Conical Caligae Hobnails

[Tib. Gabinius]

Salve Matt,
i guess, whithout talking with my guys about that, we will need at least 4 pounds, perhaps more
I will talk to them and gave you detailled number soon.

[Cornelius Quintus]

Ave Matt,

please add another pound for Germany :wink:

Perhaps you might send the 'gift' wrapped in a segmentata if the hobnail production starts quick enough :lol:

[Flavius Promotus]

They're not cast- they're die forged and the shanks sheared- you can even hammer out the shanks to make them longer and pointier if you want.

Sounds very good! Just one last question - do they consist of steel or of soft iron?
This is an important question as I have found out that steel shanks
a) are difficult to clench
b) leave visible dents in the surface of my Roman anvil (modern copy)

I'm thinking of ordering 4 Pounds (or maybe even more).

Guess it is not possible to get a few specimen in advance?

Greets,
Florian

[Matt Lukes]

They're non-hardened steel- but the shanks bend over easily (but not back). The best thing to do is make a peening tool like you would use for domed rivets to protect the shape- just a piece of mild steel with a shallow conical spot- that's what I do for things like this. Place that on your anvil and the surface is protected, and you can easily bend over the nail ends

[richsc]

Buy 10 pounds for Legio XX, okay?

Sheez..some delegation! but I guess the rest of the legion will buy some as time goes by? I'll put in for five pounds, and maybe for five more after we discuss on Saturday fabrica.

How about...we poll everyone and see who'll buy? I would think Hibernicus and Dave Michaels would be snatching a few pounds up too?

[Matthew Amt]

Sheez..some delegation! but I guess the rest of the legion will buy some as time goes by?

Yeah, you know our guys: plenty of initial enthusiasm, but darn few actually ponying up the cash in advance! Once you have the nails, though, a completely different bunch of guys will all pipe up wanting some! Heck, even the ladies should have nailed shoes, strictly speaking. We have a few potential recruits, too. They'll sell eventually! Just figure the cost per nail and mark it on the box, so you won't forget when someone wants some.

Or we could make Roger buy the, yeah, that's it!

Other units will probably get their own stocks, presumably.

See you Saturday!

Matthew

[Caius Fabius]

do we have a price for 10 pounds?
or even for 20 or 30? I might buy a bunch if they are good quality, and hold them for later resale, but I am not out to lose money on this too. $19.80 a pound is reasonable for a pound, but not for larger orders.

You may contact me off list if you wish.

[Matt Lukes]

I haven't asked for a final quote yet, but I was told the price would reflect the order size. If we hit the mark, then I'll get the full details and figure out whether it's cheapest to go for the bulk order and then disseminate them to everyone, or to just provide the manufacturer with 100lbs of orders to fill (I'd still handle shipping to Europe since we have to do the gift thing...).

I'll give them a call though and get the specifics- cost for 100lbs, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and work out which would be cheapest for us all.

The manufacturer does do their own sales, so it might be cheapest for those of you in the US to order direct- the 100lbs mark was just the minimum they need to actually produce the nails- if I can provide them with 100lbs of orders, as opposed to one order of 100lbs, they'll still do them.

[Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs]

Matt,
I'll check with everyone at Castra Romana this week-end to spread the word. There should be lots of people there at one time.

[marsvigilia]

Great find.

You can put me down for 2 pounds. Let me know whether we'll need to front the money first.

Thanks.

[richsc]

Between us and George Metz, it looks like we can put in for 15 pounds. Will can this be done by individuals or is a group rate better? I don't want to have to reship these to George, who wants five pounds to himself.

[Matt Lukes]

We're at about 47lbs right now- not including CF- so we're still only about half way there... but I'll call and get various quantity price quotes and post them in a day or two

[richsc]

Have you asked Lawrensnest or the others if they'd like to buy in supplies?

[Marcus Mummius]

I'll take two pounds too, I'll ask in my group

[richsc]

Lawrensnest

I got an answer from Julie Brooks and she would be interested if she could see a sample. Are there any?