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.