Roman military blacksmith

[anytime]

Hi there,

At first, I will introduce myself as I'm new to this forum.

My name is Duco de Klonia, and since 2 years now I have my own Armoury.
I do mostly plate armour, helmets, and 15th century sword fighting.
I started re-enacting in 1997 as Napoleonic cavalryman with the NCV (Napoleonic Cavalry Association) as a Dutch 14th Cuirassier.

For the dutch Archeon theme park in Alphen ad. Rijn I will do some blacksmithing demos and like to build a good looking Roman field forge.

I also have to impersonate a Roman military blacksmith, and I like to know how they looked like....

What tools did they use, what anvil, clothes.

Any input is welcome...
(pictures, pictures)

thanks.

[jvrjenivs]

Hi Duco,

Welcome on the forum.

Maybe you could talk with Theo Andela [url:21tdaqpq]http://www.frisius-f.de[/url]. He used to have a mobile roman blacksmith.

Here some pics:

[jvrjenivs]

And of course the one of our own member Hibernicvs legion IX HISP, on the Muzeo exhibition last months

[url:3d1n5xhy]http://legio-ix-hispana.org/gal_muzeo/[/url]

[Gobae]

Now Theo's shop, THAT's a decently period setup. Good job Theo.

I've got to dig into my books, but I know I've come across a relief carving of a Roman smithy. I stumbled across it when I was doing research for our Celtic smithy.

Now, on to your questions directly.

The anvils of the period will be small, about 15# (6kg) and little more than a block of iron. Modern "London" or "Continental" pattern anvils are not appropriate since they do not start appearing until much later.

Two small bellows (either "bag bellows" or "single lung") worked in alternation would be appropriate. However, the "great double lung" bellows would not be correct since they were not introduced until the Middle Ages.

Tong types seem to have been much more limited that they are today. The vast majority of extant tongs I've seen have a large eye and flatter bills than many modern tongs and that's virtually the only style. No "V" bit, no "Wolves Jaw", no "Box Jaw", just "duck bills" or "pick up" tongs with a large eye.

Hammers were a bit lighter than what a modern smith is used to (around 2# or 1kg); which makes sense given the lighter anvils being used at that time.

Hope this helps.

[anytime]

Ok, thanks for your input.

I will do some more research the coming weeks.

We keep in touch.

[Hibernicus]

There is very little evidence for Roman smithing; a hand full of anvils, sculpture and painting and mosaics of forging, only a very few show or hnt at a bellows; many tools (hammers, tongs..) , then there are some Greek vase paintings. Some literay sources describe "great" bellows. I believe that here are references to water driven bellows.

For a modest depiction the double bladder iron age bellows is a good choice.

For moving serious amounts of air, depends upon what kind of forging you want to do... that's why we defaulted to a later period design. The shape is OK for Roman, but the internal double chamber mechanism of the bellows may not be. I'm building two more bellows set ups.. one uses 2 one metre double bellows similar to what's depicted above (they'll be stand mounted) and a piston bellows similar to Roman water pumps.

[brennivs - tony drake]

I have some pics of forges from the time but dam lost in the fileing system how ever my friend David Sim his book has a lot of references to forge work.
Iron For The Eagles;
ISBN 0-7524-1900-5
The anvils tend to be square blocks with small horn, other wise the tools are roughly the same but not as many as a modern blacksmith shop. It is a shame my late friend John was not around here was the man who did a lot of work on this subject. He excavated a probible small forge near Tebay fort england as well as Iron smelting and Pattern welding. I do have some of his papers and books so will see if there is any thing in them, otherwise the pics are great and just what you need. I am afraid I dont have pics of my portible forge but willpost if I get a chance to set it up
Regards Brennivs

[Hibernicus]

Anvils with small horns.. yup. We have two anvils in the process, one squarish and the other with a small "horn' and a third that's similar to a tinsmith's "anvil". Wish we could have had them completed by our Muzeo demo but life sometimes rears up and has to be dealt with!

They'll be completed for our next project. Along with those new bellows.

A couple of us, including a local "Celt", were talking about doing some small scale smelting at an event. Anything with fire and sparks and molten metal is a good thing.

You know what's really really fun about this? Forging tools with a hammer you forged! It also measn I need more hammers. Making another hammer with a self made hammer.

Oh yeah Baby!

[M. Demetrius]

What would be a reasonable alternative, historically, to the bellows? A couple of "slaves" blowing down a tube? (Now don't do like the last one I had, son, be sure you only EXhale into the tube, and you'll last a lot longer.) :lol:

[anytime]

Great input, I like that....

I've seen a steelblock laying on the ground at one of my customers place..
I will confiscate that... and weld a horn to it...

I also use stakes, so I guess I have to put them in a tree-stump as there are no square holes in that steelblock...

For the bellows I was thinking to make a square wooden box divided in 2 square sections by a plank.

Make the box airtight, and make 2 "pistons" - each made of a steelplate, slightly smaller than the square box-hole, with a rim of suitable leather.

Both the pistons will be operated with 1 wooden lever, so always pushing one "piston" down and one piston up.... Like those old firefighters wagons...

Am I clear - does this sound good or totally foolish..?

[M. Demetrius]

Well, what you're describing, if I understand it, is a like a double bellows, as Hibernicus says above probably wasn't invented yet. There are simpler plans than those using steel pistons, as most ancient bellows just use a simple leather flap diaphragm for air exchange. They would not likely have used up precious iron in an air blower.

It's a question of whether you want the result or the method. All of us as reenactors struggle with this balance on practically everything we do or build, or fabricate. There is no absolute answer. If you're working in a group, get clearance from the group and its leader as to what will be the right way to approach this and other problems.

And there's the home shop and the travelling demonstration shop. They might not have the same tools. At home, I use whatever I own, electric tools, oxyacetylene, coal, etc. If I were putting on a demo in public, though, I'd try to get as visibly close as I could to what I thought was the correct equipment. But that's just me, not many suscribe to my particular way of thinking. I've considered just making two single bellows (very simple object) and positioning them over a rod and pivot, so when one is opening, the other is closing. That setup, with a proper counterweight, would require only one handle pulled, and the return weight to give a continuous flow of air. (I don't have any slaves.)

An Ancient Roman blacksmith would likely have had two or three slaves to tend the fire, pump however many single bellows he needed, carry things, hold things against the anvil or shaping beak, etc. He might even have been a trained slave or freedman himself, under the employ of the man who owned the shop.

Try this setup and see if you can get any ideas:
http://www.emainc.com/radnor/bellows.htm
The old book, De Res Metallica might give you some further insight into Roman metalworking.

[Hibernicus]

Your steel block..
.. the anvils found are generally rectangular and tapered.. wider at the top.. the "horn" seems to be a corner that protrudes.... to create that you may want to cut away materials from your block rather than weld.

See how the corner seems to taper outward?..
http://www.webwinds.com/myth/hephaest.gif

Better, a painting with Vulcan. Anvil is light grey at his feet, note the protruding corner..
http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/ ... tethys.jpg
(House of the Golden Cupids, Pompeii.)

I'm not sure of the number of artefcts that could be "stakes".. the ones I rememebr are more like tinsmith stakes.. very simple

The twin bellows depicted above is very likely.

asst bellows:
http://www.davebudd.com/IronAgeBlacksmith.html
http://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/20 ... llows.html
http://www.tollundman.dk/jern.asp
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/viewPhot ... 3322523842

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Almost looks as if each corner projects like a butress? Or could it be an attempt to portray the effects of eons of work creating a mushrooming effect...?

[Hibernicus]

Mushrooming... the photos of the anvils I've seen are clearly msuhroomed and this does not look at all like the protruding corners as depicted above.

[M. Demetrius]

For rounds, the "beak" or "bick" was often just a right angled bent round rod with a tapering "horn" for working things like spear sockets, etc. The horned anvil is considerably later than the Roman era. This beak had one end sharp, and was simply driven into the top of another stump.

An anvil like the ancients used would be reasonably difficult to make, because it's such a big block of metal. The beak is pretty easy, and you can even start with a piece of round rod an inch or more in diameter, draw out the ends into the taper you like, draw the other end into a point, then bend near the middle. Be sure to leave at least three or four inches under the horizontal so you have room to work. It can be used then for all sorts of rings, sockets, or other shapes.

I'm making a square/pyramid one to use for reforming square steel tube into pilum collets. I have a piece of square stock that's a little small, but it can be upset to be the right size.