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Lead Came: Window Rods Cast in a Hinged Iron Mould (Theophilus, tr. Hendrie 1847)
The lead rods that hold the pieces of a medieval glass window, cast the way Theophilus describes around 1100: pure lead is poured with a warm iron spoon into a hinged iron mould with grooves hollowed down both halves, knocked out, and the mould closed again for the next.
Kept at an even heat, one heating of the mould casts more than forty rods.
Source: Theophilus, De Diversis Artibus, Book II, ch. XXIII-XXV, tr. R. Hendrie (1847), pp. 147-149. Picture: p. 149.
Intermediate
Unknown
Instructions
1
1
Make the iron mould
Make the iron mould
Take two irons two fingers broad, one finger thick and a yard long. Hinge them together at one end with a nail; make the other end a little wider and thinner to form the pouring mouth. File them until no light shows between them. Rule two lines down the middle of each, hollow the groove between them with a chasing iron as deep as you wish and rasp it a little, so that the lead poured in makes one piece.
Tools needed:
Lead Came Mould2
2
Melt the lead
Melt the lead
Make a hearth with a hollow for a large earthen vessel lined inside and out with clay beaten up with dung, and dry it with a big fire. Put pure lead on the fire over the vessel so that it runs into it as it melts.
Materials for this step:
Lead Ingot1 pure leadTools needed:
Clay Pot
Charcoal3
3
Cast the rods
Cast the rods
Warm the open mould on the charcoal, close it and set it in the slot of a yard-long wooden holder standing on the ground. Pour the lead in with a small warmed iron spoon, keeping the spoon on the fire between pours. Knock the mould out, open it with a knife, take out the rod, close it and cast again. If the lead does not reach the bottom, warm the mould more. At an even heat you can cast more than forty rods.
Tools needed:
Lead Came Mould
Ladle
Craft KnifeCharcoalMaterials
1- 1 pure leadPlaceholder
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