How I Make My Shields

I was asked a few times recently how I make my shields for SCA combat.  I had already been thinking of this, and had taken a number of photos while doing my most recent shield, so here we go…

First, and most important, is preparing the blank.  I’m using an aluminum blank, not wood, and since this is a re-covering job all the holes are already in place.  I strongly recommend making the holes for handle, strap, and edging first so that if you put a hole in the wrong place you can cover it later with the canvas.  When I made my first heater, I made a wooden blank the same size as the aluminium one and used it to figure out where I wanted the strap and handle.  Once I was happy, I transferred the pattern to the aluminum one.

What do I need?

• shield blank
• heavy duty garage door handle
• piece of 1″ wooden dowel, or old broom handle, 4-5″ long
• hockey tape
• 1/4″ mild steel bolts with washers and lock nuts, two for the strap and enough for your door handle (2 or 4)
• 1/8″ and 1/4″ drill bits and a power drill
• sharpie marker and a pencil
• piece of canvas slightly larger than your shield
• contact cement and disposable brush
• rubbing alcohol and paper towels
• artist’s gesso or white acrylic paint, plus whatever your heraldic colours are
• 8 oz leather, 4″ wide and long enough to go around the shield
• 2-3 spring clamps
• fake sinew or heavy twine and heavy needles
• heavy duty harness needles
• awl

Where does the handle go?

On a round shield that is easy, draw a line along the centreline of the shield, mark where your hand goes, put on the handle, mark where your elbow is, go 2-3″ closer to your hand, add the strap.

A heater style is a little trickier as the angle of your arm and the angle of the shield don’t necessarily match. While in my base guard position, I want my arm in a position that I find comfortable while the shield is in a good defensive position.  As a start, I marked a spot 6″ down and in from the front top corner of the shield.  This is approximately where the centre of my hand will be.  I use heavy garage door handles as my shield handles, I fit a chunk of dowel or old broom handle into the groove and wrap it with hockey tape.  Now, with my hand centred on the spot, and with the handle in hand, I mark the bottom bolt hole, drill and put in a bolt just tight enough to not slop around.  Here is the slightly tricky bit – hold the shield up in the position where you want your arm to be and then adjust the blank until the shield is where you want it to be.  This will be your final hand position.  Now mark where your elbow is.  Remember that your grip angle is not necessarily at 90 degrees to your arm, so if the handle seems to be a little cock-eyed, that’s ok.  I like to put my elbow strap 2-3″ from my elbow so it doesn’t jam on my elbow cop or vanbrace.  Finally, I mark out the holes for the hockey face mask I use as a hand guard.

Leather edging?

I like leather edging on my shields, it protects the edge, catches thrusts, and makes a soft thump noise when it hits my head helping me to distinguish shield from sword.  I use chrome tanned leather for this so I don’t have to worry about it getting wet, and I like to put a strip of car-door edging under the leather on the forward top and edge where it takes the most abuse.  Using the sharpie, mark a line 1″ in from the edge of the shield all the way around.  Now mark the holes about every 1″ along that line, making sure that holes are in each of the corners and the bottom point where you have to make the leather turn the corner.  Drill each hole with the 1/8″ drill.  Yes, it’s a lot of holes.  I also go back and touch up each side of each hole with the 1/4″ drill to get rid of any rough edges and burrs.  Rub a finger over the hole, if it catches, you have a burr which can cut the thread.

Canvas cover for an aluminum shield:

Covering an aluminum shield blank with canvas is time consuming, but looks awesome when it’s done.  The covers on mine have lasted for years and small repairs are easy to do with a little 5 minute epoxy.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, preparation is the key.  Wash the canvas 2-3 times to remove any sizing and loose fluff.  Wash the aluminum with the rubbing alcohol to remove any grease and dirt – I keep wiping it down until the paper towels are no longer black.  Lay the blank on the canvas and pencil the outline on the canvas.  Lay the blank face up beside the canvas.  Brush a layer of contact cement on the canvas, go about 2″ past the outline.  Now brush the contact cement on the shield.  By the time you’ve finished the coat on the shield, the canvas should be ready for a second coat (the cement will soak into the fabric).  Brush a second coat on the fabric and let both cure according to the directions on the can.

canvas and shield all glued up:

If you have never worked with contact cement, be prepared, when it sticks it does not want to let go.  It is important to make sure that when you place the shield on the canvas it is in the right spot.  Since my shield is curved, I aligned the top and the point with the canvas and slowly lowered the shield onto the canvas.  Once I was sure I was in the right spot, I slowly rolled it left, then right, to contact all of the canvas.  I then turned it all over, face up, and smoothed the wrinkles out, working from the centre of the shield towards the edges:

Now, you’ll notice that there are still lots of small wrinkles.  Here is a cool trick that Duke Edouard taught me; take the handle of an old paintbrush or toothbrush, anything smooth, and working from the centre out, rub the canvas hard.  You’ll see the canvas get a little shiny as you work:

This will get rid of the little wrinkles and make sure there is a good tight bond between the cement and the canvas.  The cement will work up into the fabric of the canvas, binding together the threads and reducing the chances of it tearing when in use.  Again, it is time consuming but it makes a big difference in the durability of the cover.  In this photo, the left side has been rubbed out, the right is still loose:

Finally, brush a little contact cement on the back of the shield and roll the canvas over the edge.  Trim the fabric so it is just short of the edging holes so that it is covered by the leather edging when it’s all done.

Painting:

I like to use acrylic paint;  it’s easy to clean up, is waterproof, dries quickly, and is flexible enough to take a beating.  Artist’s gesso is really just white paint that has been designed to prepare canvas for painting.  (true gesso is made from rabbit skin glue and is very expensive, you don’t need this)  I had it so I used it.  I put down two or three layers, until the canvas is smooth enough for painting my heraldry.  I layout any straight lines, my gyronny field for example, using painter’s tape.  I outline everything with black to give it a little pop.  When it’s all done, I like to use a coat of marine (spar) varnish to protect the paint. It gives a yellow tinge, which I like.

The final step is to punch through the canvas over all the holes.  I use an old ice pick.

Edging:

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of my edging techniques so I’ll try to describe it here.  First, I soak the leather in water. Chrome tanned leather needs to be soaked longer than veg tanned.  I’ll leave it for a few hours, then hang it up for another hour or so that it’s not dripping wet when I’m working with it.  I line up the face side of the leather so that the holes are about 1/2″ in from the edge.  The front corner takes the biggest beating so I like to have some car door edging under the leather for added protection.  I start in the middle of the top edge and work clockwise around the shield.  If the leather edging is long enough, I go from the middle of the top to the bottom point in one piece.  Why?  Because this piece will need to be replaced at some point and it’ll be easier if it is all one piece.

Using the awl, poke a hole in the leather about 1/2″ in from the edge, line up the leather with the hole in the shield and wrap the leather around the shield, clamping it in place.  With the awl, find the opposite side of the edging and punch a hole.  Thread the sinew through all three holes (edge, shield, edge) and repeat for the next hole.  I use a harness stitch for this.  (I really should have some pictures for this, or maybe a video…)  Take your time, make sure the outside lines up with the the shield holes as this is the pretty side, you can trim off the excess on the inside later.  At the corners, I cut the leather at an angle just on the outside and inside faces, leave the edge intact, and overlap the leather at the corner.

Notes:

Arm straps;  never use commercial belts.  They are often made from light leather, or fake leather, over a cardboard stiffener.  Also, the buckles are cheap white metal castings which break at exactly the wrong time.  I use leather from the scrap bin at my local Tandy outlet.  I get my buckles from a saddle shop.

Bolts;  I use 3/16″ or 1/4″ mild steel bolts with lock washers and/or lock nuts.  Lock nuts have a nylon insert to help stop the nut from loosening over time.  They shouldn’t be reused as the nylon “sets” itself on the first use.  Make sure to use a large washer over leather to stop the nut from pulling through the leather.  You do not need bigger bolts than 1/4″, you are just adding weight for no reason;  the bolts are already stronger than anything else on your shield.  I also don’t use stainless steel bolts – the first time you try to remove a seized stainless bolt you will understand why.  If you are using a wooden blank, don’t use screws, they will pull out.

Sewing;  I use a harness stitch, which uses two needles threading back and forth.  Sometimes the needle, especially the second needle, is hard to pull through.  I’ll take a pair of pliers, wrap the jaws with hockey tape to protect the needle, and use them to pull them through.  The needles I use for shields are very beaten up!  To measure the thread length, I take the length of the seam and triple it.  To end a stitch line, I backtrack one needle one hole and tie it off on the inside of the shield.

Why do I wear an elbow cop and vanbrace behind my shield?  Simple, when I have to drop my shield to switch to off-hand, like I might need to do in Crown Tourney, I want the armour already in place.  I also don’t want to only wear them for Crown as I don’t want anything feeling “weird” on the day.