[TheForge] Sprang Mail - OT

Thu Sep 11 12:52:00 2003

Who says the wire has to be "long"?  Are you telling me they couldn't
make wire a foot or two long?  How did they make all those links for
chain mail, then?

I'm no expert on drawing wire, but if it's the drawing process that was
the problem, there are various possible alternatives.  Cutting,
hammering and/or rolling can all give acceptable wire.  Drawing is an
excellent means for making wire from the softer metals, but I'm not sure
how well it would work on inhomogeneous iron and steel.  Isn't that,
after all, why nails used to be square, and only became round after they
were made from wire?  

I just don't see a lack of wire as a reason they wouldn't have used
sprang "technology."  Frankly, from what I've been reading on
traditional work of the two sexes, it strikes me as more likely that the
male blacksmiths just didn't know about sprang.

Bruce
NJ

>>> [email protected] 09/11/03 10:29AM >>>

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

<Much snipped about spang>

> Now, do you suppose that such a thing was actually used for armor?
>
> Bruce
> NJ

Doubt it, simply because it was so difficult to get any long length of
steel/iron wire in the MA. Not sure of the dates, but it took them
quite a
while to develop the almost infinite lengths we can use today, for ANY
wire.
If you don't believe me, try hand-drawing wire yourself some time.

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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