Patera\'s/pots...etc

[Wes]

What were the more common cook pots made of and what did they look like? Bronze, brass....These are some of the pots I make for 18th century...I am wondering how much/how hard it would be to modify a pattern into a proper Roman pot??

I have also read and seen references to trivets etc??

[Magnus]

You made those? Those are cool man! Do you line the inside with tin? It looks like it in the mug, but I can't tell for sure.

Is that hard to do? Make pots and what not?

[Wes]

All are tin lined, am a tinker not a pro! It started when I needed a canteen and cook pot, but could not afford the coppersmith prices!

The small cup in front is a gill cup, 2 inches tall, 2 inches diameter. I need to get the whole metal spinning figured outon my lathe for shaped bowls, and maybe....helmets!!!

[M. Demetrius]

Ok, now the big [size=150xyw9izn]Q[/size].

Have you ever tried to do the same thing with brass? I don't think too many would quibble about copper pots, of course, but brass in the right shape would sell as quickly as you could make them. Not just soldier gear, either. Regular serving bowls for the popina, the list could go on for pages.

Bronze was common then, but not now, so we all are willing to use brass, for the most part, not having many other choices.

Try something small and see how it goes. It's harder than copper, natch, and that would be good AND bad from a manufacturing perspective.

[Wes]

I have had a hard time finding the correct thickness of brass, in the right quantity, to make brass pots. I think there would be alot more annealing involved with the brass. But still looking....

anybody got some thin brass???

[Marcus Julius]

anybody got some thin brass???

What's your definition of thin? What I would call thin, you definitly wouldn't want to be making pots, pans, or such out of. Most 'craft' places sell stuff thinner than 20ga.

Last time I bought brass was from R. J. Leahy They have "soft" brass from 36 to 14 ga. and "half hard" brass from 36 ga up to 1/4 inch.

Only problem with them is you won't get anything bigger than 12 inch wide, so not big enough for a musculata, and helmets will probably prove tough.

[Magnus]

Try online metals:

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cf ... top_cat=79

They have just about everything...including bronze.

[richsc]

You might try Metalliferous as well: they're in New York and sell a "rich low brass" in sheets 12" x 36" in various gauges, and circles to 20". They may sell others if you ask. They also sell metal raising hammers and equipment.

[Malleus]

The following link is for making a specific type of pot of a specific era, but the construction techniques can be used for anything. http://www.northwestjournal.ca/XVI1645.htm
The method of attaching the bottom is eye-opening simple, and I have seen it in old (modern)Turkish copper pots.

Malleus/ Steve P

[M. Demetrius]

Hey, Wes,
This from the post on querns: Might help if you decided to make an "authentic big pot". Some say boiling a pot of oatmeal will help to fill in the leaks. I can't imagine all those pieces fitting together to be completely watertight, so something would be needed, for sure.

http://celticclans.oakandacorn.com/celt ... g.jpg.html

And a tip of the pilleus to Gobae for the link

[Carlton Bach]

THese look very nice - not Roman at all, but just the kind of hard-wearing, useable, straightforward stuff I so oftehn despair of finding for my field kitchen.

As to Roman kitchenware, the majority of it would have been pottery. Then you had forged-iron frying pans and brass/bronze (call it 'cupric alloy', the Roman mixes were somewhere between) cauldrons, kettles, saucepans and miscellaneous items. I have a few pictures from museums I can send you if you have an e-mail address for me to forward to. I particularly like the pots that kind of flare outwards, but they're not really terribly practical (except for energy efficiency).

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

Why use brass to do metal pots? I think you can use bronze and even copper. There are some specific studies thas shows some copper alloys with a high percentatge of copper. In other way, if it's easy to work with copper, romans probably will use it.

[Carlton Bach]

Why use brass to do metal pots? I think you can use bronze and even copper. There are some specific studies thas shows some copper alloys with a high percentatge of copper. In other way, if it's easy to work with copper, romans probably will use it.

I have no idea why, but it appears the Romans tended to use copper alloys that included both tin and zinc, which rather buggers up our traditional distinction between brass and bronze. German archeologists for a while used the term 'Messingbronze' to describe this range of metals, but by now everyone just uses the anglo phrase 'cupric alloy' or 'copper alloy'. The typical 'military saucepan' certainly was made from a metal closer to brass than bronze. The larger cookpots or kettles probably were made from softer, more pliable alloys, but I don't know if anyone ever did a systematic study.

[Wes]

Carlton, If you have pictures that would be great!! I am looking to modify the way I make stuff so I can make some Roman stuff too, again, I usually try to make what I cant afford, which seems like everything these days!!

Thanks for your generous offer!! Laudes!