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General Discussion => Hobbies & Crafts => Topic started by: Clive on December 07, 2010, 20:28

Title: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: Clive on December 07, 2010, 20:28: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build a Tudor mansion? Welcome to How To History!

http://www.howtohistory.com/
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: Simon on December 07, 2010, 21:23: Great resource, Clive. :)
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: sam on December 08, 2010, 04:39: Quote
Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build

Nope.
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: Simon on December 08, 2010, 10:28: :pmsl:

I was being polite! ;D
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: GillE on December 08, 2010, 10:44: I've just seen the woodwork section. What a joke!
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: Simon on December 08, 2010, 11:11: Good find, Clive! :smirks:
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: Clive on December 08, 2010, 11:22: :blush: Can't win them all Simon! I have to say that the website looks quaintly old fashioned so perhaps it's unsurprising that the content is poor. Thank's for the heads up Gill. 8-)
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: GillE on December 08, 2010, 12:01: You're welcome, Clive :) .

Actually, I'm participating in a conversation on a woodwork forum right now about historical construction techniques. In the past, veneers were often glued to only one side of a board. As the glue cured it shrank, creating a tension which would make the board warp. Nowadays the preferred technique is to veneer both sides of a board to create an equal tension and prevent warping.

The question is, if you're re-creating period furniture, how faithful should you be to the original construction techniques? Should you build in known flaws and be totally accurate in historic faithfulness or should you use modern knowledge to produce something that's more stable and durable?

Insofar as the techniques on the 'How To' website are concerned, well, they may be valid but they're obsolete! I suppose you could say that's the whole point, but I simply can't tolerate inferior products. Our predecessors made coracles because they didn't know how to build boats. If you could go back in time and offer a bronze-age man a choice between a coracle or a rowing boat, which do you think he would choose? If you offered him the choice between a bow-lathe or an electric lathe (or even a treadle lathe, which do you think he'd pick? There's a reason why those artefacts have been consigned to history - modern products and techniques are so much better!
Title: Re: Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build
Post by: Clive on December 08, 2010, 12:56: I agree with you wholeheartedly Gill. It seems totally ridiculous to repeat the mistakes of yesteryear when better techniques are available.