My Scutum Press and Scutum Blank Construction

[sulla felix]

Well, the time had come to stop browsing the internet and asking dumb questions on RAT. I made my scutum press at the weekend and thought you might like to see the progress:

First I made the patterns for the plywood parts of the scutum press. This follows pretty closely the Leg XX press and patterns. A radius of 13" to mark out the curve of the shield, with a depth of 9.5" to the chord. The chord length works out at about 26" and the outer face is about 30" or so. The pattern is cut from 2mm MDF with a Stanley knife.

[sulla felix]

Then I cut the parts for the press with a jigsaw (not a Roman one, but I am too old for all that hand sawing lark!) from scrap 3/4" plywood I found lying around on site at work Obviously I used the pattern to mark out each individual pair (male and female) to ensure that there were no incremental errors in the size of the pieces. I made 5 of each, a number that was chosen entirely arbitrarily, but I would suggest that 4 of these is the minimum you could get away with for a 48" shield blank.

The "Female" part of the press assembled with 1" x 4" sawn timber side straps and noggins (bracing):

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t15/ ... Press1.jpg

[sulla felix]

The Male part of the press (when will I ever figure out the nuances of posting an image on RAT?):

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t15/ ... Press2.jpg

[sulla felix]

I was hoping to acquire 1/8" plywood for my first blank, but could only get 4mm ply, making a whopping 12mm thick shield. I shall use this first effort for training purposes methinks, so that when I make my thinner, lighter version it will feel as light as a feather :lol: I decided to cut the holes for the handle in all the blanks before gluing them together. Seemed like a smart idea at the time. I got 3 skins out of an 8x4 sheet by cutting a 31 " rip lengthwise, and then in half giving two skins (front and back). The off cut was cut in half and then ripped two give two pieces making 31" wide that I used sandwiched between the outer and iner sheets.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t15/ ... dBlank.jpg

[Magnus]

Nice job Barry. Looks like mine!

[sulla felix]

Thanks Matt, copied from the font of knowledge that is the Leg XX site I am sure it will be familiar to quite a few guys out there :lol:

[sulla felix]

And here, after 36 hours in the press, is the curved blank:



I used Titebond II wood glue. Now I just need to figure out the final shape I want and do the final trimming.

I made the press (instead of the straps around a tree trunk or oil drum method) because I want to progress on to a shield constructed using strips of timber (just for the hell of it!).

Now on to the difficult parts - linen or leather covering, rawhide or brass trims, what shape umbo, what colour, and what design?

[Magnus]

I used linen for mine, but it can be tricky to paint on because of the texture of the fabric. I also used rawhide for the edging (I used a couple of dog chew bones that I soaked in the tub and took apart.). I like the rawhide, but if I were to do it over again, I'd use longer strips, and wouldn't staple it on as it's drying, I'd clamp it maybe.

What legion are you going to represent?

[sulla felix]

Thanks for the comments Magnus. That was a good idea with dog chews, although I see what you mean about longer lengths. Presumably you pre-drilled rawhide (punched?) and shield and then used some kind of "natural" waxed thread?

I have no particular legion in mind, mainly because there are no Roman Reenactment societies out here in Dubai. So I am going to go a bit off the beaten track if I can. There is a relief from Mainz which shows half of a very impressive looking large eagle design which I really like.

The overall impression I am going for is the transition from very late Republic/Augustan to early Imperial - so a mix of the "latest" equipment (Corbridge seg) with older equipment is the idea.

[Chuck Russell]

nice, what did u use to hold the press together?

[M. Demetrius]

Clamps? Cargo straps? bolts? Let us know how it works, please.

[sulla felix]

Oops - sorry guys. Afeter positioning the glued blanks into the female part of the press I fixed one long side of the male part of the press in position with four plywood plates (4mm off cuts) screwed to the 1" x 4" side rails. On the other side of the press I used clamps to compress the ply into the final position. As I got to the final stages of compression I applied a couple of cramps to the side rails that I had previously fixed with ply straps, just to be sure it did not pop out under pressure!

Once it was all cramped I used thin folding wedges here and there at the rib positions to take up any minor slack and ensure that there were no gaps between the layers of plywood. I also used a few smaller cramps along the long edges of the plywood just to make sure there were no problems there.

Unfortunately I forgot to take photographs of this stage :oops:

[Magnus]

Hey Barry, yeah I used waxed linen thread, after I drilled out the holes using a 1/16" bit.

I also used clamps...big "C" clamps that have an adjustable part you crank with your hand. I used 3 of those on mine and it worked great.

[Peroni]

Good work there Barry.

I was hoping to acquire 1/8" plywood for my first blank, but could only get 4mm ply, making a whopping 12mm thick shield.

two sheets of this would have been ideal. An 8mm ply with covering would be perfect to the 9 - 10mm thickness of the originals.

The edges were generally thinner than the centres too, at about 6mm.

[sulla felix]

Thanks Adrian,

I am definitely going to produce another blank using 2 sheets of 4mm ply - and thanks for the tip about tapering out the thickness towards the edges. This is something I had not fully appreciated.

The 3 layer scutum blank is actually quite heavy, and will only get heavier with covering, edging and umbo in place hock: I think I have been a desk jockey for too long now to be able to heft this around for any great length of time, but it is good for practicing the construction techniques on!

Do any of you guys off set the scutum handle at all (i.e. actually cut out a complete oval from the blank and install a handle behind the line of the back face of the scutum)? I have noticed that the scutum really does rub quite badly on the back of my hand. I have also considered enlarging the opening which is currently 2.5" radius semicircles either side of the handle.