How to Build a Curved Wooden Shield

One of my many SCA pursuits is the quest for the perfect shield.  I'm constantly tinkering with the size, strapping, materials, edging... everything.  In recent years, I've been working on developing curved wooden shields that are light, relatively durable, and have a period appearance.   I've settled on a reinforced birch plywood shield edged with rope and rawhide.  They are easy to make, look great, don't weigh very much, and will last nine months to a year for all but the most hyper-active fighters.

A Word about Periodness

These shields aren't.  I'm using modern plywood, glues, and paints.  And they are built for a different purpose.  In period, shields weren't designed for the week-in week-out bone-crushing pounding that we put them through in our rattan-swinging madness. 

Still, they look and (I think) act a lot better than the heater-hose edged aluminum that is the current mainstay of SCA combat.  They paint up beautifully... plus, there is something very satisfying in using one, and in hearing them being thunked in use.  You have to experience it to know what I mean.

Making the Shield Blank

You'll need a curved surface to form your shield blank on.  Some people use barrels and straps.  Other's find a tree trunk to be the handiest thing. I  prefer an easily-made shield form.

Mine is made from a piece of 24" x 48" piece of 3/4" plywood with four pieces of 2" x 6" cut into curves and screwed in place using some grabber screws.  Having a band saw makes this a snap, but you can just as easily cut the curves with a jigsaw.

I found it worthwhile to make a form, because there is no way on God's green earth I was going to make just one curved shield.  In fact, once I made mine, all my friends wanted one, too.  With just a little profit margin, I can easily keep my buddies in blanks, and pay for my own supplies at the same time. 

After you have the form, you can get to work on your first blank.  All my blanks are glued up as 24"x48" rectangles.

For small shields, say, anything under 24" in length, I prefer to glue up two sheets of 11/32" certi-sanded fir plywood, like you can get at Home Depot.   The weight is just about right; not overly heavy or light.  You can make two blanks for each 24" x 48" rectangle.

Unfortunately, for larger shields, two layers of 11/32" is too darn heavy for my taste.  For a "standard" 22x36 heater or for a Norman Kite, I prefer to use two layers of 1/4" birch plywood, reinforced with a ring of the 11/32" fir plywood, all available at Home Depot.    The 1/4" birch is actually a little thinner than 1/4", and the birch part is only the outermost veneer layer.   The bulk of the sheet is made with other, light, woods, and it is possible to have voids, splits, and joins inside it.  You can go bananas and buy special-order plywoods that have higher quality innards, but I'm skeptical about the added benefit for the cost you pay.

When I buy the plywood, I have the yard guys at Home depot cut the plywood in half.  That makes it easier for me to manhandle on my table saw at home.  Half of the 48" x 48" birch pieces get sawn with the grain in one direction, half in the other.  When I glue up two sheets of birch, I alternate the grain direction.

To make the large shields, I start by drawing the finished flattened shape on the good side of the 11/32" fir.  You may eventually want to make a template, as I have for the most popular styles, but drawing always works.  Inside the perimeter of the desired shape, come in about 2" or 2-1/2" and draw another line.  This is the inside edge of your reinforcement.  Cut that puppy out and get ready to glue.

For glue up, I use a polyurethane glue, such as Gorilla Glue.  I personally prefer the Elmer's variant of Gorilla Glue, with is slightly less viscous and less expensive.  For these glues, you need to moisten the surfaces before applying the glue.  This will cause the glue to foam up and fill all the voids.  Just follow the directions on the bottle.  A large bottle (18oz) will do for at least two blanks.  I squeeze out the glue in lines about an inch apart.

When you are applying the glue, it is best to lay down the (moistened)  fir plywood with the good side down, apply the glue to the backside, lay the (moistened) birch on top of that, also face down, apply more glue to the backside of that, and then lay your (moistened) top layer of birch on, face up.  There are many ways to screw this part up, so let consistency be your guide.

After you have the glue/plywood sandwich ready, you need to clamp it all down. For this purpose I use eight 5" to 6" C-clamps and a couple of pieces of firring strips to keep the clamps from marring the plywood.  It is helpful to have a long QuickGrip clamp to bend the plywood down far enough to get the C-clamps on it. 

I often start by putting a couple of clamps at each end of the form, where the curve is highest, just to hold it all together long enough to get a  few of the side clamps in place.  I do all the clamps on one edge, then I remove the two clamps on the end, and then put the clamps on the other edge. 

After that, there is not much to do but watch the glue harden.  You'll know when it is done, because the foam that squeezes out will turn hard at the same rate as the glue still inside.  If the squeeze-out is sticky or soft, you need to wait some more.  On a hot day, it'll take only a few hours.  Cooler temps require overnight.  Don't attempt to use polyurethane glue under 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

When it's done, take off the clamps, pop the blank off, and finish the shape with your trusty jigsaw or bandsaw.

Cover and Paint

You may wish to attach canvas to the front .  I've done this only a few times, but I like the results.  For this purpose, I used part of a painter's drop cloth, cut roughly to size.  Put wood glue on the face of the shield, and smear it around with your hand (worked better than anything else I tried). Wash your hand off and slap the canvas on.  Smooth it down.  Hold it in place with some 1" spring clamps, and let it dry.  Trim the excess with a razor knife -- you don't need to wrap it around the edge.

Now it is time to paint your shield, before you put the edging on it.

Do not use spray paint. 

Do not use masking tape. 

Use a brush. 

Be sure to put one coat of quality primer over the canvas, or the wood if you skipped the canvas part.  Do not skip the primer.  Trust me.  Do not skip the primer.  Primer is not the same as white paint.  After the primer dries, draw your device on the shield with a pencil.  Paint it using brushes of various sizes.  I use Rustoleum gloss enamel paints that come in quart cans.  Can't remember the exact names.  Royal Blue?  Fire Engine Red?  Sunburst Yellow?  Forest Green?   A little brown paint is useful for taking the vibrancy down a few notches, to get colors like ochre and rust.

If I can, I paint each part of the shield separately with the color it is supposed to be.   Sometimes it is easier to layer the colors, such as with the our kingdom device.  In those cases, I paint a base of white or yellow, then paint over that.  Paint the lighter colors first, then cover them with the darker colors.  For heradic animals, it is usually easier to paint the entire area with the color of the animal, then paint away everything that doesn't look like that animal with another color.

It takes a little while to get the knack of painting crisp lines with a brush, but you can do it.  If the device calls for it, you can go over the color edges with a sharpie marker to make containment lines.   I normally edge all my colors with a black Sharpie line.
Do not use spray paint or masking tape.  Trust me.

An interesting effect that I am fond of is to stain the shield.  You can skip this part if you want.  Stain the back of the shield wearing gloves and using a rag from a scrap tee shirt.  Red mahogany or dark walnut looks good to my eye.  If the device has a lot of yellow, I use the mahogany; if the device has a lot of white, I use the dark walnut.  Stain the front of the shield, by smearing way too much stain on and wiping off what you don't want with a new, clean rag.  Use vertical strokes only -- you want there to be the effect of antiquing.

Edging

Put rope around the edge of your shield to act as a cushion from all the abuse that will eventually be thrown at it..  I use 5/8" brown twist poly rope from Home Depot -- works great.  Hold the rope to the shield temporarily using a bunch of spring clamps.  Tape the ends of the rope to keep them from fraying.   Position the ends on the lower sword-arm side of the shield, not at a corner.

You don't need to glue the rope; the rawhide edging holds it on.  I use 3.5" strips cut from rawhide sides. The thick stuff -- you'll need a jigsaw or a band saw to cut it.  Cut it dry.

Soak the strips in a bucket of water for a few hours.   I use hot water -- I think it works faster.  When the rawhide is soft, put it on smooth side out.  Start your strips along a side, not at a corner.  Hold the rawhide in place by taking off a few of the spring clamps that are holding the rope in place, putting the rawhide over the edge there, and then putting the clamps back on.  You'll need more clamps along the rounded portions to keep the rawhide from bulging up like so much bacon.

Don't start a new strip at the corners. Just run the rawhide around that corner without making any cuts and clamp it on both sides of the corner.   Then and only then make make some cuts about 1/3 of the way through the strip from either sides and folding it under to get it to lay flat.  Don't cut all the way through the strip.  Clamp the tabs down using some larger spring clamps.

As you might guess, you need a few bazillion spring clamps to hold the rawhide onto the blank without unsightly bulges..  A 1" spring clamp will cost about $2.  I use over 4 dozen clamps on my larger shields.  There are other ways, and you can be as inventive as you wish.  For me, I thought I had gone way over the edge when I first looked at my pile of 50-odd spring clamps, but they've more than paid for themselves in finished shields.

It takes anywhere from a day in hot dry weather to a week in cold damp weather, but leave the clamps on until it's stiff.  After it's ready, I mark hole positions at 1" intervals along the edging.  After I mark the holes, I position spring clamps between the marks to make the drilling easier.  Position holes on either side of the tab boundaries at the bottom corner. 

For sewing, I use artificial sinew from the leather factory, doubled.  I use a saddle stitch, which is made with two needles passing each other in the holes.  Try not to sew through the thread -- try to make the threads pass each other in the holes.  After you tie your knots, you can pass the free ends of the sinew through the holes again and cut them off flush.

Strapping

 I use leather straps for the hand and the arm.  I attach the straps with 1/4" carriage bolts.  I drill a small pilot hole from the backside at the position I need for my arm, then drill back from the face side with a  1/4' bit.

 

Job done

Take a few photos, and get that baby out on the field.

If your shield gets really wet, like if you leave it out in the rain, the rawhide will soften and bacon up.  Stick it someplace dry and put a few spring clamps on in the worst spots, and it will tighten back up.

 

Acknowledgements

Nothing like this ever happens in a vacuum.  Much of the credit for me working on this comes from Sir Ralph Bigod, a longtime wooden shield user who provided a great example and lots of pointers on making wooden shields.  In the motivation department, kudos go to my knight, Bahadur Timmur Jochen, and my squire brother Thorvald, for loaning me the Cursed Lead-Lined Heater of Doom (-2 against butt wraps).  On the Armor Archive, I get constant inspiration from the likes of Sir Vitas, Maelgwyn, and many others.  Camric's pictoral essay at http://community.webshots.com/album/179993561rMwokb is also a great resource.  And where would we all be without the tireless eleventh-century fingers of the ladies of Bayeaux who captured what they saw with needle and thread?


 

Last updated: March 20, 2006.