Shield-retard
Well, that's what I'm feeling like.
As part of my ongoing drive to re-enter the SCA life of arms, I tried to strap a new shield this last weekend. Hah. It is to laugh.
Surprisingly, even though I have over 3 decades experience at this sort of thing, the project sort of went to shit in a handbasket, and seems to be intent on staying there.
There are several factors contributing to this pass. One is that for the previous dozen years or so, I have used fiberglass Westie "postage-stamp" heaters which, being fiberglass and all, were all exactly the same shape and size. Strapping a new one pretty much meant laying the dead shield down on top of the new one, and marking where the holes for the hardware needed to go. Being that the shield was so small to begin with, if the placement was somewhat off, it could be corrected by eye with great accuracy. Another factor is that this is my first aluminum shield blank. The final factor is that it is much, much bigger than shields I have had, being a long-pointed heater suitable to my new "chain-gang" harness of c. 1100 AD.
So what I have is a blank that doesn't correspond with any of my previous blanks in materials, balance, shape, size and whatever else you can think of. In case this wasn't indicative enough that I should reasonably expect a visit from Mr. Murphy, I also decided to use a strapping setup different than Those I Have Used Before.
Never said I was smart about this kind of thing. Empirically, I think we can now say with some confidence I fall onto the other end of the "smart" continuum as far as the shield-thing goes. (Hence the title of this posting.)
Oh, I am winning the battle. It's just going more like All Quiet on the Western Front, lasting years and costing millions of lives. While I was hoping more for a blitzkrieg-like success, still, I have no doubt as to my eventual victory.
The effing thing's gonna have more holes in it than a rural road sign on the way to a shooting range by the time I'm done, however.
Fortunately, I'm gluing canvas facings on it, so it won't look like I got caught in a drive-by. Between a tube of bathroom tub caulk and some little round colored stickers , no one will ever know.
As part of my ongoing drive to re-enter the SCA life of arms, I tried to strap a new shield this last weekend. Hah. It is to laugh.
Surprisingly, even though I have over 3 decades experience at this sort of thing, the project sort of went to shit in a handbasket, and seems to be intent on staying there.
There are several factors contributing to this pass. One is that for the previous dozen years or so, I have used fiberglass Westie "postage-stamp" heaters which, being fiberglass and all, were all exactly the same shape and size. Strapping a new one pretty much meant laying the dead shield down on top of the new one, and marking where the holes for the hardware needed to go. Being that the shield was so small to begin with, if the placement was somewhat off, it could be corrected by eye with great accuracy. Another factor is that this is my first aluminum shield blank. The final factor is that it is much, much bigger than shields I have had, being a long-pointed heater suitable to my new "chain-gang" harness of c. 1100 AD.
So what I have is a blank that doesn't correspond with any of my previous blanks in materials, balance, shape, size and whatever else you can think of. In case this wasn't indicative enough that I should reasonably expect a visit from Mr. Murphy, I also decided to use a strapping setup different than Those I Have Used Before.
Never said I was smart about this kind of thing. Empirically, I think we can now say with some confidence I fall onto the other end of the "smart" continuum as far as the shield-thing goes. (Hence the title of this posting.)
Oh, I am winning the battle. It's just going more like All Quiet on the Western Front, lasting years and costing millions of lives. While I was hoping more for a blitzkrieg-like success, still, I have no doubt as to my eventual victory.
The effing thing's gonna have more holes in it than a rural road sign on the way to a shooting range by the time I'm done, however.
Fortunately, I'm gluing canvas facings on it, so it won't look like I got caught in a drive-by. Between a tube of bathroom tub caulk and some little round colored stickers , no one will ever know.