NooneOfConsequence wrote on Dec 30
th, 2020 at 8:47am:
You should also look at polymerizing oils on the wood friction surfaces. With enough heat and friction, soybean oil turns into something akin to Teflon.
Whoa, I didn't know that about soybean oil. Polymerizing oils. I will have to look into that.
IronGoober wrote on Dec 30
th, 2020 at 7:23pm:
Your videos are amazing, by the way. Very fun to watch.
I know very little about historical trebuchets, are the bearing surfaces just wood on wood? or can/do you use things like bronze bearings (they must've had bronze? right?).
Thank you! The bearing surfaces are just wood on wood here (good to use different woods, one harder than the other). There is an interesting article about this kind of stuff. I should re-read it actually, it's been a while. I think they had a lot of things (iron, bronze, etc) and certain setups were complex. But a lot were simple and just wood vs. wood (thinking of grain mills mostly).
https://uccshes.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/friction-and-lubrication-in-medieval-europe-the-emergence-of-olive-oil-as-a-superior-agent.pdf