I have read some interesting threads on making a curved Heather shield by gluing plywood sheets in a curved press. Can this process also work to make a ROUND dome-shaped shield? I'm looking for a way to make a shallow bowl shape...not R2D2's head :p

Any ideas?

Does it have to be wood?

i know of 1 guy in the usa the a domed round. Atli from markland. i believe he used 2 1/4 inc ply wood blanks that he had previously cut the shapes out of and glued them together. then he rigged some kind of weight system thru the center grip hole that pulled the inner part of the shield downwards while the edges were held in place at a higher elivation.

now when i saw the shield it was several years later and its form was being lost do to heavy use. he said something about needing to resoak it and shape it again. so i dunno what he was planning to do. (maybe soak the plywood in water then do the weighted center again?)

If you go with 1/4" to 3/8", it can be pretty easy to get a shallow dish. I did it by accident when I was glueing some thin fabric onto the face of the shield. You water you glue down, brush it on, add fabric, and as it dries it will dome slightly. If I ever get the time to work on an anglo saxon shield again I want to try it with either a soaked leather or rawhide. Both should have more pull to it than that thin layer of fabric. Depending on the thickness of rawhide it might even be able to bust 1/4" ply, I'm not sure. Can't promise anything, but it is sure what I would try if you aren't wanting a 1/2" thick shield that needs to take a ton of abuse.

Shane

Just call me Shane...

You aren't being thick at all, I just forgot to mention that. The fabric, or whatever, will be on the convex side. I'm not sure that it makes since to me, sometimes it seems too and others it doesn't.

Shane

Thanks all for the good ideas...I've got some stuff to chew on for sure!

Ken, you read my mind! I was sorely disappointed when United Cutlery decided not to produce Boromir's shield and the sword looks lonely hanging on my wall. I'm still digging up reference for it but I'm close enough to start THINKING about how to make it.

As for other projects, I'm about halfway finished with a full size replica of Thor's Mjolnir from the comic "The Ultimates". Verily, it will be a big f**ker!
:lol:

Here are some pics of my shield. I still have to cap the points. The boss came from TherionArms. I used carriage bolts and acorn nuts for this project, the next one I will try rivets.