Part 1. Design

It is rare, nowadays, for teachers to have their own classrooms. And yet, somehow, I pulled it off, seemingly. I won’t celebrate to early on, but I have four walls I am allowed to decorate. On the back wall, I figured, I’d hang a Viking-ship-like shield wall, as can be seen below. 

The shields all have a boss, a rim and are painted with colourful designs. Yup, this is akin to what I wanted. Luckily, I still had some material in the shed from when we built the planter out of wood that was about to be dumped. Below is a full list of tools and materials I have used.

Tools used

• Jigsaw
• Japanese pull saw
• Chisel
• Battery powered drill
  • Screw bits
  • Drill bits
  • counterbore
• Random orbit sander
• Pens and pencils
• Measuring tape
• Paintbrushes

Materials used

• About six planks of recycled wood
• One long strip of 3cm by 1cm for side vertical slats
• One long pole of 4cm by 3cm for the central vertical beam
• Three dog-chew-bones made out of boiled leather
• Thin sisal wire
• Screws of various sizes.
• Acrylic paints (blue and white)

The build

After one of the most stressful weeks of my life, I came home with a strong sense of having to build something. I took my Japanese pull saw and chopped some planks to the right length. I figured out the length needed by making a make-shift compass out of a piece of wire and a nail.

After cutting the planks I made cut lines using the compass and cut them into parts of the circle using my jigsaw. I also cut the hole in the middle that would be covered with the boss and put the shield together with glue and screws.

The middle beam, which doubles as a handle was easy enough to make with te the jigsaw as well. I used a sharp chisel to round over the edges of the handle.

I applied a not-too-thick coat of blue acrylic paint. I should have painted before putting the boss on, but such is life. While the paint was drying I soaked the chew-bones in water to soften them up.

The leather was then easy enough to work with. I clamped it onto the sides of the shield and drilled holes through both leather and wood. Afterwards, I “sowed” the leather onto the side of the shield. Seeing that the chew toys I bought were quite small and cheap, they were made up out of multiple pieces. I enjoy the rugged end result, though. I also added some leather around the handle and used some sisal to keep it attached.

I then looked up some designs, picked the ones I appreciated and used white acrylic paint to decorate the shield. After all, I’m pleased with how it turned out and what the rim ended up looking it.