RomanArmyTalk

Amazing Barry.

Thanks Matt

Just the last palmette to complete and job done.

Absolutely brillant Svlla D D
Regards Brennivs

Thanks Brennivs!

Luckily not many mistakes with this one - nearly caught the scabbard on fire when I was doing just a last little bit of soldering in-situ though!!!

Plenty of mistakes when I did the pugio scabbard though. I made 13 of the hanger/suspension loop pieces before I managed to get 4 reasonable ones to use!

Very nice Mate!

Yeah this is realy stunning work, verry pretty!!

May I ask one little question...
How much soldering was there actualy don by the Romans, in those times...?

If you are talking about sword fittings it varys I have pics that show pieces soldered together and the same piece that are not :? D On the hole I have not come across many examples of other items, other than jewelry.
Regards Brennivs

That is exactly what I found Brennivs - there is clear evidence of soldered parts but not consistent. I rivetted the suspension bands in place (which is seen on surviving pieces as well as simple nailing to the wooden core). However, there was still some movement which I did not like, so I added some solder just to make everything secure.

Here is the palmette (third attempt) which is made in two pieces and soldered together (cheating I know but I just could not get it hammered out from 1 piece of brass):

And here it is offered up in place on the scabbard. Not entirely happy with the palmette so stand by for version 4!:

just getting better and better...

I wonder if using Bronze, like the Romans often did would make the hammering out of the palmettes easier. Don't know. Bronze is fairly hard to come by without ordering from metallurgy suppliers, or making it yourself (not an easy task in itself). And with copper prices these days, well, you know.

That is a good point David. What I found was that I just could not get the width required for the palmette. Speaking with Matt Lukes though I think I started off with too thin a piece of brass stock.

I also wondered if they were actually rough cast and then finally hammered into shape and finished off.

I had an original palmette which apeared to be hammered and cut in the same way yours is, but the sheet was about 1mm thick.

Here is a picture of the completed scabbard "in Action". Due to a slight technical hitch I could not go with the twin belt set up as planned :oops: