Wicker shield reconstruction

[Lucius Duccius Rufinus]

What is the weight like with these?
They were supposedly heavier than regular scuta.

Byron, I think these would have to be filled / coated with concrete / lead or stone for them to be heavier, from what i can gather from reading anyways, they were apparently as much as twice the weight of their normal counterparts...

On another note, i have ordered a heap of Willow from a guy in Insch (very cheap!) for us to try to make our own!

hock: hock: Hmmm, I never got that impression from the reading I haver done....just they were of a heavier construction than the regular scutum, and the rudis was weighted too, to make it heavier than a regular gladius. But that would not really be too hard, a good hardwood will be heavier than a real gladius anyway.

Good to hear you sourced the willow!

I know its not really a reliable source but http://www.ehow.com/about_4620430_roman ... ining.html

I guess with the Gladius, it could be easily weighted with the different types of wood..

but i'd imagine wicker shields would always be made from willow, no way to do that except to weigh it with other means