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Shield Boss


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I don't know if this is the right place, if it isn't then, mods, please move it. Anyway, I'm working on a project for school and I'm making a few shields. I need to make bosses for this, which are the metal circles in the middle which protect the hand. I started to make one and it was beginning to form into a dish, but it wasn't going very quickly. I was wondering if anyone on here has experience making a boss? Or perhaps a quicker method, as I have to make five of these. I would love any sort of advice on this. Thanks in advance

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I was thinking that as well. I'll probably go to Good Will and see if I can find something. What I have done looks nice so far, it's just that it took far too long to get it to that point. If I were making it purely for fun, it wouldn't be an issue. But if it were for fun, I wouldn't be making five of them

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I have seen these made using a depression in a wooden stump. They started with hammers and quickly progressed to welding a handle onto a large round piece of metal. They then dropped it into the shield to form a depression for the hand.

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If you can get it, the bottom of some gas bottles (like an argon tank for a tig welder) is a great shape.. some have stmaped letters in them

if you dont' have a welder they are a pain, others are great...

 

F1UVRSOG9NHH83T.LARGE.jpg

 

If you don't have a stum, you can do a suprising amount in a depression only an inch or inchand a half across...

 

take a piece of hard wood 4X4 chuck it in the vice end up, so the bottom is supported, take a ball peen and whack it into the same spot till there is a depression 3/8 of an inch or so...

 

then use the hammeryoua re going to dish with and hit the same hole till it;'s the shape of your dishing hammer and still about 3/8 of an inch deep..

 

You have to have alot more accuracy, but you can dish in one suprisingly well..

 

stump.jpg

 

You can also grind with a grinder, or a dremel and get a bigger dish on the 4X4

 

used it for years before i got metal dishing forms

 

of course if you dish is the same size and shape as the boss you want, you can dish is (make it bowl shaped) and Bouge it (smoother it out, kind of like planishing, but by hitting it agaisnt the bottom of the form) and it makes making them WAY easier...(8 to 10 inch diamter gan bottle bottoms are about perfect.. i got mine on ebay for about $25)

if your hammer roughly matches the diameter of the dish, it's even easier...(you can use a hard black rubber mallet and shape it on a belt sander or flap wheel)

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You can also make a circle of 3/4" rod and use that.

 

My favorite dishing tool is the ring from a LARGE ring and pintle hitch (think military tank!)

 

You don't have to have a welder to weld up stampings in a bottle bottom dishing form---just use the parts not stamped and rotate the work as needed to remain in the clear area.

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Not an ad, just a user statement: I have a couple of the King Arthur  Tools brand chainsaw disks, and have used them to make and upgrade dishing stumps for the school jewelry and blacksmith shops. They are scary sharp and can jump if they catch, so follow the directions about guards and handles. I wear my welding leathers AND leather apron while using them.

 

How long it takes is subjective. A wimpy 3 amp discount grinder will work, but mounted on a commercial/industrial grade 10 amp unit is AWESOME! A freshly cut stump cuts fast, a section of industrial pallet a little slower, a dried out (elm?) burl that has been around  the shop for decades - not fun. And dulls the teeth pretty fast since they are run dry.

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When I have made dishing stumps for armour work I first roughed out my depression(in the end grain of a log) with a wood chisel.Then took my dishing hammer and hammered the depression deeper making it smoother as well.Quick and easy....and safer than the chainsaw attachment.I suggest a hardwood,and not pine or anything else with sap.

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I have made several shield bosses cold with a dishing stump.  I used a power drill and drilled different depth holes in the form of a depression and then just simply cut the excess away with a chisel.  It worked well for me because at the time those were the only tools I had available. 

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I know, that this is a older post, but I made 3 shields this past Christmas for my nephews and here is how i made the boss. I had some pieces of 3/4" oak plywood, so i cut a 10" x 10" piece got a 3" hole saw and cut out the center. Then I got a wood rasp and beveled the circle. The first boss took most of an hour to make, and i thought there has to be an easier way. On the next one I put a couple clamps on two opposite corners of the steel to the plywood, and the job went much faster about 20 minutes. On the last one I clamped all four corners, and I was done in about 10 or 12 minutes. The shields themselves were from the Home Depot and were $5 table table tops.

 

Now if I were to do a full sized boss, I am sure, that I wouldn't use this way to do it. I think it would stretch the metal too much, but for children using wooden swords it should be fine.

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post-52793-0-40812900-1394982316_thumb.j

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post-52793-0-25076000-1394982347_thumb.j

post-52793-0-05991200-1394982362_thumb.j

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  • 3 weeks later...

Any advice on how to make a dishing stump? I was thinking about getting one of those chainsaw blades for an angle grinder and using that to make a hollow. If anyone has made one, an average timetable would be awesome as well

I start by drawing out the size circle I want on the top of the stump with a sharpie marker, then use a drill bit and follow the pattern on the inside of my marks (maybe 1/4" inside) and very shallow.  Then I drill another ring inside that slightly deeper and so on.  I put a wrap of electrical tape on my bit at my maximum desired depth for the center of the bowl to use as a rudementry depth gauge.

 

I then use a wood chisel and hammer to remove material between all the drilled holes.  I keep working a little at a time.  Once I get the bowl shaped like I want, I use a ball peen hammer and lightly hammer the wood smooth inside the bowl, then I burn the bowl with a torch and hammer more.  I repeat until I have a smooth bowl shape.  For my small bowls (usually around 3-1/2" dia) it takes me about an hour or so to make.

 

Been using this same technique on several stumps and it works well.  I will forge a stap for my next stump to put around the top to hopefully reduce checking.

 

I also now have a cast bowl that I use on some projects -

 

 

HickoryStump_zps03f39b13.jpg

 

 

 

IMG_4786_zps0c07111b.jpg

 

 

 

StumpBowl_zps7c0ba304.jpg

 

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  • 3 months later...

A  dishing form is a dishing form.  There are features of differing of  types forms: a wooden form leaves less scarring and doesn't thin the sheetmetal where hammer and form pinch the sheetmetal.  Working hot makes for a lot of smoke though!

 

In general for the smoothest work the rule is "hard hammer soft form" or "soft hammer hard form"

 

One of my favorite forms has been the ring from a ring and pintle hitch in that case the "form" doesn't have a bottom and you are hammering over air, (also lifting eyes, a friend turned out the edge of heavy pipe to make a bottomless form,...For a good cheap form the bottom of hydrotest failed *NON* fuel gas cylinders often has a nice dimple and they get scrapped after testing. I even once was given an over pressure example with the sidewall about double the thickness of a regular O2, N2, Ar,... tank.)

 

I like hard forms as I am generally working much heavier than armour weight metal and so work them hot!

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