I've just finished my first attempt at a Viking shield, which, while not exactly historically correct, I'm rather pleased with. It's made from a 2 foot square piece of plywood, rimmed with rawhide, and features one of the medium shield bosses from Kult of Athena, held in place with the authentic viking screws they sell at Home Depot. the handle is about the toughest piece of oak I've ever come across, and the boss is lined with felt. I haven't weighed it, but I'd guess at about 7-8 pounds.
Thanks for looking :)
Tim

EDIT: Sorry didn't attach :)

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Tim, the shield looks great. Now all you need is a viking-style sword to go with it! :)

Did you put the rawhide on wet and allowed it to shrink?Are you using this for sca combat?

I think it looks pretty good. I hope you do not mind if I ask some questions.

Is there any curvature in the shield? I am not sure if there should be from a historical perspective, but am curious about these things.

Now that you have been through it once, do you have any particular pointers on how you painted the (really nicely done) design? (Pattern, paint type, wood filler, overcoat for protection, etc.?)

Could the leather wrapping have been soaked in water, so as to dry harder and tougher, prior to affixing it to the perimeter? (This would seem like an easy enough thing to do if you can get a moderately heavy weight vegetable tanned leather. I don't know if raw hide behaves that way. I don't know if this was done historically, but would guess seafaring warriors in low walled boats would have ended up with water soaked leather one way or another.)

Thanks for the replies, and I know about the sword, I'm looking at the Windlass Sticklestad, as it's in my price range, but a Rob Miller or Arms and Armor custom would really complement it nicely, don't you think? I stuck the Sword of Auray in for fun, and it's closer in period to my St. Michael Falchion, so I guess that'll be my justification :).

Jared Smith wrote:

Is there any curvature in the shield? I am not sure if there should be from a historical perspective, but am curious about these things.)

No, I didn't curve the shield, it seemed a bit too much for the first one, but I have an extra boss, so maybe a curved kite is next

Jared Smith wrote:

Now that you have been through it once, do you have any particular pointers on how you painted the (really nicely done) design? (Pattern, paint type, wood filler, overcoat for protection, etc.?)

Painting is time consuming but actually pretty easy. I divided the shield into six sections, then too a pencil on a string in the center of each of the radii and made the curve from the edge of the boss. The design I drew up and traced it to wax paper, then covered with tape and cut it out (to be more sturdy), and stenciled it onto the shield. This was a lot of work and I still had a lot of touching up to do, though fortunately the paint wiped off relatively easily with a wooden skewer. Next time I might just draw the design straight onto the primer. Oh, and there is a coat of primer, about 2 1/2 coats of the white paint and just one of the blue with touch ups

Jared Smith wrote:

Could the leather wrapping have been soaked in water, so as to dry harder and tougher, prior to affixing it to the perimeter? (This would seem like an easy enough thing to do if you can get a moderately heavy weight vegetable tanned leather. I don't know if raw hide behaves that way. I don't know if this was done historically, but would guess seafaring warriors in low walled boats would have ended up with water soaked leather one way or another.

To answer both of your questions, yes, the rawhide was soaked in water overnight then rung out and nailed on using upholstery nails, which I actually think look pretty good and is a breeze, probably the easiest part of the entire project. the rawhide dries extremely hard, it's kind of medieval concrete, I wouldn't want to try to chop through it with my Sword of Auray :)

A nice first attempt Tim. I've been toying with the idea of giving this a swing myself eventually, I've been buying books and things to that end lately...

Looks good....It will look much better with the Viking sword on it! I like the painting very much. Well done!

Very nice, even if it is very small. Hope to eventually make myself one!

M.

Have you ever thought about a oval/celtic oval(either a small squat oval around 24 x20....or more of a rounded rectangle with a little bit of belly on top and bottom)?....They decorate up real purdy. :lol:

I love the paint job.
What kind of a grip did you use?

:)

where did you find the boss exactly? this looks like an interesting project:)

Hi, Brent,
You can get them from a variety of places, such as viking-shield.com for the more authentic ones hammered instead of spun. I got mine at Kult of Athena, as they are much more affordable, I think that one cost 17.99 plus S&H, I just finished another that I'll post pics of as soon as my computer is fixed, and I definitely encourage you to make one, it's not particularly difficult and way cheaper than buying one. Good Luck!

That is a first class job you've done. Out-bloody-standing!

Looks good, but from my experience, you could have done it using half the nails you have used.

Another tip (if you intend to actually use the shield) is to glue to the outside surface a layer of linen, this will serve the dual purpose of making the shield less inclined to splinter, hide the fact that you have used plywood and provide a nice surface that will take paint really well.