The Armour Archive

Just shy of making one (yet one more thing to do) Ive been hunting around for nice big bronze or copper cauldrons...even iron cauldrons.

Ive found a few but geesh, iron cauldron searches pull up more witchery than I could shake a broom at. Pentagrams, hexes etc....sure I could grind them off but they arent even that accurate in terms of shape and size.


Jas Townsend has a nice, relatively period looking iron cauldron for about 100 bucks.




.......other than his, thats about all I can find.

Might want to talk to Patrick Thaden, he has made at least one, Jehan de Pelham was complimenting it on his Crossroads in time thread.

There was a thread dedicated to this subject sometime last year IIRC and it listed the various virtues of:

maker

efficacy

health and safety

Andrew Young wrote:.......other than his, thats about all I can find.

Panther has a "Country Kettle" that might work for you, if you're just looking for a small one. Manning Imperial has a few different styles of cauldron re-creations, too.

What's the target date for the reenactment?

Theoretically I have two in Georgia being held hostage by Glen Kyle.

Date is very important as cast iron was not used for cookware till very late period indeed! (if that, still some problems getting good documention on cast iron cookware in period)

However a hammered iron (or mild steel stepping in for real wrought iron) cauldron are very periods and examples from early through late period can be found.

Cast bronze cauldrons were also common through the middle ages and renaissance... If you can find a cast iron cauldron that is cast to the same shape as documented bronze ones you can always let the soot of the fire obscure the metal; but if you are hardcore one of Pathric Thadens cast ones is your best bet.

"IRON AND BRASS IMPLEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE." Lindsay, J. Seymour has some lovely examples of cookware in it.

Thomas

Thomas Powers wrote:Date is very important as cast iron was not used for cookware till very late period indeed! (if that, still some problems getting good documention on cast iron cookware in period)

However a hammered iron (or mild steel stepping in for real wrought iron) cauldron are very periods and examples from early through late period can be found.

Cast bronze cauldrons were also common through the middle ages and renaissance... If you can find a cast iron cauldron that is cast to the same shape as documented bronze ones you can always let the soot of the fire obscure the metal; but if you are hardcore one of Pathric Thadens cast ones is your best bet.

"IRON AND BRASS IMPLEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE." Lindsay, J. Seymour has some lovely examples of cookware in it.

Thomas

Ah, in my mindset I forgot to mention date. Looking for something mid to late 16th century, early 17th century....Jamestown, Plimoth, etc

Ive read some articles and museum info saying that cast iron was increasingly common by the late 16th century, certainly by early 17th.

The earliest cast iron kettles made in America were circa 1620s I believe.

• Undated medieval Welsh cauldron
• Complete medieval bronze cauldron found in Cumbria
• Cauldron at Lacock Abbey
• 16th/17th century bronze cauldron

More cooking-related illustrations at http://larsdatter.com/cooks.htm too.

Russ Mitchell and I were talking about cast bronze versus cast iron and he remarked on the whole 15th century being the threshold for cast iron thing: "Maybe in western Europe, but remember that eastern Europe is awash in iron." Maybe he knows more than I do on the subject. The area around the Danube and Vistula was famous for exporting finished iron goods.

John
Jehan de Pelham, ecuyer and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Raised iron cauldrons are quite common in medieval Hungary. Iron goods of all kinds are readily found even in relatively poor graves early on. I do not have the publications with me, however, to scan in any examples, sadly.

So, raised, definitely you say? That's a whole different animal than cast, however. To simulate iron we could use steel but the raising process would be just as costly as seeking out cast bronze anyway, I think. There was a fellow who posted a very nice raised steel cauldron, and when I approached him about it, he said it was entirely too costly to consider, especially given the very strong currency of his nation.

Got any idea when the first cast pots appear in eastern Europe? Is eastern Europe where they first appear?

John
Jehan de Pelham, ecuyer and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Hammered, all over the place, and quite early. Cast? Couldn't tell you, sadly.

Potjie pots -- scroll down for the "Euro Potjie" -- cast iron, but at least some of them are available:

http://www.moderntradingpost.com/potjie_pots/index.html

You might be able to mine something out of the links here:

http://whatscooking.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!34FFEDA56EEB97A0!1491.entry

Brits, priced in pounds sterling, but they ship worldwide, and give a lot of history scattered around their site. You get the impression even the cast iron is more or less period:

http://www.potjies.com/shop/#p

Thanks for the continued info folks.

Konstantine....you rock! I googled Potjie and came up with even more results.

The amusing part is that some of these cauldrons/kettles are damn near dead on to late medieval through colonial counterparts!

This one is fantasic:
http://www.moderntradingpost.com/potjie ... -belly.gif

And they sure don't hesitate to tell you what to put in the pots!... Irish stew for hundreds of hungry Boers...

Seems they're good for at least the back of the Living History encampment.