How to make a round shield umbon. Viking shield
Viking shield.
Good day, reader! Today I will talk about how to make a simple round shield viking. This is certainly not , but in sezha it is interesting and necessary !!
A bit of history: Shields of this type, that is, Scandinavian, had a round shape, and the size varied from 65 to 90 cm. According to archaeologists.
The Vikings made their shields from different types of wood of pine, ash, maple, linden, oak, depending on where they lived during a given period. The greatest preference was given to boards made of ash or oak due to the strength of these species, the lightest was a board made of linden. The thickness of the boards also depended on the type of wood and varied in the side-altars from 12 to 6 mm. In connection with such data, I recommend for you to use, as the simplest and best option and who is the cheapest, plain ordinary plywood 6 - 8 mm thick with a diameter of up to 90 cm.
Let's start making:
Material:
Plywood 6 - 8 mm thick;
Glue (preferably PVA) or casein fish (when glued with leather); burlap or flax (I recommend several layers), I took a bag of sugar;
Strong nylon threads;
The skin is preferably thicker (you can save money and choose another suitable material);
Metal with a thickness of 1 to 2 mm .;
I used enamel paints (this is optional);
Rivet nails;
Stain;
Varnish;
Tool:
Hammer, pencil, ruler, electric jigsaw, grinder with a circle 1.5 - 2 mm thick, sandpaper. It seems that I have not forgotten anything, well, you yourself, you know what, the tool you need is right for you!
We start manufacturing
: We take the prepared plywood and mark two circles, one with the diameter of your board, take approximately 800 mm. Another umbong in diameter (slightly larger than your fist).
Advice: in order to get a good circle, we take a board with any length, width
I screw a self-tapping screw through 3 - 4 cm from one end, and at the required distance I drill a hole for a pencil. In this way, even circles are obtained.
Having made the necessary movement, we get the first result.
The next action was cut on the inside of the board under the imitation of boards, as well as opening with stain and varnish (do not overdo it with tone).
After everything is dry, we start making the handle and two side strips (we take the material - oak, birch, ash) and rivet them in accordance with the pattern you applied on the boards (I used nails as rivets, those that protrude from the other side, bite off with pliers and rivet).
And now the first hints appear that you have shield, not a piece of plywood.
We pass to the next step: you need to glue the shield with sacking on the outside (to cushion impacts on the shield). We take glue and apply it to the front of the product, and I advise you not to regret it. We take the burlap and fit it on the shield, smoothing it so that there are no air jams and various types of irregularities. Smooth? So it’s wonderful to wait for it to dry a little and repeat the operation several times without sparing glue. When everything is dry, we cut the burlap along the contour of the shield.
Umbon is knocked out of a metal blank with a thickness of 1.5 to 3 mm. Preferably steel (so more reliable). If the steel is thicker than 3 mm, the process occurs in two stages with intermediate annealing with a gas burner. Remember the umbon you need to make it as comfortable as possible for your fist in future battles.
Viking Age shields.
The large round shields of the Vikings were made, apparently, in accordance with some special tradition. The most famous examples of whole specimens - those found on the sides of a ship from Gokstad, Norway (Figure 1) - date from AD 905. NS. (Bonde and Christensen 1993). They are similar to the shields from Thorsberg (Raddatz 1987).
Design and dimensions.
The usual size of shields of that time was 80-90 cm in diameter (see Table 1). For comparison - shields found in pagan Anglo-Saxon burials (23 specimens) - from 42 to 92 cm; from Thorsberg - 7 specimens, Roman Iron Age - from 65 to 104 cm in diameter; Välsgarde, Sweden - 3 specimens, Wendel period - from 84 to 110 cm in diameter). The field of the shield was flat; made of one layer of planks (boards), knocked down (fastened) together. Gokstad shields are made from seven or eight pine planks (soft conifers seem to have been used most, but not always) in varying widths, with fewer wider planks appearing to be more practical; for example, the center plank of a Wendelian shield from Välsgarde was 52 cm wide. The planks were usually 6-10 mm thick (Table 2); to the edges decreased (Fig. 1, Table 2). The hypotheses about the existence of multilayer structures have not yet been confirmed (Härke 1981).
Fig. 1 - Shield from a burial at Gokstad, Vestfold, Norway, 905 AD. Diameter 94 cm (Nicolaysen 1882).
a. Front view. Umbo type - Rygh 564.
b. Back side; the holes for attaching the rim (skin) and one wooden plank serving as a handle are visible - the rest of the structural reinforcement visible in the photo are modern additions.
with. Sectional side view; thinning towards the edges is visible.
The strips were glued to one another whenever possible. In addition, the umbo, handle and rim (edge trim) (see below), as well as the leather cover, provided additional strength. Some of the Birka shields were topped with thin leather, and some early English shields were covered on both sides (Arwidsson 1986; Dickinson and Härke 1992). However, the GOSTAD shield bars were painted, indicating that they were not covered with leather (Lowe 1990). It can even be assumed that their shape and fragility of the structure suggested only the use in burial, for which they were made; they were hardly battle shields. It is interesting to note that the shields from Gokstad are structurally similar to the shield found in a peat bog in Tirskom, Latvia (Tirsk peat bog) (Figure 1.1).
Fig 1.1 - Shield 1, found in Tirskom, Latvia. Left - found, right - reconstruction.
Shield 1... This shield, dating from the 9th century, was assembled from six spruce or fir planks (Yrtan 1961). The diameter of the shield is 85.5 cm, the thickness of the planks is 0.6 cm. On both sides the shield is covered with leather and padded with compressed grass, possibly in order to soften the blow. In some places on the edge, the leather is fixed (nailed (?) Or sewn (?)).
Interestingly, the shield umbil from the Tyrian peat bog is made of wood, although it is identical in shape and size to the local iron samples (another wooden umbo was found at the site of a Slavic settlement in GrossRaden, Northern Germany). Umbon measures 13.1 by 10.5 cm and covers the hole in the center with a width of 11.5 cm. It is riveted with 14 rivets (which have not survived). Impact marks on the surface of the skin and the umbone indicate that the shield was used in battle.
Shield 2. From the second shield found in Tirskom, only the middle plank was found, or rather, only a part of it. It was made of some kind of coniferous tree and measures 68 x 11.8 x 1.4 cm.The quadrangular hole for the arm is located (presumably) in the center of the field, thus suggesting a width of the shield of 73 cm.It is interesting that the field is curved, perhaps it was convex shield.
Umbon.
A round hole was made in the center of the shield (at least this was the case in the Gokstad shields; oval, 8- and D-shaped ones are known from materials belonging to the Wendelian and earlier periods. The second shield from Tirskom had a square hole). It (hole) was closed by a hemispherical iron umbon, the diameter of which was about 15 cm (including the fields); the umbon covered the handle. The iron on the dome was quite thick (3-5mm), although the umbon's margins were thinner ( S.K. : about a dozen old Russian umbons measured by me gave a thickness of about 1.5 mm, so 3-5 mm is a clear overkill).
Umbon had two main forms - the early style (variant) had a high dome and a clear "neck" (neck, interception) (Fig. 2-a) Late style (variant) - a low dome without a "neck" (Fig. 2-b) , although the complete displacement of the early style by the later did not occur. Less common were the low version (Figure 2-c) and the sphero-conical (Figure 2-d), sometimes with a ridge at the apex.
Rice. 2 - shield beams.
The only examples of scalloped booms are from Telemark, Norway (Fig. 3-a); Birka, Sweden and Ile de Groix, France (Fig. 3-e). In the last burial, several unique booms with unusual flanges were found (Fig. 3-d, c, d, e), possibly of Western European origin (Mueller-Wille 1978).
Usually the umbon was attached with iron nails (rivets), the points (ends) of which were either bent or riveted on the back of the shield (Fig. 3-d, h). ( S.K. : the most common is fastening with nails, rivets are found, but less often). The specimens found in Birka usually contain 4 nails, sometimes six (as in Gokstad). There are also cases of fastening with five rivets, as in Cronk Moar, Man and Groix, France.
The fields of some of the booms were angled, possibly because they were attached to the convex field of the shield. Birka also includes umbons, the fields of which were decorated with overhead plates of non-ferrous metal (Fig. 3-f, g), and the heads of the rivets were inlaid (?) Or tinned (Arwidsson 1986).
Fig. 3 - shield beams.
a - scalloped umbil, Telemark, Norway
b-e - Ile de Groix, France. The ends of the nails are often riveted rather than bent.
f - Birka, tinned application is shown.
g - Birka, copper edging on the flange.
h - Birka, the rivets bend can be seen in the side view.
Handle.
Apparently it was only wooden, judging by the majority of burials, where there are not so many remains as in Gokstad; there, a thin strip is riveted to the boards from edge to edge and serves as a handle (at the point where it intersects the central hole) (see Fig. 1). On more beautifully made shields, a curved iron plate was superimposed on the wooden core, usually ornamented with an engraved bronze leaf or silver inlay (Fig. 4-a)
Rice. 4 - handles of shields, 10th century.
a - Two fragments of a silver decorated iron handle with a wooden core from a burial at Hedeby, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
b - fragment of the "spatula" end of the handle, Gokstad.
c-d - three-pointed bronze grips in the form of human-animal images, burials of Hedeby and Birka.
The handle was long, often spanning the entire diameter of the shield, and tapering towards the ends. The ends of the handle could be fitted with a "shovel-shaped" pad, which was also riveted (Fig. 4-b); or everything was fastened with various bronze fasteners (overlays) (Fig. 4-c, d). Sometimes the rivets holding the umbon also passed through the handle. The handle could have been wrapped in leather.
Strengthening the edge.
Most of the finds do not confirm the presence of edge reinforcement, which may indicate either its (reinforcement) absence, or the manufacture of a material that deteriorates relatively quickly, and, therefore, has not survived to our time. Small holes were drilled in the shields from Gokstad at a distance of about 2 cm from the edge at intervals of 3.5 cm (Fig. 1-a, b), possibly in order to fasten the rim, all other traces of which have not survived. It can be assumed that a strip of leather ran along the edge, tied in with stitches or nailed with thin nails.
Rice. 5 - Metal clips from shield rims.
a - burial in Birka, Sweden. Type A is a simple U-bracket.
b - Burial at Birka, Sweden. Type B - with an extension for attaching a leather strip.
c - Lindholm Hшye 1112, Denmark. There are traces of chasing (?) Around the rivet.
Burials sometimes contain small brackets made of iron or bronze plates (Fig. 5). The brackets were sometimes decorated with tinning, embossing, or engraving (Fig. 5-c). In Birka, shields were found in which the brackets were attached to one another continuously along the edge (Fig. 6); however, only fragments of the rim have survived, which may mean deliberate (?) damage to the shield before burial.
Rice. 6 - Burial at Birka Bj736, 10th century
a - shields as they were found during excavations
b - reconstruction (Peter Beatson)
Sometimes several staples were evenly distributed around the rim, perhaps to secure around the edge of a leather strip that sometimes leaves marks. The staples from burial Bj 850 were attached over a leather border (Fig. 7), although their small number and uneven distribution suggest that this (leather fastening) is not their main purpose. They, for example, could strengthen the joints of the planks or the damaged edge.
Rice. 7 - Burial at Birka Bj850, 10th century
a - shield, as from found during excavations (Arbman, 1943).
1 - umbilicus, 2 - rim brackets, 3 - the end of the handle (near the remains)
b - shield reconstruction (Peter Beatson)
c - section - section with a bronze bracket; showing the shield material, leather cladding, and a strip along the edge.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, today we will talk about the round shield, which was used by both our ancestors - the Slavs, and the northern Scandinavian warriors known to the whole world - the Vikings. I want to say right away that this is not a reconstruction, i.e. the way to create the shield is not historical. But this does not mean that he is not real.
Will need
- Boards. Part of the pallet, part of it was just lying around in the country.
- Joiner's glue. Any wood glue will do.
- Rivets.
- Iron sheet.
Making a shield
We are not looking for simple ways, so we will not make a shield from plywood or furniture board (a shield from a shield, cool), but from boards. These are:
And you ask me how to make something cool from a pile of these old boards? But in no way! First you need to stitch all the blanks.
In the process, I replaced some of the original boards. Light attrition with time gives the tree a special charm, but outright rot is already superfluous. If you buy an edged board (you can have one long one, and then saw it into the necessary parts), then you will not have to plan it much, and if you go along a difficult path and take old boards, you will have to adjust the ends. This I mean that all the blanks should fit well to each other. This is necessary for the next stage - gluing. Oh yes. All boards should be no more than 10 mm thick. The shield should be light, the historical Viking shield could be 8 mm in the middle, and already 5 mm to the edges. More than 1 battle of the shield should not have been enough, only the umbon is tenacious, but more on that later.
I glued all the boards on a workbench, on three sides of which were attached stops in the form of bars. I glued the ends with wood glue. Moment. Very good glue, by the way, I used it for the electric guitar deck, and glued it, well, the shield. All ends were glued and joined in turn. Then a third stop was attached to the workbench, which clamped all the boards, and two more boards were placed on top, and gypsum blocks on them. This is so that all the gluing does not lead. I left the glue to dry for about a day.
After that, a circle of 74 cm in diameter was drawn. Not the largest or the smallest, in general I chose this size specifically for myself.
Then I started making the umbon. In general, it should be made of steel about 4 mm, but then I decided to follow the path of less resistance. I found an iron plate with a thickness of a little more than one mm, and began to bend it into a hemisphere.
To do this, I dug a pipe into the ground, put a plate on top, heated it constantly with a burner and beat an old dumbbell.
After that, holes were drilled along the edges of the umbon, and I also cleaned it of old paint and smoked it over the fire. Also, leather was glued to the inside of the umbon.
Now we mark in the center of the shield a hole for the umbon and carry out drilling and chisel work. That is, we drill along the edges of the marking, and then we knock out the circle with a chisel, those places that were not drilled. And we also drill the umbon itself and the shield along the edges of the rivet hole.
We fasten the umbon to the shield with rivets. And paint the shield with stain. I used a mixture of mahogany and mocha. It turned out quite interesting. With different lighting and different angles, the color is dark saturated, then dull light.
Next, I made a handle from a pine block. Why pine? Because I was lying close at hand, why else ?!
The handle is attached to the shield also by rivets and to each board to strengthen the shield.
Then I found black and brown leather, which was cut into strips and nailed to the shield with small studs. On the reverse side, all the skin had to be additionally attached with a large stapler, because the nails were too short. Go to the store and buy the desired length of carnations? No, not our option.
This completes the production of the shield. And yes, we tried to beat him with an ax and, lo and behold, he survived! It's better not to repeat this, even if you make a shield and you are not sure of it.
There is a rune ax, there is a shield, it remains to make a drakkar and go on a campaign!
This article will walk you through the process of creating by their by hand lightweight and durable armor made from a material called Wonderflex.
Wonderflex is a very versatile material, but there are certain restrictions on its use.
In the images above, all of the armor pieces except for the helmet were made from a combination of Wonderflex and Apoxie.
Step 1: What is Wonderflex?
Wonderflex is a low-melting thermoplastic ("activation" temperature 150 ° -170 ° F), with a woven fiber backing on one side. When heated, the material can stretch, repeat the shape of the workpiece.
Wonderflex sheets can be joined together. The more you heat the material, the stronger the bond will be. I recommend using heat guns for heating, but you can also microwave smaller pieces.
Let's take "by condition" that most people have at home: markers, rulers, well-lit workplaces. I would like to suggest a set of tools for working with Wonderflex:
- Heat gun;
- Trauma scissors (they have a serrated edge that allows you to cut 3 layers of Wonderflex quite easily);
- Hand punch (Wonderflex is pretty bad to drill. For clean holes, punch is best);
- Roller - for gluing sheets together;
- Blanks for forming armor elements;
- Sanding sponges - for smoothing the texture of the material;
- Polyester filler and primer;
- Soldering iron;
- Respirator, gloves and goggles;
For the volumetric parts, we will use a material called Apoxie Sculpt (clay), which hardens overnight, dries, almost no shrinkage and is easy to sand. There are some clay tools that come in handy when working with Apoxie.
Step 3: create armor templates
Any project always starts with drawings. There are many ways to get them. First of all, if the image of the desired replica is in a video game, an experienced craftsman will be able to extract files in the form of a 3D model, which can be manipulated.
I had a mannequin that matched the size of my torso. After printing out the set of armor templates, tape the pieces together to visualize the shape of the armor. If the pieces do not match and need additional adjustments, make the necessary changes to the template, and then print a new piece.
Paper is a good counterpart for Wonderflex. Take the time to customize your templates. If you can tune all the elements properly, you can save a lot of time and frustration later on when trying to mold the Wonderflex.
Step 4: increase the thickness of the sheets
Once the templates are sorted, it's time to transfer them to Wonderflex.
The thickness of one layer is actually quite small and the material will not hold a given shape when subjected to any action on it. In addition, when forming parts from only one layer, the material will wrinkle along those areas that are stretched. To solve this problem, we will connect several sheets together before forming parts of the suit from them.
For larger areas like chest and back, it was decided to use three layers. We heat them with a heat gun, and then roll them with a roller. In order to pre-fasten the sheets together so that they do not move during rolling, you can use a pin or similar object. However, I recommend that you first make sure that the heated Wonderflex will not stick to the surface of the roller. My roller has a silicone drum, so this was not a problem.
For other parts that are less prone to wear and tear (shoulders and hips), use 2 sheets each to make a preliminary base for the armor elements.
Step 5: main components
After the sheets have been compacted, it is time to cut the blanks.
It is much easier to cut a shape from a pre-formed piece. After all, if you cut a piece and then stretch it in shape, the end result will be "crooked".
The first picture shows an "empty" panel. This part was made from 2 layers of Wonderflex. We will use an old plastic pipe (you can use any non-porous and heat-resistant material) to achieve the desired curvature. You can use large PVC pipe adapters - the clean lines and high temperature resistance make them an excellent tool for forming Wonderflex. In order to prevent sticking, cover a part of the sheet with metallized tape.
Use a bucket of cold water to cool simple molds.
After heating the sheet, give it the desired shape, then immerse it in water. It takes about 5 minutes to cool completely (in air), but using the "bucket" method, the process takes seconds.
After we have got the desired shape, take a pattern and circle it on the workpiece. We use small clamps to hold the template in place while drawing.
After transferring the contours of the template, just cut out the desired shape. As I wrote earlier, Wonderflex used trauma scissors for cutting. Although a stationery knife, it also works great.
Step 6: Warm up, shape, bend, repeat ...
There are some pieces of armor that cannot be obtained using the above method.
Unlike the previous stage, you first need to transfer the drawing and only after that gradually form the element of the costume.
Starting from the lower leg, I shaped the main details using the mannequin's leg. While this allowed me to achieve fairly accurate basic shapes, there were fine lines and wavy edges. In this case, in order to smooth them out, you need to concentrate on one area, heat it, form curves, and then soak in a bucket of ice water.
Step 7:
In Figure 2, you can see the method for shaping the back and chest sections. Since these parts are too large to fit in a bucket of ice water, start the heating process by placing a damp towel on top of a sheet. Upon completion, the workpiece is covered with a second towel dipped in ice water.
We repeat this process several times until we reach the desired shape. It took several passes and stretch marks at the corners and edges to get to this “point”.
In the picture, you can see the front chest plate after molding. Let's make small cuts along the arms and neck in order to stretch the shape along the edges and increase the curvature. Then cover them with thin Wonderflex strips to reinforce the seams. If the armor needs to be smooth in these areas, you can close these cuts on the back to give the finish a smooth look.
After the pieces are formed, it is a good idea to try them on on the mannequin to make sure all the seams match.
Step 8: add the overlays
Wonderflex works great with large surfaces and wide shapes, but for more defined areas and crisp details, you will need to use a different material.
I prefer to use Apoxie Sculpt 2-component epoxy clay. All volumetric details, with the exception of the shoulder pads, were sculpted from it.
I would like to note that placing additional parts (on the shin) will hide the seam line between the two halves of the Wonderflex and will make the surface of the armor piece a whole. Apoxie abrades fairly well.
To make rivets for armor, we will use furniture nails. Pre-drill a hole, cut off the pointed end and glue them in place with superglue.
Step 9: sand and smooth the surface
Do not forget to put on a respirator beforehand. All work should be done outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.
The first step is coarse sanding of the formed armor pieces. Depending on how well you sculpted the shapes, the process can be either very short or very long.
After the surface of the clay is leveled, cover the parts with three coats of automotive primer. Any small bumps and ripples will need to be smoothed out. For small imperfections, we will use putty as a filler. It is important to apply small coats of putty on parts that will be prone to folds, because it can break during folds.
For the chest and back, which have many small dents, we use the sponge sanding method.
If you have deep blemishes or large dents, you can use polyester filler. This filler may bend slightly, which allows the Wonderflex to not fully stiffen.
After applying the filler, apply a couple more coats of primer. If you are going to age the surface of the armor, you may leave some external imperfections.
By sanding Wonderflex you can get the edges where the fibers stick out. A quick pass with a hot knife or a soldering iron will fix this problem.
