Rawhide for shields?

[Dan D'Silva]

Hi again,

Where would you get rawhide that's heavy enough for use in a stick-and-rawhide shield, like the Dura-Europos ones? I've never seen any sides or bends for retail listed at more than 4-6 ounces. It's easier to find heavier tanned leather but I'm told that leather is easier to pierce than rawhide and won't be as protective.

[richard robinson]

talk to your rural friends. Cows seem to die from time to time and people eat them. The trick is to find someone who skins it before distributing the meat and having lots of plastic and salt on hand to take the hide home with you. Otherwise contact your nearest abbatoir?
gory but truthful
Richard

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I think rawhide as is available would certainly add enough protection toa shield, without having to be any thicker. When it dries, it is very hard!
And it is adding to the composite construction of the scutum, not living in isilation as the only protective quality!
Your three ply layer of wood, with its different grain directions will also be part of the
defense!

[Dan D'Silva]

talk to your rural friends. Cows seem to die from time to time and people eat them. The trick is to find someone who skins it before distributing the meat and having lots of plastic and salt on hand to take the hide home with you. Otherwise contact your nearest abbatoir?
gory but truthful
Richard

I'll keep this in mind. I don't have any rural friends (or very many other kinds), but there are a lot of dairies around here and I could almost certainly get in touch with someone. However it would seem to me that in such a case one would need to be able to offer a better price for the hide than a tannery would, eh?

I think rawhide as is available would certainly add enough protection toa shield, without having to be any thicker. When it dries, it is very hard!
And it is adding to the composite construction of the scutum, not living in isilation as the only protective quality!
Your three ply layer of wood, with its different grain directions will also be part of the
defense!

Well, when I speak of the D-E shields I mean the ones that were simply sticks woven through a sheet of rawhide, not the layered wood ones. I'm regarding them as a model for reconstructing the big rectangular Achaemenid shields. Do you think 4-6 ounces is good enough for that use?

[richard robinson]

In my experience most dairy farmers dig a hole and bury the random dead cow before it starts to bloat.
I would put up a few posters or take out an add in a local newspapers- or even visit/ ring around. My first rawhide was given me by a bloke who had salted the skin but had never got around to tanning it.
maybe it is time to research skinning animals (an onerous task on an animal that big.)
An easier but more expensive/ but not as strong way would be to buy a tanned one on ebay or at a market.
Or perhaps finding a worn out one that used to be a floor rug
Also
It was only after the Marathon at Marathon (see thread for fotos) that I became aware that to do those shields justice you need to use reeds rather than rods. annoying I know but accuracy is like that sometimes.
Good luck with your quest. I have also wanted to make one of those shields
regards
richard

[Q Rutilius]

A quick google turned up this: http://www.leatherunltd.com/leather/rawh...whide.html. There are probably others. As far as getting a dead cow: I live in a very rural area - ask the farmers. Genarally, they bury a dead cow quickly - if you want to pay for it -well, I don't think that they are going turn down the money

[Dan D'Silva]

It was only after the Marathon at Marathon (see thread for fotos) that I became aware that to do those shields justice you need to use reeds rather than rods.

I've heard this, but Simon James in his catalogue for UCL says that they're actually "rough wooden sticks."

A quick google turned up this: http://www.leatherunltd.com/leather/rawh...ide.html.D

Thanks for that. I notice they have a 6-7 ounce buffalo hide... sound good enough?

I'm not ashamed to say I'd rather not skin a cow myself. If that means shelling out a couple hundred for a prepared hide, I'm fine with that (Just lemme get a steady income first!)

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Ok Dan, sorry!
:-D

[mcbishop]

When we set up Quinta many years ago, I remember soaking doggy chews in the bath (didn't half smell!) to bind the shields (painted one of 'em too and made mail!). Such is the life of the Roman military equipment specialist who can't say (no!)...

Mike Bishop

[Sutoris]

A good leather shop will sell rawhide to.

[richard robinson]

I had thought
from years of navel gazing at these shields that they had the hair on
i have never seen a rawhide from a shop with the hair still on
possibly I can be proved wrong

regards
richard

[Crispianus]

It Looks to me like the rods form the main body of the shield and are very close set with almost no space bettween them forming the bulk of the defence, so I would suggest going a for thinner rawhide as the thicker you go the bigger the spaces bettween the rods, the 4-6 oz that you mention if in a big enough piece may well be suitable for your purpose, in any case it may be good idea to make a small version first just to test the construction. Let us know how you get on as Im interested in making one of these myself...

[Dan D'Silva]

... in any case it may be good idea to make a small version first just to test the construction.

Good idea. Perhaps I'll make a little crescent shield as a test.