I grabbed a TON of the puzzle foam from Harbor Freight because of the 30% off Black Friday deal (really happy about this.) I know a lot of people like to use it to make their shields, but I am curious about how many layers to use, and whether to add camp pad to the rim.

I'm making 24 inch round strap (A bit small for a 1-year fighter, I know, but I want to get better at my shield-work) Would four layers of HF puzzle foam be fine? Also, I know this stuff is a lot tougher than blue camp pad. Should I add a layer of blue to the outside? I feel like its not necessary because of the all 4# plastidip shields that pass all the time, but I don't want to make a shield that is too "angry" when I shield check or bash people.

I can't say if it's strictly required, but when I built my puzzle mat shield, I did so with layers of bluefoam on the edges. That was mostly because I wanted a 26" shield and the puzzle mat wasn't wide enough.

I don't know how big the HF puzzle mat pieces are, but that's something to keep in mind -- you may not be able to do a full 24" after you cut off the puzzle knobby bits from the edges.

I also did two layers of blue on the face, because blue foam is lighter than puzzle mat. I think it may have ended up at 3 layers of puzzle mat, two of blue foam? I can't remember exactly. It's pretty stout as is.

A layer of blue on the face and edge will make it a lot more friendly.

Has anyone linked the HF foam sheets together and then cut out a circle from the center of the interlocking parts..maybe put some dap on the edges to keep them secure for a bigger circle?

If not I'll give this a go but I wanted to touch base before I tried to reinvent the wheel.

thanks!