Andy Dingley wrote:
On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 01:08:18 GMT, Rick Cook
wrote:
I was thinking of the strapwork and hinges. In fact it's difficult to do
replicas of early medieval chests and most other kinds of furniture unless
You mean like this ?
http://codesmiths.com/shed/things/boxes/sarah/
I'd still regard that style as late medieval though. That chest itself
is more like typical 18th century work in England, although it's based
on a 13th century Baltic example.
Actually more like this:
http://www.medievalwoodworking.com/c...ux/champ04.jpg
We have a number of examples of this sort of chest with the elaborate ironwork
from pre-14th century England. (See also Daniel Diehl's 'Constructing Medieval
Furniture' for additional examples of ironwork on furniture, including a chest
from Oxford.)
Most chests, and almost everything early medieval, were devoid of
ironwork. No strapwork, and hinges were often just a nailed leather
strip, or a couple of snipe bill hinges (interlocked hairpins).
Well, I don't know about 'most chests', but certainly not all of them by a long
shot, judging by the examples remaining in cathedrals, colleges, etc. You'll
also note that most of the strapwork, hinges, etc. was held on with nails.
Undoubtedly there were a lot of chests and other pieces made without ironwork
of any sort.
I took a look around the Red Lodge again last week.
http://www.bristol-city.gov.uk/mus/redlod.html
Lots of chests, almost no metal in any of them. A few had the bases
nailed on, but in at least one of those cases that was later
repairwork after a grooved side had split out.
The idea of the heavily strapped chest doesn't really show up until
the Armada chests (there's a nice example in Abergavenny castle
museum). These were the paychests of the Spanish Armada and had hugely
complex locks that filled the entire lid, with strapping all around.
16th C though.
Well, no. In England at least the heavily strapped chest is a design that goes
back before 1000 AD
you have access to a blacksmith shop.
http://codesmiths.com/shed/armour/
Nice work! However you can make a barrel helm of that pattern without access to
a blacksmith shop. The metalwork is pretty straightforward and mostly bending,
drilling and some punching. (The punching is better done hot, but it doesn't
have to be.) We made a several of them 30 or so years ago with not much more
than hammers and an old stump. (The first one we cut out with cold chisels. The
next one we used a saber saw with metal cutting blades. I really envy you with
the plasma cutter.)
Unless you're willing to settle for really simple designs for the strapwork,
you need the ability to work the metal hot, especially for the splitting and
bending. In other words, a blacksmith's shop.
The other problem is finding some iron to work. For those helms it's
easy enough to cheat with steel, but strapwork doesn't really look
right unless you used iron.
That is a problem indeed. Around here there's just about none to be had because
this area wasn't settled until after 1850. (Well, there was one maniac I knew
who used to get iron by pulling the spikes out of the supporting timbers in old
mines. That takes more -- ah, 'dedication' than I've got.)
I was also working on a chest for LARP-camping last week. An old
1900-ish joiner's chest that I was given, with a bunch of repair work
to it, some forged steel drop handles at each end and an upholstered
top as a bench seat. Pictures when I've done the upholstery.
--
Smert' spamionam
Looking forward to seeing it.
BTW: I always understood that an 'ark' was simply a chest with a peaked top,
like a roof. Is there something more to the definition than that?
--RC