There is Only One "Problem" with this Shield... (Ottoman Kalkan)

you know this feeling when you've got an object that is or was intended for hard practical use but it's just too pretty for that there one of those this is a kelin shield from salah's archery they reached out to me asking if I would like to get one of these for a video and I sure did so thank you for sending this to me kelin is the Turkish word for shield yeah we're doing that again Mongols and early Turks used wicker shields in the 15th and 16th century by the way in case you're confused about the term wicker it refers to the way something is made not what it's made of so the material could be Reed or cane but wicker just means it's woven basically something is not made of wicker anymore than a scarf is made of knit wicker shields were also common in other parts of Asia like China Thailand and Vietnam this is what you get when a wicker Shields reinforced with a large iron boss in the 17th century visually what stands out about this Shield aside from the extensive decorations are these concentric grooves that's because this is made of retan rods that are arranged in this circular pattern that's also what gives the shield it's convex shape you can see from the side it's basically a dome which helps deflect blows the boss is made of steel they don't specify what kind but I'm assuming it's mild steel which is most common for shield bosses and fittings and guards and things of that nature I said the main body of The Shield is made of a tan and covered in cloth they don't mention what so I don't know if it's Canvas OR linen or something else and then you've got this decorative trim which is really pretty that's stitched over the edge of the shield then on the other side you also have a highly decorated cloth and a foam padding in the center which is very important functionally and then you've got these Rings attached to the shield to which ropes are tied for holding the shield based on the look and feel I'm guessing this silk rope but I don't know for sure so you've got different lengths here that serve different purposes the long one is for hanging it from your shoulder so this way it can be easily combined with a bow this one here happens to be a cyan bow which is much earlier but it's what I have it can hang there as passive protection while you use the bow and it's also useful on Horseback while you're holding onto the rains it's just there you don't have to hold on to it well while messing around with it one of these Rings just came off it didn't break but that makes me think that these Rings should be a little stiffer maybe thicker because uh it comes off a little bit too easily if the Rings were welded shut they would be stronger but that would mean you couldn't take them off to replace the Rope I don't even know how that came off that's actually pretty tight here another neat thing about the way this is setup is you can wear it Captain America Style on your back so this way it protects against arrows from the back and you've got your hands free you could even wear another Shield if you wanted to I doubt they did that but you could you can also adjust the length of the Rope to serve as a support strap while holding on to it so that's pretty neat and speaking of holding on to it there are several different ways the most obvious and intuitive way is to slip your arm through these ropes here and use it as a strap shield that's also why I'm wearing this gambison here not just because it matches the color and because uh the the kind of actin they wore back then is not too dissimilar from this gambison style fencing jacket here also so I can I can test how well it fits so I can fit the my arm with the gambeson and the glove through here and hold it quite comfortably the reason I wanted to check that is because another fairly similar stra Shield I have here does not allow that because this strap is a little bit too tight so if you if you're wearing armor underneath or you have particularly large beefy arms um this wouldn't really fit and in this case this would be a shame to just cut off and replace this one is more adjustable and replacing the Rope of course is cheaper and easier so that this is quite comfortable overall very very easy to use because this is a particularly light Shield it weighs quite a bit less than that I'm going to post the measurements specs in the description below if you're interested in the specifics but you know just just holding this is very easy I mean retan with just a bit of Steel it's much lighter than many other Shields it's also pretty small so it doesn't cover all that much but anyway I was talking about ways of holding it the other way is to hold it like a buckler by gripping these two straps here in the middle so now you have the flexibility of a center grip Shield where you you can move it around more you have a lot more different angles and it's also useful against archers because if arrowheads penetrate through and you you've got it you know right on your arm like this your arm might get punctured that's also a bit of a drawback compared to a Euro style Center grip Shield or bu where you have an opening for the hand so basically you're supporting the handle of the buckler with the meat of your palm while here your knuckles are resting against the Shield now of course the padding is there for a reason I just imagine you know with a powerful strike that might beat up your fist a little bit but um shouldn't really be a big deal I really like this versatility you can do so much with this Shield depending on the situation and what you want to do with it whether it's strap or Center grip or you know slung around one shoulder or both shoulders on the back or whatever that there's so many ways for melee this kind of Shield could be combined with a killage for example I'm not familiar with the techniques that were used historically personally I'd be inclined to hold the shield like this you know little bit forward and angled to create that cone of defense and then cut in a way that my arm stays behind the shield covered at all times but I've also seen it facing more forward and with the hand leading past the shield a little bit more exposed but um you have more angled that way because if you keep it close to the shield you always have to work around it and it's a little bit more of a hassle normally I'd want to test the shield in sparring but this is just too nice I wouldn't want to beat it up and scratch the paint and tear the fabric and all of that alth those things that happen in sparing which is the same reason why I haven't tested the targe either it's also too nice um particularly this you know just the way it's painted there's so much detail I'm going to show you some close-ups so you can see there's a lot of care that went into painting it it's done with great precision and uh yeah would be too nice however they said they could potentially send another Shield just plain undecorated for practical tests I just want to see first what kind of interest there even is in this video video let me know if you would like to see more tests so this is not the usual full review I do simply because I don't know much about ottoman history and there wasn't a whole lot of information I could find about these so there is little I can say about the historical accuracy of this reproduction other than looking at pictures which yeah seem pretty similar I've seen both other reproductions and Originals that are set up like this as well with the ropes that are you know decorated in a similar way I don't know how accurate the size and weight is it seems pretty close the weight I can't imagine there would be much variation simply because of the materials used there it's it's all light and uh yeah overall it seems wellmade so yeah it's a little bit limited what I can say looking at the craftsmanship overall you know as far as I can tell from the outside without tearing it apart it seems great definitely really nice work I don't know what kind of paint they used on the steel or how durable it would be and the over it's a beautiful collector's piece so the only issue is the price which is not something I have to worry about because they just sent it to me for the video it's currently $783 60 that's Canadian in US Dollars that's $572 as of April 2024 so that's quite a pile of money um now my head is still kind of stuck in the 2010s as far as prices are concerned everything is much more expensive now so there's that but either way it's it's quite a lot to spend on a collector's item whether or not it's worth it I I just don't feel like I'm entirely qualified to answer that because of my lack of knowledge of these kinds of shields now um while I'm talking about it I'm already seeing that a bit of thread here is coming off and I've just handled it I haven't even really used it and said the Rings could be a little stiff anyway that's about all I can say if you would like to see a practical test with an undecorated Shield spread this video like an STD that's maybe not the best way to put it but anyway you know share the video and interact with it and all of that and uh then if there's enough interest then maybe you'll see the test so until then hope you enjoyed this thanks for watching uh check it out in the description link and specs and all that take care folks the

Channel: Skallagrim

Views: 123,018

Keywords: Skall, Skallagrim, Ottoman, kalkan, shield, history, historical, reproduction, strapped shield, centergrip, review, how to use

Id: 6vd6o1twMCk

Length: 10min 11sec (611 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 12 2024