04-20-2017, 05:14 PM
Holy necro-thread Batman! It's time for an old thread revival! I couldn't just leave you all with a cliffhanger ending! 
The shield has been completed for quite some time but I haven't found time to sit down and post. Life gets busy!
I do believe I have some more detailed photos of the porpax and antilabe but for now I will explain how the shield was finished and edit pictures into the thread when I get my hands on them! I will post the pictures I do have for now however.
So I left off with the inside of the shield covered with the flax canvas, primed and no porpax in sight. It seemed like the shield was a project never to be completed... But persistence pays off!!! The inside of the shield was finished with a red acrylic paint. I was very choosy not to pick a red that was to garish or overbearing and I think the result turned out fairly well. (The colour was very similar to the red Matt Amt used on his aspis.)
The large hurdle of constructing the porpax remained however but I purchased some 18(?-will confirm and update) gauge steel steel from the local hardware store and traced out the template I made onto the steel. I did make some adjustments to the template before I traced however. (I will pull out my template and make a scan of it for others to use if asked. The template does have to be changed in length slightly to adjust for your forearm size so keep that in mind.) To cut out the steel was a... it was honestly an ordeal. I used tin snips that were hardly tough enough to easily cut through the steel (maybe they were just old). Quitting does not come naturally for me and I am a stubborn bugger, so I found setting up the shears along the template line and throwing my whole body weight down in a quick impulse was enough to get the cut started. From there, it was a comical event to watch me throw all my body weight into the shears to slowly cut through the steel. After a bunch of little cuts, a ton of sweat and cramped and sore hands, the metal cutout was done. Next was the process of filing down all the sharp edges of the cutout. This took a fairly long time as I wasn't keen on having my arms sliced up with the aspis on me! I then put the ends of the porpax (where they flair out) into a vice and bent them 90 degrees. A hammer was used as necessary to achieve a nice bend. I then worked to porpax into a semicircular shape and used an anvil (20lb barbell) and cold chisel to flair the edges. I used painters tape on the surfaces that were contacting the weight to stop the porpax from getting chewed up to badly. Finished result below!
*** Safety Disclaimer! - Cutting metal is dangerous. I used thick pigskin gloves and wore safety glasses and even ear plugs as the banging on metal in my basement was really loud. If you are planning to follow this with intent to build an aspis, please take appropriate safety precautions. I am not responsible for your injures! Be safe!!!
Now that the porpax was complete, it was time to mount it into the aspis. I picked spots to drill holes in the porpax where there seemed to be the most material around to reduce the chance of the metal tearing out. There is a little bit of finesse to mounting the porpax to the aspis. If ones was to simply mount the porpax perfectly centered in the aspis, it would be fairly maneuverable as you are at the centre of its mass but I chose to mount to porpax slightly higher up for two reasons.
1. Mounting the porpax higher ensures the aspis will not be top heavy and try to constantly fall away from you. It is difficult to guarantee that the geometric centre of your shield is where the actual centre of mass lies (your aspis may be thicker in some places and thinner in others resulting in an imbalance). Mounting it slightly higher eliminates this issue and still results in a very neutral feeling shield.
2. Where I mounted my porpax allows my shoulder to fit perfectly into the top edge. This means I can actually rest the aspis on my shoulder when carrying it distributing the load better.
Holes were then drilled through the aspis and yes... I was bad... I used historically incorrect screws to secure the porpax. They stuck out on the other side and were trimmed to fit correctly. This is where if you wanted to go more historically accurate you would clinch the nails into the aspis and that would be that but I did want the ability to remove the porpax if necessary to construct a new one, make adjustments, etc. Clinching the nails will not allow you to remove the porpax should you so desire once the front is covered!
I will be posting the continuation of this in a little bit so just hang on!
The shield has been completed for quite some time but I haven't found time to sit down and post. Life gets busy!
I do believe I have some more detailed photos of the porpax and antilabe but for now I will explain how the shield was finished and edit pictures into the thread when I get my hands on them! I will post the pictures I do have for now however.
So I left off with the inside of the shield covered with the flax canvas, primed and no porpax in sight. It seemed like the shield was a project never to be completed... But persistence pays off!!! The inside of the shield was finished with a red acrylic paint. I was very choosy not to pick a red that was to garish or overbearing and I think the result turned out fairly well. (The colour was very similar to the red Matt Amt used on his aspis.)
The large hurdle of constructing the porpax remained however but I purchased some 18(?-will confirm and update) gauge steel steel from the local hardware store and traced out the template I made onto the steel. I did make some adjustments to the template before I traced however. (I will pull out my template and make a scan of it for others to use if asked. The template does have to be changed in length slightly to adjust for your forearm size so keep that in mind.) To cut out the steel was a... it was honestly an ordeal. I used tin snips that were hardly tough enough to easily cut through the steel (maybe they were just old). Quitting does not come naturally for me and I am a stubborn bugger, so I found setting up the shears along the template line and throwing my whole body weight down in a quick impulse was enough to get the cut started. From there, it was a comical event to watch me throw all my body weight into the shears to slowly cut through the steel. After a bunch of little cuts, a ton of sweat and cramped and sore hands, the metal cutout was done. Next was the process of filing down all the sharp edges of the cutout. This took a fairly long time as I wasn't keen on having my arms sliced up with the aspis on me! I then put the ends of the porpax (where they flair out) into a vice and bent them 90 degrees. A hammer was used as necessary to achieve a nice bend. I then worked to porpax into a semicircular shape and used an anvil (20lb barbell) and cold chisel to flair the edges. I used painters tape on the surfaces that were contacting the weight to stop the porpax from getting chewed up to badly. Finished result below!
*** Safety Disclaimer! - Cutting metal is dangerous. I used thick pigskin gloves and wore safety glasses and even ear plugs as the banging on metal in my basement was really loud. If you are planning to follow this with intent to build an aspis, please take appropriate safety precautions. I am not responsible for your injures! Be safe!!!
Now that the porpax was complete, it was time to mount it into the aspis. I picked spots to drill holes in the porpax where there seemed to be the most material around to reduce the chance of the metal tearing out. There is a little bit of finesse to mounting the porpax to the aspis. If ones was to simply mount the porpax perfectly centered in the aspis, it would be fairly maneuverable as you are at the centre of its mass but I chose to mount to porpax slightly higher up for two reasons.
1. Mounting the porpax higher ensures the aspis will not be top heavy and try to constantly fall away from you. It is difficult to guarantee that the geometric centre of your shield is where the actual centre of mass lies (your aspis may be thicker in some places and thinner in others resulting in an imbalance). Mounting it slightly higher eliminates this issue and still results in a very neutral feeling shield.
2. Where I mounted my porpax allows my shoulder to fit perfectly into the top edge. This means I can actually rest the aspis on my shoulder when carrying it distributing the load better.
Holes were then drilled through the aspis and yes... I was bad... I used historically incorrect screws to secure the porpax. They stuck out on the other side and were trimmed to fit correctly. This is where if you wanted to go more historically accurate you would clinch the nails into the aspis and that would be that but I did want the ability to remove the porpax if necessary to construct a new one, make adjustments, etc. Clinching the nails will not allow you to remove the porpax should you so desire once the front is covered!
I will be posting the continuation of this in a little bit so just hang on!
