I Built a Historical Viking Shield... Is It Too Thin? (Part 1)
TiwaZ
2,867 views
(Part 1) How to make a historically accurate Viking shield?
The wood for the core of the shield is pine wood with a thickness of 8 mm at the middle, thinning down to 3 mm at the edges.
The glue is rabbit-skin glue made of 1 part glue for 2 parts water, and then hot water is added gradually to achieve the right consistency.
The shield is covered with goat rawhide and edged with thicker cow rawhide sewn onto the shield with a leather cord.
The shield is a total of 102 cm (roughly 40 inches) diameter for a weight of just under 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs).
The shield is not yet finished, we still have to paint it, make a handle, a strap to put it on the back, and assemble everything along with the boss. This means that the weight of the shield will go up slightly, but we will do this in part 2 of this build.
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Edit; I would also consider using a saddle stitch for future projects when securing the rawhide edge. The method I was taught also includes a jute cord glued and going around the edge of the shield, then adding rawhide over the cord. I honestly don't know if the method I was taught is historically accurate, as it was to SCA standards.
I Built a Historical Viking Shield... Is It Too Thin? (Part 1)
TiwaZ
2,867 views
(Part 1) How to make a historically accurate Viking shield?
The wood for the core of the shield is pine wood with a thickness of 8 mm at the middle, thinning down to 3 mm at the edges.
The glue is rabbit-skin glue made of 1 part glue for 2 parts water, and then hot water is added gradually to achieve the right consistency.
The shield is covered with goat rawhide and edged with thicker cow rawhide sewn onto the shield with a leather cord.
The shield is a total of 102 cm (roughly 40 inches) diameter for a weight of just under 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs).
The shield is not yet finished, we still have to paint it, make a handle, a strap to put it on the back, and assemble everything along with the boss. This means that the weight of the shield will go up slightly, but we will do this in part 2 of this build.