Late Roman shield backing

[Caballo]

Picked up the curved shield blank for my new late Roman shield ( thanks John and Catherine), and I'm thinking about the rear side. The facing I plan to do with goats leather, with gesso and paint on top, glued on - possibly glued with shredded linen in the glue as per Dura, edged with leather or rawhide.
Should rear be faced with linen or even felt (as per the Fayum shield if I remember correctly)?

[Robert Vermaat]

Picked up the curved shield blank for my new late Roman shield ( thanks John and Catherine), and I'm thinking about the rear side. The facing I plan to do with goats leather, with gesso and paint on top, glued on - possibly glued with shredded linen in the glue as per Dura, edged with leather or rawhide.
Should rear be faced with linen or even felt (as per the Fayum shield if I remember correctly)?

Curved or dished?

The facing I'd do with linen/rawhide, and edged with rawhide of course. Leather I think is just too vulnerable for the front, and especially on the edge.

The back needs no backing, really, but linen would do (why felt? it's not a pillow..).

[Caballo]

Dished!!:grin: :grin: :grin:

And the felt part thought came from this "preserved shield found in an oasis in Fayum, Egypt. The original was slightly curved, comprised of three layers of birch strips, and covered front and back with wool felt which was doubled over the rim and stitched on,"

Hadn't thought of using the shield as a pillow! I suppose it would absorb blows- but Ive never seen a reconstruction of this with felt to try it out.

[caiusbeerquitius]

If you soak the felt in hide glue when applying, it gets quite hard and solid.

[M. Demetrius]

Glue does harden the felt. I've used a mix of carpenter's glue and felt for edging on quick shields. It actually looks and feels a lot like rawhide. Paint also makes felt hard, but not as hard as glue.

If only glue, though, it really needs some kind of sealer to prevent moisture from softening the felt. It's not as smooth to paint on as linen, however.

[Matthew Amt]

Just as a "by the way", if your shield is made of modern plywood, yes, the back should be covered! Gesso and paint may do it, but paint alone has always looked a lot like painted plywood, to me. There's always someone in the audience who spots it, too! Just sayin'...

Matthew