| Iron and steel have become part and parcel of | | | | highly decorated; early ones of fine quality |
| our daily life in this modern world. They are | | | | are rare, but seventeenth- and |
| used in different ways and for different | | | | eighteenth-century examples can be found. |
| purposes these days. And here we are going to | | | | |
| look at some of the ways in which iron and | | | | Firearms have received a great amount of |
| steel has been used from the ancient times as | | | | study in the last few years, and the value of |
| well. | | | | a good pistol has risen enormously. The |
| | | | subject is a very wide one and cannot be |
| Iron and Steel | | | | dealt with briefly. Mechanisms for firing the |
| | | | charge of gunpowder and ejecting the missile |
| Iron can be divided into two types: with | | | | can be divided into recognizable types that |
| little carbon content it becomes malleable | | | | make dating possible, but only within wide |
| and is steel or wrought-iron, and with more | | | | limits. |
| than the minimum of carbon remaining in its | | | | |
| composition it is cast-iron and inclined to | | | | From the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries |
| be brittle. | | | | the powder was ignited by means of a |
| | | | wheel-lock, a hardened toothed wheel which |
| Probably the greatest use of the metal in the | | | | attempted to strike sparks from a piece of |
| past was in the making of Armour and arms. | | | | flint comparable to a cigarette-lighter. Its |
| Armour was used both for protection in battle | | | | successor, introduced early in the |
| and in jousting, and for ceremonial purposes. | | | | seventeenth century, was the flint-lock, in |
| In the first instances it was designed not | | | | which a piece of flint gripped in steel jaws |
| only to resist blows from lances and cudgels | | | | was sprung down on to the powder and ignited |
| but to deflect them and upset the opponent's | | | | it as it struck the steel powder-pan. |
| balance. | | | | |
| | | | This method endured until early in the |
| Ceremonial equipment on the other hand, | | | | nineteenth century, when a small cap, |
| displayed the art of the armourer to the best | | | | containing chemicals that detonated on being |
| advantage and exhibited his prowess at | | | | hit, known as a percussion cap, was invented. |
| ornamenting a suit in the most striking | | | | The cap was placed near the powder, and when |
| manner. Fine Armour of either type is now | | | | the trigger was pressed the hammer fell and |
| extremely rare outside museums, and even if | | | | the cap exploded the gunpowder. |
| it was available very few collectors have | | | | |
| space in which to display it adequately. | | | | We have seen how iron and steel were used to |
| Embellishment takes the form of engraving, | | | | show power through the armours of the kings |
| gilding, raised patterns, and damascening: | | | | and his soldiers that proves their might and |
| inlay in gold and silver. | | | | power. We have also seen how the making |
| | | | process involved has progressed from the time |
| Swords and other hand weapons were often | | | | it has been extensively. |