The Importance of Buckler Liners

A surprising amount of effort goes into creating bucklers. These simple little pieces of defense have highlighted numerous construction features that intrigue me. Whether it is the use of hinged nails for wood paneling or the double rivet I prefer for the handle on my training bucklers, all parts of the buckler are fascinating.
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But what about buckler liners? These prominent buckler features are under-represented in today’s HEMA circles due to the low use of bucklers made of materials such as hardened leather and wood. However, thanks to the buckler project we did last year, I have had a lot of time to observe bucklers with liners. Today, we will explore my observations in buckler liners and some aways.

​History of Buckler Liners

​Liners on bucklers are a common inclusion in artist representations of bucklers. If we focus on manuscripts around the late 13th century, we can find several examples of what appear to be liners on bucklers:

When looking specifically at the I.33 images, some show a liner while others do not. It is impossible to know what material the bucklers in the illustrations were intended to represent, but analysis of historical examples can lend us more insight.

​Liners were made of many materials, such as leather, rawhide, manuscript paper, and metal. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of leather and rawhide liners due to the passage of time. However, some bucklers made of wood planks can be found with a metal liner. It is also worth noting that many historical leather bucklers fold the metal at the edge of the buckler face, creating a liner-esque feature to enhance the longevity of the buckler.

​Personal Observations on Durability

​One of the biggest takeaways I have on buckler liners is the durability the liner adds. When comparing two leather bucklers, the one with a rawhide liner lasted far longer. Along with deep gouges into the leather face of the buckler, strong attacks cause the leather to bend and warp slightly from the boss. 

​In contrast, while the buckler liner was chewed up from attacks, the rawhide material lasted much longer and protected the face of the buckler. In the image below, you can see the face of the buckler with the liner which was used much longer in sparring than the buckler without a liner shown above. In another example, Jerod’s buckler from the buckler construction project used a leather liner. While his liner did not last as long as the rawhide liner, it equally protected the face of the buckler. For our wood bucklers, liners appeared to be critical in keeping impact against the wood blanks to a minimum. The wood split immediately for several wood bucklers without liners when defending a strong cut. 

​Interesting Warping of the Buckler

​An interesting change occurred to my buckler when I first added the rawhide liner to it. When the rawhide was drying, it shrunk and warped the buckler's face to become concave. This made the buckler effective at catching points of blades during thrusts, allowing the blade to be trapped momentarily, which helped create openings for my sword. We have historical examples of concave bucklers, but it was fascinating to discover a way to create one myself accidentally.  

​Closing Thoughts

It is worth noting that I did not test the liner against sharp weapons. The characteristics and durability would dramatically differ if trying to stop axe heads or sharp blades. While we know bucklers were used in combat, it is hard to tell how many fights they could survive before being replaced. 

However, the durability of these bucklers while training is noteworthy. Assuming we train similarly to how they trained in the past, then buckler liners would have extended their usability much longer than without. Furthermore, the buckler liner is an easy enough item to replace (especially if leather or rawhide is used), which makes the bulk of the buckler long-lasting.
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And longer-lasting gear means more reps for practice.