Calling metal geeks...

[mallt]

So how do you go about inlaying copper into iron?


Stirrup, 975–1075
Anglo-Scandinavian, possibly from southern England
Iron inlaid with copper alloy

10 x 5 1/2 in. (25.4 x 14 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1947 (47.100.23)

Though the Vikings are best known as seafaring warriors, through contact with Europe they grew ever more adept as cavalrymen. Changes in stirrup design gave a tactical advantage in that they permitted a warrior to shift his weight onto the stirrups and thereby wield his weapons with greater height and force. This stirrup, decorated with a distinctive technique of iron inlay, is of a type found in England and may have been introduced in the renewed Viking attacks at the end of the tenth century.

Info from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Comments

[sagaciouslu.livejournal.com]

I have a book on metalwork techniques you can borrow...

[mallt.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome, are you going to 12th Night?

[sagaciouslu.livejournal.com]

No. But, I can pass the book onwards to someone who will be going...

[mallt.livejournal.com]

That would work!
Thanks!

[ursa-m1n0r.livejournal.com]

Damascene inlay, a technique that dates to ancient China and Egypt and also practiced in Renaissance Europe involves cutting grooves that are wider as you cut deeper into the iron.

I suspect the Insular Celtic metalsmiths also used the technique but I'm not likely to get permission to take apart a period piece :-)

Technique looks kinda like this

/___\

You then take a softer metal such as gold, copper, silver in round wire form and lay in the groove like this:

/O\ The wire is actually taller than the groove is deep

Then you use a hammer to gently flatten the wire so the softer metal "flows" into the undercuts and is held in place.

A good reference is Oppi Untracht's Metal Techniques for Craftsmen


Mike

[mallt.livejournal.com]

I read about this (yay Google!) and about "false" damascene where you scratch/scuff the surface of the harder metal, hammer foil or thin wire over it & then heat it to get the softer metal to adhere to the burrs.

Oppi Untracht's name popped up in a few places so I'll have to see if I can find a copy of his books.

[ursa-m1n0r.livejournal.com]

The technique you mention sounds like kuftgari. The doc I sent over has a bit of a description of it as well.

I've got two of Untracht's books; Metal Techniques for Craftsmen, and Jewellery Concepts and Technology.

Sometime when you are visiting I'll haul them out for you to peruse.

M