Historically, Viking shields were made with a wood similar to basswood, and designed to be lightweight with a typical thickness of 1/4", diameter ranging from 24" to 30", and weighing about 7 pounds. Cut for a center grip with a metal shield boss to protect the hand, shields were used to parry rather block. A linen or leather cover greatly increased the durability of the shield by preventing splitting: without linen, a shield would split and become useless after about 4 solid axe blows, with linen, the shield would not split, and could still be used effectively after many more blows.
My goal for this project will be to create an authentic looking shield that is as historically accurate as possible, lightweight, but strong enough to be useful during a Zombie Apocalypse. For the core I will use a combination of 1/8" plywood, 1/8" poplar planks, and canvas, cut to 24" diameter.
1 comment:
Weight estimation assuming poplar density is 25lb/ft^3, .25" thickness, ((10^2*pi))/(144*48)*25
Hardware: 4.5 lbs
10" radius @ .25": +1.25 lbs = 5.75 lbs
12" radius @ .25": +1.50 lbs = 6.00 lbs
14" radius @ .25": +2.25 lbs = 6.75 lbs
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