Making my own stylus and wax tablet.

[Iagoba]

I´ve had some doubts.:?
The wax part is "carved"?:



Or framed by four pieces of wood?:



The stylus will be made from bone, due to my lack of experience with bronze, but:
-What bone I must use?
-Can be one that has been boiled (from food)?
-I must do something special, apart from polishing it?

Thanks!

[Robert Vermaat]

The stylus will be made from bone, due to my lack of experience with bronze

Why not use a hard wood?

[Iagoba]

I wanted to learn to work with bone. Probably one year I´ll made my own spatha grip of bone... :wink:

[Marcus Mummius]

To my knowledge the area for the wax should be carved? So the table is made out of one piece.

Vale,

[Martin Moser]

To my knowledge the area for the wax should be carved? So the table is made out of one piece.

Yes, that's true. Also there are quite a few finds of bone stilii, so thats fine as well.

Do you want ot copy an actual find? If so, I can get you a few pics of such or the sources where to look for them ...

[Iagoba]

Thanks!
I´ve ben looking for "real" wax-tablet (Name in Latin?) oto but i only found replica ones...
That will be my first reproduction, and I also wanted to know the way of "sealing" the written tablets with a sigilum, but this will come later... :?

[Martin Moser]

I´ve ben looking for "real" wax-tablet (Name in Latin?) oto but i only found replica ones...

Look here or here for example. The Latin name is tabula cerata, btw.

[Wes]

If you work with bone, make sure you wear a dust mask or respirator! The fine dust is hazardous to your health.

[Iagoba]

Is that historical? :twisted:

I mean the sickness... :roll: I suppose that yes...hard times.

[M. Demetrius]

Yes, lung cancer is historical, but you really don't want to add it to your panoply. The problem is that the bone dust gets inhaled in the lungs, but does not decompose. It's the same kind of symptoms of coal miners, plastic workers, long-term tobacco smokers, etc. Tiny particles trapped in the lung. You don't need it. Makes you very sick, or dead. Both of those are "authentic", though. hock:

Get a good respirator (with replaceable cartridges). If you pick carefully, you can get cartridge replacements for paint spray, dust, etc., and switch them when you need to. Easier to replace a clogged dust filter than a set of lungs. :!: :!:

[Iagoba]

Don´t worry about that...I knew that.

I´ve been explaining those things for some years, and I don´t like the idea of anybody using them ON me. :roll:
Even with their historical accuracy.