Anphillia Forums

[Jesse_the_Thief]

The lemon in question:


The base of a rather nice (and somewhat expensive) metal fan that died in about six months after purchase. Diagnosis: fatal cathair-itis of the motor. In other words, the damn thing couldn't handle a little gunk the air and croaked. I stashed this thing away for years before coming up with a use for it.

A SHIELD!

First step, a 2' X 2' piece of quality oak plywood from Lowe's. (About $8 just FYI) Don't want to skimp because this sucker needs to be able to take abuse and hopefully look good while doing it. Plywood is actually not so different than what was often used for shields. Its multiple layers and alternating grain direction make it an extremely tough and resilient material, even more so than plain old wood.



Using the disk as a drawing guide, we cut a circle with a jigsaw to be the backing for our shield.

It's a hair big and uneven, so a looooot of sanding comes next with 60 grit sandpaper until it fits inside the back of the disk like a glove.



Booyah. Slides right in yet is hard to pull back out. Perfect.



A little hard to see there, but now we've got our lines for the handhold cut outs. A couple of holes with the drill let me get the jigsaw started. I'm being conservative here and making them small at first; you can always cut more off but you can't put material back on.

Also cut out a small front circle. This will make the front of the shield look all classy, yo. More sanding follows, though the dark stain later will hide a lot of imperfections.



Testing the grip of the handle for awesomeness. Within acceptable awesome perimeters. Bigger cut outs wouldn't hurt to accommodate users with larger hands, but it's fine for me.



Bustin' out the "Dark Oak" stain to crank up the class here. Also, probably a good idea to keep the water out of the wood. When you're surrounded by countless foes it's not the time to be worried about shield breakage, amirite fellas?? (Stain: about $8 with the bulk left over for later projects)



Time to get to the real NUTS AND BOLTS of the project hahahahaha! (GET IT??) I ended up using less fixins' than anticipated, but they did the job just fine. I got hung up here for a while due to the very picky demands of the size, shape, and length of hardware needed. I also spent some time searching stores in hopes of finding fittings in black to no avail. Stainless steel was the only choice in the end, and sadly stainless doesn't take to paint jobs either. Sigh. Oh well. (About another $5 here.)

Simple enough construction, the bolts hold the front plate to the wooden backing. The tight fit around the edge could almost do the job alone, so it's going to be sturdy as stone with a couple of bolts to seal the deal. The flat steel plate is designed for patching jobs, but today it's going to act as a steel reinforcement for the otherwise overly fragile handle.



Two coats of stain on each side and a few days dry time later just to be safe, it's finally go time. I snagged a couple of bootlaces that drove me nuts anyway from a pair of my boots to use for handle material. (Why do they give you laces a good 12"+ too long with new boots??) The culmination of way too much damn trouble awaits.



A little drilling here, a screwdriver there, and some annoying tying later and we're in business. First impressions? Solid as a rock. A little heavier than anticipated, but not bad. Handle could have a wider cut for more hand mobility, but overall it's working out.



Simple and perhaps lacking elegance, yet ruggedly handsome.



The ends result... tough as nails, good solid weight suitable for a nasty bash, well protected hand, and a handle that would survive a meteor swarm. The rounded surface won't catch a thrust or cut easily and the size allows for good mobility.



+1 AC SUCKAS CUE ZELDA ITEM FINDING MUSIC!




Welp, back to preparing to die alone.

[Yamsandjams]

Haha, I like it... seems like something an engineering student would make. It seems relatively small, so I dunno if an arm strap would be of any use. I guess you would have to adjust the handle as well to support something like that.

The dark oak stain was a good choice as well. Compliments the colour of the fan base and still provides some contrast. You could add a layer of varnish to the wood if you wanted some extra durability, water, and UV resistance as well.

Also, if you wanted to paint the fan base, any type of mid-high grade oil paint should be able to do it, as should a high quality spray paint. You could use a latex paint if you applied a highly adhesive primer (like Bulseye 1-2-3 from Zinnser, which has a built in rust inhibitor as well), but the oil paint will be likely be more durable when dry than your average latex paint. It'd also help to scuff the surface with a high grit sandpaper or steel wool before painting to remove any sort of passivation layer or finish that might already be on the surface (emery paper works best for metal, but your standard aluminum oxide should work fine). I kind of like the colour it is now though, it looks pretty sharp in the picture. If nothing else you can stamp or carve a symbol onto the front wood peice.

Also, you might want to put a rubber cap or something on those bolts so you don't cut your hand while grabbing for the handle. It looks good though... it'd be great at parties.
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[DM_Phoenix]

Brilliant - looks awesome
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[Hythloday]

Credit granted for ingenuity and craftsmanship.
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O'er the hills and o'er the main,
Through Ranzington, the Isle and Gate;
The Dukes command and we'll obey
Over the hills and far away.

[sniqow]

The shield is stainless, no need to paint, one thing you need to do is fill the hollow out, otherwise arrows and swords will easily break the metal form.

[benyc]

crafting irl

[Jesse_the_Thief]

The metal has a nice finish to it, I like it overall. Maybe someday if it gets scratched to heck I'll think about paint, but for now it looks good. I do need to deal with the screws sticking out though, some sort of covers or maybe just cut them down. They don't really get in the way, but my hand rubs against them and they're kinda sharp.

I'm actually not sure what the metal is. The backside has no finish and there are hints of rust on it even though it was kept dry. It has a strange finish, up close it has an almost unnoticeable rainbow hue to it.

MAYBE IT HAS 5/- FIRE RESIST HAHAHA RIGHT? RIGHT??

[Yamsandjams]

[Jesse_the_Thief]

Actually, that's not necessary... the metal is reasonably thick and rigid, and being hollow has its own strengths - a hollow shell has a little "bounce" to it that a solid form wouldn't. Kinda like an aluminum bat as opposed to a wooden one. It's quite tough. And at maybe 4 pounds it's already about as heavy as would be practical. Plus the surface is mostly curved, making a piercing hit that does much damage pretty unlikely.

I'm not a shield expert but there are shields with differing physics at work. Some shields are more based on the principle of deflecting an attack while others actually absorb the hit with mass and hard surfaces. As examples, the stretched leather shields used by native Americans are a perfect example of a shield purely for deflection, while the huge, heavy hoplite shield used by the classic greeks was a 20-45 pound monster designed to soak blows instead of merely deflect them. You can't maneuver or dodge much in formation, so their shields needed to have the weight to soak a hit.

A lot are somewhere in between, like this shield. It's light enough to quickly intercept attacks, but could also take a significant hit without breaking or transferring much impact to the user. It's main limit is really its size. You wouldn't want to be hiding behind it with arrows flying your way, and it just doesn't have the mass to soak the rough stuff.

This was kind of a practice run, I'm getting together the materials to make a Roman style oval shield soon and wanted to get a feel for it. I have most of the procedure worked out already, I just need to get going on it. It's going to be a good bit more elaborate, I plan on making it look like a real piece of art.

[Aeshen]

I'm both horrified and fascinated at your nerdism. I salute you... I think. But otherwise that's some very crafty thinking Very cool..
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Screw you.

[Yamsandjams]

Ah, I see. It's hard to tell how thick the metal is from the pictures, and given that it was a base for a fan I thought it'd be fairly thin. Shields that size would probably see more use in things like duels, or general melee combat. It's obviously going to suck against any missile attacks, but it'd work well against a swordfighter. If the opponent's weapon is quite hefty, it might be a bit less effective though.

I have to say, I'm actaully kind of jealous. I've never had that kind of imagination when it came to building stuff. Well, unless it was Lego, but that's because I REALLY used my imagination.
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[sniqow]

LARP!

[Yamsandjams]

[sniqow]

Level 67 halforc green beret vs Level 3 Dark elf gangsta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJFv9SMSMQ

PS. I am not racist. The old white guy is actually a green beret and a viet nam war vet who is !@#$^ in the head according to local newspapers.

OOPS

I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE VIDEO THREAD!

[Jesse_the_Thief]

I DO NOT LARP DAMMIT.

Pretentious artsy photo:



I think I might get some wood burning toys and think about a design on the front and back. That might look nice. And maybe something to cover up the stainless bar a bit, like a cloth wrap.