The Armour Archive

Pennsic is just around the corner, so I decided to make a period 12th Century chest.

I also decided to take a few extra steps and make a strong box instead of a simple chest.

There is a wealth of information on Medieval chests, but very little information on the 12th Century chests in particular, so I am posting my research and experience here.

Research on 12th Century Chests and Strong Boxes

Initially my research focused on Medieval chests in general. A nice article on Medieval chests can be found here:

The Medieval Chest (with references), by Master Dafydd ap Gwystl
http://www.greydragon.org/library/chests.html

Another good source for Medieval furniture is the St. Thomas Guild:
http://thomasguild.blogspot.com/

My conclusion was that a chest of the 12th Century (AD 1100-1200) would most likely be a simple six-board chest, following the Viking example of the six-board chest. A six-board chest is simply constructed with 6 boards:

1. left side
2. right side
3. front
4. back
5. top
6. bottom

The two side pieces are extended to serve as the legs.

http://wood.stephaniesuesansmith.com/wp ... 50x468.jpg
Figure 1: An example of a simple six-board chest. Notice that the front and side panels are inter-locking (in the Viking style) to provide for greater strength. This is a modified dovetail joint, with only one finger and one slot on each board. The side boards are extended downwards to form the legs. Chests made for traveling would not have legs.
(Source: http://wood.stephaniesuesansmith.com/wp ... 50x468.jpg)

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/Resou ... =MOWDove25
Figure 2: A dovetail joint with multiple fingers and slots.
(Source: http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/Main/ ... -6884.aspx)

http://www.marbleslawn.com/chest.jpg
Figure 3: Contrast the simple six-board chest with this example from a later Medieval period. This chest was built with more sophisticated wood-working techniques such as tongue-and-groove joints.
(Source: http://www.marbleslawn.com/chest.jpg)

http://boschathome.com/images/Tips_Tric ... feder.jpeg
Figure 4: The tongue-and-groove joint.
(Source: http://boschathome.com/Tips_Tricks_18To ... stems.html)

In the end, I decided that a six-board chest would make the perfect 12th Century period chest, and would also be much easier to make than a tongue-and-groove chest.

Extant examples of 12th Century Chests

The next step in my research was to find examples of extant 12th Century chests and strong boxes in online museum collections.

Medieval Woodworking Resources: Museums with Furniture Collections
http://www.medievalwoodworking.org/furn_mus_links.htm

Bunratty Castle Medieval Collection
http://www.bunrattycollection.com/search.php?i=338

Chests & Trunks at Larsdatter.com
http://www.larsdatter.com/chests.htm

Medieval Furniture
http://www.modaruniversity.org/Furniture.htm

Here are some examples of extant 12th Century chests and strong boxes:

http://www.bunrattycollection.com/img/r ... 6_0138.jpg
Figure 5: A six-board strong box made from oak that is almost 4 feet long. Judging from the thickness of the wood and amount of iron, this chest probably weighs over 200 pounds.
(Source: http://www.bunrattycollection.com/search.php?i=292)

http://www.geocities.ws/chestsandcaskets/voxtorp.jpg
Figure 6: A 58-inch long six-board strong box from the Voxtorp church, Småland, Sweden. Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm, 4094.
(Source: http://www.geocities.ws/chestsandcasket ... urope.html)

http://www.bunrattycollection.com/img/r ... 5_0188.jpg
Figure 7: An oak chest (over 6 feet long) that is not a simple six-board chest.
(Source: http://www.bunrattycollection.com/search.php?i=338)

Research on 12th Century Padlocks

My initial research on padlocks started with the history of padlocks in general. For example:

The History of Padlocks
http://www.historicallocks.com/en/site/ ... -padlocks/

Locks Through the Ages
http://dailymedieval.blogspot.com/2012/ ... -ages.html

Barrel padlocks have been around since the Roman times, so that's what I decided to use.

Extant examples of 12th Barrel Padlocks

Examples of extant barrel padlocks can be found at the following websites:

Padlocks at Larsdatter.com
http://www.larsdatter.com/padlocks.htm

The History of Padlocks
http://www.historicallocks.com/en/site/ ... -padlocks/

The Archeology of York
http://www.iadb.co.uk/wgate/main/life1.php

Barrel Padlock
http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/artefacts/padlock.htm

http://finds.org.uk/images/khindshamp/m ... 0a4896.jpg
Figure 8: Barrel padlock, circa AD 1200-1400
(Source: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/563611)

A Period Padlock

Kult of Athena sells a large Medieval barrel padlock that is perfect for my strong box:
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp ... ieval+Lock

Designing My 12th Century Strong Box

The availability and selection of wood was the main influence on the basic design and dimensions of my strong box. The design had to complement the building materials that were available to me.

I had a choice of building materials. I could obtain solid pine or oak boards if I was willing to make a 4-hour round-trip drive to a sawmill. Or I could drive 5 minutes to my local home improvement store and use whatever was available there. Being lazy, I chose the latter.

At my local home improvement store I found nicely-finished, lightweight 3/4-inch thick wood panels in 24-inch widths and lengths of 4, 6, and 8 feet. Unfortunately the wood panels were composed of glued sections and thus were not a solid piece. The decision to use these glued panels was one of many concessions to the modern and practical world.

In retrospect, I am still not sure whether or not I should have gone to the sawmill. Solid pine or oak boards would have looked significantly more authentic than glued boards, but would also have added a lot of weight. As it is, my finished strong box weighs almost 100 pounds even with the lightweight glued wood panels.

During this project I learned that the sheer weight of the Medieval strong boxes added to their protective value. It would be difficult to run very fast with booty that weighed a few hundred pounds.

Based on the available 24 in. x 8 ft. wood panels, I made a concept drawing of a six-board chest that would be 24 inches deep and 48 inches long. The 48-inch length would allow me to store even my longest swords in the strong box. The side panels would have 6-inch leg extensions to get the box up off the ground.

Iron hardware for the strong box was easy to find online, but was going to be expensive (e.g., $40-$80 apiece). Because of the high cost, and my inability to find a matching set of hardware that met my needs, I decided to have some custom hardware made for me. I contacted several iron forges and settled on using the services of the blacksmith Tony DeCaro at Iron Leaf Forge in Kentucky:

http://www.masterblacksmith.com/

Tony did a lot of research himself on the strong box project, and created a set of 12th Century hand-forged and hammered iron hardware. The strong box hardware list included:

3 hinges
12 angle brackets
2 carrying handles
1 padlock hasp and plate

Turn-around time from the initial deposit to delivery of the hardware was just over one month.

Constructing My 12th Century Strong Box

After purchasing the wood, I made the basic 6-board strong box in a matter of a few hours, followed by a couple weeks of sanding, staining and sealing.

After deciding where I was going to place the iron hardware (brackets, hinges, locks, etc.) I added hand-forged iron nails. The nails were rather thick, so I drilled holes and glued the nails in place.

The iron hardware totaled 35 pounds. Tony of Iron leaf Forge supplied all of the associated carriage bolts, washers and locking nuts for the installation.

All of iron hardware from Iron Leaf Forge had a nice hammered look with an oil finish.

The photos below show the finished strong box, the hammer iron works and the padlock. The 6-inch tall legs are lost in the grass.

Very nice work! Thank you for compiling all of this research into one place for easy reference - you've done a big service to the community here.

It turned out lovely, Harry! Ditto C. Gadda's sentiment regarding the research. I have two half completed boxes that aren't wholly traditional in their construction, but once they're out of the way I hope to move on to greater things. This thread will certainly be useful!

-Gerhard

Nifty.
Have you looked at :
Die gotischen Truhen der Lüneburger Heideklöster : Entstehung, Konstruktion, Gestaltung (The Gothic chests of the Lüneburg Heath monasteries: Development, construction, design)/ Karl Henry of Stulpnagel , Barbara Leuschner , Hanns Hubert Leuschner; Cloppenburg Museum Village, 2000 - Chests - 380 pages
The Gothic chests of the Lüneburg Heath monasteries: Development, construction, design

C. Gadda wrote:Very nice work! Thank you for compiling all of this research into one place for easy reference - you've done a big service to the community here.

+1 It's a long read, but well worth it.

Nice useful chest!

I assumed you used modern mild steel and not wrought iron?

And remember for the next one that red oak is not very like the european oaks, white oak is a closer match.

Absolutely beautiful.
Thank you for posting your chest research and photos. I rarely have an opportunity to see finished projects after making the hardware.
If I may, the raw material is mild steel, aka 1018, indicating a carbon content of 18%. Old world ‘wrought’, simply indicating ‘worked’, iron would have a carbon content of about <1%. By contrast a knife would need to be 1065+ to hold a proper edge.
The mild steel is then hand wrought, by the blacksmith to produce the final wrought iron item.
The reason for using 1018 is availability, price and replica vs reproduction or repair.
More than you ever need to know and the only place to get new wrought iron is here:
http://www.realwroughtiron.com/about_wr ... n-217.html
Very, very expensive.

Thank you Tony (see BlackSmithTony in the post above) for all of the hard work!

I used a cherry stain because I like it. The be honest, I didn't research medieval wood or stains at all. Perhaps someone call add more detailed information here.

The 12th Century is difficult to research because of the relative paucity of information. I appreciate everyone's input!

Did you use a dado join or a simple butted join for the floor of the chest?

Thomas Powers wrote:Nice useful chest!

I assumed you used modern mild steel and not wrought iron?

And remember for the next one that red oak is not very like the european oaks, white oak is a closer match.

Master Thomas; it's the 21st century! We're lucky folks care enough to use wood and steel, and not plastic and aluminum. (Oh wait, pickle barrel armor and roadsign shields! )

Harry; very nice work.

How do you expect me to ever be able to retire off my burgeoning wrought iron pile if I don't talk it up at every chance?

Well besides the old water tower tank that Ric's been after me to sell him for years as it blisters so well

Thomas Powers wrote:
And remember for the next one that red oak is not very like the european oaks, white oak is a closer match.

European oaks are white oaks and there are different species of white oak.

BlackSmithTony wrote: If I may, the raw material is mild steel, aka 1018, indicating a carbon content of 18%. Old world ‘wrought’, simply indicating ‘worked’, iron would have a carbon content of about <1%. By contrast a knife would need to be 1065+ to hold a proper edge.
The mild steel is then hand wrought, by the blacksmith to produce the final wrought iron item.
The reason for using 1018 is availability, price and replica vs reproduction or repair.

Did you explicitly buy 1018 or is it general flat stock?

Brent

jester wrote:Did you use a dado join or a simple butted join for the floor of the chest?

I am "tool challenged," so it's just a simple butted joint. I did not feel like purchasing the tools for a dado. Actually I cut everything so carefully that the floor slid easily and snugly right into place.

I placed wooden screws to hold the entire chest together, with the screws in strategic locations that would eventually be covered up by the iron hardware.

Then I drilled more holes and glued in the hand-forged nails for more support.

Finally the iron brackets are the final structural supports.

Looks great Harry! You did a wonderful job.

RPM

Thank you, Harry.

Harry Marinakis wrote:

jester wrote:Did you use a dado join or a simple butted join for the floor of the chest?

I am "tool challenged," so it's just a simple butted joint. I did not feel like purchasing the tools for a dado. Actually I cut everything so carefully that the floor slid easily and snugly right into place.

I am not sure a dado is really 12th c tech anyway. The 12 century examples in the German Chest book all use a mortise and tenon joint. The bottom has the tenon in the center on the long side and the side of the box that makes the legs has a mortise in it. Then the nails hold the rest of the bottom in place as its butted without a dado.

Now 14th century versions have a dado and rabbet often with a reinforcing bar that is also set in with a mortise and tenon joint.

1018 is 0.18% carbon not 18% Cast iron starts around 2% and even in the iron/iron carbide phase diagram in "Alloying Elements in Steel" (ASM) stops at 5%

We often refer to carbon in steel in "points" where 100 points equals 1% so 1018 is 18 points.

And if you didn't pay extra to get 1018 you probably have A36 a very different critter indeed!

But all this is quibbling though I would claim calling it wrought iron which had a different meaning prior to the 1850's and the invention of the Bessemer/Kelly process is specious---much like calling a factory produced bread "artisanal" (quite common these days, sigh)

Or like calling poly cotton sheets "linens"


BTAIM It's a good looking serviceable box may it attend MANY Pennsics with you!

And when Gen2 made from a white oak starts let me know as I have this pile of real WI though not bloomery produced save for tightly controlled bits...

Observation on Corner Braces:

I am pretty much convinced that the corner braces seen on so many of these chests are vital to the overall security. Without them, it is usually pretty easy to subtly pry loose one panel of a chest to gain access while bypassing the lock. This is very handy for the sneak thief; it sets up the classic "locked chest" dilemma of the victims saying to themselves: "I could swear I locked it in the chest, but maybe I put it somewhere else..." With multiple corner braces it takes a lot more direct action to get in, which would tend to leave pry-marks and other scars (especially if the nails are clenched on the inside); so you either have to pick the lock, of just bust the lock or the chest.

A common sign of success when a castle or town was stormed was the call of: "Break open the chests!" No subtlety needed in that case.

So, if you are going to the trouble to put a lock on the chest, don't forget the corner braces. The dozen braces on Harry's chest are well positioned and well done.

Cap'n Atli wrote:I am pretty much convinced that the corner braces seen on so many of these chests are vital to the overall security.

In actuality, the iron straps on Medieval strong boxes are extremely long and often extend all the way across the chest. See this photo here:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=medieval ... =150&ty=44).

To make such long straps for my chest would have made the project prohibitively expensive. So I went with short straps just for the "look."

The short straps are also much lighter,

Could have made the straps out of strips of sheet metal instead of thin bar. Would have given you the look and some of the function of heavier stock.

Here are the trucks that I have made.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42556506@N ... 925519595/

The third one is the body for the truck for our wall tent. It holds the wall poles, stakes, ropes, floor trap, and awning roof. The straps were added after the first use as the weight of the tent parts was causing the trunk to come apart. The straps secure and hold the trunk together.

Harry:

The length of the braces are (or should be) proportionate to the security requirements of the chests. The "average" corner brace enhances the lock. The "more metal showing than wood" chests are better employed for the highest value items in the castle or cathedral. Some chests are meant to be portable, and some are meant not to go anywhere, and there are many degrees in between. Yours is a good compromise between security and portability.

Christophe de Frisselle wrote:Could have made the straps out of strips of sheet metal instead of thin bar. Would have given you the look and some of the function of heavier stock.

While it may have some of the function it certainly doesn't have the look.

Nice work, Christophe.

Care to share some details about your work?

Cap'n Atli wrote:...Yours is a good compromise between security and portability...

...and cost! That iron work is EXPENSIVE stuff!