Readers were curious about pendulum saws, laser tweezers and more
Your letters and comments on the April 28, 2018 and May 12, 2018 issue of Science News
Cutting remark
Archaeologist Nicholas Blackwell built a version of a Bronze Age pendulum saw that may have been used to build Mycenaean palaces, Bruce Bower reported in “How a backyard pendulum saw sliced into a Bronze Age mystery” (SN: 4/28/18 & 5/12/18, p. 32).
Reader Fredric Blum argued that a pendulum saw’s blade would have dulled too fast to completely cut through stone without having to be replaced, making for an impractical saw.
Ancient Mycenaeans could have used the blades along with crushed emery to cut stone, Blackwell says. Compared with the sand that Blackwell used in his experiment, crushed emery would have embedded in the blade and prevented it from wearing down as fast. But even in his experiment, the blades didn’t completely wear down. “I could have made numerous additional cuts with a single blade before it wore away or became unusable,” he says.