greek aspis

[PMBardunias]

The bronze layer was indeed hammered on, as Paul B. recounts. There was a groove around the bowl of the shield, where the rim joins the bowl, and hammering the facing sheet into the grove allowed 'stretching' of the facing and facilitated a good tight fit......

Have you ever read anyone suggest Lathing it on? I was thinking of the way they lathed helmets over a form, perhaps these facings over an aspis form, or the aspis itself before the center was hollowed completely. There was a paper on pilos helms that suggested that many extand copies came off the same or identical "forms" due to their uniformity.

[Peter Raftos]

I have probably posted this before link from old RAT in May 2007. The big problem in the modern world seems to be getting bronze at the required "thinness". Craig Sitch of Manning Imperial tried hunting down commercially available bronze all over the planet but the sheets are:
1) the right thickness for spinning but not large enough to cover the shield face or
2) they are large enough to cover the shield face but far too thick to spin effectively
In the end he used sheet brass. I am not sure how Craig secured it or whether he hammered or lathed it on. It was actually in Sekunda's Hoplite book that we come to know about the use of lathes. The quote is from Aristophanes, Birds line 491. Here the Greek word for "shield maker", torneutoluraspidopêgos is used. It roughly translates as "one who puts together lyres and shields by turning". If a purpose built lathe was not in use a large potters wheel could be used to do this. The Greeks introduced the fast turning potter's wheel in 900 BC. A kylix in the British Nuseum London B 432 from 490 shows this type of wheel. [url:2rgdl503]http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/imbrowser[/url]

[PMBardunias]

It was actually in Sekunda's Hoplite book that we come to know about the use of lathes.

It was known long before him. Thanks though, I did not know modern reconstructionists were attempting to lathe on the bronze face.

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

In their site it says hand hammered brass face. So the lathe idea wasn't put in practice with brass either.