The Straight Wire fibula

[Lucius Antonius Aquinas]

Salve!

Here's my latest work that I finished just today. It's a straight wire fibula from La Tene III period and it's made from 4mm thick silver wire.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Very elegant work!

[scott]

Very simple, very beautiful! Nice work.

[M. Demetrius]

Made of silver? Very simple and beautiful. From the look so fit, it would fit into just about anybody's kit, male or female. Were any of the originals made from bronze? Iron?

[Lucius Antonius Aquinas]

Most straight wire fibulas that I've seen are made from bronze but nowdays thick bronze wires are hard to come by. I got hold of 8mm thick wire that I cold hammered last week to make myself a torque. I can tell you that it's really hard stuff and breaks easily. You just have to heat it up and quench it time after time.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I thought you had to let bronze cool slowly before working? :?

[Lucius Antonius Aquinas]

Well in my experience the fast cooling makes bronze soft and malleable. Too slow cooling affects the crystal structure of bronze and actually hardens it, thus making any heat treatment void. I usually heat the bronze to dull red and let it cool in air for a while untill it's not red anymore. Then I quench it in water and start working. I bet that cooling bronze in normal air temperature isn't going to harden it but if you let it cool in a forge covered in coals for many hours, well that's a different ballgame.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well, thats what I was meaning....cool in the air...but I am no expert, and tend to forget things if I am not practicing them frequently.
Thanks for the tip though, I didn't realise you could cool it in water to speed things up!

[Robert]

Very nicely done! Is there evidence for these in iron as well? I like the simple, elegant shape.

[Medicus matt]

Well, thats what I was meaning....cool in the air...but I am no expert, and tend to forget things if I am not practicing them frequently.
Thanks for the tip though, I didn't realise you could cool it in water to speed things up!

You anneal ferrous metals by allowing them to air cool from cherry red but not bronze!
You should quench copper and copper alloys (and gold and silver i think?)to anneal them. If you leave them to cool slowly then they harden up.

[caiusbeerquitius]

You anneal ferrous metals by allowing them to air cool from cherry red but not bronze!
You should quench copper and copper alloys (and gold and silver i think?)to anneal them. If you leave them to cool slowly then they harden up.

Exactly.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

So straight out of the fire into the water?

[caiusbeerquitius]

Yes.

[Medicus matt]

Yes. Not too hot though, cherry, not orange.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thanks!