Bucklers (Homemade)

[Steven Blakely]

have you thought about making more than one. i know that itr is important to use authentic materials. But iwas wondering about using pickle barrel. Now I know there is a particular group that shall remain nameless that uses this stuff but my cruiosoty is just that plastics are often a bit more rugged for the use in practices. and you would have to replace it less often.


And Question nember 2 is can a buckler be literally strapped to your wrist and still be as affective. so you could grasp a seconed wepon.

[Brian Hunt]

Steven,

are you asking if I will make more than one plastic buckler? The answer is yes, I have sold several to various ARMA members. Pickle barrel plastic is a little soft and tends to lose some of it's shape when it gets a little warm in the sun, ABS is much better.

No, you do not strap a buckler to your arm. A buckler is essentially a center held small shield.

Have you had much affiliation with the SCA? Your question about pickle barrels and strapping a buckler to your forearm is the reason I ask.

all the best.

Brian Hunt
GFS

[Steven Blakely]

I have not had to much afiliation. But enough to know about the durability of pickle barrell. I did not join the sca because as i watched
the combat i made the realization that this was not anything close to real ren martial combat not to mention I got the impression it was just a little to clickesh and you had to have all this armor to play. And not to mention the period nazi's wha like to pick apart poor peoples garb. Now as far as how t he buckler works i will chalk that up to video games, DandD, And ignorance. As i have been learning more about martial combat i have seen several buckler fights and not one has had it strapped to the arm, So i will chalk it up misunderstanding.

[Norm Rayos]

Steven,

are you asking if I will make more than one plastic buckler? The answer is yes, I have sold several to various ARMA members. Pickle barrel plastic is a little soft and tends to lose some of it's shape when it gets a little warm in the sun, ABS is much better.

No, you do not strap a buckler to your arm. A buckler is essentially a center held small shield.

Have you had much affiliation with the SCA? Your question about pickle barrels and strapping a buckler to your forearm is the reason I ask.

all the best.

Brian Hunt
GFS

Hi Brian,
when you use ABS to make a buckler do you still put a boss on it...Do you have a website?
Norm

[Brian Hunt]

The boss is formed as an intergral part of the face of the buckler. The grip is also formed from abs plastic. They are 1/4" thick. If you are interested in having me make one for you, please private message for a price.

thanks for your interest.

Brian Hunt
GFS

P.S. Are you working out with Casper's group?

[Jason Taylor]

Hi THere,

I've been working opn a wood project like the one you mentioned, but I was trying for a padded free-sparring version. Though I don't know what it is you're going to use it for, I'll give you a run-down on my plans:

I started with a 1/2" piece of plywood and fashioned it into a rough circle (this turned out to be a pain, so it's where I'm stuck. Nonetheless....)

Use some kind of thick foam as a boss, allowing for incidiental contact to be safe, and some light punching with the buckler face, without killing someone. Landau's my first choice.

Then, I was using a plastic handle from a masonry tool that I removed from the tool. It basically was a piece of light wood with this hanbdle screwed onto it. I undid the screws and I'm going to replace them with longer ones of the same gauge.

I have no idea if this attachment design is historical, but it does allow usually enough clearance for the hand to use the buckler in a single-fisted grip. It's also cheap and easy to find; just make sure you buy the types with the screw attachment to the tool rather than with the welded or riveted attachments.

Then, my plan is to foam the back with foam rubber and the edges with Landau. Voila.

I've done most of these steps on other, older projects before I got seriously into WMA. But at least that's a quick, cheap approach requiring to access to metalworking tools. Of courtse, if oyu're looking for a non-padded sparring buckler, then that's probably not what you want, but hey, I tried.

Jason