10-07-2011, 10:24 PM
I copied the solid antelabe from one from Olympia. I was running a Hoplitodromos and didn't want a soft antelabe.
The real breakthroughs of this shield (to me) are:
1) I now understand why the Classical aspis has the metal furniture on the inside--four to eight pins through the wood holding ropes. That's because the Archaic aspis built of wood strips would have been held firmly together by having those eight pins through the whole of the three layers right there. It is very stable.
2) The arrow resistant nature of the ash splints under torque--it's like shooting at a bow. They deflect energy--it's a fantastic design.
3) The weight--it weighs less than 10 pounds, and that's with an unnecessarily heavy rim and a cross bar under the arm that is handy but, as I discovered in building, not required. I carried it all day at Marathon--almost literally all day I ran 2,5 kilometers up and down our column, and then I ran a hoplitodromos. I'm 49 years old.
4) the fit of the porpax. The porpax on this fits my arm so tightly that when I roll my wrist, the shield follows it--even if I am not grasping the antelabe. I now believe that this is how any purpose-made shield was rigged. It is almost magical--I can't wait to fight with it in some sparring.
Remember, this is 590 BCE. By 450, the shield had changes as radically as it would change again by 330 to become the Macedonian aspis. My biggest initial error was trying to make sense of all the evidence (650-300BCE) in one shield. It changed as warfare changed. This shield is for an aristocratic fighter who fights both on a team and by himself.
Hope you like it!
The real breakthroughs of this shield (to me) are:
1) I now understand why the Classical aspis has the metal furniture on the inside--four to eight pins through the wood holding ropes. That's because the Archaic aspis built of wood strips would have been held firmly together by having those eight pins through the whole of the three layers right there. It is very stable.
2) The arrow resistant nature of the ash splints under torque--it's like shooting at a bow. They deflect energy--it's a fantastic design.
3) The weight--it weighs less than 10 pounds, and that's with an unnecessarily heavy rim and a cross bar under the arm that is handy but, as I discovered in building, not required. I carried it all day at Marathon--almost literally all day I ran 2,5 kilometers up and down our column, and then I ran a hoplitodromos. I'm 49 years old.
4) the fit of the porpax. The porpax on this fits my arm so tightly that when I roll my wrist, the shield follows it--even if I am not grasping the antelabe. I now believe that this is how any purpose-made shield was rigged. It is almost magical--I can't wait to fight with it in some sparring.
Remember, this is 590 BCE. By 450, the shield had changes as radically as it would change again by 330 to become the Macedonian aspis. My biggest initial error was trying to make sense of all the evidence (650-300BCE) in one shield. It changed as warfare changed. This shield is for an aristocratic fighter who fights both on a team and by himself.
Hope you like it!
Qui plus fait, miex vault.
