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Nimpsu β Viking shield
by-nc-nd
Published: 2009-07-13 08:12:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 14716; Favourites: 63; Downloads: 7143
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Description
The outside has been painted with linseed oil paints and the design is from a runestone found in Sweden. The construction of the shield has been taken from a Carolingian mansucript.Material: Pine, construcion steel and sheet, rawhide, leather
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Comments: 41
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Very nice-looking! I was wondering, are the metal parts historically accurate in viking shields around 10th century?
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I was wondering, did you varnish the shield before adding all the other details?
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Hmm...never actually wieghed it, but quite heavy. Propably around 3.5kg.
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That sounds pretty heavy. Is that the authenic weight?
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Most propably not. Though there's not many shields that have survived in very good condition to this day, but for example the one in quite good condition in the historical museum in Riga is made of much thinner wood.
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Not this one as it's kind of a promotional one, but I can make commissions
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Hi! This is the best and most historically accurate viking shield that I've ever seen! 
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Humhum...never done a shield on commission, but I'd propably charge around 400 euros.
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It's really greate! I wish my role-players can also made something like this in the nearest future)
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Pietrach-the glue in the US is called hide glue. The Native Americans used it. I think you can buy it in some of the major lumber stores like Home Depot
Bob
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Great looking shield. Did you make the boss or did you buy it? Great design
Bob Florence
alienbuffalo101@hotmail.com
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Thanks, I made the boss as well.
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hey dude I have a qestion , I had some problems wih my shields in the past nothing major but , how do you get your shields not to bend towards the side you paint ? cheers dude
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Hmm...one option is to paint both sides 
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We have noticed the same, the shield bends towards the painted side (or glued, if the linen or leather is glued to the front). The best way to avoid this as we found is to threaten both sides i.e. to glue one layer of linen canvas to the rear of a shield planks. Such operation increases the safety too as the glued canvas can protect your face from being hit by splinters falling off during chopping of your shield by some daneaxe.
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thanks for the information man , no more face splinters for me
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what glue did you use to glue on the canvas to the wood ?
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I'm not sure what is the proper name for this kind of natural glue in English, but we call it "the leather glue", named not after the purpose of glueing the leather but after it's main component which is minced hares' skins (at least nowadays - I am not sure if in medieval times the same stock have been being used as hares were introduced - imported from Italy - relatively late in history).
The "leather glue" is to be bought in a form of small amber-like hard drops and it must be poured into equal volume of water for partially dissolving and then heated to completely melting before use.
I have used the same "leather glue" for glueing together the wooden planks of the shield although according to the writings of Theophilus Monk a.k.a. Presbyter (11th century) the planks should be fixed with a casein glue (based on the milk proteines). I never work with the caseine glue but some of my friends have told me they want to try.
Regards -
Andrew
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Sounds like a good option. I don't use fabric on my viking shields so I haven't had to deal with that problem. I have glued linen fabric on my medieval heater shield, but that one's already curved inwards so it doesn't bend much with the cloth.
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Kiitokset ja kiitos favista
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eipΓ€ kestΓ€, ja kiitokset watchista.
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Mainion nΓ€kΓΆinen tuo riimukivestΓ€ mukailtu koristekuviokin.
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Joo, noista varsinaisista kilven maalauskuvioista oli aika huonosti mitÀÀn sÀilynyt, joten piti sitten hieman soveltaa.
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The period style iron for the grip-stifners is very commendable.
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Where did you get the rawhide from? And how is the boss attached to the shield? Did you use rivets or traditional bent over nails?
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The rawhide is actually from those "bones" that you buy for dogs. They're basically just long strips of rawhide tied into knots to make it resemble bones. Its easy to untie them by soaking them in water. The bars on the back and the boss are all attached by rivets.
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Alright, getting the bones would be easy, soaking them and turning them into strips would be easy. But how would I go about attaching the rawhide to the shield, with carpet tacks? Does rawhide shrink as it dries out?
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I used small nails. I guess carpet tacks are quite similar. Another a bit more authentic way to do it would be to drill small holes through the rawhide and the wood and "sew" the rawhide to the shield with thin cords of leather or rawhide. But I'd say nailing gives you really good results with less work.
The rawhide doesn't shrink that much. Not so much that you'd notice it with those long, narrow pieces. A friend of mine covered his whole shield's front side with a big piece of rawhide and as it dried, it bended the shield concave
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