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Post by mvuieh on Aug 9, 2023 18:09:22 GMT
I've been researching late roman round shields (200AD+), the ones one would typically associate with the Byzantine army. I've noticed a lot of the depictions from artists show them to be concave while the only existing find in Dura Europos was flat (like Viking shields except gripped horizontally instead of vertically).
So were they flat or concave? How do you even go about making a concave shield from flat pieces of wood planks?
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Post by glendon on Aug 9, 2023 18:38:03 GMT
I've been researching late roman round shields (200AD+), the ones one would typically associate with the Byzantine army. I've noticed a lot of the depictions from artists show them to be concave while the only existing find in Dura Europos was flat (like Viking shields except gripped horizontally instead of vertically). So were they flat or concave? How do you even go about making a concave shield from flat pieces of wood planks? If they were curved: Soak the wood, bend it and bind it, and let it dry. Like ship-building. |
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Post by mvuieh on Aug 9, 2023 18:50:07 GMT
I've been researching late roman round shields (200AD+), the ones one would typically associate with the Byzantine army. I've noticed a lot of the depictions from artists show them to be concave while the only existing find in Dura Europos was flat (like Viking shields except gripped horizontally instead of vertically). So were they flat or concave? How do you even go about making a concave shield from flat pieces of wood planks? If they were curved: Soak the wood, bend it and bind it, and let it dry. Like ship-building. How do you make a flat piece of wood concave though? That will require the wood to bend in two directions. |
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Post by glendon on Aug 11, 2023 20:49:46 GMT
If they were curved: Soak the wood, bend it and bind it, and let it dry. Like ship-building. How do you make a flat piece of wood concave though? That will require the wood to bend in two directions. I do not know, exactly. Are you certain they began with flat planks? How are wooden bowls made? |
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mrstabby
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Post by mrstabby on Aug 12, 2023 8:30:11 GMT
You can either carve a bowl from a bigger piece or soften wood in steam and bend it over a shape mold. You can bend steamed wood to an unbelievable degree. The bent wood keeps its fibre direction and is pretty strong, you can strenghten the shield by using a lamination process (multiple layers with different grain direction glued together after bending them into form) and this also will be easier since the wood is thinner and does not need to be steamed but you can soften it just by wetting it with a spray bottle as far as I know. Thicker wood must be steamed (or soaked) for a few hours to bend it without breaking.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Aug 12, 2023 14:02:43 GMT
I couldn’t find the video I was looking for where the shield was made of planks, as would have been used on the originals, by an English craftsman. But I can tell you plywood is easier to work with and once covered and painted one cannot tell the difference. And I believe plywood shields can be made lighter. Weight is important. Do a search on YouTube. Here are a number of techniques people have used with plywood. Tod talks about both construction methods but doesn’t show actual construction. Each video has points that are missing in others. Although medieval shields you can use the same techniques.
Remove the ‘!’ in front of each link.
!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcW3nL684jE
!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P6sBp3Rjlk
!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdoWw_K3EIQ
!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MOulir3Owg
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