[TheForge] How is something like this made?

[Jeffrey Polaski]

I was looking around some antique watch sites and came across a link to
this antique medical instrument site... I've been wondering how
something this ornate gets made... especially the brace and saw. 

Would it be roughly forged and then the flat shapes filed? Or is it a
lot of swage work, with male & female dies to match?

Has someone made something like this before? 

I've been really curious about how the more ornate and "fine" stuff is
made, for example, European tools with little sculptures in them. It's
amazing that people can do that at all. I can barely bash out a little
dragon head, let alone a full iron cherub! How do they do that? I know
some things are cast, but how do people make forged sculptures?

Here's some examples:

<http://antiquescientifica.com/saw_amputation_c_1750.jpg>

<http://antiquescientifica.com/neurosurgery__trepanning_set__Lichtenberg
er_Strasbourg_out.jpg>

I can't find a good example of the European tools I was thinking of, but
I think almost everyone has seen pictures of vices or anvils with ornate
scenes on the side. 


Jeff Polaski
Research and Graduate Studies Webmaster
University of California, Irvine
http://www.rgs.uci.edu/
949.824.6363