Weapons that Made Britain - Shield Tests

Weapons that Made Britain - Shield Tests

The key points are:

0:53 Thick cow skin used to cover both sides. That skin looks like 10oz. Thick leather adds a lot of weight.

1:28 1/8 thick limewood sandwiched between 10 oz rawhide. This is probably heavier the 1/4 plywood without any leather.

3:09 Small shield is heavy. I'm guessing at least 6 lbs.

3:46 1/8 shield gets destroyed by arrow and thrown axes. I estimate that shield at about 2.5 lbs. This shield is completely useless.

4:40 Rawhide covered shield protects against light weapons but not heavy ones.

5:50 Heavy duty shield protects against mass-weapons.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Weapons
• that
• Made
• Britain
• Shield
• Tests

[Jaahaah]

Punishment shield can take is not the only factor, you can still cause blunt damage to the arm holding the shield without breaking it

[tsafa1]

@Jaahaah That is generally a bad bet. It is a low probability doing anything really useful while wasting a tempo. While the shield is being bashed the shieldman's other arms is delivering a precise shot to an open area. Did it happen... sure... but its a peasant move. In sword combat good advice is to "Fight the Man... Not his Weapon".

[amadeus987]

The first shield is quite crappy. I dont even see the point of testing it. Without leather/rawhide a shield is worthless

[tsafa1]

Prior to this testing there was a lot of debate among people as to how light viking shields were. Many people have misinterpreted sources and concluded that viking shields were under 4 lbs. The video proves exactly what you said, that such shields would be useless.

[ThegnThrand]

Check out my videos( Viking vs. Samurai : Thrand's aftermath part 1, 2 and 3 also fighting bonus video) right here on youtube :P

[tsafa1]

Watching now. Looks pretty good.

[MarkHolgate]

doesn't this guy love his shields? it's great when people are passionate like this. Fascinating tests.

[LambadLambadLambda]

lol! I feel sorta sorry for that poor shield maker. He was a good sport, made some sheilds and brought them in for the show and they demolished them.

[TheRebelEye]

I want to talk to this shield maker.

[Oskareczekeczek]

@Jaahaah It's not possible, cause historic shields had a single hold in the middle, not double stripes shown so often in movies and games.

[44Centurion]

interesting how simple rawhide so radically changes the shield

[ThegnThrand]

@Jaahaah This is untrue the center boss shield is held in the hand in 9th century these shields here are center boss they are testing here. look this up on youtube :P

Deadliest Warrior : Thrand Test Kanabo(Tetsubo) Against Viking Shield

/watch?v=Gs3mHyqS3Wk

[leeham991]

@ThegnThrand

I'd always seen the spreading force of the shield made the hoplong shield better for line combat, as the large size and the strength even out the pressure to the whole line and reflect just about any blow, especially the spears used at the time.

Also in case nobody else says it I will: Deadliest Warrior is a joke. I think it's aimed mostly at 12 year old boys. I'd say it's definitely right down at 1 or 2 on the education scale.

[ThegnThrand]

@JonathanBloggs lighter and stronger is the better shield in the 9th century shield were better than lets say a Greek hoplon why because they were more maneuverable and light strong and could be used in single combat far better than the hoplon Greek shield which was too heavy and only protected the left side in single combat.

[ThegnThrand]

@leeham991 The Viking or Saxon center boss shield absorbs more force because it gives. The Hoplite shield the hoplon strapped to the arms actually transfers more force to the arm meaning a greater chance of damaging the arm why do you think the had 4 springs behind it on Samurai vs. Spartan on DW when they tested it . The Viking shield was held in place with metal brace which it is not it would be held by a center boss and would give absorbing force protecting the arm.

[ThegnThrand]

@TheWizzooo yes that is throwing axe used by franks and Vikings.

[ThegnThrand]

@Jaahaah Yes you got this idea breaking the arm from Deadliest Warrior .Deadliest Warrior is not a historically accurate program nor or their test scientific or done correctly it is a scripted entertainment program.

Check out my Videos here on youtube We test your theory against a weaker version of the shields outlined here with center boss we tried every thing to break the arm under it to no avail. Why because it is held by a center boss wile you were trying to hit shield you would be cut down.

[CaptainPeenNoPants]

@TheWizzooo yes