Shield 2 - Update 1

Well, I have the day off today so I thought I would put it to good use.  I borrowed the circular saw from work and, with the two sheets of plywood clamped together, began to make some rough cuts to get the shape started.  Obviously, only so much I could accomplish with that so then I broke out the Dremel to do some finer work.  The shape is still very rough so I've got some sanding ahead of me to refine everything - especially all the curves.

With the shape set I put down a solid layer of wood glue and got it clamped up for the afternoon.  Sadly, didn't have as many clamps as I needed so I've got some bag clips on there to help keep it together... Note to self, buy more clamps!  Also a weight and a growler (full of water) set in the middle just to keep the pressure all over. Glue claims it'll be dry in 30min but I'm thinking i'll give it a couple hours and then start the sanding!

Next project, next day, next shield...

That's right!  Finished my first shield Tuesday night and it was so much fun I thought I would make another!  Got the design drawn up yesterday, photo attached.  Using a more classic kite shield like design for this one - it'll be roughly 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide at it's tallest/widest points.  For the metal bits I am going to stick with the compass rose design like I used on my previous shield but I'm contemplating trying to "distress" half of each point using the Dremel or some sand paper to give it a little more dimension. 

I think I am going to stick with the same general construction technique I used on the previous shield.  2 layers of plywood, stain and clear coat.  Then, some leather on the back which will wrap around to the front and be tacked down into place.  The compass rose I'll cut out of sheet metal and also tack into place.

I'm a little concerned about cutting out the curvey bits from the plywood to set the initial shape.  I don't have a jigsaw so I think I'll cut as close as I can in straight lines with the circular saw and then use a combination of the Dremel and aggressive sanding to get the shape smoothed out.

This time, I'll do a better job of documenting the construction throughout the process and try to update regularly... So stay tuned!

Shield!

So, it has been a very long time (over two years apparently) since I updated this blog and that I certainly regret... Mostly because there has been a lot of awesome projects between then and now!  The latest can be seen here; my medieval inspired shield!  I say medieval inspired because I can't find any record of anyone ever using octagonal shields back in the middle ages; however, since it was my first attempt at anything like this I decided to use a design that was mostly straight lines and just having a rectangle seemed boring. The design came to me about a week ago in the middle of the night and kept me awake until 4am which was unfortunate...  However, I think the end result is worth it.  This past week has been a flurry of activity (and multiple trips to the hardware store) as I've put it all together. 

As you can see, I began with 2 layers of quarter inch plywood which I cut into shape and then glued together.  Once this set up I did 3 layers of stain and 3 layers of varnish to help keep it protected.  While all of these layers were drying, I began to cut my pieces out of a thin piece of sheet steel.

Because my plywood base wasn't perfectly symmetrical I had to keep the entire project and all of the pieces oriented throughout the assembly to ensure that everything would fit correctly at the end.  To this end, I attached the center compass rose piece first using a rivet in the very center of the shield and then worked my way around in a circle laying out each of the smaller pieces of metal.

Once all of my varnish had dried I attached a 1/8inch thick piece of leather to the back of the shield using some common super glue.  Sadly, it turns out that super glue doesn't stick super well to the combination of leather and varnished wood; lesson learned.  But thankfully I already had 2 other plans for ensuring that this piece of leather stayed in place.

The first was actually a wonderfully happy "two birds with one stone" scenario with attaching the handle and forearm strap. Both of these are made from 1/4" thick by 1" wide piece of leather that I had around the house - originally I was going to make a belt from it. Both of these are riveted on place through the entire shield.  I did my best, with the metal spokes laid out, to hide these rivets completely from view.  My measurements weren't perfect though so about 1/4 of one of the rivets is sticking out in one place... Overall, for my first try though I think it worked pretty well!  I'm hoping that these rivets hold into the future and used some washers to help ensure that the rivets got a good hold of the leather strap but only time will tell.

Since I discovered that super glue wouldn't work so well for attaching the metal bits to the wood I went to plan b. I used some little 3/8" brass nails to secure the metal the whole way around.  Originally I had hoped to use the glue and the nails but no such luck.  Again, I am hoping that as time goes on these little nails will be sufficient to hold everything together.  To help, however, after attaching all the metal pieces I put down another 3 layers of varnish.  I know it seems excessive but varnish is kind of like glue, right?

Finally, with everything else in place it was time to finish the edges.  I left an extra inch of material on the leather that I used to line the back and wrapped it around the side to the front of the shield.  I found some pewter finish furniture tacks on Amazon which worked perfectly for doing a line around the perimeter of the shield, holding the leather in place + providing a nice touch of decoration.  I did it all freehand and you can see in the pictures that it is far from perfect.  While that bothers me to some degree, at the same time I kind of like the "hand finished" feel.  Maybe I'm just saying that to make myself feel better about the imperfections....

Anyway - I don't know why it won't let me re-order the photos below to be in the order of operations but I am glad to get back to this blog and start adding some new content!  I think the end result (last couple of photos) is pretty great! It goes well with my sword and some of the chainmaille I made; please excuse the goofy grin on my face though, I had been awake since 5:30 am and it was sometime after midnight last night when I finally finished... Let me know what you think!