So it seems these days almost everyone has done something from Skyrim, this is the first part of a Skyrim project I'll be working on. The latter I'll keep a surprise, because I'm not sure when I'll be getting to it.
So I had a few rough ideas going into this as to what I wanted to accomplish or at least what techniques I wanted to use which would set myself apart from other Skyrim Shield builders. If I were to cite anyone for inspiration it would be Harrison Krix of Volpin Props, but I would wager to say that my shield will have been done almost 100% differently (with the exception of materiality in one instance).
Having access to a large format CNC machine made this process of cutting out not only the 'large' circles easier, but also made me think about how I could carve in the wood grain. With this piece I was going for an almost uncharacteristically exaggerated wood grain/pattern that was reminiscent of the shield itself. (the board splits were drawn in Illustrator using the shield as a template).
This weekend I made my first test cuts, I did not have the material I needed for the finish piece, but I decided to try it regardless. It was a pretty good success I would say. From a far the shield looks stellar, up close its noticeable that the main board grooves were cut a little too deep. I'll explain process in a minute.
The material I used was 1/2 MDF (I will use 1/4 for the finished piece). I wanted this shield to have a large presence (I didn't plan to use it for a Con - just to have lying around/mounted on a wall). So with that in mind, my outside diameter for the shield is 27.5 and is made from 1in pink insulation foam (Foamular) which can be purchased at your local Home Depot for ~19$ a 4'x8' sheet. The inside diameter and effective wood pattern is 25 inches, unfortunately 1/4 MDF cannot be purchased at home depot like the foam. It's difficult to say exactly where you can get it, but any specialty hardwood dealers, that also carries sheet goods should carry it. I'll be purchasing mine from either Spellman Hardwoods or Superior Lumber, a quick google search of your area should return decent results.
So a little about the process and the tools. I have access to a Shopbot PRS Alpha system which is a full 4'x8' CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled router) with 6" of Z travel. The shield outside (pink foam) was cut with a 1/4 down-spiral two-flute straight bit, in roughly 4 passses .25 each time. The grooves in the wood were cut using a V-bit. The issue with my test cut was I used a much larger bit then the one I initially had so it cut too wide compared to what I was expecting. For that I used a 1/2 inch 90 degree V-Bit. In the future or for the finished piece I will be using a 1/4 inch 90 degree bit. The main wood grooves were cut in at roughly 1/8 of an inch, where as the wood grain itself was roughly 1/32 of an inch. Just enough so you know it's there without being too deep/obnoxious.
Having now had time to think about how the piece looks currently/will look in the future, I decided it would be best to mill a recess in the pink 1/4 in deep to accept the wood, as I didn't want the shield to exceed 1 inch (handle not included).
I guess this is the effective ending point for update 1. Due to it being such an early point in the build I'm hesitant to post pictures, as I'm not comfortable with how it looks as a whole. So we'll leave it at that, and I hope it'll be alright. With the next week soon here, I will be getting my 1/4 in MDF and will be CNC'ing it as soon as I can.
Look forward to more updates as soon as I can get materials and some time after work.
I think the write up is detailed enough, maybe too much, but as always please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts, concerns, any question etc, I appreciate them greatly.
Cheers,
Kevin
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