How did the make the kite and heater shield
as reenactments people make them with plywood?
where is the end grain, or which direction is the fiber

And jousting shields were they covered with steel ?

Wy i ask is for battle damage and interesting

I only know that roman shields were out of wood and covered with leather. I´m not sure but I think that ther were several shield types in the middle ages: some made of wood boards, some made completely out of metal and some out of both.

I know that they used lime for the lightness and also the viking used it cause the lime trap the weapon.
They would be covered with fabric as Canvas. Think that if reinforced whit Rawhide then they would be protected
?
linden is split resistant

Normally they used the wood they had. They made several layers. Wood, the white glue (made out of bones), linen...and these stuff 3-4 times. Then they used leather or boneskin for the edge.

woow medieval ply wood, thanks
Then they would be sturdy. Perhaps the fabric fell off in a rainy condition?

Dont know how good animal glue is.
but it's applied heated and break off in the same joint

animal glue was/is very good. Compound-bows were glued with animal glue and a bow has to be very tough...

You see the shield at my avatar. It was just made like I explained. And we testes a morningstar. It worked. We needed about 5 direct hits until it breaks.

How did it break, what wood was it?

It was only a Birch Chip record. It simply broke. We hit it several times right in the middle until it splintered

I saw this for a long tima ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbK7m3w9FXI

lime would probably not shatter and the fabric + the edge reinforcement would held it together.
So for a realistic modelling perhaps a deformed shield is the best?

some things never change *g* only the material... btw. nice youtube videos. I lokked the "Shield" from part 1-9...faszinating