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Salve!
Here's my latest work that I finished just today. It's a straight wire fibula from La Tene III period and it's made from 4mm thick silver wire.
Jussi Moisio
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Very elegant work!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Byron Angel
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Very simple, very beautiful! Nice work.
Scott Goring
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Made of silver? Very simple and beautiful. From the look so fit, it would fit into just about anybody's kit, male or female. Were any of the originals made from bronze? Iron?
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
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Most straight wire fibulas that I've seen are made from bronze but nowdays thick bronze wires are hard to come by. I got hold of 8mm thick wire that I cold hammered last week to make myself a torque. I can tell you that it's really hard stuff and breaks easily. You just have to heat it up and quench it time after time.
Jussi Moisio
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I thought you had to let bronze cool slowly before working? :?
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Well in my experience the fast cooling makes bronze soft and malleable. Too slow cooling affects the crystal structure of bronze and actually hardens it, thus making any heat treatment void. I usually heat the bronze to dull red and let it cool in air for a while untill it's not red anymore. Then I quench it in water and start working. I bet that cooling bronze in normal air temperature isn't going to harden it but if you let it cool in a forge covered in coals for many hours, well that's a different ballgame.
Jussi Moisio
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Well, thats what I was meaning....cool in the air...but I am no expert, and tend to forget things if I am not practicing them frequently.
Thanks for the tip though, I didn't realise you could cool it in water to speed things up!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Byron Angel
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Very nicely done! Is there evidence for these in iron as well? I like the simple, elegant shape.
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Quote:Well, thats what I was meaning....cool in the air...but I am no expert, and tend to forget things if I am not practicing them frequently.
Thanks for the tip though, I didn't realise you could cool it in water to speed things up!
You anneal ferrous metals by allowing them to air cool from cherry red but not bronze!
You should quench copper and copper alloys (and gold and silver i think?)to anneal them. If you leave them to cool slowly then they harden up.
"Medicus" Matt Bunker
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Quote:You anneal ferrous metals by allowing them to air cool from cherry red but not bronze!
You should quench copper and copper alloys (and gold and silver i think?)to anneal them. If you leave them to cool slowly then they harden up.
Exactly.
Christian K.
No reconstruendum => No reconstruction.
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So straight out of the fire into the water?
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Yes.
Christian K.
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Yes. Not too hot though, cherry, not orange.
"Medicus" Matt Bunker
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Thanks!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel