Bolts?!

[toweyb]

I toured the arms and armor hall at the Chicago Art Institute, and they had many suits of armor from the 1400s forward. (Like their medieval art collection, they seem to have started the clock at the 15th Century.)

Anyway, I was amazed to find large bolts on the armor, including a big wing-nut thinggy in the middle of a jousting face plate.

The slotted round heads were about 5/8" to 3/4" in diameter, and looked like they would take a regular mechanic's screwdriver. The threads were coarse, maybe ten to the inch. One suit had half a dozen bolts holding on the breastplate.

Of course, being an art museum, they only described the "medium" (steel, leather, and brass), "artist" and date (in some cases plus or minus 50 years.) So, there were no real notes on the evolution of the craft. But, I must say I expected anything but big round-head screws in the late middle ages.

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Miror Otium Negotium Multum Requirare

[Hammered Wombat]

Yep, more common than one would think. If you look closely you'll see the distinctive tool marks that indicate the point of origin. Usually it's Home Despot.

Well, I thought it was funny...



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Steve Belden
The Hammered Wombat
armourer@hammeredwombat.com

[Guest]

Nuts and Bolts…

Go to the library and check out (or order through Inter-Library Loan): "One Good Turn (A Natural History of the Screwdriver and Screw)" by Witold Rybcynski, (published by Scribner 2000, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, NY; Hardcover, 173 pages; price: $22.00; LoC 00-036988, ISBN 0-684-86729-X).

You can check out my review of it at the Anvilfire Bookshelf at http://www.anvilfire.com/bookrev/index.htm


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Full time civil servant, part time blacksmith, and seasonal Viking ship captain.

Visit your National Parks: www.nps.gov

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