05-14-2008, 07:37 PM
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but here's a (rather hypothetical) Bronze Age shield that I made a few years ago:
http://www.larp.com/hoplite/BAarmor.html#shields
Making pilum shafts out of ash lumber left me with a lot of leftover strips, so I figured I'd weave them together. Not the best basketry around, but... I would suggest that rawhide would make a vastly stronger facing, but for a shield like this, if you're using rawhide, the wicker is kind of pointless! Homer's descriptions of shields are all of multiple layers of rawhide (usually 4), with descending sizes so that the shield is thicker in the middle than at the edges.
Not sure how much bearing that all has on the Classical era, sorry!
Matthew
http://www.larp.com/hoplite/BAarmor.html#shields
Making pilum shafts out of ash lumber left me with a lot of leftover strips, so I figured I'd weave them together. Not the best basketry around, but... I would suggest that rawhide would make a vastly stronger facing, but for a shield like this, if you're using rawhide, the wicker is kind of pointless! Homer's descriptions of shields are all of multiple layers of rawhide (usually 4), with descending sizes so that the shield is thicker in the middle than at the edges.
Not sure how much bearing that all has on the Classical era, sorry!
Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
