Shield covers or not shield covers?

[Caballo]

"The Masada shields seem to be faced with leather, with linen underneath. Are you quite certain the Dura shields dont have the leather on top?"

My mistaken recollection - the original report had the linen on top, but James' personal observation of the shield showed that the leather (or rather thin parchment) was on top- the original interpretation was due to a mistaken reading of one of the cards.

Cheers

Paul

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Putting a 'bridge-like' handle on a scutum is a bad idea. It will ruin the balance and it will make the shield seem a lot heavier and unwieldy

Actually Jef, it doesn't. My scuta is well balanced, I have small hands, and the hole still dug into my hand, causing severe nerve damage for several months. )

I think there must be something in that to be honest.
With the hole well padded it reduces almost to nothing any trauma to the hand when used to punch.

[Tim Edwards]

Whilst thinking about construction, here is a suspected shield fragment from Qasr Ibrim.

You can see plenty of nails sticking out of it, interestingly some of the Masada shields and the Doncaster shield also have nails affixed to the facing of the boards. Am not quite sure what the the white stuff is, maybe glue or resin???

It seems to me that a well-preserved facing ought to be found stuck to pieces of wood, or at least found in conjunction with them.

Apparently some of the Vindonissa examples did have traces of wood still adhering to them, along with the linen layer.

[Caballo]

There is also a mould from Corbridge depicting Vulcan with a studded shield- I'll try and get a pic.

cheers

[muskitear]

I reckon if the shield boss was a little larger the problem would be solved. I have seen larger boss's than the one on my scutum and I may consider a change over then chamfer the hole to feather the edges.

On a point with regard to a rawhide covering. It could be possible. I brought a Zulu rawhide shield back from Africa in '99. It is a really tough material on its own. Imagine the surface of a shield covered with it. Pretty good armour I would say.