Vindolanda planes

[profchris]

Given that we've found two so far, I wonder how much we can conclude the planes were used. Were they used for heavy removal work, or was that done elsewhere? Was the wood worked mostly green (presumably) and then finished after drying? Who knows. If they can tolerate 60 degrees, it would suggest that speed wasn't much of an issue yet, which is what my comment above is about. To come up with something like that that's extra cost, there would need to be economic motivation for it - which is either profit incentive (to be the early users) or just being able to stay in business economically (the later users).

I haven't got any historical reference for productivity and how it was viewed 3000 years ago. In societies where class division is extreme and there is a lot of subsistence labor, there doesn't seem to have been a real great drive for innovation or efficiency. Just add more people.

I'd speculate that your Roman wood shop owner would have all the rough planing done by slaves (and maybe the fine planing done by skilled slaves). I believe slave labour was pretty cheap (in terms of the Roman economy), so the economic incentive for greater efficiency might not be there. You had to feed your slave, even if there was nothing for him to plane, so giving him a more efficient tool wouldn't be any benefit unless you had more work than your current slaves could handle.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Ahh. Roman metalworking.

But of all the different kinds of iron, the palm of excellence is awarded to that which is made by the Seres, who send it to us with their tissues and skins; next to which, in quality, is the Parthian iron. Indeed, none of the other kinds of iron are made of the pure hard metal, a softer alloy being welded with them all. In our part of the world, a vein of ore is occasionally found to yield a metal of this high quality, as in Noricum for instance; but, in other cases, it derives its value from the mode of working it, as at Sulmo, for example, a result owing to the nature of its water, as already stated. It is to be observed also, that in giving an edge to iron, there is a great difference between oil-whetstones and water-whetstones, the use of oil producing a much finer edge.

Natural History, Book XXXIV: The natural history of metals

Even at this early date the, seeds of the great sharpening debate had already been sown.

 

[AndyT]

Even at this early date the, seeds of the great sharpening debate had already been sown.

There really is nihil sub sole novum!

 

[D_W]

Given that we've found two so far, I wonder how much we can conclude the planes were used. Were they used for heavy removal work, or was that done elsewhere? Was the wood worked mostly green (presumably) and then finished after drying? Who knows. If they can tolerate 60 degrees, it would suggest that speed wasn't much of an issue yet, which is what my comment above is about. To come up with something like that that's extra cost, there would need to be economic motivation for it - which is either profit incentive (to be the early users) or just being able to stay in business economically (the later users).

I haven't got any historical reference for productivity and how it was viewed 3000 years ago. In societies where class division is extreme and there is a lot of subsistence labor, there doesn't seem to have been a real great drive for innovation or efficiency. Just add more people.

I'd speculate that your Roman wood shop owner would have all the rough planing done by slaves (and maybe the fine planing done by skilled slaves). I believe slave labour was pretty cheap (in terms of the Roman economy), so the economic incentive for greater efficiency might not be there. You had to feed your slave, even if there was nothing for him to plane, so giving him a more efficient tool wouldn't be any benefit unless you had more work than your current slaves could handle.

I guess having him stand around idle wouldn't be a good thing, either. Eventually, he'll have time to think about how to engage you in conflict of some sort.