Museum of Old Techniques

The fine folks at Belgium’s Museum of Old Techniques in Grimsbergen have got some nice photo series online.

Here’s some bronze casting, a shoeing shed for gigantic draft horses, and a charming series of tiny bakehouses. Put your mouse over the picture if you want the slide show to stop so you can study one, move your mouse off to the side to resume.

This excellent one shows how an iron tyre is shrunk onto a wooden wheel. The same technique was used on ancient and medieval shield rims, Celtic chariots, and the quintessentially American Conestoga wagon.

They’re preserving some old mills, too – including at least one with an undershot wheel and a horse mill of uncertain function.