Shield-making Part 2

Now that you have a shield blank, it's time to put the edging on it.

Take the pieces of aluminium edging and place one end at the back end of the top side. Mark the front end of the blank on the edging with a line, and draw two lines 45 degrees either side of this. Cut down these lines with an angle grinder, but stop a good 5mm short of cutting through. File down the edges and then see if it bends round the corner. IMPORTANT: Do not flex the aluminium back once you have bent it completely, as it will weaken and snap.

Now, work out how the rest of the aluminium is going to line up, and then mark out lines about 10mm apart along the aluminium going around the outside edge. Cut these with the angle grinder, leaving 5mm of aluminium intact (i.e. not cutting all the way through) and then use a mallet or hammer to flatten these to the shield blank.

File off the rough edges around all the cuts. Also file down the corners and edges of the aluminium so they are more rounded and don't cut through the hose/string going on top of them.

Now, take your hose and measure off a length a bit longer than the length of the shield edge. Then, cut a straight split all the way down one side of the hosing. This may take some time.
After cutting this split, place the shield blank through the split. This hosing will cover up most of the aluminium and make it far less likely to cut or injure somebody.

Now, drill holes roughly 5-10cm apart (varying between thinner-thicker string/wire). Also, make them 10mm away from the edge of the aluminium. Make sure to get a hole in each corner.

Then you want to thread the holes. Start from the front so you get all the sideways threads along the back of the shield, and tighten the string after every hole. Tie a knot every hole if using thick string, and with smaller thread tie a knot either every hole or every few holes. Make sure to get knots surrounging every corner.

Shield-making Part 1

Ok, so this is how to make a basic SCA tourney shield as described by Lord William de Wyke. (More or less)

Materials required:

12mm plywood, roughly 30''x30''
12mm or 18mm hosing, about 3m
Thick twine or some wiring about 2mm thick
Aluminium 16mm brackets for edging, about 2-2.5m total
6-8 25mm m12 coach bolts, matching nuts and washers with 12mm holes and 30-40mm outside diameter.
Leather for straps (about 40-50cm lengthwise and 6-8cm width
Large buckle for strap
Basket Hilt - or handle + hardened leather hand cup/gauntlet
Drill
Jigsaw
Angle grinder
Scissors
String
Paint
Canvas (optional)

Method:

Take your plywood and find the least knotty area. Ideally, this would be an area about 24''x28'' without knots. As an arbitrary guide to dimensions, measure the distance between the outer tips of your shoulders, and the base of your neck to your groin. This gives you roughly the width and length of your shield.

Next, mark the width of the shield out (we will make this 24" for the purpose of this guide, as this is the width of mine) on your plywood. Draw lines perpendicular to the top edge of the shield (most likely one of the edges of the plywood, provided it is straight) extending down about 6" from these marks.

Now take a piece of string or wire 24" long, find a pin or needle to use as a pivot and take your pencil and attach these to either end. Place the pin at the bottom end of the left hand line on the plywood and the pencil at the bottom of the right hand line. Draw an arc from this point pulling down and left until the arc intersects the arbitrary line extending from the one the pin is on down the shield. Then, swap the pin onto the right hand line and draw the opposing arc from the bottom of the left hand line. The point at which these arcs intersect is the bottom point of the shield, and the arcs are the bottom edges.

Take the jigsaw and cut out the shield blank.

Eeek Crown is HOW SOON??

So I've had this account for ages and never actually posted anything. Hmm.

I realised this while in the middle of making a shield for Crown Tourney, which I'm theoretically competing in on Saturday, provided Crown don't veto my letter of intent, as I still haven't heard back from them >.< I'm really hoping they don't bounce me, because collectively my lady Yseult and I have put in a lot of effort into making us worthy entrants.

Shield, Banner, Surcoat (hopefully, running out of time >.<) and new stick have been made/are being made currently, the shield was put together yesterday with the help of the wonder that is William de Wyke, and I am in the process of painting my (unregistered) armory on it. My lady is finishing the banner - well, once I manage to cut an eagle out of this gold fabric - and I still need to make the surcoat. If I remember I will post a shield-making guide so I can show someone else how to make one of these shields in the future.

Hopefully everything turns out fine. If we don't hear back from Crown by Wednesday I'll be really worried.