Rolling Roman Iron for Segmentata Plates

[Hibernicus]

I found the article previously referred to regarding the posibility that Roman blacksmiths used rolling as a technique for elongating or flattering iron into strips or sheet.

I purchased a copy of the article from one of the online resources. $30... well worth it.

Article Source:
Journal of Archaeological Science 32 (2005) 241–250
In defence of Rome: a metallographic investigation
of Roman ferrous armour from Northern Britain
by Michael Fulford, David Sim, Alistair Doig, Jon Painter

From Table 1 Summary of Metallographic Observations
From the column labeld "Comments" the reference to rolling is:
"straight line interfaces,
so large hammer used
or rolled"

And another reference in the text of "Fig. 4. Photomicrographs of Vindolanda armour (Nos. 6–7). Vindolanda Lorica No. 7"
"1 further along at higher magnification (smaller grains) very clean iron straight interface so colled rolled end face?"

"....the Vindolanda fragment
was found in 1992 on the floor of a room in what was
probably a barrack building of Period IV date, c. AD
105–20 (pers. com. R. Birley)."

The Vindolanda segmentata fragment was of two layers of what has been interpreted to be... forge welded iron... Yup, 2 layers!

(On a personal side note this solves my problem regarding the iron I have, that I'm using to make an iron segmentata.. I do not have enough iron that is voluminous enough to forge out plates to be as wide as they need to be and as thick.. forge welding two thinner plates solves that dilemma!)

The text of the article contains no references to rolling.

In Iron for the Eagles The Iron Industry of Roman Britain by David Sim and Isabel Ridge, 2002, the idea of rolling is suggested as a possibility, page 950-96... "A system of rolling used in the production of olive oil was well known in antiquity, and it is therefore that a similar system may have been used to make sheet iron. However, it has to be noted that at present there is no specific evidence to support the use of rollers by the Romans."

Then here on RAT in the thread: "Wikipedia lorica segmentata article", Mike Bishop teases us with: "The evidence is mounting that billets were not the raw material from which armourers worked and that plate (possibly rolled) was available to them. "

The evidence for rolling is derived from the way the sheet iron looks (examination by enlarged cross section), suggesting rolling as one possible method of forming.

According to Mike Bishop, the next JRMES wil contain an article by David Sim about scale armor.... But, I say, " Hey what about segmentata??"

I have some questions ...

Cold rolling iron at what pressures to produce sheet?
Could the same results be achieved using something like an English Wheel? If so then a large and/or weighty wheel would be unnecessary.
What about using some sort of mechanical hammer.. a form of trip hammer? It doesn't need to be water driven.
Could a treddle hammer work to achiece the observed results?

How extensive is the evidence across regions and time for rolling as a technique for producing sheet iron?

Is hammering the more common technique?