Warped leather shield how to rectify?

[Kmaddock]

Hi Colin,

I am glad you posted after I got my shield as I would have been set up for disappointment.

I took no beforehand pics unfortunately.

I soaked shield totally immersed for 3 hours in warmish water, it was rock solid before hand but reasonably mailable after.

I then put it on piece of plywood (the warping one side was bent through 70 degrees)

I eased it flat over a period of a day with heavy weights. Then I took off weights and put planks wood over the shield and screwed the ends of the planks into the plywood sheet to clamp it flat.

Then I left outside to dry over a few days. I then removed the floorboards and used narrow batons and screwed these to the plywood to expose more of the shield to the air to dry an left for around a week.

When I took off the batons it did distort a bit but overall i am v v pleased

I love the repairs and one I have circled in red looks to be a to be gunshot round hole
the boss has 3 repairs alone and there are 7 in total, this Beja shield would tell a great story and i actually really like this item even though the dhal was what I was after. The dhal was in a lot better condition and is in a lot better condition. I will take pictures when I can

Thanks for comments and any idea on hide, Elephant, rhino or Hippo?

Regards,

Ken