My targe is done!

[Brasilikilt]

Hey all

Since the subject of targes has been thrown about the forum a bit recently. I was inspired to put one together, and am pleased to share the fruits of my labor.
Woodsheal in another post was nice enough to give a detailed description of how he made his targes, and this is what I went by.
I'm glad he did, because I know it would have taken me a lot more time to figure the tricky bits out by trial and error.

I found that if you VERY CAREFULLY use a torch to dry out the leather, it will stiffen, shrink the leather a bit and harden the surface which would probably do well to stop arrows and bayonets, but certainly not musket balls!




I used a lot of scrounged materials for this such as scrap 1/2" plywood, old towels and stuffing from a comforter for the padding, leather straps taken off a tossed-out leather jacket and even the backing leather was stripped off an old couch.



I don't like the arm straps very much and will probably replace them as soon as I come up with something better
I have since added a couple of D rings on the back to attach a carrying strap

I still have enough leather to make another and will make it a bit smaller. This one is 21" and is plenty heavy given the thickness of the hide I used for the front.
I was originally going to make it 24" and use 3/4" plywood which thankfully I didn't!!

Hopefully we'll get a few more people making targes!

thanks for looking

Iain

[David Dalglish]

Good work --looks good

[ozmeath]

That looks wild BK, almost a shame to knock it around. The red on the leather came up beautifully. What the center piece of the front made of. Looks like brass from here.
Erin

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Very nice looking. How long did it take you to complete?

[Panache]

Looks very nice. I want to make one now.


AGGGGGRRRRHHH! Another project I have to undertake.

Cheers

[Livingston]

Brasilikilt, that looks great.

I have most of what I need to make mine. I'll have to start taking pictures of the process....

[keepoffgrass]

that looks really cool!

[switchblade5984]

very nice!

[Andrew Green]

I like the stud pattern on the front. Looks pretty good. Scrounging materials is the cheapest way to go! I am a bit behind on mine, as I still have to cut the wood out. It's finals week at school, and I have been dorking out with my video games lately (I own many); I've been wrapped up in more idle puruits. Hopefully, I can get down to my folks' place Thursday to do some work on it.

[Brasilikilt]

It's really nice to read all your compliments, especially since it's my first attempt at making anything like this!

To answer some of your questions
Yes, the "boss" in the center is solid brass which was taken from a made in India candle holder which conveniently screws apart.

The color isn't so much red as it is a mixture of Dark brown leather and furniture stain which does have some red undertones.
I mixed the dye with wax and linseed oil, got it nice and hot and then slathered it on. The color soaked into the leather a little unevenly which is fine with me, as it gives a more authentic appearance.

It's hard for me to say exactly how long it took because a lot of my time in the shop was spent just standing there staring at the targe and putting it together in my head during the different stages of construction.
A rough guess for the actual work time would be maybe 4 hours ????

The tack decoration on the front is I guess still a work in progress as I thought I would have a lot more tacks to work with. My idea was to cover as much area using as few tacks as possible.
Next time I'm at the hardware store I might buy a couple more boxes to make a better ring along the outer edge, but who knows maybe I'll just leave it.

thanks again for all your compliments

Iain