Shields

P

PoeticMisfit

Artisan
So I find myself making a shield :-/ I guess thats what happens when you put everything off till the last minute :-) Can anyone tell me what max are of shields are?
 
The longest dimension must be 36 inches or less.
Total surface area cannot exceed 531 square inches (26" circle)
Edges 5/8" insulation

Holes or gaps in the shield do not give you "extra" surface area.
 
I have another question about shields. Could I have a rounded bolt head protruding from the surface. I was thinking of a lag bolt that was flush with the wood. It wouldn't have any screw driver notches in it or anything. Or possibly using rivets for a more period look.Also I was thinking of using a steal mixing bowl as a center punch cover. It should look like this:

http://www.florilegium.org/files/COMBAT ... mage63.gif

Of course the edges will be adequately padded.

B~>
 
Rounded bolt heads are usually not an issue, as long as they are firmly anchored and like you said, have no screw head slots to catch tape or foam on.
 
I would suggest talking to your local weapons/rules people before constructing anythign that might be considered out of the ordinary.
 




Hope you can see these images above if not I'll repost next time.

This is what I have been working. Finally got a little money together to make it and it's fairly light. Decided not to use lag bolts and simply glued it all to together instead. Foam around the edging is definatley going to get replaced with another type of foam.

What do you guys think?

B~>
 

Attachments

  • Dig it.jpg
    Dig it.jpg
    58.3 KB · Views: 811
  • Still Diggen it.jpg
    Still Diggen it.jpg
    59.7 KB · Views: 806
Looks nice.
Yeah, get some pipe foam around those edges and it should be ready to go, so long as the size is good.
Get it checked out at the next gameday to be sure.
~Matt
 
Nice work and looks great. I would recommend when you go to put the pipe foam on, wrap the pipe foam around the exterior to get the length, then take the foam off and tape it up real good to protect the foam and make it tougher. Then, put some spray adhesive or glue on the felt you have around the edge now and put the pipe foam on over that. Finally, go around the shield just below the inner edge of the foam and drill small holes about every inch and a half and then either lace the foam on or use black zip ties with the connector on the inside of the shield. It will preserve the look so you don't have duct tape anchoring the foam over the facing of your shield but will make the padding legal and lasting.
 
I was definatly thinking of using spray on adhesives, maybe even a light layer of liquid nails for a more firm hold on the foam edges. Maybe even hot glue. It's what's holding the foam I have on there now. I was also going to paint it with latex paint to cover the foam as well as decorate it further. Cymric told me of a good way to help round the edges of the sheild by using a garden hose around the edges and then placing the pipe insolation around that.

And it's not heavy at all. Very comparable to my sno-sled sheild. It's made of 1/8" bender board. The medal bowl in the middle is a light stainless steal mixing bowl as well. It only weighs 3 pounds. Didn't have a problem with the weight at all yesterday at a gameday.
 
I'm planning on building a shield as well.

JP if you think 3lbs is heavy, what materials do you suggest for a shield?
3lbs sounds very light to me... maybe I'm beastly strong! That's unlikely though...

Anyways, I'm looking for ideas on how to make a light shield.
 
What you want is rigid foam wall insulation. I use Foamular. You can pick it up at big hardware stores like Lowes or Home Depot. Depending on how many shields you're making, you'll either want to get a piece of 1" thick (so you can double it up to 2" thick) or if you're making 2 or 3 sheilds, get a piece of 2" thick (that's what I'm usually doing).

I generally cut it into the shape that I want with a steak-knife (it takes a little practice to cut it straight up and down, but it's easy to fix), remembering to leave about 2" inches along each side for when you add the pipe foam along the edges. If you use the 2" thick (or double up the 1" thick) stuff, the width of the pipe foam is about perfect for the width of the sheild. They're super, super light, and they're the only thing I've used (or made) for the last 8 years. I've got one 7 year old sheild that's withstood me jumping on it with my full weight in armor, running into trees, and falling down an embankment without seriously damaging the sheild.

I generally cloth cover my sheilds to save weight and tape as well, but that can be awkward to do on some shields.
Don't use bolts through the foam (although some people will tell you otherwise). If you do, I garuntee that they'll eventually rip out, regardless of what you do to them. Cut a pair of slits and at the handle and at the arm for leather straps and go that way. If leather is hard to come by for you, go to goodwill and find a belt to butcher. You should be able to get both straps out of one belt.

~Matt
 
You know, outside of wooden shields, I've used a process that was taught to me by the very first LARP I went to 15 years ago and it works surprisingly well - especially in these days of ultra light weaponry. I take four pieces of currougated cardboard and glue them together, crossing the currogation with each layer. Before I put on the final, top/front layer, I use a knife to cut slits into it for the arm and hand straps, placing something like an expired credit card under the strap on the face side of the shield to help prevent tearing through. Glue on the fourth sheet and you can then paint it easily enough however you'd like. Extremely light but not as blocky or fly-away as I have felt some foam shields to be. You'd still need to put the edging around it but I've used a shield with only three layers multiple times and have never had it bend on me. And, in fact, if a swing does fold my shield, more than likely they were swinging too hard so it's also a good gauge when to tell someone to lighten their blows.

The neat thing is that it is so inexpensive to make, you could have three shields with you at an event in case of shield failure. Make a cloth cover for your shield and all you have to do is slip it off of the damaged one and onto the new one. But like I said, they are actually quite resilient.
 
whorfin said:
Holes or gaps in the shield do not give you "extra" surface area.
Click to expand...

Define "gaps"...while I agree that some holes would be a kind of cheese...a gap isn't. A triangle shields Surf Area is b*h/2, but I am not going to add the missing space to my total (as if it was a square).
 
Triangles are a regular shape whose area is easily calculated. Those "gaps" or "voids" refer to designs with holes or cutouts either along the edges or even the ridiculous "swiss cheese" shield, with the logic that the holes don't count so you can have a giant shield.
 
Ezri said:
Triangles are a regular shape whose area is easily calculated. Those "gaps" or "voids" refer to designs with holes or cutouts either along the edges or even the ridiculous "swiss cheese" shield, with the logic that the holes don't count so you can have a giant shield.
Click to expand...

While I 100% completely agree with the Swiss cheese...other shapes are calculated if you break them up into squares and triangles. That's how I determine mine.
 
I'm with Ezri. Based on what I believe to be the intent of the RAW, the best way to determine the surface area is to stretch a cord or string around the outer edge of the shield. If your shield has gaps or voids, there will be points at which the cord hangs in open air. In determining the surface area of the shield, you act as though those voids were filled in.

I suppose another way to phrase it would be "recesses in the silhouette of your shield will be treated as filled in for determining the surface area of your shield".

Forgive the craptacular MS Paint skills... the idea here is that if your shield is the blue lump, the surface area is determined using the red outline.
picture.php
 
markusdark said:
You know, outside of wooden shields, I've used a process that was taught to me by the very first LARP I went to 15 years ago and it works surprisingly well - especially in these days of ultra light weaponry. I take four pieces of corrugated cardboard and glue them together, crossing the corrugation with each layer. Before I put on the final, top/front layer, I use a knife to cut slits into it for the arm and hand straps, placing something like an expired credit card under the strap on the face side of the shield to help prevent tearing through. Glue on the fourth sheet and you can then paint it easily enough however you'd like. Extremely light but not as blocky or fly-away as I have felt some foam shields to be. You'd still need to put the edging around it but I've used a shield with only three layers multiple times and have never had it bend on me. And, in fact, if a swing does fold my shield, more than likely they were swinging too hard so it's also a good gauge when to tell someone to lighten their blows.

The neat thing is that it is so inexpensive to make, you could have three shields with you at an event in case of shield failure. Make a cloth cover for your shield and all you have to do is slip it off of the damaged one and onto the new one. But like I said, they are actually quite resilient.
Click to expand...

You can do something very similar with plastic corrugated sign board, thin, you can put bolts through it, and you only need two layers. That's how many people do shields out here on the EC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top