06-24-2005, 03:12 AM
"I have a vewy good fwiend in Wome called Biggus Dickus..." :lol:
I don't know if casting is the more obvious way Sebastian- I'd think it would require a lot more facility and energy to melt bronze than to hammer it into sheets. Of course I can't say anything for sure- it's just supposition on my part. I can say, however, that the terminus must be hammered and not cast- it's very thin the middle and thicker at the top and very thick at the bottom- the 'ball'. It's possible it began as a rough casting and was hammered into shape and its edges cut with a chisel.
Unfortunately, I know nothing of the origin of thes items- they're from Europe, but I don't know exactly where. It's in teresting to hear that a similar Balteus buckle exists- I'll have to see if I can find a copy of that book.
Well here's my first attempt at a reproduction of the buckle- the one on the bottom's mine :wink:
![[Image: artifact061a8ma.jpg]](http://img107.echo.cx/img107/1171/artifact061a8ma.jpg)
![[Image: artifact064a6gf.jpg]](http://img295.echo.cx/img295/6686/artifact064a6gf.jpg)
I didn't get the inner edge 'rib' right, but I know how how to make that correctly next time. It's made from sheet brass cut and hammered (a lot) and the small bit at the base with the loop is soldered on. In all it took about 4 hours to make (that's why I haven't made the second loop part yet)- of course that included experimental time, time to fix the experiments, etc. :lol: so any future ones will go a little quicker.
Matt
I don't know if casting is the more obvious way Sebastian- I'd think it would require a lot more facility and energy to melt bronze than to hammer it into sheets. Of course I can't say anything for sure- it's just supposition on my part. I can say, however, that the terminus must be hammered and not cast- it's very thin the middle and thicker at the top and very thick at the bottom- the 'ball'. It's possible it began as a rough casting and was hammered into shape and its edges cut with a chisel.
Unfortunately, I know nothing of the origin of thes items- they're from Europe, but I don't know exactly where. It's in teresting to hear that a similar Balteus buckle exists- I'll have to see if I can find a copy of that book.
Well here's my first attempt at a reproduction of the buckle- the one on the bottom's mine :wink:
I didn't get the inner edge 'rib' right, but I know how how to make that correctly next time. It's made from sheet brass cut and hammered (a lot) and the small bit at the base with the loop is soldered on. In all it took about 4 hours to make (that's why I haven't made the second loop part yet)- of course that included experimental time, time to fix the experiments, etc. :lol: so any future ones will go a little quicker.
Matt
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