Sean's blog My ramblings…

[WIP] Center-grip shield, part 5

I received my last box of rivets yesterday (2.5" long) for attaching the handle/grip.  I had since also purchased a 4x4x0.5" steel bench block which made peening these rivets much easier than the prior ones (I was using my bench vise as an anvil, basically).

I had also received 2 of the 3 sheets of leather required for edging (1 is late due to a shipping error).  It's pretty heavy stuff, about 10oz.

[WIP] Center-grip shield, part 4

Turns out that bolts do not make for good rivets.  I hammered down two and both did mushroom out but the excess kept breaking off.  So I had to order another box of rivets (ugh another $19 with shipping).  I also ordered enough 10oz leather to cover the edges.  At this rate I'm shooting for completion by the end of the first weekend in September.

[WIP] Center-grip shield, part 3

I taped off and painted the shield yellow and black in a quartered pattern.  I started riveting on the boss tonight.  After about an hour of hammering, I managed to almost finish two rivets.  I was making quite a racket and decided to call it a night at 10PM.  Classes start tomorrow so I may not finish attaching the boss until the weekend.  After that I'll have to decide on what I'm doing about edging...

[WIP] Center-grip shield, part 2

Cut, shaped, and coated the center grip today.  Also covered the shield in canvas.  I'll trim the inside edges (and just generally clean it up) and prime it tomorrow.

[WIP] Center-grip shield, part 1

Lucky for me, Menard's carries baltic birch plywood.  I picked up an 8'x4'x0.5" sheet.  It appears to be 9 ply, though it isn't terribly obvious by looking at it and it also wasn't labeled as such.  I only found a couple of very small voids (2-3mm in size) and the sheet wasn't at all warped.  Menard's BB seems to be pretty decent quality.

I proceeded to cut out a 28" circle with the jigsaw, then cut a 5" center hole for the boss, and lastly drill mounting holes for the boss.  After sanding the edges, I sealed it with a couple coast of polyurethane.  I opted to not cut and join planks to make the construction easier on myself, even though it deviates from from historical accuracy.  I may try making a shield later our of 1/2" planks of pine at a later point (I'm particularly curious about how the weight would compare).

I'll be covering this in canvas (far more economical than leather or rawhide), installing a pine 2x2 center-grip handle, and start painting it later in the week.  I also ordered 1/4" rivets to attach the boss.  I'm still deciding on where to get leather for edging.

Toys!

I had made a trip to Kult of Athena down in Elgin this past Saturday. Pretty awesome store! I simply couldn't help myself and I made a few purchases...

• Windlass Viking spear head
• 7' ash (spear) pole
• shield boss
• Hanwei Tinker Norman Sword

I like the sword though it'll take a bit of getting used to using a handshake grip instead of a hammer grip to avoid the pommel digging into my wrist.  I purchased the "sharp" version, though it's not very sharp at all.  I'll probably fix that next week as sanding belts are in the mail.  Lastly, I'll be taking some fine grit sandpaper to the pommel and guard to give them a satin finish that matches the blade (I just so happen to prefer satin anyways).

I started on the spear today.  The belt sander did a good job of tapering the end of the spear to fit the spear head and it only took about 10 minutes including hauling stuff out and back inside.  The head fits on really snug and the first coat of poly is drying on the pole outside right now.   I anticipate I'll have the spear finished on Friday at which time I can start on a round shield.