11-07-2006, 05:42 PM
Quote:Quote:Well if there are eagles all the way around, at least a 4 part mold would be necessary- and it'd be fairly easy to simply engrave the lead afterwards.
Four part?.... seems over complicated for something so simple. A two part mold is more than adequate. We've begun the process of modifying one
Well yeah- 4 eagles meands you need four parts to the mold- you can't properly mold things at the edges of a 2-part mold. No lines can be perpendicular to the edge or the mold won't come off, right? That means detail of the side eagles has to be left off- although it could easily be engraved after I suppose.
Quote:But isn't the whole point is to increase the weight of the pilum? Why switch to a lighter wood just to be able to add a weight to make it heavier? I don't get it. Besides, pine is awfully soft for a weapon haft. It's a whole lot more logical to just use normal hafting material and add less weight...
I'm not sure what you mean by "switching" and "normal hafting material"..
As others have said Roman are opportunists. Ash is generally stronger than fir but you would make shafts out of whatever wood was readily available if you needed wood now. Though coppiced groves would likely be a feature in the vicinity of permanent military posts. Ash coppices well.
Modern plantation pine and fir are far softer than their natural growth brethren[/quote]
Uh, 'Switching' because ash is what you (and many) normally use Sean, of course :lol: And the Romans also knew what worked- show me a single piece of evidence that they ever used pine or another soft wood for a weapon hafting material...
Quote:If the lead is cast over a "bulb" or if its a 2" sphere or a 1.5" sphere all make a differencce in weight. There just isn't enough archaeological info.... thus we guess. Heck, the eagles could have just as easily been carved wood or thin brass affixed to a wood sphere.... dunno!
EXACTLY There's no evidence there ever were lead weights at all- that's the problem, not how thick the lead was or how it'd be secured to the haft... well, those are way down the list.
Quote:The weight you remove from tapering is not that much. A tapered weighted ash shaft is easier to throw than a straight shafted ash shaft. ....more of the weight is up front, aerodynamics, it flies straighter..... and when you use a finger loop.. zing!
So you're talking about changing the pilum's center of gravity then- that's a whole lot more easily changed by adjusting the length of the shaft or pyrimidal block, so why go for tapering?
Quote:From my experience with unweighted shafts the tapered shaft will result in deeper penetration.
Okay, but that doesn't answer the question- by 'deeper penetration' do you mean into a solid mass? Or do you mean a longer portion of shank goes through a shield board? Or something else? And without any actual any proper comparisons, measurements, etc., such a statement is meaningless... the best that can ever be said is that purely subjectively it seems so.
What I see is a considerable difference in shape and likely also weight even among the three Oberaden artifacts- the makers don't seem to have been too careful about such large details as the shape of the pyrimidal block, which accounts for a significan portion of the overall mass of the haft, so being concerned about little details such as the taper of the shaft doesn't seem at all likely to be expected...
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