SCUTUM, building and testing, some thoughts

[Matt Lukes]

Wouldn't demand and situation also dictate what type of wood is used? If the "best" choice wasn't available, I'd be interested to see what was used in a pinch.

Exactly. Species of tree are region-dependent, wood supplies surely weren't consistent in antiquity, and necessity is always a driving factor in the production of anything. If a scutarius had to produce some hundreds of scuta, would he really have the luxury of selecting only the best wood? It actually seems to me that the plywood construction would make up for deficiencies in the wood used...