06-12-2009, 04:39 PM
For a long time now I've been trying to reconcile my observations of Medieval and later hafted weapons' appearance- being darkish brown- with the suggested common materials (light-coloured hardwoods like Ash) without any luck, but may have found an idea that would work and it might actually work for ancient stuff too- pine tar. Apparently pine tar was classically used by the people in Kurland to seal and protect their wooden skis, and when I learned that pine tar is a natural byproduct of charcoal-making it occurred to me that it might have been used to preserve wood for as long as charcoal has been made.
Obviously naked wood is not going to fare well in wet conditions- warping and such- so some kind of protection is necessary and oil is fine, but not ideal by any means due to the tendency of edible forms to degrade and I don't even know just how available other forms might have been; but pine tar would be readily available one would think any place suitable wood was turned into charcoal and as a byproduct it wouldn't have the same cost and availability issues oils would- and it seems like it'd be a superior preservative.
Apparently it's thinned with a solvent like turpentine, which is isolated from pine trees, and simply brushed on- nothing the ancients couldn't do, and I got the impression from the ski use that it's not sticky or anything when dry, so I really see no trouble with this being a practical possibility for pila, hastae, etc....
Thoughts?
Obviously naked wood is not going to fare well in wet conditions- warping and such- so some kind of protection is necessary and oil is fine, but not ideal by any means due to the tendency of edible forms to degrade and I don't even know just how available other forms might have been; but pine tar would be readily available one would think any place suitable wood was turned into charcoal and as a byproduct it wouldn't have the same cost and availability issues oils would- and it seems like it'd be a superior preservative.
Apparently it's thinned with a solvent like turpentine, which is isolated from pine trees, and simply brushed on- nothing the ancients couldn't do, and I got the impression from the ski use that it's not sticky or anything when dry, so I really see no trouble with this being a practical possibility for pila, hastae, etc....
Thoughts?
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