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I think I have to agree with Brian here! This sounds like a sensible and logical way to
Obtain strips of wood which retain the resilience of the wood and also
Be practical for a shield! I can imagine quite a few benefits!
It would certainly discount any arguments of this kind of
Construction being inferior to planked types!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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Quote:Where Ivor mentions split timber would I be correct in my thinking that a knot free log would be cut to the length required for a scutum then soaked to loosen the annular rings that are then taken off the log with a long blade so as to produce the strips needed for the cross over ply of the scutum. This is a theory I have had for some time now about how the Romans made the strips to create their shields.
Could that explain the
varying widths of the strips in the Fayum shield of 6cm to 10cm, and 2.5cm to 5cm?
If you imagine the cross section of a tree trunk looking down, and saw into the tree with two parallel cuts which go towards the trunk's centre, then separate the annular rings of the piece you remove, the inner rings would be wider than the outer rings because the radius gets tighter as the rings get closer to the centre of the trunk. When they're flattened, the strips made from the inner rings would be wider than the strips made from the outer rings. Does that make any sense?
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
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I wonder is annular rings will be softened by soaking to the point the can be detached. I split some fresh ash logs today and water actually ran out of them in a puddle when I stood them on end, so the inside of a tree is pretty wet. The use of a froe to split off slablike, thin sections sounds very logical. A curved froe would be able to follow an annual ring in a wet log quatered. This would produce the same effect of a slit section of near uniform thickness. This calls for an experiment in woodsplitting (unless someone has already tried this and can conform or reject the method)! So all I need now is to forge a curved froe.
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Steaming might be worth a try,
if at all possible.
PLYWOOD: Lurid Tales of Grains and Glues
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
