Charlton Adam, Somerset

[Nick Bowden]

David Bryant writes: 

>>  The answer is a qualified yes but it takes some careful disguised
>>technology, and a bit of a maintenance issue.
>>Pegged ironwork is capable of being re created and I am sure a hydraulic
>>tool could easily be devised to draw the peg in to achieve the necessary
>>pressure to hold the bell against the headstock. Once the kit is
>>available if the headstock shrinks fitting a new peg would not be a big
>>deal.
> 
> Yes, I accept that it can be done, but what is the point? Preserving 
> existing fittings is one thing, but why create new fittings to 
> eighteenth-century designs? The design of bell fittings evolved over the 
> centuries and modern cast-iron headstocks can last well over a hundred years 
> with little maintenance (as is well proven). Eighteenth-century fittings 
> will need constant maintenance. Whilst there is a valid argument for 
> maintaining good examples of earlier bell gear, there seems to me little 
> point at all in re-creating it.

Indeed! Getting back to Charlton Adam, how much is being re-used and how 
much is being replaced, like for like? I still don't understand how patching 
up existing fittings is more expensive than having new fittings.
Nick