Seeing the other Rules Question thread on shield use made me remember this.
I was once told that propping a shield up against your body doesn't count as using the shield and therefore you do not gain any protection from said shield; i.e., the shield doesn't block shots for you and the first shot to the shield will go through it as though it weren't there (like when a shield is broken).
Now, that doesn't sound right to me. But the situation was:
I was florentining and had been legged (left leg, I think) and had grabbed a nearby fallen shield and propped it up against my right knee. Someone said that I couldn't do that and expect to have the shield "work", so I ditched it and carried on.
I think the shield should certainly count, though if you were trying to use more than one of them that way, it would definitely get gray.
Any opinions?