The Shield of Boromir

Good things come to those who wait ... and JJ came through with flying colors on the Boromir shield. As I mentioned before, we decided to use dish sleds since they were the almost perfect shape for the shield.

From the Weapons and Warfare book:

Like his sword, the shield that Boromir carried was of a singular design, so it would have been easily recognizable to his men when in combat. It's circular shape and simple design were reminiscent of a buckler, although it would have been too large to be worn on the arm when fighting two-handed. The wood frame had been dyed black and in its center was a large steel boss that was riveted to the back of the shield; fixed into the boss was a handle made of horn that was edged with bronze rings. Around the edge were engraved the wings and seven stars of Gondor's noble heritage. When not using it, Boromir would have carried the shield over his shoulder by using the finely tooled leather guige that was riveted to the boss and to the steel rim that ran around the edge of the shield, again secured by a number of rivets.

It was a solid piece of work that could have been wielded quickly and effectively; the curved, circular shield had no points that an enemy could catch on, so their blows would slide across and past the shield. When this happened, the attacker's forward momentum would unbalance him, allowing Boromir to bring his sword down upon his outthrust and exposed arm and neck. Whereas if the blow was light enough, the upraised shield would arrest the swing of the blow and Boromir could thrust his sword under his foe's shield and into his belly.

As always, JJ's attention to detail is amazing.The paint on the sled had to be chemically stripped as well as heated and chipped off. The center of the sled was cut out to make room for the boss:


The next piece of the shield was the brass ornamentation around the boss itself.


Next, the shield was covered in leather and the handle was fastened in the back. Now - how's this for detail? JJ called me up and mentioned that according to the book, the handle was made of horn. He actually had a piece of horn, but just wanted to make sure that I didn't mind if it was not exactly even. "Of course not!" I said. "Go for it!"

Finally, the steel edging of the shield was attached and a beautifully braided strap was attached to sling it over my shoulder.

Here's a closeup of the shield boss and ornamentation:


And here's the finished shield! Front and back.