La Tene shield materials?

[Dan D'Silva]

Back from the store...  the oak and maple were more expensive than I remember, so I got poplar.  They had nothing big enough for a boss -- I want to carve it from one piece -- will check the scrap bin at school, but I'll probably have to phone up MW Quinn down in Yardley or order from farther away to get anything decent.

The Clonoura did come up in my searches.  It's very informative as to what a hide-covered shield might look like -- I would probably get goat hide for it, two if need be -- but I wouldn't want to replicate that shield in particular because I, uh, find the shape boring...  The idea that it was a youth shield didn't occur to me but it makes some sense when you put it that way; I have medium-sized hands and could just about hold a 10cm grip standing still, but handling it in a battle could get awkward, with the edges of the cutout banging and scraping my hand.

I've also heard about the question of vegetable tanning prior to the Romans -- there's a few finds from earlier times but technology does get forgotten over centuries.  And plenty of discussion here and elsewhere about the practicality of raw versus tanned in terms of damage resistance, ease of painting, risk of warping the shield board...  On balance, I'd like to try rawhide for this one.