These are the irons used to split stones, also called feathers and wedges.
The feathers are tapered half round irons that fit back to back  into a
drilled hole in the stone.  The ends are bend over a little bit to keep them
from falling into the hole, I guess why they are feathers. There is a gap
between them at the top into which the plug is driven.  The pressure of the
plug spreads the feathers, creating a tensile force within the stone.  A row
of them will split a big stone with surprising ease.  I was using some this
week on a project where I needed dutchman stock but didn't have a diamond
saw big enough to cut off slabs of the right thickness.  There, another 50
thousand opened up.

On another subject, everyone knows the etymology of dutchman for repairs and
its relation to New York's baseball team but what about "sincere".  I heard
that it came from the Latin "sine cera" (sp?) meaning without wax.  In that
explanation a bronze was "sincere" if it was a good cast and free of pores
and holes which had been improperly filled with wax to hide the flaws,
therefore, without wax.  It is a pleasing concept and, having run into many
"insincere" repairs in bronzes which wreck havoc (what is havoc anyway, I
know what running amok is, it's a murderous rage in Malaysia but I don't
know what havoc is) with cleaning during treatments I am sympathetic with
the concept.   A radio commentator I heard on NPR debunked (can you bunk?)
this story, although he claimed it was for Roman marble that had been
doctored not bronze, saying that it came instead from the Latin "sinecare"
meaning pure.  Not as poetic and hardly a concept worthy of occupying your
mind during monotonous cleaning work, a tedious time when I admit my
thoughts often runs to matters anything but pure.

Anyone have any other word stories relevant to preservation?

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, November 12, 1999 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: Puncheon Floors -- again


>In a message dated 11/11/99 6:39:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> There!   Now I have at least 50 thousand neurons which are freed up from
the
>>  responsibility of holding this knowledge and are available to fill with
>some
>>  other marginally useful fact. Any suggestions?
>
>What's plug & feathers?
>
>][<en
>