11-20-2009, 03:15 AM
Matt--have you been in the military?
LOL
The better a finish is, the easier it is to maintain in the field. No--really.
True story--ten years ago, I stopped on my way to an event in the States and bought an original 1777 horse pistol (lucky find). It was mint--mirror bright burnished barrel (the gunsmith's original finish, i suspect) and lock.
I arrived at the event to find one of my best friends waiting for me--and of course I had to show him the pistol. Seconds later, his horse (he's a cavalry officer) freaked out inside its trailer. We dropped my pistol and ran for the horse.
Three days of rain and sun and cold mornings later, when packing up (immersion weekend) I found my pistol in the grass--mirror bright. My officer's fusil (carefully kept next to me when I slept) had rusted in odd areas. My sword, safe in its scabbard (original, 1770s) was unrusted, but all the repros were rusted.
That weekend I learned that the original finishes were PRACTICAL.
So then I spent several years trying to crack just how it was done. Finally a real metal smith--which you are and I'm not--showed me that it was done by burnishing.
I have a chainmail burnishing "mitt" issued to US cavalrymen in the 1900s for polishing sabers. I can do a steel gun barrel in about--well, about six times of two hours each. That seems labor intensive, but that's all soldier DO, in the field--patrol and maintain their gear. And now I train my recruits to do it with period materials--in front of the public. It's an authentic activity, and it very quickly puts the "correct" finish on their kit and gets it to be water-resistant.
In the East, I've read recently (getting interested in Rome) there were "armor covers." Sumner posits that they were for protecting the metal from moisture (as I remember) but I think it's more likely they were for keeping the metal from overheating in sunlight. Leather, no matter how carefully oiled, just traps moisture against your metal. That's why most real scabbards in most periods are wood-line leather, not just leather.
LOL
The better a finish is, the easier it is to maintain in the field. No--really.
True story--ten years ago, I stopped on my way to an event in the States and bought an original 1777 horse pistol (lucky find). It was mint--mirror bright burnished barrel (the gunsmith's original finish, i suspect) and lock.
I arrived at the event to find one of my best friends waiting for me--and of course I had to show him the pistol. Seconds later, his horse (he's a cavalry officer) freaked out inside its trailer. We dropped my pistol and ran for the horse.
Three days of rain and sun and cold mornings later, when packing up (immersion weekend) I found my pistol in the grass--mirror bright. My officer's fusil (carefully kept next to me when I slept) had rusted in odd areas. My sword, safe in its scabbard (original, 1770s) was unrusted, but all the repros were rusted.
That weekend I learned that the original finishes were PRACTICAL.
So then I spent several years trying to crack just how it was done. Finally a real metal smith--which you are and I'm not--showed me that it was done by burnishing.
I have a chainmail burnishing "mitt" issued to US cavalrymen in the 1900s for polishing sabers. I can do a steel gun barrel in about--well, about six times of two hours each. That seems labor intensive, but that's all soldier DO, in the field--patrol and maintain their gear. And now I train my recruits to do it with period materials--in front of the public. It's an authentic activity, and it very quickly puts the "correct" finish on their kit and gets it to be water-resistant.
In the East, I've read recently (getting interested in Rome) there were "armor covers." Sumner posits that they were for protecting the metal from moisture (as I remember) but I think it's more likely they were for keeping the metal from overheating in sunlight. Leather, no matter how carefully oiled, just traps moisture against your metal. That's why most real scabbards in most periods are wood-line leather, not just leather.
Qui plus fait, miex vault.
