Dwarven Shield Project

[Bumr Blackbrand]

I'm currently in the planning stages of a Dwarven persona. Thus far, I've acquired Gimli's Helmet and have both a Dwarven sword and walking axe being commissioned. A friend and co-worker of mine gave me this shield he made ten years ago to assist. It definitely has the size and the shape I'm looking for, but it's not as believable as I'd like it to be. I plan to replace the flash with something a little more rustic looking, first and foremost.

He also had a green rug and an old belt on the back side, which I promptly removed and plan to replace with reindeer hide. The belt will probably turn into a custom leather strap and a bone/antler or wood handle for easier manueverability.

I'm torn between covering the front side with leather or a metal of some kind -- maybe even leaving it bare to stain at a later date.

All updates in progress will be posted here for later reference, but I would love any and all thoughts on how I should proceed.

[Peter Remling]

Nice shape.

First I'd remove the flang but save it.
Then make vertical lines on the plywood with a marker. Using a dremel or hobby knives etch the lines to appear like separate planks were used to create the face.
Stain the etched lines a slightly darker stain than the rest of the wood.
Take a ball peen hammer to the flangs, then use a torch to blacken them. Between the peen hammering marks and the black, they will look
like hammer beaten iron strips. Reapply the flang trim with black carpet tacks and epoxy.

I submitted this without something for the steel bolts holding on the strap. Once you decide on what you want to do with the strapping take a torch to the bolt heads off the shield. Once they are a dull red remove the heat and let them cool down. You will have soften the steel the same way smiths differantically heat treat a blade by focusing heat on one area of a hardened blade they soften it. After the bolts are cooled to room temperature, place them in a vise. Hit them several times on the head to give them a similar look like the flang. Heat them up again until they are black again and then reassemble with your new chose of strapping.

Do the back as you planned.

[Bumr Blackbrand]

Making a little bit of progress here. The flang has been removed, but I'm holding onto it. The ball peen and burn method sounds like a phenomenal way to make them look antiqued, which is exactly what I'm going for.

I also love the idea of the faux planks, which is something I'll have to implement as well. I'm not fond of the random eight bolts in the front, I'd like to integrate a design of some sort. Maybe add more bolts in a diamond or something for the sake of consistency. As for the strapping, I'm doing one leather wrap with buckle and one handle, probably wood or bone (I love the idea of getting an antler handle to go with the reindeer hide. The shield was originally set up with a sort of flimsy strap 'handle' and it'll be hard to maneuver given the size of the shield without something stable as a handhold.

[Iodo]

Nice work sounds like it will look amazing once it's done, I second the false planks idea, maybe instead of just making it look like wood you could paint a design on it, viking shields were often painted, you could include the bolts as part of the design?

[Bumr Blackbrand]

If I'm doing a design, I'm going all out and wood burning it. I may add a diamond shape into the face with some leftover tacks or bolts or whatever I end up using, but I could easily burn some design around those.

[Elleth]

How fun!

I also think something that would look absolutely grand is something like you see in Scottish targes that have a tooled leather background. - then using weathered iron or copper for edging and decorative elements on the face, not unlike Iodo's fantastic bracers.

[Odigan]

I also think something that would look absolutely grand is something like you see in Scottish targes...

Because as we all know, Dwarves are Scottish.
Actually, that reminds me of something I should post elsewhere...

If you do choose to paint it, first cover it with a fabric like canvas. This will make it much easier to paint and the texture is more authentic looking. In my opinion anyway! For the edging, maybe give it a soak in vinegar to distress it some?

[Elleth]

Because as we all know, Dwarves are Scottish.

Ugh.

Painted canvas sounds nice!