Kessel Shield for Early Batavian Impression

[Gaius_Calvus]

Salvete,

Legio XI in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, is also a "vexillatio peregrinus" of COH I BATAVORVM in the UK (many thanks to Peronis and others of COH I BAT for making this possible) .

As such, we are working on several Batavian Auxiliary impressions, one of which is modeled after the one depicted in Peronis' article "Batavian Auxiliaries of Agricola's Army" which appeared in Volume I of Ancient Warfare Magazine, pages 23-26. The illustration we followed for this impression appears on page 23.

The attached pics are of a shield recreation based on votive finds near Kessel/Lith in the Netherlands in the Rhine/Meuse delta area. This particular shield is reconstructed based on edging and umbo fragments to the dimensions of the original, approx 40cm wide, with a height of 90cm. The design and construction were assisted greatly by input from Peronis, and is based on the excellent illustration by Johnny Shumate for the article. :wink:

The edging is brass, the umbo is steel, and the face of the shield is thin (1-2mm) leather which has been oiled after painting. The rear of the shield is covered with linen and sealed with beeswax.

Regards,

Edge

[Robert]

Salve Edge!

What coincedence!? I am presently contemplating making Jasper a Kessel for his mad bunch of Batavians and this picture is a help! I will be facing mine with leather as well. What is the shield thickness? I read somewhere these shields were made of 1 cm thick planks stuck together. This could be seen on the inward side with the linnen, so it may be worth it to use slats instead of ply. The measurements I have are a demicircle rounded rim of 55 centimeters and a length of 110-120. Did I get my facts wrong?? :?
What did you paint the leather with, as I am worried normal paint just won't do the job. Could you also post a picture of the back for all to see? I plan to use a metal (iron) grip. As a token of thanks I will mail you a digital laurel wreath design I did and had digitised. The filesize is a bit hefty, so I may have to sent in in four parts.

[Gaius_Calvus]

Hi Robert,

Let me answer these questions for you.

The shield thickness is approximately 8-9 mm, exclusive of the leather and linen. We used 8-9 mm plywood for the shield body itself. Given how the linen looks, I don't think it would be obvious how it was constructed, especially if you paint the linen which we did not -- but, the linen is pretty thick and the beeswax also provides coverage. I would stick to ply -- will try to post a pic of the back later.

The dimensions I have were 40cm in width, and for the demi-circle I used a diagram of the original shield edging so I am confident in the width. Height was provided by Peronis at 80-90 cm on the longest dimension.

We painted it with flat latex enamel on the leather, and then applied the oil for the leather over it.

For our grip, we built it up out of strips of wood that form the bracing on the back. The bracing is in a "H" shape, with two vertical strips approx 3cm wide, with three cross-braces -- one top, one bottom, one center, and then applied a second "layer" of bracing over the center portion approx 22.5 cm long.

Thanks for the design -- looking forward to it. I can also email you the edging drawing that we used to derive the width of the shield as well as the shape of the demi-circle.

Regards,

Edge

[Robert]

Salve!

Would much appreciate the picture, pls send to r.wimmersAThotmail.com and I will send you wreath design.

Is there any data on the bracing of the Kessel? They seem to be depicted without it on TC in the picture with the irregulary trooper (see Batavian helmet thread).

Please keep up the great work, looks fine, thanks for the info

[Gaius_Calvus]

Hi Robert,

I just emailed you the diagram of the shield, showing the demi-circle design. The diagram prints full-size, so you can get the correct dimensions.

I do not have any evidence for the bracing -- I just used what made sense to me.

I'll take a pic of the back so you can see how we did it and post it tomorrow.

Regards,

Edge

[Gaius_Calvus]

I just uploaded a pic of the back of this shield to the original post.

The bracing itself is approx 3cm wide, and tapered at the ends of the two long, upright pieces.

The handle is made of three layers: the first layer is of the original plywood of the shield -- we cut the hand openings in a "half-moon" or demi-circle to leave a strip in the center. The next "layer" is a cross-brace that extends fully between the two long pieces of the uprights. The final "layer" is tapered at each end and is approx 22.5cm in length.

The back is natural (un-dyed) linen, to which we have applied a layer of beeswax.

Hope this helps, Robert.

Regards,

Edge

[Peroni]

Is there any data on the bracing of the Kessel?

No, only the small portion of shield edging and a fragmentary boss unfortunately. No organic remains survived. If they did then they were destroyed by the dredging machinery. :?

[sulla felix]

Very Nice Job Edge. Helmet next?

[jvrjenivs]

Okay. I've to finish mine too, but first find some leather for the front... Exellent shield drawing.

[Peroni]

Very Nice Job Edge. Helmet next?

He's already got that Barry! :wink:

[Gaius_Calvus]

Yup. I do thanks to Peronis!

I did the Krefeld helmet per the same article and drawing. We can currently outfit an early Batavian to look like the drawing on page 23 of the article.

This was the last item we needed.

Edge

[Chuck Russell]

how did ya construct the helmet? i have an old trooper helm i would like to take apart etc

[Gaius_Calvus]

That is exactly what I used, Chuck!!

Here is how you do it (courtesy of Peronis).

"Basically...

Remove...
The neck guard and occipital steps (a Dremel is good for this) The cheek guards (including the hinge plates) The ear guards (grind off the back of the rivets and punch through) The brow guard (grind off the back of the rivets and punch through) The crest holder (grind off the back of the rivets and punch through)

You should be left with a basic bowl with no decoration other than the eyebrows. There will be holes visible, but the crest holder holes will be covered by the fur and the brow guard ones can be used to attach a chin strap (nb -- I attached a chin strap using these holes).

The next step is to smooth off the edges on the neck guard area with a file and a Scotchbrite pad or similar.

Leather banding next.. Take a strip of leather long enough to go around the rim of the bowl with a small overlap. It needs to be wide enough to be able to fold in half along its length to leave 60mm on the outside and about 40mm on the inside.

Fold over about 20mm at the top edge to give you a doubled 'lip' of leather. You may want to glue this fold. Glue the band onto the bowl with contact adhesive.

The next step is the stitching. When the leather is glued in place, run a dremel around the top edge of the leathering with something like a 2mm drill with the holes spaced about 10mm apart.

Leaving gaps at the brow for the feathers, stitch the leather onto the bowl with sinew thread (or strong doubled linen)

Glue the pelt onto the bowl, and insert two feathers each side of the brow into the gaps you left in the leather band stitching.

Voila! Proper job!"

I followed these instructions and it was pretty easy.

Edge

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Cool, looks a bit Trapper John! :lol:

[john m roberts]

I've got an old trooper helmet rusting around here somewhere. Now I know what to do with it. What sort of pelt is appropriate? Likewise, what feathers?