How To Make A Viking Shield 

It's a fraction of the price of the strips you can buy and most of the time it's a thicker hide, too! 😜

@@NordicHammerJ absolutely brilliant totally stealing that trick

@@NordicHammerJ talk about improvising. I love it

@@NordicHammerJ can you make the shield and sword of Achilles and Leonidas of Sparta

Thank you for subscribing and I'm glad you liked the video!! Good luck and have fun with your shield making!! Feel free to ask any questions or for advice!!

I have and they are also great channels!! Thanks for the sub and the compliment!! Skål!! 🍻

I wouldn't say it is any more brittle than when they were in their dog bone state. Once dried, the rawhides go back to a hard density, but are still somewhat pliable. When I made the Fenrir shield, I didn't think about overlapping the rawhides, so when it dried, there are some small gaps between the rawhides. You can grab it with pliers, bend it to a surprising amount, and they haven't broke off. The Fenrir shield has been on my wall for almost 3 years now and no crumbling has happened at all. I will say I haven't swung any axes or swords on either shield yet, so I don't honestly know how well it'd hold up to that kind of abusive... A great question, though!! I hope this answers it and thanks for the compliment!!

@@NordicHammerJ Hmm, now THAT would be an interesting video...making a test shield with the dog treat rawhide, and then trying blunt and edged strikes on the edge to see what happens. I've actually seen this very topic come up often online when people try to make a (near) historical bossed round shield...and then use the dog treat for the edge leather. The general consensus from the 'elitists' is that the rawhide is too brittle, and chucks could fly into your eyes when the edge is struck.....but nobody seems to have tested it.

It would make for an interesting video, indeed... I SHALL ADD IT TO MY LIST!! Thanks for the idea!! (Don't worry. I'll definitely give you the credit for the idea) 😜

There aren't any planks. This was all out of one sheet of any decent plywood. I used a wood burning tool to make it look like there were planks.

Thanks! The belt really does help and it just makes sense to add one. I got my chainmail from Amazon. I know it's not historically accurate by any means, but I saw it was on sale for $20 and I thought I'd risk it. I'm glad I did. I was surprised that it was fairly good quality and fits me perfectly, too.

For this shield, I used 1/2in thick plywood. You could use 3/8in or 3/4in, if you already have that on hand, though!

@@NordicHammerJ Thanks!

Of course!! Let me know how yours turns out!! Sorry for the delay!! I'm currently camping and service isn't the best here 😅

There is a 1/2in gap between each hole on the 4in wide rawhide. A 1/2in gap from each hole in the row as well as a 1/2in gap from row 1 and row 2.

@NordicHammerJ and how far in from the edge to the first row?

From the edge of the board, that is 1/2in as well.

No shit, it's almost like he said it's not meant to be historically accurate in the first 30 seconds of the video

@@JohnDoe-uq2qd i mean that beside being not authentic it also is not usable even in a very tolerant reenactment fight. Pure wallhanger.

@@axelschucher647 Not everyone wants to do reenactment fights. It sounds like he just wants something he can bring to the ren fest and hang on his wall, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're criticizing it for something it's not meant to be.

Haven't you seen historical based battles where fire shields rained down on enemies....oh wait, those were fire ARROWS.....my bad!

@@natetaylor9002 Now that would be great to see in the next movie if not for the fact that Hollywood only made 2 movies in the last 6 years.

@@rachdarastrix5251 Speaking of which, have you seen The Northman? Apparently it is really good....I have it, but haven't watched it yet...keep forgetting.....