course, you'd hope that wouldn't happen in a re-enactment fight, but accidents are always going to happen. It'd probably be a problem in the rain, though. How you actually build a shield I couldn't say. For the grip, you can attach a wooden bar across the middle of the shield boss, or just buy a boss with a grip attached. Lime-wood was supposedly considered the best wood for shield making, but I don't know that any shields made of lime-wood have actually been found. If it's affordable, go for it. A flat shape is probably safer, as the convex round shield is a bit speculative. You don't need a metal rim; there's little evidence they ever existed, and if they did they were probably rare. Raw hide edging is the best choice for historical accuracy, much as it's distasteful. Again, no idea how best to achieve that.

 

[Uhtred Ragnarson]

that was just my guess-timation before looking it up (which was wrong, which I said) but the fact remains that they were incredibly thick, and faced with bronze. They ARE called hoplons in some circles, and handgrips vary...

 

[EdwardWellcraft]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice, I think I've basically got all of the info I need, and now I just need to get some supplies and get to work. This will supplement my maille construction well, especially when my arm feels like it is going to explode after cutting rings for a day. 

 

[Aethelred]

You're cutting your own rings? Mega cool. Are you riveting them too? It'll take a long time if you're doing it fully authentically (well, it does either way), but you'd deserve a million internets for trying.

Just so you don't get the wrong impression, I've never made maille myself, although I've read a little about its construction.

And Uhtred, that's fine, but it's a demonstration of why you shouldn't authoritatively state something without checking it first. I still don't see where you get that they were incredibly thick, though... that source just says they were heavy, which they certainly would be with a bronze and a leather covering, even if they were only about as thick as the <1cm thick Viking round shields that have been found. The Hurstwic site notes that a thin round shield weighs 5kg even without a covering, and the leather covering alone adds 2kg. Leather and bronze would push it up quite a bit more, depending on size of course. It's more likely that people would find a real shield incredibly thin compared to what you might expect. Also, although I'm merely speculating here, if it's faced with bronze, it's even less necessary for the shield to be thick.

 

[Merlkir]

thank you hruza. Aspis is not the only correct name of the hoplite's shield.

Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience, a bible of hoplite warfare, doesn't refer to a aspis once, instead calling it a hoplon.

Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry calls the same shield "hoplon" and it "was of heavy construction and quite large. It was built on a wooden core which was faced with bronze and backed by leather. It was held by an armband (usually bronze at the center) around the forearm and a handgrip" (35). Page 34 states, "On its inner concave surface, the hoplite's shield usually had two brackets, through one of which the forearm passed, while the other was gripped by the hand."

I know what I'm talking about...

No, you don't. Your own text contradicts what you were saying and confirms what I said.
Let's see what your claims were and what the reality is:

1) thin sheet of bronze, not 2 inches, not even 2 cm.
2) the grip as I described, not your nonsense.
3) hoplon means "gear". So a hoplite is an "equipped (for war)" person. Hoplon can be a greave, a helmet, a shield...
4) viking shields were not several inches thick, more like a bunch of mm thick.

Way to go ignoring all points you messed up and trying to cover your tracks with a quote that only proves your ignorance.

If you don't know something, don't pretend you do!

 

[hruza]

thank you hruza. Aspis is not the only correct name of the hoplite's shield.

Well hoplon is name which is generally used today but I am not sure if it is original. I don't know where it came from. I saw several articles claiming that it is not correct one and that Greeks called it aspis. Newer the less if you say hoplon, everybody knows what you speak about.

 

[RF Nigth]

I am making a viking shield.
but i dont belive the planks were usually only 6-10mm thick.
Thought Linden is fairly soft wood
Planks glued togheter, whit iron/rawhide band at the edges.
Is going to get fragmented, by almost anny weapon.