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1st Cen. AD Germanic Shield
#16
Thanks Adam,

I have attempted to make a shield boss in the 'cone' style by just making a cone from sheet metal and riviting it together. It works pretty well, but forge welding thin pieces of metal together is very diffcult. About the discussion on Roman Army Talk about shield bosses, what keyword would most likely bring up the thread?

Dan
Dan Dalby

Group Leader Project Germani

Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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#17
The thread title is "Germanic Shield Boss" in the Allies and Enemies section. I just looked it up, and it appears some of the pictures are gone. Still a lot of good information in there though.

Adam
Adam Oswalt

[url:30lkyohr]http://www.harja150ad.livejournal.com[/url]
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#18
Ah, yes, welding a cone and working from there makes some sense! (But then the ancients did not always make sense...) Maybe they first welded a fairly thick tube and then flared it into a cone? That would be easier to weld and still explain the thick center.

Yeah, I've done a riveted one, too, but a fairly simple shape. If I had money to burn I'd buy a couple nice ones of various shapes! Spinning seems to be easier today than finding a blacksmith skilled enough for things like this. Dishing out a simple domed boss is one thing, but those conical ones can be tricky. In Roman times, brass and bronze could be spun, but not iron, presumably because of the slag content. So a forged iron boss is more accurate than a spun one.

Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
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#19
Just a quick question, Matthew. Do you know if there is any evidence for rivited shield bosses?
Dan Dalby

Group Leader Project Germani

Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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#20
For a wrapped cone of sheet metal with a riveted seam? Yes, at least one from I think Illerup, and a couple later Saxon ones from Britain. They aren't common, as far as I know, but it's a method which is within my capabilities!

Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
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#21
So such a shield boss would be accurate for 1st cen AD Germania? If it is, I will have saved myself a lot of trouble.
Dan Dalby

Group Leader Project Germani

Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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#22
Seems likely. Just found the one I was thinking of, in "Spoils of Victory", page 184: "from an inhumation grave at Torstedlund (Alborg county)". Presumably that's Denmark. It's a cone with sides angled maybe 45 degrees, a short vertical section about half or 3/4 of an inch, and a flat flange with pairs of domed rivets (probably 4 pairs, only 2 visible). The overlap isn't even quite as neat as the one I did!

Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
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#23
I unfortunately don't have that book. I'm definately going to make that shield boss though, because it seems fairly easy to make. Would you know where I could find any pictures or diagrams of this perticlaur atrifact? I searched on google books for the page you referred to, but I couldn't find anything. You have just solved my problem with finding a shield boss that I can actually make! Thank you so much!
Dan Dalby

Group Leader Project Germani

Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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#24
[Image: Makingagermanicumbo.gif]

Is this the one you were thinking of? Starts with a flat sheet, and is probably a heckuva lot of hammering/heating. But there you go.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)

Saepe veritas est dura.
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#25
WOW!....a step by step tutorial on how to beat out metal !
That's pretty cool. Where did it come from ( something Polish?), and what other step-by-step artifacts are included, or similar in other publications??
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)

"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
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#26
I've seen the diagram before, and i've watched some you tube videos on shield boss forging. I can see how it could be done, but I would be VERY hard and take A LOT of skill to do. I do hope to make a boss like that one day, but for now, I'm going to try to base my boss on the rivited boss find from Denmark. I'm still trying to find information and diagrams of the artifact, but it's construction seems very simple. The shield boss in the diagram that Demetrius posted is a boss of the Przworsk culture (or something like that). They were eastern Germanic tribes inhabiting Poland. i think this boss is dated to 1st cen BC to 1st cen AD.
Dan Dalby

Group Leader Project Germani

Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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#27
I don't remember where the link's home page is. Sorry. I got the URL from an older RAT thread, though if that helps.

I have to agree that this is nothing near an amateur project. Just beating out a curved scutum dished boss is enough trouble. But raising and stretching, getting an even corner, creating that spike in the middle, all from basically a thick flat plate is amazing. I can see that it would work, but LOTS of work to do it. Cheaper to buy one if your time is worth anything at all.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)

Saepe veritas est dura.
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