Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kronckew · 2nd December 2014, 05:20 PM

an ancient technique very hard to do accurately with hand tools, the romans used it in mosaic. started being done in metal, jewelery, in the 1500's. it only really took off around 1770 when power tools in large engine factories were becoming more common, and a frenchman named Guillot invented a machine to do it and the technique is named after him, 'engine turning' in english, 'guilloché' in french. probably starting to disappeaer about the early 20c. and mostly gone by ww2. last major machinery mfg. to use it stopped in 1967. too much work for most modern engineers. the victorians liked their machinery all fancified. costom machine shops and hobbiests, jewellers still do it.

a QE2 commemorative colchemarde small sword from her coronation in the early 1950's sold at bonham's in 2006: the grip is decorated with guilloché patterns: (i bet whoever owns it doesn't use it on the local duelling fields much)

and a somewhat earlier suit of armour with guilloché patterning

2nd December 2014, 05:20 PM	#4
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,152	an ancient technique very hard to do accurately with hand tools, the romans used it in mosaic. started being done in metal, jewelery, in the 1500's. it only really took off around 1770 when power tools in large engine factories were becoming more common, and a frenchman named Guillot invented a machine to do it and the technique is named after him, 'engine turning' in english, 'guilloché' in french. probably starting to disappeaer about the early 20c. and mostly gone by ww2. last major machinery mfg. to use it stopped in 1967. too much work for most modern engineers. the victorians liked their machinery all fancified. costom machine shops and hobbiests, jewellers still do it. a QE2 commemorative colchemarde small sword from her coronation in the early 1950's sold at bonham's in 2006: the grip is decorated with guilloché patterns: (i bet whoever owns it doesn't use it on the local duelling fields much) and a somewhat earlier suit of armour with guilloché patterning Attached Images Last edited by kronckew; 2nd December 2014 at 06:08 PM.