I forgot to mention that I did get about 15 strands of horse hair for the clock. A friend gave them to me last Friday. These will be used to suspend a portion of the clock that needs to swing freely.
Anyone know how much weight a single horse hair can hold? Maybe I will have to google it.... :)
A chronicle of my attempts to create an early clock using only traditional techniques.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Things getting a bit hairy...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I don't know about weight limits, but the hair from a horse's tail is pretty darn strong. I used to rig model sailing ships with the stuff.
Sorry.... Let's try that again:
I did a project a fews years back on Medieval Fishing equipment, and had the opportunity to do some extensive work and testing with horse hair. I found that on average, 2 strands of Hair has about a 2lb breaking strength.
I few tips I learned along the way: (1.) White Horsehair is stronger than colored. (Something about the pigment weakening the tensile strength.) (2.) Straight bundles of hair (tails) are available from Tandy Leather for a very reasonable price. (3.) The hair will stretch 15-25% before breaking, so you will need to test and adjust the "cord" that you will be using. (4.) For fishing purposes, the hair wasn't twisted into a "rope", but rather individual sections of 3-ply braids that were tied together. When brading, don't use a "tight" braid, if the hair is kinked in the braid the stregth is decreased 50% or more.
If you have any questions, I can elaborate further or supply documentation from the 14th & 15th Centuries. Good Luck!!
-- Rhydderch
South Downs, Meridies
Number of Strands in Line = Breakage Point = Modern Equivalent Line 1 strand = 8 oz. =
6 strands = 62.8 oz. = 4 lb. IFGA Rated line 10 strands = 95.8 oz. = 6 lb. IFGA Rated line 12 strands = 132.6 oz. = 8 lb. IFGA Rated line 15 strands = 157.4 oz. = 10 lb. IFGA Rated line
-- Rhydderch (South Downs, Meridies)
:) Wow, I didn't actually expect someone to reply with the correct weight. Thanks for the info and tips on using the hair. I will definitely take into account the braiding techniques that you mentioned.The assembly that the hair will be holding will be approxiamately 5 pounds. I haven't actually made the part yet so that is a guess.Thanks again for the info.
Post a Comment