11-29-2009, 03:49 AM
Sorry, I'm confused by what you wrote there Christian- rawide is raw hide- skin that's had the hair and fat removed but just dried and not tanned or otherwise preserved. What two different things are you referring to?
And Ratsdorf is certainly not the first nor the only person doing rawhide parchment on shields- I do that too
The well-known intact Dura Europos semicylindrical scutum is covered with thin parchment (rawhide), and even Polybius mentions Roman shields being covered with calfskin- although he doesn't say rawhide or leather, but leather is less-likely. The parchment on the scutum is very thin- on the order of 0.5mm- which testing myself, I've found isn't terribly useful structurally-speaking.
And Ratsdorf is certainly not the first nor the only person doing rawhide parchment on shields- I do that too
The well-known intact Dura Europos semicylindrical scutum is covered with thin parchment (rawhide), and even Polybius mentions Roman shields being covered with calfskin- although he doesn't say rawhide or leather, but leather is less-likely. The parchment on the scutum is very thin- on the order of 0.5mm- which testing myself, I've found isn't terribly useful structurally-speaking.
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