Medieval Flaming Torch?

[TrickyT]

Thanks for all of your replies. May leave this 'on the back burner' for a while I think.

I am having a few friends round for New Years Eve and wanted something different to greet them in the garden as they arrived.

However, the idea of dripping tar etc, may not got down too well.

Regards

Trevor

 

[hedgerowpete]

half a dozen sticks with a material wrapped around the heads with wire and fire gel will do perfectly use four and keep four as replacements, very easy and cheap to make and quick to set up to

 

[robin wood]

We have pine splints from Scottish sites dating back to the Bronze age Robin. Turned bowls (well, they found the wasters ) too. Fearnan on Loch Tay. c500bce

I'm not sure if they found some at Loch Olabhat too. I could check ?

cheers,
Toddy

Interesting that pine splints were used in Scotland, in many ways medieval Scottish material culture is closer to the Baltic than to England, but then it was probably easier to get to the Baltic at the time, also in the highlands they had pine where it didn't grow further south. I would be very interested to see a bronze age example if it were no hassle to dig it out or find a ref. The evidence of turning from Lock Tay is a small waste piece from Oak Bank Crannog which we believe was cut from the base of a bowl after turning dated 500-800bc I was sent pics to confirm the identification at the time. I hadn't heard of any others so if there is evidence form Loch Olabhat too I would be very interested, the Oak Bank disc is a single isolated piece 500 years before any other evidence of wood turning in the UK so we really could do with some other examples to back it up.

 

[Toddy]

That's the site Oakbank Crannog at Fearnan on Loch Tay..........still being excavated too and new stuff coming up every year
The folks to ask would be Barrie and Nick at the Crannog Centre. I'll ask next time I see them.

Fearnan in Gaelic means place of the Alders, and the main support timbers of the crannog were made of Alder. Funny how a name persists; the crannog is over 2,500 years old

cheers,
Toddy

 

[tombear]

Cheers for the thought but I think te PO would have a fit! I should find a boat yard somewhere near, even here in the Penines there must be one for canal boats and other small stuff!

Theres a big pine wood not far from here but we have had very little joy finding any, It probably looked quite weird, me and 3 sons of diminishing sizes slowly circling each tree staring intently.

Cheers!

ATB

Tom

PS Not seen it close up but does charcoal making produce pitch as a byproduct or is it all consumed?

 

[forestwalker]

There was a an article a few (10?) years ago in the Bulletin of Primitive Technology where someoe had tested several of the primitive things, like rush dips.