I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 91 Shield (Part )

Why talent is the most important thing.

For example, when it comes to making shields, due to the lack of professional talent, Luke and Ryan have to do it themselves.

He asked Hans to split two thin wooden boards, which Luc glued together with resin, and then used charcoal and rope to outline the shape of the shield. The cone of the lower part was drawn into a slightly regular semi-ellipse using two wooden sticks as compasses.

The entire shield is about the length from the shoulder to the thigh, just enough to cover the legs when sitting on a horse. The diameter is about one foot, covering half of the chest.

The shield was carefully cut down with a saw. There was a creaking sound accompanied by a lot of wood chips falling. After a while, the kite-shaped shield surface was sawed off.

Of course, the kite-shaped round shield would not only be made of this thin layer of wood, so Ryan used another saw and a planer to cut out rectangular wooden blocks.

Ryan was still grinding the wood, and Luc went to the side to light a bonfire and prepare to smoke the shield.

Shields aren't straight; for ease of use, they're usually slightly curved. Human effort alone wouldn't be enough to bend a fan blade, so Luc warmed it over a fire while holding both sides with his hands and twisting them downward.

Don't be too hasty in this action, as using too much force may easily break the fan. Also, don't get too close to the flame. You are just smoking it, and if you accidentally ignite it, all your efforts will be wasted.

I was busy until noon, and finally broke the fan leaves and put them aside to dry. After lunch, I worked with Ryan to study the combination of long wooden blocks.

In order to fit the fan, the long wooden blocks must of course become curved, so Ryan planes bevels on both sides of the seven wooden blocks, compares them with the curvature of the fan, and pieces them together one by one.

Luc twisted some of the wood and said, "In addition to the mortise and tenon method, add some more resin and fish glue."

The shield is used to resist injuries, it cannot fall apart easily.

Therefore, in addition to using wooden nails, concave and convex grooves and applying fish glue resin to piece together the wooden blocks, the gaps in the middle are also carefully glued to achieve maximum consolidation.

They took the fan and combined it with the wooden board again using the method mentioned above. After the rectangular wooden board overlapped with the conical fan, the excess part below was sawed off, and then the edge was carefully polished. After a while, the prototype of a kite-shaped shield with a thickness of about one inch appeared in front of the two people.

Luc held up the kite-shaped shield and gestured a few times, then nodded with satisfaction. There were still many steps to go, such as covering it with another layer of linen.

"Ryan, go to the compartment and get the thinnest linen."

"Okay sir!"

Luc had bought a lot of linen, so he didn't need a set of it. However, maybe he should think about growing flax. He couldn't just buy clothes forever.

Ryan rummaged through the boxes and found the thinnest linen. Luc pulled it over and wrapped it around the entire shield with rosin, wrapping it twice before stopping.

The zither-shaped shield wrapped in linen suddenly became full of texture and was put aside for use. Luc took out the pigskin for tanning. When the skins of the two wild boars were all tanned, the first serf house was finally built.

Luc took some time to take a look around and found it to be quite good. It was a little smaller than the houses he had seen in Ward Village before, but because it used a lot of clay thatch and had been smoked for a long time, it was good at keeping warm and moisture-proof.

At the innermost part of the house was a wooden bed covered with thatch, with ash scattered on the ground to repel insects and ants. In the middle was a fireplace built with gravel, which was more durable than Luc's first one after improvement. On the far left was a low wooden table and a stool, with sow tusks on the table - old Eike had already moved in.

Luke asked a few more questions and found that there was no major problem. After instructing everyone to build a second house, he turned around and continued his shield project.

The pigskin was successfully tanned, but Luc was in no rush to cover it.

Instead, he used a knife to cut three leather belts of different lengths and began to make the shield handle.

In the center of the shield's interior, two pigskin belts were tied with wooden dowels and rosin, one shorter on the left and the other taller on the right. The left belt would be secured to the elbow, while the right would be used to clench a fist. After twisting it a few times on his left arm, he found it worked well, but then he discovered a new problem.

It was fine to cover the elbows with clothes, but the fists would rub against the shield, which would inevitably hurt after wearing it for a long time. Luc wanted to wear gloves, but after thinking about it, he gave up the idea. Instead, he wrapped some thatch balls with leather and glued them to the shield on his left fist. In this way, when holding the belt, his fist would come into contact with the thatch, and he would no longer have to worry about bleeding from friction.

After finishing all this, Luc took the longest leather belt and nailed it on the upper inside of the shield. The biggest use of this belt was to put it around the neck when charging with a gun, so as to better fix the position of the shield.

Of course, this belt will not be used under normal circumstances. After all, the shield will only be fixed when charging. In general combat, the shield is mainly used for flexibility.

After using the handle, it was finally time to cover the shield with skin. The small round shield had already been covered with skin. This step did not take long. Finally, a thin rattan rope was used to fix the edge of the shield. A real kite-shaped shield was officially completed!
Looking at the kite-shaped shield used for fighting on horseback, Luc took out his fine steel sword and placed them upright against the wall. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like a set of real knight equipment.

But after looking around, Luc always felt that something was missing.

"Oh right! The coat of arms is missing!"

The surface of the kite-shaped shield was covered with pigskin leather, and it looked gray, completely different from the brightly colored kite-shaped shield in my memory.

But there was no other way. Luc could use blueberries to simply dye the linen, but he couldn't use it as real paint.

"This is the only way to go."

Put the kite-shaped shield into the wooden house. With the experience of making the first shield, the next shields will be smoother.

Luc planned to make himself another kite-shaped shield, followed by five Viking round shields and seven Germanic round shields.

Together with his remaining German shield, every man in the mountains will have one, including Miller.

As for the five round shields, Luc planned to give them to all adult men except Robert and himself.

The Viking round shield is smaller than the broad shield, but more than one or two times larger than the Germanic shield. The large round shield that almost completely covers the entire upper body, paired with axes, Viking swords and other sharp weapons, was the standard weapon used by the Vikings when they swept across the Germanic people.

Round shields can be used to form a shield wall tactic, which is more than enough to deal with some bandits without knights.

As the population increased, Luc gradually abandoned Robert and became a farmer or a conscript when necessary, so he had no share in the Viking round shield.

However, the difficulty of making a Viking round shield is no less than that of a kite-shaped shield. The center and the edge of the round shield are made of iron nails. In fact, the same is true for the kite-shaped shield, but it can be barely used by using mortise and tenon joints and resin fish glue as a substitute.

The Viking round shield was manufactured in the same general way, using wooden boards of varying lengths pieced together into a circle and wrapped with linen and leather.

The difference lies in the handle at the back. The handle at the back of the Viking round shield is a pure wooden stick, which is firmly fixed horizontally in the middle of the round shield. The central handle is specially wrapped with a layer of leather to prevent it from slipping out of the hand, and is concave outwards to leave space for a fist.

The wooden stick is tied with leather belts at both ends and is tied to the arms during fighting.

The small round shield is even simpler. It is small and can be made quickly. The handle is just a simple handshake and a pig leather belt tied around the fist.

It took more than twenty days, and more than a dozen shields of different sizes were completed one after another.

All the men were gathered together, and five Viking round shields were distributed. The five men were asked to stand in a row, with the tallest Hans acting as the center and the other four standing on both sides. After a brief instruction, as Luc gave the order, the five men raised their round shields together and took a step forward while roaring. Their powerful voices were accompanied by dull footsteps. Although they had no weapons in their hands and no basic tactical coordination, their momentum was still quite intimidating.

(End of this chapter)