Did anyone see the TLC show where a group of engineers, framers, historians attempted to build a replica of a Roman Catapult? I thought it was great. But after watching it, i had some thoughts.
They built something that worked, but it didn’t work as well as the originals, it broke after one shot, and they used tools and equipment that the romans didn’t have. And the head engineer admitted that the math the romans used, didn’t make sense to him, and he seemed like a pretty smart guy to me. Basically, they had instructions, but they didn’t have the knowledge that romans had of their craft.
This reminded me of the importance of mastering, and passing on your craft. I have always been into hand tools and building furniture with as few power tools as possible, mostly because i hate the noise, the dust, and using a chisel to cut a mortise is just fun to me. But watching this show has renewed my ambition to learn as many aspects of woodworking as i can, and in turn, pass it on to others.
I think it would be a tragedy if, 100, 200 years from now, the only place to find a dovetail saw, mortising chisel, handplane is in a museum. Where the director says “we have basic printed instructions on how to use these, but no one is really sure of the exact techniques, since the users died hundreds of years ago.”
Just a thought. I also loved the “Junkyard wars” where they had to build a 19th century airplane.-
Replies
I saw a PBS special where these Scots made a trecbenet (spelling). It is a siege engine with a big counter weighted arm that would throw boulders a couple of hundred feet. They did it with period tools from trees. It worked and looked cool.
Frank
I saw something similar Frank -- they built two types, one with lead counterweights and the other with a wooden bucket which was filled with sand as a counterweight.What surprised me was the sheer power of the thing -- it sent a 200lb rock clear through 5' of stone wall. Imagine being a castle defender and seeing the enemy start to build one of those -- you'd know straight away you hadn't a chance!
IanDG
I saw the one that you did, and loved it. Great show.
The "Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers" had some really cool catapults. :)
I just went to satellite TV a few weeks ago, I hope to catch more shows like the ones being talked about. I saw the one about Japan's airport sinking into the sea.
Enjoy, Roy
Check this out . . .
members.iinet.net.au/~rmine/gctrebs.html
I think that's called a trebouchet. (Pronounced TRAY bu shay). I've seen versions on TLC and Discovery over the years that tossed a piano and a small car several hundred yards. An amazing machine for the middle ages!
Yup, that is it. I have been messing up french even before it was fashionable.
Frank
trebuchet.....I made a small version of it a year ago, can throw an apple at 250 feet.....funny to see an apple burst as it crash on the ground. Imagine tomato, and even oranges.....
Bob in Sherbrooke, Province of Québec
How heavy was the weight you used to launch an apple?
Hi, Bob -- I built one that's about 15 inches high after seeing an article in the old American Woodworker. It looks and works great (I distressed it and put an "authentic" dark gel stain on it) but I'm thinking about a larger one. How big is yours and what materials did you use? Jim
I used some square pallet wood. The shaft (pivot point of the arm) is about 48 inch from ground. The box, a triangle about 18 x 20 x 6, is fillet with every nuts and bolt I could find. It is a funny thing to look at when it throws, but stay out of the way of the arm.....
Bob in Sherbrooke, Province of Québec
Thanks for the imfo. My two adult boys are after me to make one out of 8-foot lumber (nominally). Since there's only one house between me and the lake target nearby, it should do the job OK. Besides, there's only an elderly widow in the house (!) in case of misfire.
Bis',
The machine is actually called a Trebuchet. But any way you spell/say it, the end result is one very powerful launcher!
Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.
Mikkimel,
I also liked the show where they built the early airplanes (20th century not 19th). However remember that it is showbiz and those planes were NOT built in 2 days. There was an article in the EAA magazine last year or it might have been one of the other aviation mags catering to the home built aircraft market. Anyhow the actual construction was closer to ten days and the teams all helped on another on all the planes in order to get it done. You don't get "N" numbers and an FAA inspection unless you have everything right. They did in fact manage to get the aircraft passed. The gentleman who wrote the article also mentioned that the British version could have flown until it ran out of gas. The show was accurate in that the maiden flight of the British team's plane flew as they represented it on the show with no adjustments etc. They did not tell you that they got yelled at big-time for deviating from the test plan. You might do a search if you are interested as it was an interesting article. My father-in-law gave me the mag. to read after which I gave it back so I don't know exactly which one it was in although it was last fall.
Mark
I saw that one; I liked it.
Kinda funny to see a modern enginneer outsmarted by someone who died 2000 years ago...
Here's a couple of links, I use at times (I get 14 year olds to design and build these as an exercise, then let them loose on the edge of our football field where they can fire into a paddock)
http://www.amenex.com/georgesbasement/catapult.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/
I think that the second one is the support to the show you mentioned.
Cheers, eddie
Yeah, but the Romans had many years of trial and error before they got it right.
They had their toys, we gots' ours.
Thumbs up for March Madness.
Enjoy, Roy
There's no cable out here and I won't spend the bucks on sattelite drivel so I haven't seen this show, but I've seen the PBS show on the trebuchet. It heaves a giant pumpkin size rock several hundred feet through a stone wall. The ones that missed buried themselves in CRATERS!
Well, I quickly went to the wood pile in the barn and converted some 2 x 6s, plywood, 4 x 4 scraps, nylon rope, some iron pipe, a steel 5 gallon paint pail full or rocks, a leg off of an old pair of jeans, and some cantelope size rocks to a crude rock tosser and, wow. My only regret, we had already gotten rid of the old dead Civic.
Cool.
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