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- Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:29 pm
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Pewter stuff...
- Replies: 153
- Views: 81736
Re: Pewter stuff...
Cheaper than I expected when I looked it up (for a limited interest scholarly work that a few folks would kill for!)
- Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:58 am
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Pewter stuff...
- Replies: 153
- Views: 81736
Re: Pewter stuff...
Just saw mention of this posted on the Archeological Metallurgy list server: There is a new book on medieval pewter craft. It deals with the 450 stone casting moulds, excavated in the old town of Magdeburg, Germany. In two volumes.: Der Magdeburger Gießformenfund: Herausragendes Zeugnis handwerklich...
- Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:08 pm
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: New Metropolitan Musem bequest promissory
- Replies: 2
- Views: 2149
- Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:10 pm
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Steel Tableware
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1267
Re: Steel Tableware
Wood ashes are a fine abrasive containing a bit of lye. Rubbing them on a greasy blade and rinsing works too. (I am of the reoiling persuasion as my blades don't tend to be in constant use.)
- Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:25 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Which setup for heating and welding?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 2735
Re: Which setup for heating and welding?
Modern propane tank valves for smaller tanks often have a "runaway" stop to prevent tanks from emptying if a line is cut or it's opened without anything connected to it. Gas forges that have a high flowrate by design can run into issues with this. Opening the valve slowly can help if you have a tank...
- Tue Nov 17, 2020 6:15 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Which setup for heating and welding?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 2735
Re: Which setup for heating and welding?
The basic problem is that there is not one thing that does it all, (Though Oxy-Acetylene is close; but expensive.) Heating can be done well by Oxy-Propane with the correct torch to use it---a gas saver helps too. For blacksmithing may I commend to your attention the massive amount of expertise over ...
- Fri Nov 13, 2020 12:10 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Kastenbrust project
- Replies: 13
- Views: 2428
Re: Kastenbrust project
Does your skillset include working real wrought iron or will you be using a material available after you can buy blue jeans at stores? I strongly suggest you work with modern materials; at least for the first go around!
- Tue Nov 10, 2020 12:28 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Sky's Blog
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3007
Re: Sky's Blog
Hey are you still in Southern New Mexico? I'm in Central NM, exit 156 on I-25 and get down to Las Cruces fairly often to check up on my Mother. I'm a smith rather than an armourer and a scrounger so I keep running over stakes and armour tool preforms---like there was a fire near here and 6 Oxy tanks...
- Mon Nov 09, 2020 3:11 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Thoughts on this anvil/tools listing on Craigslist?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2115
Re: Thoughts on this anvil/tools listing on Craigslist?
Vulcans are the "Ford Escort" of anvils as such they do no merit Lamborghini prices. Their best feature is that they are quiet anvils going thwap when struck rather than TING! TING! TING! Of course better louder anvils can be made quiet too with proper mounting to the stand. They are made from cast ...
- Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:57 am
- Forum: Classifieds / Want Ads
- Topic: Looking for rivets
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2483
Re: Looking for rivets
That book on India is a tad jingoistic, but has some interesting parts as they did a lot of "weird stuff" in that Region. Treat it like using research from the 1930's in Europe, read it for the facts and ignore the "Patting ourselves on the Back" parts. Can you ILL it and see if you need your own co...
- Thu Nov 05, 2020 2:33 pm
- Forum: Classifieds / Want Ads
- Topic: Looking for rivets
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2483
Re: Looking for rivets
Re Zinc: Scott; have you read Biringuccio's chapter in his Pirotechnia (1540) on colouring copper? Also metallic zinc was known in India centuries earlier than the 17th century using a distillation process where the zinc fumes were cooled in a reducing atmosphere yielding an impalpable powder of met...
- Wed Nov 04, 2020 1:39 pm
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Fiat Lux!
- Replies: 2
- Views: 907
Re: Fiat Lux!
Me too, I've wanted to make a Byzantine Chandelier like I saw in a Museum exhibit in Munich back a decade or so. It is a horizontal metal lacework suspended by chains holding multiple funnel shaped oil lamps. Unfortunately while my house has a room with double height and a hook connected to a beam S...
- Mon Nov 02, 2020 6:43 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Where does one find soap stone?
- Replies: 39
- Views: 32768
Re: Where does one find soap stone?
The Observatory I worked with, (NRAO ALMA project) was for radio astronomy, 16400' in the Andes. I never was at the high site after dark but the low site was really pretty at only 9000': coal sack nebula, southern cross, greater and lesser Magellanic clouds. (Had to get a heart stress test to go to ...
- Mon Nov 02, 2020 11:05 am
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Fiat Lux!
- Replies: 2
- Views: 907
Fiat Lux!
Out here many if not most events have an absolute ban on fire including lighting that doesn't have an on/off switch. This has bugged me a lot. With the current down time I decided to make a chandelier for my campsite that uses the LED votives. Here's the first go at it. Still needs to be tweaked. No...
- Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:56 am
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Where does one find soap stone?
- Replies: 39
- Views: 32768
Re: Where does one find soap stone?
I make super hacksaws by mounting a piece of bandsaw blade in a bow saw frame, punching the holes in the blade a bit closer together to get more tension. You can get quite wide blades doing it this way. Also the blades used in powered hacksaws are still available and tend to be much wider and a heck...
- Mon Oct 26, 2020 1:39 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Stainless Steel Welding Advice
- Replies: 15
- Views: 3181
Re: Welding Advice
Fumes from stainless fluxes can be quite TOXIC too.
- Mon Oct 12, 2020 5:06 pm
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Pewter stuff...
- Replies: 153
- Views: 81736
Re: Pewter stuff...
Pity you remelt them; they look like excellent ones to use when you offer cups of coffee with a spoon already in it...
- Mon Sep 28, 2020 4:21 pm
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Lorica Segmentata find in Germany
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1768
Lorica Segmentata find in Germany
Just saw this referenced on a blacksmithing forum: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/59648
I was surprised when they said that the lorica Segmentata was much more flexible than chain mail....?
I was surprised when they said that the lorica Segmentata was much more flexible than chain mail....?
- Thu Sep 17, 2020 11:12 am
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Pewter stuff...
- Replies: 153
- Views: 81736
Re: Pewter stuff...
Note that I've had good luck carving details into oilsand molds to deal with imperfections. Green sand is a bit more fragile.
- Mon Sep 14, 2020 4:09 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Technique of blackening armour using cow or goat horn
- Replies: 14
- Views: 3708
Re: Technique of blackening armour using cow or goat horn
Of course it was probably not painted with tempera paints for rust prevention; the standard base would have been a drying oil like Linseed oil.
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 10:28 am
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Technique of blackening armour using cow or goat horn
- Replies: 14
- Views: 3708
Re: Technique of blackening armour using cow or goat horn
As I recall Theophilus mentions it WRT things like book mounts mentioning that the plain dark colour was good for ecclesiastics. The Dover edition translated by Hawthorne and C.S.Smith (A big name in historical metallurgy) can be found over at abebooks.com for under US$10. Circa 1120 CE; it's one of...
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:05 am
- Forum: Interpretive Re-creation
- Topic: Pewter stuff...
- Replies: 153
- Views: 81736
Re: Pewter stuff...
IIRC, "A History of Western Technology", MIT press had a long discussion about a "red metal turner" in renaissance Nuremberg that kept inventing better and better metal lathes and getting squashed by his guild. BTW I've always used "smelting" for making metal from ore and melting or foundry work for...
- Mon Aug 31, 2020 5:35 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Anyone recognize this page of polearm makers Marks?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 2442
Re: Anyone recognize this page of polearm makers Marks?
Woods found in Texas appropriate for the use if not for the authenticity would include hickory/pecan and to be really egregious Osage Orange!
- Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:36 am
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Anyone recognize this page of polearm makers Marks?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 2442
Re: Anyone recognize this page of polearm makers Marks?
Not at home to check but looks a bit like the Wallace Collection Catalog to my eye. I'll check this weekend and post on Monday.
- Tue Jul 21, 2020 10:06 am
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Element Differences between Nobles and Commoners
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2085
Re: Element Differences between Nobles and Commoners
When did they start using mercury as a treatment for syphilis? pharmaceutical-journal.com mentions: "Mercury was the remedy of choice for syphilis in Protestant Europe. Paracelsus (1493-1541) formulated mercury as an ointment because he recognized the toxicity and risk of poisoning when administrati...
- Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:16 pm
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Scott Martin Visited, Now I have More Stuff To Do!
- Replies: 30
- Views: 3184
Re: Scott Martin Visited, Now I have More Stuff To Do!
Has anyone tried making stake holders by taking thick walled square tubing and tapering it by forging? Probably need to do a final drifting to size but we taper a lot of pipe in blacksmithing by forging it square and then tapering it (and re rounding if needed). I may have to try this, though I don'...
- Fri Jun 12, 2020 10:33 am
- Forum: Classifieds / Want Ads
- Topic: Dishing Forms
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2684
Re: Dishing Forms
Wish you were closer; the local scrapyard had 6 tanks come in after a fire! We used to get them from a place that did hydrotesting; failed tanks had to be "destroyed". Then I moved 1500 miles to a rural area...
- Wed May 13, 2020 11:54 am
- Forum: Armour - Design and Construction
- Topic: Hardening and blackening a 15th C Sallet
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2449
Re: Hardening and blackening a 15th C Sallet
Did you mean tempering it rather than annealing it after it was quenched?
- Mon May 11, 2020 2:37 pm
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4566
Re: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
It was funny; I was reading a bit of a California travelogue written by a Russian in 1891 and they mentioned things; like how in a town of 3000 people everyone want to stop and talk with them to hear the news from out of town. They missed a path and had to stay overnight with a farmer; etc. (The far...
- Fri May 08, 2020 10:37 am
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4566
Re: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
Early traders used pack trains rather than carts/wagons and they stayed in use centuries past the middle ages in places with poor roads or difficult terrain. I've read about them being used in England in the 1700's in places. There is also a big difference between max speeds and typical speeds, don'...
- Thu May 07, 2020 12:26 pm
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4566
Re: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
Have you factored in the speeds of travel? Sounds like a multi year project for her... Have you researched how many concubines Charlemagne had *while* his 5 marriages were going on? To do this right you need to do a lot of research on the period and areas involved. You seem to have a quite modern mi...
- Wed May 06, 2020 11:31 am
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4566
Re: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
Would her name be Jael? Viking/Carolingian times were pretty rough. You would need a good reason to be out travelling and going in a group would be pretty much the norm. Have you read some of the laws regarding prostitution in medieval towns? Not a good choice! Perhaps a pilgrimage? Not as common at...
- Tue May 05, 2020 12:14 pm
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4566
Re: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
I find the basic premise a bit off. When visiting a village it would be quite common for everyone to know everyone else by sight and a large number of the people living nearby. Riding up alone on a horse and doing nefarious things with perhaps children following the "stranger" around? (One reason fo...
- Mon May 04, 2020 4:31 pm
- Forum: Classifieds / Want Ads
- Topic: Dishing Forms
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2684
Re: Dishing Forms
Anybody still using welding tank bottoms?
- Mon May 04, 2020 4:28 pm
- Forum: Historical Research
- Topic: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
- Replies: 23
- Views: 4566
Re: Question about horse "parking" in the early Middle Ages
Inns in viking era? Lady on horseback wandering around without a retinue?