Roman brewing link
So busy these days. I stumbled across a nice little article on brewing in Roman era Britain.
Things I've learned lately:
I can weld 0.032 thick steel with my #1 welding tip. I can even make it look fairly pretty with enough grinding and sanding. It's kind of a pain, and it only makes sense to do it on things that aren't going to get hit much, since it's so darn thin.
Dilute muriatic acid is saving me a bunch of clean up time and cost. Sanding off forge scale is just too much work otherwise. I put the pieces in a big plastic tub to soak for a couple hours, wiping them down occasionally so they don't etch weird patterns in themselves. Then I rinse them off in the slack tub, wire wheel them, and polish. I had one vambrace splint which I didn't pay enough attention to come out looking like it has a wood grain from the layers of forge scale and gunk on it resisting the etch. The downside to this acid is it can turn my hands black, and that black doesn't come off easily. Gloves help.
Time spent making good tools, or money spent buying good tools is usually well spent. I've been limiting my capability by skimping on tools. I work much faster in a tidy and orderly shop.
Things I've learned lately:
I can weld 0.032 thick steel with my #1 welding tip. I can even make it look fairly pretty with enough grinding and sanding. It's kind of a pain, and it only makes sense to do it on things that aren't going to get hit much, since it's so darn thin.
Dilute muriatic acid is saving me a bunch of clean up time and cost. Sanding off forge scale is just too much work otherwise. I put the pieces in a big plastic tub to soak for a couple hours, wiping them down occasionally so they don't etch weird patterns in themselves. Then I rinse them off in the slack tub, wire wheel them, and polish. I had one vambrace splint which I didn't pay enough attention to come out looking like it has a wood grain from the layers of forge scale and gunk on it resisting the etch. The downside to this acid is it can turn my hands black, and that black doesn't come off easily. Gloves help.
Time spent making good tools, or money spent buying good tools is usually well spent. I've been limiting my capability by skimping on tools. I work much faster in a tidy and orderly shop.
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