Making an Anglo-Saxon Shield with Just an Axe and a Knife - Part III | Early Medieval Woodworking

Almost every Anglo-Saxon freeman had a shield, along with his spear and seax knife.

The evidence, both through wood survival and wood grain remains on metal fittings, suggests that Germanic shields were made of a thin wooden board, constructed of a single layer of planks, faced either side with leather or rawhide.

These boards were 5-9mm thick in the centre, tapering to 3-4mm thick at the edge, including the hide covering. In the absence of any fittings, they were most likely glued edge to edge and further secured with the hide covering.

In almost all cases throughout woodworking history, planes have been used to edge joint boards. However, only a single plane has been found in Early Anglo-Saxon contexts: a small, bronze-soled plane from a grave in Sarre, Kent, dated around the 6th century.

If shield making was a specialized craft, you might expect a professional shield-maker to own a plane. But, if every freeman made his own shield, then it is unlikely that every freeman owned a plane with which to smooth and joint his shield boards.

I wanted to know whether it was possible to create an authentic Germanic shield board, using just an axe and knife - the most likely carpentry tools available to an Anglo-Saxon freeman.

I chose ash because it was used in Western Anglo-Saxon contexts for shield boards, so may have been favored by the Gewisse. Anglo-Saxon shield boards became thicker over time. In the 5th century, they averaged around 6.5mm in the centre. In the 6th century; 7.5mm, and by the late 7th century, they averaged 8.5mm thick in the centre.

So, with a layer of 1mm thick leather front and back, I was aiming for wooden boards about 7mm thick in the centre, to best represent the mid-late 7th century.

I had decided to make a slightly convex shield board, as suggested by some curved Anglo-Saxon long grips, pictorial evidence such as the Frank’s casket, and the beautiful example of the Sutton Hoo Mound 1 shield.

So I carved each board with a slight curve, marked out using a curved template, and aimed to get an even 8-9mm thickness along each plank; slighter thicker than the final goal to allow for discrepancies in fit between my planks.

Once all the boards were thinned down to a gentle curve, I had to joint them. This I did by “planing” one edge with my knife, taking very fine shavings and using it as a scraper. I then transferred this edge onto the adjoining board with charcoal, and cut it to shape. The final high spots in the fitting of each board join, I identified by eye and carefully removed by scraping until the boards fitted as best as I could get them.

The diameter of the board, at 73cm (corresponding with an increase in shield diameter in the 7th century) was marked onto the board using a string and charcoal, and cut to shape with an axe. This had to be done very carefully to avoid splitting the thin board, but I wanted to show that saws aren’t necessary for cutting boards on the end grain.

Then a second circle, two thirds of the total diameter, was marked on the board, and the outer third was trimmed down in thickness. Tapering from 7mm at the centre to 3-4mm thick.

I carved a D-shaped hole around the handle, well fitted to my hand, which will eventually be covered by the iron shield boss. The hole was made just slightly bigger than my hand required, with smoothed edges, to allow for a nimble shield grip required to fight with an “active shield” style.

The D-shaped boss hole is based on evidence from surviving wooden shields from Nydam. The handle being carved from the same material as the central board, rather than being a wooden insert, is attested in Anglo-Saxon shields from the archaeological evidence. I chose to use this style, as it appears there may have been a local preference for this style in the Wiltshire area, which is not far at all from Somerset.

This handle will be reinforced by an iron strip running the length of the handle and riveted to the surrounding board.

Finally, the planks were glued together edge to edge with hide glue. Because I had not planed these joints, but instead shaped them with a knife, there were minute tool marks and high spots. So, inspired by the caulked planks of Early Anglo-Saxon and Viking ship-building traditions, I “caulked” each joint with a strip of leather, which was compressed between the two glued edges and acted to improve the tight fit of the join.

Each join required an entire day to dry, and so the shield was placed onto a simple curved rack, to allow it to set in the desired curvature for a convex board.

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