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One thought I had while makeing this was what the army had with them to make them :?: and I thought of one thing they carried in abudunce was nails these could be easily used, and most of the work has been done  Remove the heads and forge two more points and bend into shape.
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Caratacvs
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Sure, that makes sense- I've read of a hoard of something like a million nails having been buried when a fort was abandoned, so stocks of nails were certainly abundant.
How difficult was it to forge-weld your tribulus Tony? I'd have thought it problematic to do with such small objects given the force I understand is necessary to form a good joint.
I just found a diagram of a tribulus from Vindonissa with legs just 3.5cm long and 4mm wide at the center- that's a little guy...
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In Iron for the Eagles the opinion is that the army carried along iron billets, which were turned into tools, nails and weapons as the need arose. Trying to forge four nails together is a major endeavour, I assure you! I recently tried forgewelding, no easy feat to master (yeh, I botched it, tried to make a gladiator's trident, sparks and molten metal all over the place, no joint  ). It's a VERY fine line between forging temperature and turning your iron into a very large sparkler.
By the way, should you still want to use a Roman nail, just heat the head to yellow and with a few blows reshape it to a point. No point in wasting sweat and iron cutting off heads.
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Matt, would the base of the spikes on yours be prone to bending, or is it pretty solid?
On page 292 in Connolly's "Greece and Rome at War" there's a picture of the above caltrops, as well as a "Z" shaped spike used in conjunction with a small log that is hammered in the ground. A nail could easily be made into one of these.
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It's very solid
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Yes Matt it was in Scotland, Newstead If memory serves me right one pit contained 12 ton of them  hock: It was a long time ago, it took just a few hits.On the point of fire welding small items, the rings on mail are welded so you can weld even this fine, but still a great deal of skill needed.
Robert you would just need two nails to do this and cross them over but it does need two people to hold them together while hammering. But I would still cut the head of for speed.
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When you have all this why do you envy our mud huts
Caratacvs
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Magnvs it is a Lillie spike, would post a pick if I could find it but yes it could easily be made from a nail.
Regards Brennivs
Woe Ye The Vanquished
Brennvs 390 BC
When you have all this why do you envy our mud huts
Caratacvs
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Quote:Matt, would the base of the spikes on yours be prone to bending, or is it pretty solid?
Matt, does it really matter? Enemy horse or foot soldier crippled; a job done well :wink:
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No no...I just meant was there a chance that the spike bent before it penetrated and therefore maybe didn't work properly.
Don't worry, I don't want to start a debate such as...once the spike penetrated, did the enemy discard their caligae? lol. 8)
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LMAO
Well no, there's definitely no chance of anything bending before it would stick right through a foot or hoof. It's a nasty little bugger.
As for welding, I thought I'd heard that there actually wasn't any true evidence of mail rings being forge welded, and that what some had thought was a seam really wasn't. That I definitely find hard to see being done given what's necessary for welding. I've only ever seen it done once and although it was a sizable piece (a froe), sledgehammers were necessary to make the weld.
So then was there any trick to it when you did yours Tony? My forge apparently can reach welding temperatures, so I'm curious to try and see if I can do it. Did you use borax as a flux or something else?
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I think it was inchtuithil, or however it was spelled, that the nail hoard was found, the one that was demolished right after completion. Although they probably found one at Newstead too.
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Any way you go, the three points on the bottom would help transfer all the weight of the downmoving foot onto that tiny point. I'll bet a running man would get that thing right through his caliga. Out of the fight, odds are, for a day or two, anyway. Ow. A horse with one through his hoof would be off duty for a lot longer. Elephants have very tender feet, once you get through the callous, and they go crazy with pain pretty quickly.
Like a minefield, you'd have to make paths through, so your own cavalry could be involved in the battle, wouldn't you? Or would you just avoid that area altogether?
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It appears the puncture wound caused by these evil little items would be bad and painful, but I would be afraid of the infection that would follow is the real killer. What comes to mind is tetanus, sepsis, shock, all resulting in death for both man and animal.
We now know thanks to the germ theory of disease (as the ancients did not) that infection kills more people than weapons made by man.
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Not to mention if they coated the spikes...I know in some modern contexts feces and other nasty substances were put on them to ensure an even longer stay out of action, if not death altogether.
Hey Matt, do you think a guy could make one of those out of square barstock with only a propane torch?
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Some people claim success with a propane torch by stacking a few firebricks up and making a small (about a brick sized) oven. This helps hold the heat in. You could also substitute MAPP gas for the propane, which should help, as it burns several hundred degrees hotter than propane. In theory, propane can melt steel, but the trouble is keeping the heat from getting away. Hence the small firebrick box.
I cheat and use oxyacetylene. It's plenty hot enough. :o lol: And yes, I know, I'm not Matt. Sorry for butting in.
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