If such a tool is not at hand, or the amateur
cannot use it well, an excellent substitute will be found in using
a sharp-pointed and red-hot poker, or pieces of heavy wire heated
to burn out the pattern to the desired depth. The handle also has
a scroll to be engraved. When the whole is finished and cleaned
[Illustration: Battle Axes of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and
Sixteenth Centuries]
Up, it is covered with tinfoil in imitation of steel. The tinfoil
should be applied carefully, as before mentioned, and firmly
pressed into the engraved parts with the finger tips or thumb.
A French mace used in the sixteenth century is shown in Fig. 3.
This weapon is about 22 in. long and has a wood handle covered
with dark red cloth or velvet, the lower part to have a gold or
red silk cord wound around it, as shown, the whole handle finished
off with small brass-headed nails. The top has six ornamental
carved wings which are cut out, fastened on the handle and covered
with tinfoil, as described in Fig. 2.
Figure 4 shows a Morning Star which is about 26 in. long. The
spiked ball and the four-sided and sharp-pointed spike are of
steel.
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