So I came up with a diagram of a cross section of my shield at 18,' since I would just double it to 36' from the center point. Some are more historically accurate than others, though all of them when finished look like what we've seen on vases in terms of their width and depth. So I read through a bunch of aspis construction threads online to see what kinds of materials they used. But since I read online that the average aspis would be around 16 pounds (7 kg) at 36 inches diameter, I figured that's what I should expect (and that turned out to be correct). I knew that if I made a 36 inch diameter shield, it would weigh more than a 34 inch shield, but I didn't - and still don't - know by how much. Any smaller and it wouldn't cover my thighs or the man to my left, and it might look a little tiny when I held it. I decided that the current thinking of a 36 inches (100 cm) diameter shield was right for my body size. I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 175 pounds (182 cm and 80 kg) which I figure is an average build for a man of the 21st century. I decided upon using the layered ring method because I figured it would take me the least amount of time to complete with the tools and workspace I had available. I think the lathed/turned shields and steamed/formed lath/slat shields (like those of forum members Athena Areias and Zolis, or Huovi and Giannis K. Making an aspis, ring method visual aids I feel that more shield-building tutorials are better than less, that way we can pick and choose what we like from each other's methods.Ĭhris B. I'm posting this as a 'thank you' to those two guys for answering alot of questions for me before I ever even had to ask, and for generously sharing their time and experiences through those guides. But on the off chance that someone finds my Greek shield building thread through Google first, I urge those visitors to instead go and view all the material by Matthew and Chris first. I know that their contributions to Greek reconstructions are well known on this forum. (and Chris's YouTube videos) were invaluable. The excellent aspis build guides written by Matthew Amt and Chris B. This is the visual journal of how I constructed my aspis.

Make a hoplite shield