Gearbox Photography

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Viking Shield

Viking Shield!

I'm creating a viking shield to use for practice fighting with some friends, and for halloween. This shield is more or less of the authentic size and weight, but I'm freely using modern materials and techniques in its construction, notably plywood construction and nylon webbing for straps.
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  • A 48x48 inch sheet of plywood. Too big for a shield, but smallest size that's big enough. I drew out a 36x36 square within it to be my shield blank, and kept the L-shaped waste for some other project.
  • I found the rough center of the 36x36 piece by drawing lines from opposite corners. Where they cross, that's our center.
  • A screw is placed into the center of the board.
  • String is tied to the screw in the center, with a loop at the proper radius for the inner hole and outer size of the shield. The inside hole is 5.75" in diameter, and the shield is 33" in diameter.
  • Next, the hole is cut with my jigsaw using a "clean" cut blade. That just means less rough, rather than actually nice. :P
  • Next, I took my shield boss, and centered it over the hole. I then drew circles in its bolt-holes to drill out.
  • After drilling out the bolt-holes, it's time to sand the whole thing so that it's smooth and not too splintery. I used a random-orbital sander to do this, sanding both sides, and cleaning up the edge of the shield.
  • Smoothed after sanding, the shield is ready for its first coat of paint. I'm using an oil-based enamel paint to create a durable finish on the project.
  • The first coat of paint, still wet. This layer is acting as a primer, although it's the same paint as I'm using for the rest of the project. Next up, more coats of paint, separated by sanding steps so to create a smooth, durable finish.
  • Untitled photo
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