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.