Peter Hutchison wrote-
>If you want to see why Ronnie used low flow rates shut down your blower and
>get yourself a bellows and see how much air you can blow with that for any
>length of time. They were trying to simulate early iron age furnaces. Then
>think about how your bellows is made and consider whether a bellows in
>antiquity would have been as efficient. Certainly a couple of goatskins
>underfoot will not work so well. No-one has yet found any part of a bellows
>at one of these sites, so the use of wooden
>boards must be conjecture, and ceramic blowing vessels unlikely.
This brings up an interesting point. I had asked this group a few months ago
if anyone had any information on the various blowing rates of different
human powered blowing devices. I never got an answer, so I figured no one
here had any numbers. Let's try again- anyone out there know? Maybe some of
the African folks have measured air rates of bag bellows?
I asked this question of Peter Ross at Williamsburg, and he said (with
wooden bellows) you could get pretty much any sort of blast you need by
building bigger bellows.
What is the date for the first evidence for use of wooden bellows?
Lee Sauder
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