[Myles Mulkey]

By the way, I mean the flat all-metal ones, not the ones mentioned earlier already Something like this:

(the one on the right, called the continental type) http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h142/wagnijo/StrikeaLights.jpg

[Christian Böhling]

Hi Myles, you surprised me with putting this thread up again

First: Using chared cloth is a more modern way of fire making, but no one really knows provenly how they did it two thousand years ago, but tinder spongus is a good alternative (you can search the internet to find good methods of preparating tinder spongus for it!

Second: I have tried hundreds of time to get a fire started by using the "scandinavian type" fire strikers and I know of Peter Johnsson that he did the same and came to the same conclusion, that it is much harder to get proper sparks with it than it is using the "continental type".

Third: If you reconstruct a "Chauci" equipment, you are recommended to use the continental type, because this is exact the type you can find in northern Germany for this time...but you should not use the strikers you can find on most medieval markets , because they are too young for you if I may say so.... they come to us from medieval contexts and are still in use in the age of north american civil war ....

Fourth:

If you want to be exact in reconstructing clothes and weapons you should decide to fix your period at the year 200 A.D.. You can take the clothing finds from Thorsberg (Thorsberg Throusers and Tunic) and the weapons from Thorsberg and other related equipment added by finds from Illerup Aadal Site A (as some materials which have been found in Illerup are not preserved at Thorsberg Site (differences in the chemical structure of that special bog)....But: Using the Thorsberg material wherever you can could mean to reconstruct a "continental army" of that time as the Chauci and Saxones had been. There are some reasons which make believeble that the army which equipment had been found at Thorsberg was from a continental origin while the army which stuff had been found at Illerup was from a scandinavian origin. Nevertheless both used roman blades, sometimes varied with local pruduced wooden parts and scabbards with features which hit the "northern taste" or northern fashion.
The "brooches" or fibulae are more complicated as they seem to be, as there are many thousands of variants and only small variations in the smallest detail can mean a dating hundred years later or earlier....this is a science of it self, but if you can get publications of all the types Almgren has dated, it can be a great help. Finding publications of local finds from Schleswig-Holstein which depicts fibulae from 200 A.D. whould be a 12 points and don´t forget the roman influences in the fibulae if not roman export fibulae were used: fibulae seem to have been traded like beads whith the indian tribes in later times

I have not the time at the moment but when I am free I can give you some advices if not Peter or someone else is more quick...

All the best

Chris

[E. Storesund]

Great thread. I'm trying to put toghether a kit along the lines of a Norwegian warrior aristocrat in the late 700s to early 800s. Sick and tired of the anachronistic mixing regarding typology and art styles sadly prevalent in reenactment circles at times.
I'm particularly keen on studying the Oseberg/Broa styles and Salin's III. However I am having some minor problems finding good examples of the styles, apart from the obvious; Chiefly the Oseberg burial itself. By this I especially mean Salin's third. Any pointers?

It seems almost safer to jump on an earlier period (I must admit I fancy Style I. and II. better than the III.), but I've pretty much decided to give this kit a decent and proper try.

[Myles Mulkey]

[Victor R.]

Was lead to this thread by the Germanic Iron-Aged Weapons thread http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=18788, and have been enthralled by both of them for several hours now.

As I followed through the earlier portions of this thread, I had a thought about the "Scandinavian" style fire striker, and a possibility for the specifically angled hole.

Some postulated that maybe it was more a "sewing" tool for sails or leather work, where the thread would feed through the hole. Why not a wick? I'm thinking something along the line of what is used for a matchlock - a braided cord that will light quickly, but burn slowly, with the lighted wick used like a match to start the tinder and create the larger fire.

I would imagine a braided rope/cord that had been oiled or treated with some other commonly available flammable substance. It would run through the angled hole, with the end held near the tip of the striking iron, or possibly with the striking iron penetrating through the cord/wick. The iron would then be run through the groove on the stone, using a rubbing motion rather than a stabbing/striking motion, creating heat and friction sparks, lighting the cord.

If this was the method used, it is likely the cord/wick would have been lost to the elements over the millennia, so finding the full "system" at a dig site seems unlikely, but it's just my thought.

I don't have anything of the like to attempt the experiment myself, but those that have access to reproductions of these strikers might be able to test the plausibility of the hypothesis.

In any event, it's been a pleasure to read through these threads - it's a little sad that they have both been dormant for so long.