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Sally wrote:
>What amazed me was how perfect the little holes were in the
>tablets. How do you think they made those holes before there were electric
>drills? Have there always been hand drills? Inupiut and Yupik Eskimo ivory
>carvers years ago used drills that had a kind of violin bow to twist the
>drill. Was that what the Vikings used?
In the Viking Age they used two basic types of drill bits, spoon bits and
twist bits. Typically a bit was sunk into a wooden handle. Larger bits
might have handles with "wings," little handholds that stick out at right
angles from the length of the handle, giving greater torque.
My husband, who does a lot of work with reproduction Viking Age tools,
suggests that the small holes on wood tablets might also simply have been
burned. Although he didn't specify a method, I wonder if a heated iron rod
would do the trick?
Carolyn
Send private reply to Carolyn Priest-Dorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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