Do you know shields with specific name, that correspond tho those ones?

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copper shield = Typical round shield?

plate shield = Have you heard of a shield made of few plates combined?

brass shield = I know there was a "Heater shield" - a name used for shields with coats of arms on them. Lions can be seen on shields and coats of arms throughout the history, but was there a popular shield in the past with a red lion on a yellow background?

studded shield = Similar to Targe Shield, but targes were round.

wooden shield = Typical round shield with metal boss in the middle / viking shield?

https://preview.redd.it/ypduxeqa4eia1.png?width=822&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd2aa74ba33403cc5b5f177f7309f453a9279354

It's my first time making a shield and I've never done any leatherwork before... What are good places to look for rawhide for the edging? I've also read somewhere that some people use rawhide dog chews - has anyone here tried that? If so, how did you figure out how many packages to buy? I know the circumference of the shield, but not the dimensions of the average dog chew.

Related with this post I made.

https://www.reddit.com/r/shields/comments/y0nwnk/when_you_block_an_attack_with_a_shield_will_you/

So I'm curious after the results of my experiment, do men in shieldwall formations feel the exact same stuff I did when enemies rush in (especially in a disorganized charge like the Celts typically did)? Especially as their body tackles the shield wall and they swing their weapons in a melee?

If so, how could shield hold on in a very organized interconnected wall despite the kinectic energy and physics forces that would come after the enemy rams into the shields of individual soldiers and they swing their heavy weapons at each person in the wall? I mean I had enough difficulty against civilian grade weapons trying to block and parry in my experiment so I can't understand how an individual Roman soldier could take on the full body of a raging berseker without falling down and creating a gap in the shieldwall or how a shieldwall can stay interconnected despite a barrage of heavy swings of ax and hammer nonstop?

I know war shields used by knights, Romans, Hoplites, Vikings, etcwere much heavier, stronger, and larger than the Cold Steel Buckler I bought so thats obviously a factor. But I cannot understand how shieldwalls can hold for hours despite nonstop blows (especially the first one which Roman accounts often describe as a barbarian running in and hurling himself at a shield)!

Can anyone explain how the shieldwall works to remain connected despite impactful attacks?

I ordered a Macedonian Phalangite Shield replica on Amazon last week. While its made out of plastic, its designed to be as heavy and similar in shape and size as real surviving shields from that period. When I brought int he mail box today......... The box was so heavy. After opening it, I weighed the shield and it was 12 lbs! Now it came with two insert brackets plus a handle and a strap to that goes on your shoulder. So after inserting your arms into its brackets and gripping the far handle at the edge with the hand and pulling the straps onto your holding arm and tying it, the weapon became surprisingly easy to play around with. That said you can still feel the darn weight and I got surprisingly a bit tired walking around with it.........

Its common to see posts on Reddit and across the internet making statements that its easy to fight in a Roman shieldwall against raging charging barbarians under the belief all you have to do is just and holding the shield, let the barbarians tackle you while in formation, and wait until the enemy's charge loses momentum and the entire barbarian army begins to back off as thy lost stamina and eventually flee.

Another statement I seen online is that Phalanx Warfare of the Greek Hoplites was safe and easy because casualties are so low and all Greek warfare is about is holding the shield and pushing each other. That even if you are on the losing side, you don't have to fear death because holding your shield will protect you even if the Phalanx break apart and the enemy starts rolling forward....... That for the victors its just as a matter of holding the shield and waiting for your enemy to lose heart and start fleeing in large numbers because your own Phalanx wall won't break.............

I wish I was making it up but the two above posts are so common to see online. That shield finally having hold a Macedonian replica of a Telamon .......... It reminded me of the posts as holding the thing was so difficult due to its weigh even if I just go into a defensive stance. So it makes me wonder?

Are proper military shields meant for formation warfare like the Spartan Aspis much harder to use around even for passive defensive acts? Not just in duels an disorganized fights........ But even in formations like the Roman Testudo? Would it require actual strength and stamina to hold of charging berserkers in a purely defensive wall of Scutums unlike what internet posters assume?

Does the above 10 lbs weight of most military shields do a drain on your physical readiness even in rectangular block formations on the defense?

I can't tell you how many times popular portrayals of shieldwall formations by disciplined armies were so well coordinated that they did not have any holes or gaps in them that no arrows can possibly hit a single soldiers in the ranks. In fact disciplined armies such as the Normans are often portrayed as being so interconnected in their wall formations that there is no way for even an opposing army without a shieldwall to inflict casualties. So long as you remain in the wall formation your shield will protact you from any direct blow and the enemy soldiers would have to either break the formation by overwhelming with sheer numbers or hit with weapons strong enough to pierce or smash the shields of individual soldiers.If they can't do that and if they fight otuside a shield formation, you're guaranteed to win with minimal or even no casualties.

Pop media portrayals of the Greeks and Romans take this up to eleven in specific film portrayals where the Greek Phalanx and (especially) Roman Tetsudo are done with such coordination and discipline that they LITERALLY CONNECT like Lego pieces!

The opening scene from Gladiators where Roman legions battle Germaic barbarians exemplifies just how "perfectly" connecting the Roman Tetsudo is portrayed in movies and shieldwalls are in mass media in general. Not a single gap enemy arrows could penetrate and despite the terrains Romans were able to hold a near perfect front wall shield row while on the march.

However I was watching a historical reenactment the other day and I was absolutely shocked at just how much gaps there were int he Tetsudo formation just as practised by re-enactorrs. There was so much obvious holes that it looked like even a harpoon could enter the formation without a shield getting int he way and in the reenactment many participants admitted they were hit by arrows despite being in shieldwall.

In addition not counting the gaps, the shields did not look like they could connect perfectly like lego toys that is often portrayed in movies. Even when they stop marching and assume defensive position awaiting the barbarian rush the front row don't even look like a wall of shields more like individuals holding their shield outs. Despite attempting to interconnect their shields together as they awaited the Barbarian rush, they looked less like the wall in movies and more like barbarian hordes they were supposed to fight in the re-enactment.

Even the shields they wielded looked too bulky to ever "connect perfectly like lego pieces". I actually went and talk to some of the enactors to help me do an experiment in an attempt to imitate the Tetsudo in movies and when I tried to connect my shield to enacters side by side me, it was so damn difficult to literally make them touch each other and in fact the shields were of various sizes it was impossible to keep a symmetrical front row that looked perfect like in films.

Even when we did come close to copying placing the shields close together side by side, it was so skimpy trying to copy movie style shieldwalls that we could barely move forward in a march let alone swing our sword or thrust our spear. In fact in some attempts we were even literally touching each other should by shoulder and nd some of us got scratches and scrapes by our weapons and armor parts. We ultimately had to put some distance between our shields to effectively simulate swinging weapons.

I know we were just re-enacting but this event made me curious if the Shieldwall was not as fancy looking and perfect protection movies portray. The fact trying to connect it like lego pieces in the front row alone made it so tight we couldn't even march nevermind throw a spear. We even had difficulties getting out of the wall.

My Cold Steel Buckler arrived earlier on Friday. Before I went to HEMA class on Saturday, I did an experiment at home on Friday.

I got my friend to hit me with feel force at the area where I was holding my shield with a variety of weapons. First I got him to hit me with my $35 scimitar. I was able to block all blows but I not only felt a ringing sounds and vibration effect on my hand each time I blocked a blow but I felt literally gravity pushing my shield away. Just as interestingly I felt my whole body feel the impact of the kinetic energy each time I blocked a swing. As in even if I was not moved I felt the rest of my arm feel like I just got punched hard while wearing protective gear and my body could feel like I was just pushed back a bit. I even almost stumbled a few times I got hit.

Than I got my friend to hit me with a 4 feet long 5 lbs clubell. When I was being hit with the scimitar even if I temporary lost one of my footing, I could at least quickly go back to reposition my legs in proper standing and not every blow caused enough energy to make my body move, not even pushed back, even if it felt like someone was pushing me.. However with the bat I practically lost balance of my shield enough a lot of times I fell down and furthermore even if I was able to not get knocked down, I was literally pushed several feet away enough times to note it. If I wasn't pushed away, my grip on the shield was affected enough that my shield would be knocked out of the way and even unintentionally dropping it a few times. The ringing along made my grip so uncomfortable I felt like dropping it at every blows, even weak ones, and by the time I was done with the bat my hand felt so numb and had a shaky feel to it I had to take a break. Like my nerves were affected directly.

Now when I got my friend to experiment with a 15 lb macebell, not only was the macebell able to get through every blow to break my shield away (even with him doing it controlled to avoid accidents and injuries), but I literally fell down on the ground like I slipped or am exhausted from running in only 3 strikes (and in each and every one of them). It was so terrifying to feel the power like I'm being hit by a car I stopped the experiment after feeling the macebell's impact shortly.

So I am wondering. I already know movies are a bunch of BS so how they show someone hold their shields and not get pushed back or show physical discomfort is flatout wrong I assumed even before I started the experiment. I was definitely expecting to feel some impact. However watching so many HEMA videos and Chinese martial arts online and seeing experts take direct hits from very heavy hammers and such without stumbling or feeling discomfort as they block it in a braced for impact manner made me wonder......... How the heck can they do that?! Even the scimitar already provided difficulty despite being as light as 1.25 pounds enough I felt theimpact affect my legs enough to almost stumble or move its feet position a bit!

I mean I even tried experimenting with parrying the blows as its in the process of moving and while I felt much less impact, I still felt discomfort and numbness with vibrations in my hand! And thats just with the scimitar and a direct parry just a few moments after the sword was thrown (specifically when the sword still hasn't left from behind the shoulder during the swing)!

Can anyone explain if what I'm feeling is natural? If so how do HEMA fighters and East Asian weapon artists able to not fall to the ground or something when a heavy two handed mace is thrown? This is my first time using a shield and I only practise HEMA two times a month so I don't know much. In fact this Friday I will attempt this experiment again at the HEMA club. However I'm frustrated and want to learn details! Can somebody clue me in?

My medieval buckler replica, made through old school blacksmithing by a HEMA group, just arrived by mail today. It reminds me of a statement I saw a HEMA practitioner made........

"Weapons are often used in tandem with shields for this reason. The shield bears the brunt of most the attacks, but even then the weapon does a lot of defensive work. If all you have is a weapon, it has to do double duty. Because contrary to what you might think, when you're legally justified to use a weapon, it's because someone is trying to kill you."

I am curious, why is the weapon just as important as the shield is in defensive action? I cannot tell you how people often think of using sword and shield as simple as "wait for the enemy sword to land on your shield, let the sword bounce from impact, and you immediately follow with a strike against your now defensive enemy who's still trying to recover his grip on his sword from the impact".

Seriously popular media portrays it this way from movies such as 300 to video games such as Legend of Zelda and live TV such as Deadliest Warriors. Even and educational sources and serious academic studies portray it this way. Can't tell you how many times I seen the History Channel have people test the effectiveness of a shield by banging swords, warhammers, and other heavy weapons against them and there are videos of university experiments you can see on Youtube where they test a shield's effectiveness in precisely the same manner.

So I am confused.What is meant by the above quote? I mean if scientists and historians with PhDs are saying a shield is enough for defensive action and the sword is pretty much a purely offensive weapon, why is there a need to learn parries, feints, blocks, etc as you stated in your earlier post? I mean real university experiments portray defensive moves with sword and buckler as merely "let it land, bounce off, than follow up with a sword cut or thrust) as universal standard when it comes to discussing about defensive actions!

Is there more to it than simply putting your shield to cover the area that you anticipate will be hit and simply awaiting to hit it while standing still like a stop sign on an intersection?

Is there any easy way of making domed/cone bucklers? It doesn’t have to be historical.

I’m having trouble finding tutorials online

I really want to make a viking shield for myself. However I have trouble finding a boss, that's properly priced.

I live in Greece and so I try to find a shop that's in Europe, so I don't have to pay gold for the shipping.

https://www.blackarmoury.com/en/bosses/94-boss-shield-or-umbo-domed-n1.html

Currently this is the best choice, a boss for around 30 euros (with shipping).

Does anyone know this shop? It is good/trustworthy?

Thanks for your time and help.

Would it be possible to make a Scutum of titanium? According to one single google search, it's the best strength-to-weight material. And another showed the scutum is a good shield shape. So would it be the theoretically best shield?

I was wondering about the uses, as well as the advantages (and disadvantages) of having a strap shield (around the size of a Scottish targe maybe), but the hand grip has a Katar blade connected to it.

I'm in process of making a shield, but I'm not sure what jiné of paint to use. I think that something warerproof would be best. Originaly I wanted to use acrylic paint but realised that it's dilutable in water. Any suggestions?

Hello! I am quite new to this subreddit and I was hoping to purchase a shield that is authentic and isn't a scam. I don't know much about this business which is why I ask you all where I can purchase a shield from.

are there any good websites that I can purchase a good shield from that isn't a scammer site?