Shields of the Viking Age.
The large round Viking shields were apparently made in accordance with some special tradition. Most famous examples whole specimens - those that were located on the sides of the ship from Gokstad, Norway (Fig. 1.) - date back to 905 AD. e. (Bonde and Christensen 1993). They are similar to the shields from Thorsberg (Raddatz 1987).
Design and dimensions.
Regular size shields of that time - 80-90 cm in diameter (see Table 1). For comparison, shields found in pagan Anglo-Saxon burials (23 copies) range from 42 to 92 cm; from Thorsberg – 7 copies, Roman Iron Age – from 65 to 104 cm in diameter; Välsgarde, Sweden – 3 specimens, Vendelian period – from 84 to 110 cm in diameter). The shield field was flat; It was made from one layer of planks (boards) knocked (fastened) together. Gokstad shields are made from seven or eight pine planks (soft wood coniferous species, appears to have been used in most cases, but not always) in varying widths, with the option of fewer, wider slats appearing to be more practical; for example, the central plank of a Wendel-era shield from Välsgarde was 52 cm wide. The thickness of the planks was usually 6-10 mm (Table 2); decreased towards the edges (Fig. 1, Table 2). Confirmation of the hypotheses about the existence of multilayer structures has not yet been found (Härke 1981).
Fig. 1 – shield from a burial at Gokstad, Vestfold, Norway, 905 AD. Diameter 94 cm (Nicolaysen 1882).
A. Front view. Umbon type - Rygh 564.
b. Back side; visible holes for attaching the rim (skin) and one wooden plank, serving as a handle - the remaining structural reinforcement elements visible in the photo are modern additions.
With. Sectional side view; thinning towards the edges is visible.
The planks were glued to one another whenever possible. In addition, the umbo, handle and rim (edge trim) (see below), as well as the leather covering, provided additional strength. Some Birka shields had a face covering of thin leather, and some early English shields were covered with it on both sides (Arwidsson 1986; Dickinson and Härke 1992). However, the Gostad shield straps were painted, suggesting that they were not covered with leather (Lowe 1990). One can even assume that their shape and fragility of construction suggested only use in burial, for which they were made; These were unlikely to be combat shields. It is interesting to note that the shields from Gokstad are structurally similar to the shield found in the peat bog at Tirskom, Latvia (Tirsky peat bog) (Fig. 1.1).
Fig 1.1 – Shield 1, found in Tirskom, Latvia. On the left is the found one, on the right is the 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 slats is 0.6 cm. On both sides the shield is covered with leather and lined with compressed grass, possibly to soften the blow. In some places on the edge the leather is fixed (nailed (?) or sewn (?)).
Interestingly, the umbo of the shield from the Tyrian peat bog is made of wood, although it is identical in shape and size to local iron examples (another wooden umbo was found at the site of a Slav settlement in GrossRaden, Northern Germany). The umbon measures 13.1 by 10.5 cm and covers a hole in the center 11.5 cm wide. It is riveted with 14 rivets (which have not survived). Traces of blows on the surface of the leather and umbo indicate that the shield was used in battle.
Shield 2. From the second shield found in Tirskom, only the middle bar was found, or rather, only part of it. It was made from some kind of coniferous tree and measures 68 x 11.8 x 1.4 cm. The quadrangular arm hole is located (presumably) in the center of the field, thus suggesting a shield width of 73 cm. Interestingly, the field is curved, perhaps it was a convex shield.
Umbon.
A round hole was made in the center of the shield (at least this is how it was in the shields from Gokstad; oval, 8- and D-shaped ones are known from materials dating back to the Vendelian and earlier periods. The second shield from Tirskom had a square hole). It (the hole) was closed with a hemispherical iron umbo, the diameter of which was about 15 cm (including the fields); The umbo covered the handle. The iron on the dome was quite thick (3-5 mm), although the margins of the umbon were thinner ( Note from S.K. : I measured about a dozen ancient Russian umbons and gave a thickness of about 1.5 mm, so 3-5 mm is clearly too much).
The umbo had two main forms - the early style (variant) had a high dome and a clear “neck” (neck, interception) (Fig. 2-a) Late style(option) – a low dome without a “neck” (Fig. 2-b), although the early style was not completely replaced by the later one. Less common were the low version (Fig. 2-c), and the sphero-conical (Fig. 2-d), sometimes with a protrusion at the top.
Rice. 2 – shield umbons.
The only examples of umbos with jagged edges are known from Telemark, Norway (Fig. 3-a); Birka, Sweden and Ile de Groix, France (Fig. 3). The last burial contained several unique umbos with unusually made flanges (Fig. 3-d,c,d,e), possibly of Western European origin (Mueller-Wille 1978).
Usually the umbo was attached iron nails(rivets), the tips (ends) of which were either bent or riveted with reverse side shield (Fig. 3-d, h). ( Note from S.K. : fastening with nails is the most common, rivets are found, but less often). The specimens found at 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 umbons were angled, perhaps because they were attached to the convex field of the shield. Also from Birka come examples of umbos, the fields of which were decorated with applied plates of non-ferrous metal (Fig. 3-f,g), and the heads of the rivets were inlaid(?) or tin-plated (Arwidsson 1986).
Fig. 3 – shield umbons.
a - umbo with jagged edges, Telemark, Norway
b-e - Ile de Groix, France. The ends of the nails are often riveted rather than bent.
f – Birka, tinning applique is shown.
g – Birka, copper edging on the flange.
h – Birka, in the side view the bend of the rivets is noticeable.
Handle.
Apparently it was only wooden, judging by most of the burials, where there are not as many remains as in Gokstad; there, a thin strip is riveted to the boards from edge to edge and serves as a handle (in the place 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 decorated with an engraved bronze sheet or silver inlay (Fig. 4-a)
Rice. 4 – shield handles, 10 c.
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 “spatulat” end of the handle, Gokstad.
c-d – three-pointed bronze mounts for the handle in the form of human-animal images, burials of Hedeby and Birka.
The handle was long, often crossing the entire diameter of the shield and thinning towards the ends. A “spatula-shaped” pad could be attached to the ends of the handle, which was also riveted (Fig. 4-b); or everything was fastened with various bronze fasteners (plates) (Fig. 4-c, d). Sometimes the rivets that held the umbo passed through the handle. The handle could be wrapped in leather.
Edge reinforcement.
Most finds do not confirm the presence of edge reinforcement, which perhaps indicates either its absence (reinforcement), or that it was made from material that deteriorates relatively quickly and, therefore, has not survived to this day. Small holes were drilled into the Gokstad shields at a distance of about 2 cm from the edge at intervals of 3.5 cm (Fig. 1-a,b), possibly to attach a rim, all other traces of which have not survived. It can be assumed that a strip of leather ran along the edge, secured with stitches or nailed with thin nails.
Rice. 5 – Metal clamps from the rims of the shields.
a – burial in Birka, Sweden. Type A is a simple U-shaped bracket.
b – burial in Birka, Sweden. Type B – with an extension for attaching a leather strip.
c – Lindholm Hüye 1112, Denmark. Marks of hammering (?) around the rivet are visible.
Small brackets made of iron or bronze plates are sometimes found in burials (Fig. 5). The brackets were sometimes decorated with tinning, chasing or engraving (Fig. 5-c). In Birka, shields were found in which the brackets were fitted one to the other continuously along the edge (Fig. 6); however, only fragments of the rim have survived, which perhaps means deliberate (?) damage to the shield before burial.
Rice. 6 – Burial in Birka Bj736, 10th century.
a – shields as they were found during excavations
b – reconstruction (Peter Beatson)
Sometimes several staples were distributed evenly around the rim, perhaps to secure along the edge of a leather strip, the marks of which sometimes remain. The staples from burial Bj 850 were fastened over a leather border (Fig. 7), although they a small amount of and uneven distribution give reason to assume that this (skin attachment) is not their main purpose. For example, they could strengthen the joints of planks or a damaged edge.
Rice. 7 – Burial in Birka Bj850, 10th century.
a – shield, as found during excavations (Arbman, 1943).
1 - umbon, 2 - rim brackets, 3 - end of the handle (near the remains)
b – reconstruction of the shield (Peter Beatson)
c – section - section with a bronze bracket; The shield material, leather lining and edge band are shown.
Hello. Today we will talk about how you can make a shield with your own hands for, or simply for the purpose of reconstructing ancient weapons and armor. Previously, we have already looked at material about and, as well as weaving. Now it is the turn for the front line of defense of the medieval warrior - the shield. The shield should not only be durable and impact-resistant, but also lightweight. Therefore, think about what kind of wood, and we will make the shield from it, you will use. The best option for making a shield would be birch. This type of wood has not only good viscosity and elasticity, but also lightness compared to other alternative woods. Next, you need to decide on the size of the shield. A shield with a diameter of 600-700 mm is considered optimal. Such a shield will completely protect the forearm (from elbow to hand) and at the same time will not be too heavy.
The boards for the board must be well dried, have a straight-layer structure and do not have large knots. So, the shield manufacturing technology is as follows. Take a birch board measuring 2100x200x40, already pre-planed, and saw it into four parts. You should have two pieces of 620 mm each and two pieces of what remains. Plan carefully and fit tightly together side faces these boards. From these pieces we will glue the base of the shield. Use plasticized PVA glue. Leave to dry overnight.
Now we need to plan the planes of the shield blank in order to smooth out the joints of the boards, removing the steps. Next, we outline a circle with a radius of 300 mm and cut it out with a jigsaw.
Next we need to make our shield blank convex. To do this, on one side we plan with a plane, going deeper from the edge to the middle, and on the other hand, on the contrary, from the middle to the edge. As a result, we should get a kind of wooden lens 15-17 mm thick.
Here you go wooden base We have a homemade medieval shield ready. Now let's get to the metal.
In the center of the shield there should be a convex bowl called the umbo. The umbo can be knocked out from a round metal plate 1.5 - 2.5 mm thick, placing it on a lead pad, and tapping with a hammer from the center in a diverging spiral until a convex dome is obtained with a diameter of 150-200 mm and a depth of 50 mm. We bend the edges on an anvil to a width of 15-20 mm. This is how cold forging is performed. But in order to settle the cup to such a depth, you need to use hot forging, heating the metal gas burner or until red, depositing metal in an annular mandrel or matrix. However, if blacksmithing is new to someone, he can order an umbon from a forge, or buy something similar in a store.
Now we need to forge the edge of our medieval shield with iron. To do this, we again need an anvil and a hammer to bend a steel strip two millimeters thick along a radius of three hundred millimeters in a plane. We place the strip on the anvil and begin to flatten one edge with a heavy hammer, periodically checking its curvature with a cardboard template. If your strip is made of ductile metal, then it will be enough for you to produce cold forging. But still, it is better to do this by heating the strip with a gas burner until red and letting it cool slowly. After that, we continue to hit it with a hammer. It is not necessary to bend the strip around the entire circumference of the shield. You can divide it into several individual parts. It will be a little easier this way. Although the work is quite hard. We adjust the metal to the shield so that there is an edge left for bending to the thickness of the shield. Bend the edge ninety degrees can be done on an anvil. To do this, we replace one of the “lips” of the vice with a plate, the upper edge of which is curved along a radius of 300 mm, that is, along the circumference of our shield.
We carefully adjust the finished edging of the shield ribs to each other and attach them to the shield using bolts, which we will later replace with rivets. We also screw the umbon to the middle. Now we need to work on the remaining parts of the shield. We need to cut twelve shield covers from sheet iron using a jigsaw. The photo clearly shows what shape they should be. But you can show your imagination and make something of your own. The plates can be riveted to the panel with furniture bolts. We rivet from the inside of the shield, placing wide washers on the bolt rod. We saw off the rod so that it extends two or three millimeters above the surface of the shield.
Now we just have to make the shield holding elements. To do this, we need to carve a wooden one (you can use a copper or brass tube) and rivet it from the inside of the shield. The forearm belt loop is made of leather, 70mm wide in the center and 40mm wide at the edges. We attach it to the shield also using through rivets. But the forearm pillow can be screwed to the shield with bolts with a rounded head.
Well, that's probably all. Our medieval shield is completely ready. You can start role playing, or hang it on the wall as decoration next to your other remodeled items. Good luck!
The article is a rewrite. Photos taken from the book “Reconstruction of Ancient Weapons”
This is the most basic thing, you will need a few more small things, but more on that later.
We are not looking for simple ways, so we will not make a shield from plywood or furniture board(a shield made from a shield, cool), but from boards. These are:
And you ask me how to make something cool out of a bunch of these old boards? But no way! First you need to plan all the blanks.
In the process, I replaced some of the original boards. Light wear and tear on the wood gives it a special charm, but outright rot is unnecessary. If you buy edged board(you can have one long one and then cut it into the required parts), then you won’t have to plan it much, but if you go the difficult route and take old boards, you’ll have to adjust the ends. What I mean is that all the blanks should fit together well. We need this for the next stage - gluing. Oh yes. All boards must be no more than 10 mm thick. The shield should be light, a historical Viking shield could be 8 mm in the middle, and 5 mm towards the edges. The shield shouldn’t have been enough for more than 1 battle, only the umbon is tenacious, but more on that later.
I glued all the boards on a workbench, with stops in the form of bars attached to three sides. I glued the ends together with Moment wood glue. Very good glue By the way, I used it to glue the soundboard of an electric guitar, and glue the furniture, and, 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 the gluing does not fail. I left the glue to dry for about a day.
Afterwards a circle with a diameter of 74 cm was drawn. Not the largest or smallest, in general, I chose this size specifically for myself.
Next, I started making the umbon. In general, it should be made of approximately 4 mm steel, but here I decided to take the path of least resistance. I found an iron plate a little more than one mm thick and began to bend it into a hemisphere.
To do this, I dug a pipe into the ground, put a plate on top, constantly heated it with a burner and beat it with an old dumbbell.
Afterwards, holes were drilled along the edges of the umbon, and I also cleaned it from old paint and smoked it over the fire. Also with inside skin was glued to the umbo.
Now we mark a hole for the umbon in the center of the shield and carry out drilling and chisel work. That is, we drill along the edges of the markings, and then we knock out the circle with a chisel, those places that were not drilled. We also drill the umbo itself and the shield along the edges of the hole for the rivets.
We attach the umbo to the shield with rivets. And we paint the shield with stain. I used a mixture of mahogany and mocha. It turned out quite interesting. In different lighting and different angles, the color is sometimes darkly saturated, sometimes dull and light.
The handle is also attached to the shield with rivets and to each board to strengthen the shield.
Next I found black and brown leather, which was cut into strips and nailed to the shield with small nails. On the reverse side, I had to additionally attach all the leather with a large stapler, because the nails were too short. Go to the store and buy carnations of the right length? No, not our option.
This completes the production of the shield. And yes, we tried to hit it with an ax and, lo and behold, it survived! It’s better not to repeat this, even if you make a shield and are not sure of it.
There is a rune ax, there is a shield, all that remains is to make a longship and go on a campaign!
Viking shield.
Good day reader! Today I will talk about how to make a simple round shield Viking. This is certainly not , but still interesting and necessary!!
A little history: Shields of this type, that is, Scandinavian ones, had round shape, and the size varied from 65 to 90 cm. According to archaeologists.
The Vikings made their shields from different breeds pine, ash, maple, linden, oak trees, depending on where they lived in a given period. The greatest preference was given to shields made of ash or oak due to the strength of these species; the lightest was a shield made of linden. The thickness of the shields also depended on the type of wood and varied from 12 to 6 mm. In connection with such data, I recommend that you use it as the simplest and best option and whoever is cheap, simple 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 fish casein (for pasting with leather); burlap or linen (I recommend several layers) I took a bag of sugar;
Strong nylon threads;
The leather 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 (optional);
Nails for rivets;
Stain;
Varnish;
Tool:
Hammer, pencil, ruler, electric jigsaw, grinder with a circle 1.5 - 2 mm thick, sandpaper. It seems like I haven’t forgotten anything, well, you yourself know which tool you need!
Let's start production
: Take the prepared plywood and mark two circles, one with the diameter of your shield, take approximately 800 mm. Another one is the diameter of an umbong (slightly larger than your fist).
Advice: in order to succeed good circle take a board of any length, width
I screw the self-tapping screw through 3–4 cm from one end, and at the required distance I drill a hole for a pencil. This method of drawing produces smooth circles.
Having made the necessary movement, we already get the first result.
The next step is cutting on the inside of the board to imitate boards, as well as opening it with stain and varnish (do not overdo it with the tone).
After everything has dried, we proceed to 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 them off with wire cutters and rivet).
And now the first hints appear that you have shield, not a piece of plywood.
Let's move on to the next step: you need to outside cover the shield with burlap (to absorb impacts on the shield). We take glue and apply it to the front part of the product, and I advise you not to regret it. We take the burlap and fit it onto the shield, smoothing it out so that there is no air jams, And different types unevenness. Smooth? So it’s great to wait for it to dry a little and repeat the operation several times without sparing the glue. When everything is dry, cut the burlap along the contour of the shield.
The umbo is knocked out of metal blank thickness from 1.5 to 3 mm. Preferably steel (it’s more reliable). If the steel is thicker than 3 mm, the process occurs in two stages with intermediate annealing with a gas burner. Remember, you need to make the umbo as convenient as possible for your fist in future battles.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, today we’ll talk about the round shield, which was used by both our ancestors - the Slavs, and the northern Scandinavian warriors, known throughout the world - the Vikings. I want to say right away that this is not a reconstruction, i.e. The method of creating a shield is not historical. But that doesn't mean he's not real.
