A Sword and a Shield for the Knight in You :)

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!!

For noblemen in your homestead! If you happen to have a couple of noble knights at your domain, you shall probably need a set of equipment for the brave lads.

The whole thing is super simple. You will need:

1. Couple of pieces of plywood. I used 4mm thick baltic birtch plywood leftovers.
2. A bit of imagination for the shapes. I searched google images.4 bolts. Better with rounded heads. You might want to add a rounded nuts
3. 1 leather belt for the handles. The buckle broke off of my old belt, so I cut it. You can make 4-5 handles using one belt. Handles are 20-30 cm in length each. You might be able to use any other piece of cloth/rope for the handles as well.
4. Drill for making bolt holes
5. Some sort of paint
6. Black marker for coat-of-arms.
7. Small piece of sandpaper.

Making of:

1. Draw an outline on a piece of plywood. Again, I looked at shield/sword shapes on google images. Then kind of freehanded the shapes onto plywood, both for shields and swords. Cut off the tip of the sword, so it's not too sharp.
2. Sand the edges of cutouts to remove sharpness.
3. Drill the holes for the handles both in the shield and in the leather belt.
4. Secure the hanles with bolts and nuts.
5. Check for sharp edges.
6. Paint the things. 2 layers. I used spray paint. Let it dry.
7. Let you noble knights paint on their coat of arms. A teddy bear in the coat-of-arms gives extra experience points and stamina ;)

Explain the basic rules on how to play bit more safely.

The symbols on our shields are:

1) Orange shield:

"The Columns of Gediminas or Pillars of Gediminids are one of the earliest symbols of Lithuania and one of its historical coats of arms. They were used in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, initially as a rulers' personal insignia, a state symbol, and later as a part of heraldic signs of leading aristocracy. During the period between World War I and World War II they were used by the Lithuanian Republic as a minor state symbol, e. g. on Litas coins and military equipment."

2) Red shield:

Another form of the cross was used by the Jagiellon dynasty in Poland. This cross now features on the coat of arms of Lithuania, where it appears on the shield of the knight. It is also the badge of the Lithuanian Air Force and forms the country's highest award for bravery, the Order of the Cross of Vytis.