Evidence of polishing?

[fahnenschmied]

Not really sure how to start this question, but as I was looking at my old Gewehr 88, which had been kept polished by several generation of German and then Turkish soldiers, I had a thought that bits of ancient equipment should show tell-tale signs of having been polished. But looking at what few photos I can find of armor fittings, they don't seem to show real evidence of heavy polishing. Especially lorica hinges - wouldn't there be some evidence of wearing down of the edges if armor was kept bright? Especially around the hard-to-reach areas around the lobes? The only lorica fitting I ever handled still had a pretty sharp edge, and it had indeed been riveted onto an iron plate at one time.
I really am not seeking to pour gasoline on the "polished versus finished" debate. But I am struck by the apparent neatness and lack of muddled edges that many ancient helmet and armor fittings still retain - especially when compared to alot of current replica items so brilliantly polished.
So, do the remains we see have such good condition because they were lost whilst still relatively new? Or have I simply just never seen a heavily polished armor fitting? Maybe its just too much exposure to Egyptian Rolling Blocks, Turkish rifles and British Regimental badges that make me think of evidence of excessive polishing.
Just wondering if someone has ever looked for wear of fittings to armor plate in respect to it being constantly polished or cleaned?

Well, whatever the case, I wish my Egytian Rolling Block had seen the same lack of abuse during polishing that so much surviving Roman armor has...

[Wes]

Greetings!

One of the recipes I have from my 18th century sources is a mixture of Brick dust and sweet oil. I have used Olive oil with the dust to good effect on my Long Land Pattern Musket. It does leave smaller "whorls or lines" in the metal if not vigorously buffed out. It maintains the "barrel bright" effect. Seems to me it would be along the lines of a rubbing compound or polishing paste, just a bit coarser in the granulation of the scouring particles....something else I need to learn!!

Respectfully,

Wes

[Celer]

Salve,

Two Roman items that were polished:

The Velsen belt plates had been re-silvered at least three time. Similarly, the Sisak Centurion's Gallic 'F' helmet had also been re silvered three times, so there must have been some polishing going on.

Also, regarding the musket barrel, while the long land pattern musket barrels were 'bright', later patterns were 'browned' to prevent rusting. The Board of Ordinance considered the average musket barrel to have a working life of only 7 years in peacetime, due to polishing!

Salve,

Celer.

[fahnenschmied]

Yes, I am quite familiar with both burnished and rust-blued musket barrels, and I've actually seen one that had much more wear outside than inside.. (and shot it, too) But these marks of polishing disappear with rust - this is why I was wondering about the bronze bits, connected to something that might have been scoured frequently. While wood ash and water will clean bronze well, I've never tried that on iron, and I suspect much and frequent polish of iron, with whatever means good enough to do the job, will eventually wear the bronze too.
No, I haven't forgotten that bronze is harder than most of the brass we use, and our steel is harder than old iron...but the better surviving clues left by the bronze fittings might shed some light on how heavily polished they were, or upon even the abrasive itself. Hey, electron microscopes aren't just for looking at wear patterens on stone tools...

[Robert Vermaat]

Fahnenschmied,

Please add your real name to your signature - that's a forum rule!

[fahnenschmied]

Sorry about that - I'm too daft to know what my "signature" is, or how to get my name on it, just yet - but until that time I am..

Dave Stone

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Dave its good to have you aboard!