The Making of Heaters and Buckler Shields

When you are fighting with weapons you would be crazy to fight without a shield to help deflect the blows to one side of your body. Then this page will show you how to go about making a shield for Heavy combat which is SCA legal.

The procedure that I use is by no means the only way to make a shield. Experiment and find out a way which would suit you. Some of the ways that are explained are a lot of hard work but well worth the effort!

* Photos will be up in the near future *

Equipment Needed:

• 10mm sheet of plywood (5 ply is best) unless making a curved shield.
• Heater hosing or garden hosing to cover the edges.
• Aluminium capping for edging under the hosing.
• A drill and drill bits for drilling holes.
• Heavy duty calico or cotton drill fabric to cover the shield face.
• Wire to wire the aluminium to the shield.
• Bolts to bolt the aluminium to the shield. (optional)
• Tin sheeting to help with bolting the aluminium.
• Thin wire to tie the aluminium edging on.
• Twine of some sort to tie the hosing on. (optional)
• Aquadhere (PVC wood) glue available from a hardware store.
• Leather for strapping to your arm.
• Screws to hold the leather on the shield.
• Padding for arm rest against the shield.
• Upholsterer's tacks for extra decoration. (optional)
• Anvil
• Hammer
• Pliers (optional)
• Anything else that you may want to use!

Method:

1. Mark out the edge of your shield design on the plywood. For heaters this should be measured from sitting down on a chair and measuring from your chin to the chair edge between your legs (this gives you good coverage of the body) and from shoulder to shoulder.

To make a curved heater shield follow the steps on this page here before marking out your design otherwise you could end up with a poorly designed shield design!

• You can have a shield larger than this but it will impede on your fighting ability.
• A round shield is good for use against weapons like swords as you can knock the weapon away and attack in the same move.

2. Cut out the shield shape using a jigsaw or other wood cutting tool. Smooth the edges with a wood sanding belt or sand paper to remove the jagged edges left over from cutting the wood.

• To cut a hole in the centre of the round shield drill a large hole near the inside edge of the centre hole markings and use a jigsaw or other wood cutting tool to cut the hole out. Then smooth over the edge with sandpaper or the sanding belt if you can get it around that hole!

3.  Cut the aluminium edging to size around the edge of the shield. If you want to cover the curved edges of the shield (includes round shields) then you need to make 'V' shaped incisions into the metal and tap down using a hammer to give the edging that curved look - difficult to do but worthwhile if you take a lot of hits to the bottom of your shield.

At the top of your shield flair out the two edges of your top edging using an anvil or pliers (the hard way) so that it will fit over the side edgings. This will strengthen and protect the corners of your shield. Then mark and drill small holes in the wood where you want to secure the aluminium edging to the shield with.

• For a heater 3-4 holes on each side and 6-7 on the top will do the job for wiring the edging on.
• Or cut out small tin tabs to fit over the edging and drill large holes for the bolts through the tin and wood and fix the bolts on.

Make sure that the wire or bolts are held on tight so that the edging is not loose. Use light wire the thickness of a normal paperclip (but not too small or large) and tuck the tied end of the wire on the side that is the back of the shield (facing towards the shield holder) so as to be covered up by the hosing when put on and not injure the user when fighting.

4. Measure the hosing against the edge of the shield and allow a little bit for extra length and to cover the beginning and end of the hose on the edging.

Then carefully cut one side of the hosing on the inside of the curving of the hosing making sure not to cut yourself or the opposite side of the hosing (weakens it).

Once you have slit the hose, put it onto the edge of the shield making sure that it is on tightly.

Now you can do one of two things;

• drill holes all around the edge of the shield and tie the hosing on with twine or leather or such (A pain to do but looks nice if you want the old fashioned look).

 

• Leave it on and cover it with the fabric when you glue the fabric onto the shield and the fabric will hold the hosing in place.

5. Now you can get the glue and the fabric to cover the shield or you can mark out the location of your arm rest and drill the holes on the shield - see step 6 below.

Make sure you have plenty of glue as you are going to need lots to fix the fabric onto the shield.

• You can use one layer of fabric but it is recommended that you use two or more layers for extra protection and to prolong the life of your shield.

Cut out the fabric to allow an overlap on the backside of the shield of about 2-3 inches (5 to 7.5cm) and smear plenty of glue onto the face of the shield (you can also cover the hosing as well if you want to) and put the fabric on and wait about 20-30 minutes for it to dry slightly and then turn over and do the back of the shield.

• At this point you can either put fabric onto the back of the shield to totally cover it with fabric or you can leave it as plain wood. Your choice.

Allow the shield to dry for about 12-24 hours before putting on more glue and another layer of fabric and continue until you have the desired number of layers of fabric on your shield.

6. Once the glue has dried you can mark out the position where your arm will go on the shield.

• For heater shields hold the outside corner and let it hang down naturally. The vertical line from the corner where you are holding the shield to the floor is the line along which your arm is best suited to holding the shield.
• You can also add a domed piece of metal (like a punch grip shield dome) to the centre of the round shield to give it an interesting look.

Mark out the arm rest and screw locations on the inside of your shield and make sure that it is comfortable for you when using it. Beginners will probably have a number of holes from mistakes made when drilling in the wrong locations or wanting to change the arm rest locations.

Drill the holes taking care not to rip the material too much.

7. Now you can paint and varnish the shield if you want and it is best to put on about 3-4 layers of paint before painting on your device. Use marine grade varnish to give the shield a really good coat of protection against swords and the natural elements (rain and dirt) and to make it look nice.

• You can also put on Upholsterer's tacks onto the shield if you are using it for metal weapons combat to give it that extra medieval look!

8. You can now put on the arm rest, hand protection for SCA combat and straps and use the shield for combat.

• Hand protection can either be rigid as in metal bars across the outside of the glove or tough leather boiled to give it a hard shell to cover the shield hand with. Or alternatively you can use big hockey gloves (yuck - my opinion only), or full metal gauntlets without the rigid metal or leather cover over the gloves.

Over a period of time your shield will be worn down and at some stage you will need to replace the hosing and fabric covering with new ones to give new life to the shield - unless the wood is broken in which case make a new shield.

Happy fighting warriors!

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