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Projects
An important part of education is hands-on learning. Here we offer instructions and plans for projects that help students understand medieval and colonial technologies.
  • The Bread Oven: Symbol of Colonial Liberty/A Claypot Oven, Gregory R. Ziegler
    Teaching activities. This project allows students to create a working bread oven for the cost of large clay flower pot and a paving stone (typically $30-40 at your home or garden center) and a bag of barbecue briquettes.
  • The Bread Oven: Symbol of Colonial Liberty/A Large Clay Oven, Gregory R. Ziegler
    Teaching activities. This project allows students to create a large, working bread oven.
  • Build your own Quern, Gregory R. Ziegler
    Teaching activities. Model. Photo instructions on how to make your own quern, a hand-powered millstone.
  • How Millstones Grind, Robert P. Rich & Steven A. Walton
    Teaching activities. Model. Create a model that demonstrates how stones grind. Compare millstone patterns to identify how the grain is turned into flour as it runs from the central hopper to the perimeter.
  • Building John Smeaton's Waterwheel Testing Device, Steven A. Walton
    Teaching activities. Model. How to build an 18th-century waterwheel tester. Links to Smeaton article pdf (80 pages) and Walton instructions pdf (3 pages).
  • Smelt your own iron! , Steven A. Walton
    Teaching activities. How to smelt your own iron. Instructions, video, photos.