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JazzlikeScarcity248 t1_irtbkfp wrote

Reply to comment by 2Mike2022 in Has metal ever been used in ancient/medieval fortifications or any equivalent by HDH2506

The athlit ram was a single cast copper and that thing weight 1,000 pounds. Hell I think most roman naval rams were single cast. If they could fortify ships that way, why not doors and buildings?

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BobTheAverage t1_irtekpe wrote

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_ram >The Athlit ram consists of a single bronze casting weighing 465 kilograms (1,025 lb). It is 226 centimetres (89 in) long with a maximum width of 76 centimetres (30 in) and a maximum height of 96 centimetres (38 in).  ... The casting of an object as large as the Athlit ram was a complicated operation at the time, and would have been a considerable expense in the construction of a war galley.

The ram was MUCH smaller than castle walls. It was 7' long by 2.5' around. A castle wall could easily be 10' tall and several feet thick. A 10' section of wall would need maybe 6 times that much metal and castle walls are far longer than 10'. Metal walls would get wildly expensive very quickly.

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JazzlikeScarcity248 t1_irtfbt0 wrote

Parts of the walls and doors could have been reinforced too.

Honestly I was just fighting back at the idea that large single cast objects did not exist till the industrial revolution.

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BobTheAverage t1_irth3dj wrote

Your example isn't that big though, not compared to a castle. Doors were sometimes made of metal. Portcullis

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Yeangster t1_irtidiz wrote

Bronze was easier (as in actually possible, given technologies at the time) to form into large homogenous pieces like that, but let’s not forget that bronze was really expensive. One of the incentives for developing him iron casting technology in the 18th century was that while bronze cannons were better than iron cannons, bronze was way more expensive.

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2Mike2022 t1_irte8xg wrote

Did you even read the original post. Its about covering the walls not just the doors.

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JazzlikeScarcity248 t1_irteysk wrote

How are large, single cast objects not relevant to this conversation?

>Did you even read the original post.

You forget a question mark. Did you even reread your comment before posting it?

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