In making: Boffer Shield
February 12, 2018
Introduction
This post shows how I made my Spartan shield. This requires quite a bit more work than the Spartan Sword but it is still as easy. The shield will be round-shaped of at least 85 cm of diameters.
As I am trying to follow the Sotahuuto rules, the shield has to be padded all over, even on the front.
Skeleton
First starting with plywood. What I’ve got is 9mm thick, you can find it in size of 9mm * 1.2m x 2.4m for 24.9€ in Bauhaus, enough to make 2 shields. It looks quite sturdy so it should be pretty good. I think I might have been able to save up on the weight with even thinner plywood and some reinforcement crossing the center.
Drawing up the structural shape of the shield…
Then cutting the board with a jigsaw.
Next up, I drilled a few holes and placed in a handle. The handle cost 4.25€ from K-Rauta.
Notice the shape of the screws I used. I thought these would be a good idea for whenever I need to tighten it up from the handle side (the other side will be wrapped up and covered by padding and cloth!)
This shield is meant to be supported by the forearm as well, so I’ve cut a piece of garden hose for this. I later on replaced it for a piece of cloth as I found out that the hose was not flexible enough, and it was painful on the arm.
Finally, to finish the shield skeleton, I wrapped the edges with garden hose. This is to make sure there are no hard edges and that the padding around it will endure shocks when fighting. It’s also very cheap, only 4.95€ for 20 meters.
Padding
Now this is already a very nice looking shield in my opinion, but sadly I have to put in all this padding.
For the padding around the edges, I used isolation pipe. 3 of them were needed for a shield this size. They cost 2.5€ a piece from Bauhaus.
And on the front, a yoga mat does do the job. At 4.95€ from Etola.
Accessories
Then I’m adding some small accessories before finishing up the shield. These are all quite optional.
Here is some kind of gym strap that I’ll use to carry the shield around on my back. This, I think, is the most expensive piece but I can’t remember the price and didn’t keep the receipt.
I am using a hook and loop tape for attaching my sword on the shield when fighting with a spear. It was also quite expensive but I don’t remember the price unfortunately.
And I’m adding some more padding for stability and comfort while handling the shield.
Wrap up
Then I added black fabric to protect the padding from bad weather and also for stealth at night :p
The fabric was 14.28€ for 1.2x1.2 meters from Eurokangas.
Logo
It’s almost over, but the shield would be quite bland without a logo, so here it goes. I first made a pattern using some cardboard boxes and a small white textile pen.
Barbabeau says hi! :D
Conclusion
It’s winter now and I didn’t get the chance to use the shield yet… But I’m eager to try it and hopefully will use it for the next Sotahuuto. Total cost of the shield was 60.83€ without the accessories. It was certainly more costly than the Sword I made earlier but most of the things I bought can actually be reused. I’d need to only buy a very few things to build a second shield or a sword.