scutum covering again

[Marcus Mummius]

Salvete,

I am planning to construct an fairly authentic scutum and have some questions about the covering.


I want to use rawhide because of the enormous strength it gives. Should both the front and the back of the scutum be covered or only the front?

The rawhide will have to be soaked in water to make it soft and moldable. Will regular white glue work with the wet rawhide? How much should one stretch the rawhide over the shield. Will it break the wooden scutum when it dries and shrinks?

Would this configuration be good: -front and back covered with linen
-rawhide over the front layer of linen

Valete,
Jef

[petrinus]

matt lukes would be your man to ask, ive recently met him on here and hes a gifted craftsman and artisan, i intend to make a vast quantity of purchases from his bench, most impressive work. i dont intend to speak for him but he is a mighty helpfull fellow and im sure hed discuss with you the ins and outs of perfecting your scuta!

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Jef I think I would not glue rawhide down when it is wet. I think it would shrink and pull away from the body of the shield.

Personally I think I would mold the rawhide to the shield, and let it dry then glue it down.

[Marcus Mummius]

@Jason: Yes I know Matt Lukes He is VERY helpful indeed! The number of emails we have exchanged is beyond count. I do not think he ever used rawhide as facing for the shield, he used leather.

@Paul: Thanks for the tip! How would you mold it to the shield? What to use to keep it from moving while it dries? If I fold over the exes rawhide over the edges I wont be able to get it of the scutum without cutting the rawhide.

Valete,

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Jef,

Since I have never done this I am only guessing. However this is what I would do.

I would definately get a piece larger than I needed and soak it until its flacid.

Then I would drape it over the front and smooth it out and staple, or tack it in place while it dries.

[Peroni]

I would use rawhide and not leather. It is certainly lighter and infinately stronger and more damage resistant than leather.

I believe this is what the ancient sources mean when they mention 'leather' facings. As Paul said, it will shrink to fit your shield, and would hold any ply or planking very firmly in place. Isn't the Dura scutum rawhide?

Look how strong a Zulu shield is, and it has no backing, just rawhide.

[M. Demetrius]

I was thinking about the wet rawhide/glue idea. Seems to me, that if you use a water based glue, it would penetrate the wet rawhide, as well as stick to the wood, and as the rawhide shrank, would slide across the surface of the wood, the rawhide and glue both evaporating at the same time. . .

In the end, you would have an incredibly strong bond between the two. Probably to the point of wrecking the wood if you wanted to get the rawhide off. On thing I've learned about shield covers (I generally use cloth, though) is that if you thin the glue about 30% with water, the glue actually tends to penetrate the surface of the wood. The second coat sticks to the first very well, and in the case of the rawhide, would also penetrate the rawhide, imho.

If you wet and stretched the rawhide very much, then firmly attached it wet to the edges, you would probably put a "negative bend" on your curved shield, and that would not be good...also, it will tend to stretch out the holes you use to fasten it down, if you did it that way--look at an aboriginal drum to see perfect proof of that.

Rawhide is the absolutely simplest leather to make, and dries very hard and stiff. Many ancient and prehistoric cultures, up through modern times have used rawhide's unique characteristics. Plains Indian buffalo hump shields were strong enough to turn a lance, and deflect even a bullet, if it didn't hit straight on. Natch, though, they were about a half inch thick at the center, but still. that's tough!

Handles water based paints pretty well, too, if you'll dampen the surface a and wait ten minutes before the first coat.

[Marcus Mummius]

Thanks for the ideas guys!

So it may be best to put on the wet rawhide with a layer of glue but allow for some movement (not strech to hard). How would one do that?

Holger Ratsdorf once said to me that putting only linen or leather on a shield and no rawhide would be the same as building a wooden tank.

Kind regards,
Jef

[Neuraleanus]

and it had to be stitched to the shield. I would think that a covering of the entire shield would also require stitching. The glue then might not be necessary at all. This is what I would do:

• 1. Apply the wet rawhide to the shield face and fold over the edges and clamp (you'll need LOTS of spring clamps)
  2. Let dry overnight and then stitch the edges to the shield board. You'll need to drill stitch holes (1/16 inch should do).
  3. Continue to allow the rawhide to dry. Over two to three days the rawhide should shrink hard to the board.
  

Now I haven't actually tried to this. I faced my current scutum with linen and leather, with a rawhide rim, but the above procedure sounds reasonable.

[Marcus Mummius]

That would indeed remove the need for glue. The stiching will hold it to the shield just fine I think. But were any drill holes found on scuta or in the rawhide facings that could have been the result of this method? :?:

[Matt Lukes]

I doubt very much that the glue would work while the rawhide is wet Jef- at least normal white glue (PVA). The water in the skin (or wood or whatever) prevents the glue from penetrating, and that's why regular glue bonds wood, etc., so strongly. I would think that you'll have to let the rawhide dry fully before gluing it. Now I do wonder if hide glue would be best given that it's actually made partly from rawhide- therefore would probably bond it the best of any adhesive. That should be usable while the hide is wet as the glue itself is hydrated just prior to use and that allows the collagen, etc. to form its bonds.

I surely would love a real answer to this question- was the outer layer tanned leather or rawhide? I can understand it if the translations of the word used in the original texts by Polybius, etc. are disputable, but WHY isn't there a proper description from extant artifacts? I would think that rawhide and tanned leather, even after 1700 years, should be distinguishable at least microscopically. It seems an important detail to know to me.

As for whether rawhide or hide glue-saturated tanned leather would be better, well that's a good question- they're not that much different. The only difference is that the fibers in rawhide aren't preserved as they are in tanned leather. The question then is why would you go through the extra step of tanning if you don't have to? You still have to paint and wax leather covered scuta because hide glue will rot- maybe not as readily as rawhide will, but surely not that much less. It's an interesting question...

[M. Demetrius]

Wow! Hadn't thought of the huge headache of drilling all those holes (probably in the neighborhood of 200 for a scutum) with a hand-twist drill!

[Neuraleanus]

"Greece and Rome at War" there is a nice illustration of the Dura Europo scutum that clearly shows the stitch holes going across all four edges.

[Marcus Mummius]

And are those stitchholes the result of the attachment of the facing or the edging?

[Matt Lukes]

Honestly, I'd expect they were for edging not for securing the facing. It makes no sense not to glue the facing down- it wouldn't add any strength to the structure if it were not a bonded part of it. It's purpose is like the sinew on the 'back' of a composite bow- to prevent the wood from cracking under bending stress. That's the point of the linen layers too- of course the hide would add a whole lot more...