How to make a Viking Shield

True to the Scandanavian laws of the 10th century. (mostly)

Viking shields were made from light woods but sturdy. Alot of people use plywood to make shields but because we are making ours the authentic way we will be butting planks together.

Choose 4 or five planks roughly 20cm wide by 1 cm thick. Pine planks will do, however for a truly authentic shield you should use linden, or basswood. This can usually be picked up pretty cheap at your local hardware store. lay these out on the ground butted together. To find out how round your shield should be it is generally the length of your forearm (from your wrist to your elbow) double that and then add on 5cms for good measure. This is the diameter of your shield.

Now you have figured out the diameter, mark your circle on the planks, Now make a smaller circle that is roughly 4cms in diameter wider than your fist.

Cut the lines with a jigsaw (or whatever you have at hand that is relatively accurate).

Now that you have your markings cut your shield should be starting to take shape. Once again lay the planks out on the ground making sure that the circle is perfectly aligned. 

Use 2 long, thin strips of timber (no more than 1cm thick, by 3cm wide) attach these along the sides of the shield to hold them together. To stay authentic use flat headed nails from the face of the shield and then bend whatever is sticking out back over into the strip using pliers or a hammer.

Once you have finished doing that it is time to face your shield. using canvas or thin leather, (I used canvas) glue the facing onto the front of your shield making sure you cover the whole thing. It dosent matter if you go over the edges a bit because they will be covered later. use any sort of glue you want but just a basic PVA style glue should work fine. make sure you dont get any ripples in the material or they will be there for the rest of your shields life. Wait for the glue to dry.

Now that the facing is on you have to attatch your boss. (The metal bit in the middle) you can make one of these yourself or simply purchase one from one of these sites. (Ill show you how to make one in a later post)

http://www.jelldragon.com/shields.htm

http://viking-shield.com/products/547-semi-conical-shield-boss.aspx

If you are buying your shield boss you should probably get some rivets while you are there. Otherwise you can simply use round headed nails like i did and clench them over at the back, the same way you did with the wooden strips earlier.

Drill some holes in your boss, 4 or 6 is standard but you can have up to 8 without looking weird. (I used 6) drill holes in your timber as well that align with the ones you drilled in your boss. Attach your boss with either your rivets or your nails, whichever method you prefer.

Time to attach the handle. Find another strip of wood roughly the same with as your other strips (3cm or so) but have it a bit thicker. (anywhere between 5 and 10 cm depending on how big your hands are.) shape it in the middle so that it sits comfortably in your hand and then attach it on the back of your shield running parallel with your strips. Use 6 dome headed nails (or rivets) and attach it from the front of your shield so that the nail heads are visible. 

Now that your handle is attached you can paint your design on the face of your shield. I recommend going for a fairly basic design because if you are going to be using this shield for reenactment you are going to go through them fairly regularly. 

Once you have painted your shield and it has dried it is time for the final step. Putting on the rim. 

Use leather, or if that is not an option for you get some rawhide (dog chew type stuff) to use. 

Cut this into strips roughly 5cm wide to go all the way around your rim. Soak your leather in warm (not hot) water until it gets fairly soft, wrap it around the edges of your shield and attach with very small nails. I prefer upholstery tacks because they look more authentic. But whatever you can get will be fine. 

Once the rim is complete and dry, your shield is finished! I recommend oiling the raw timber on the back of your shield with a light oil or painting it so that moisture dosent get it. Because otherwise if it gets wet it will bet REALLY heavy and be unusable.

(Any steps you didnt understand i hope you will be able to figure out from the pictures of mine.)

Enjoy your shield!