Sheild Grips

D

Dante

Newbie
After quite an adventure of making the thing too big and spending hours slicing away with several varieties of knives (hobby and butter variety to be exact, always use the right tool for the job) I manages to make the thing a little too small, but too small is useable, while as too big as it was isn't, so its call good.
Now, I am faced with the dillemq of how to lay on the grips of this thing.

I think I can figure out an effective enough method of tacking them on (any suggestions welcome), but im more concerned about exactly where to put the grips. Some research online revealed the "draw a line from the leading edge to the floor* method, but that feels like its designed for head protection (not a NERO legal target), and wouldnt help me one bit for leg/foot protection (where I get hit most).
Ive thought of doing it a sort of reverse of that, but im a little worried about weight distribution, and ive thought, and nearly decided on, doing a vertican grip with the large end up and a few inches of the smaller end hanging over my hand to be able to directily control it.
My sheild is a coffin shield, made using the specs I found off a link found on the nerohq site...cant remember the url for the life of me though at the moment.
Any advice welcome!
 
Shield grips are a bit tricky. It depends a lot on the shape of the shield and where you'll be protecting mostly.

The standard "kite shield" set up typically had the bar grasp (where your hand grips) near the bottom (pointed end) of the shield and the strap above it so that it could be used upside down to protect the head and still allow a good range for the swing not to mention that you simply drop your arm to your side and you've got full protection for your torso. As you said, head not being a viable target this design is a bit useless.

If the shield is round and somewhat small, a center grip would be useful. A single graps in the center of the shield allows you to "flick your wrist" and move the shield. It also gives the full range of protection - at least as far as your arm can go.

If its a kite shield, I would suggest a strap and grip system closer to the top and parallel to the top of the shield. A slight drop in your arm lowers the shield while holding your arm parallel to the ground gives good upper body protection and decent thigh protection.

Just food for thought. In the end, you have to do what feels most comfortable and applicable for you and your individual fighting style.

Keith
 
my sheild is a coffin design. Resembles a Tear shaped sheild moreso than any other non-coffin shape, but its not too far off a kite sheild

I just got the stuff to put on the strap (nylon strap, a few screws, a few washers), and im still torn...bah! indisisiveness sucks
 
I'm actually a big fan of the way Dan has his grips on his shield (which is why I keep kyping it :P). Instead of your standard across the shield grips, he put them on the vertical. You get your standard blocking area (and with an ultra light shield, that's a pretty big blocking area) and with a simple turn of the elbow, you also can frustrate those pesky assassins.
 
finished it! well..almost. Still need a hack saw to take down the screw tips so they dont gore my arm or some such.
I played the grips a sort of halfway between the vertical style and the horizontal. with the hand lower on the sheild. I still need to try it in combat, but it feels quite good!

clean lemoney fresh victory is mine..sorta

thanks all for the advice though
 
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