A few shield questions

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A few shield questions

Postby Saxavarius » Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:39 pm

Image

The image is a quick render of my ideas and should help you picture what I'm asking; the black is the foam's outline, the blue would be the core and the red would be the straps:

1. Is there any advantage to having a curved shield where only the face is curved?

2. How would I curve the face? (Disregard if question one is no)

3. How far off center could I place the straps without compromising my ability to keep it stable?
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Re: A few shield questions

Postby Matthias - Dun Abhon » Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:53 pm

As far as I know, there's no real advantage to having only the face of your shield curved, but someone more physics-savvy might be able to give you more info on that front.

I know you said it's just a quick drawing, but I hope your straps won't look like that because it looks like it'd be horribly uncomfortable and a very ineffective way to hold the shield, unless there's something I'm missing. I'd recommend making the straps at more of an angle, roughly matching the angle your shield forearm is at when you tuck it back into your torso. I feel like that description of the action I'm envisioning is subpar, so I hope you understand what I mean.
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Re: A few shield questions

Postby Celtic Christ » Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:59 pm

I'm guessing that your left arm is your shield arm and the strap picture is from the back. You'll get a lot of play in the far side of the shield which could make your balance an issue. Depending on how you protect your back it could present issues with turning it behind you. Your right side is going to take a lot more movement to cover. Those are the big issues I'm seeing right off hand. An easy way to see how it works for you first hand though is to just put straps on the core and spar with it a few times. Just use light swings and you'll get to see the physics behind most of it up close. curving the front of the shield can reduce the impact force which will save you a bit of arm stress. There are a number of ways to curve the front as well. you can trim out your layers to gradually get larger and give you the curve. Or use a drywall rasp to sculpt it down afterwards. I've only ever used the rasp for aesthetic parts of weapons so I'm not sure how well it would work for a shield face. Trying my odd ideas even if they've failed has always taught me something about new about foamsmithing so I'd say give it a shot.
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Re: A few shield questions

Postby bacchus » Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:05 pm

i am with mathias about the curve

it looks like you want to put the straps vertical. i wouldn't suggest it. it will hinder your fighting, as well one good kick in the wrong direction and you dislocated your shoulder.... never had it happen to anyone i have seen, but close a couple of times.
i would suggest you shoot for parallel to 30 degrees up angle centered width ways
as far as where the straps go top to bottom, you want the bottom of the straps to be on the same line as the start of the angle that goes to your point. that is as long as it is 40 ish in. If its bigger then bring it up a little.
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Re: A few shield questions

Postby Saxavarius » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:06 pm

Thanks for the help everyone.

One more question: What is the group consensus on making a criss-cross pattern using strips of foam going vertical then horizontal under a couple solid layers to save foam? I saw a link to a Dag board mentioning this and can't remember if it was considered safe for Belegarth use.
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Re: A few shield questions

Postby Triton » Thu Sep 13, 2012 6:36 pm

While I've never actually seen a waffled shield, I've read about them a couple of times. I can't really think of a good reason to use them. While a lot of people argue that they are just as safe as regularly foamed shields, they definitely have the potential to be more dangerous/ fall apart easier. They also probably take more time to make. The difference in weight with a cored shield probably won't be that significant and I don't think saving foam and a little bit of $$ (I'm assuming your planning on using the cheap blue foam) is worth making something that could hurt somebody or break sooner makes any sense.

Also, back to the strapping question I would agree with what everyone above has said. The strapping on my tower shield wasn't even that extreme of an angle, but even so it got a little uncomfortable after a while, and my arm would slowly drop towards a 90 degree angle, leaving my shoulder a little exposed.
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Re: A few shield questions

Postby Atman » Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:50 pm

I can't speak for the safety/durability of the waffled shield, but I can say that the foam on the face of the shield will easily last 5+ years if not completely abused. By the time you factor is the time and aggravation of cutting and dapping all of those strips, you're probably just as well off spending an extra $10 on foam for a conventionally-faced shield.
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