re: Viking clamps.

This reminds me when I was doing some minor fix ups
and repairs at the kids house a couple of months ago .
my son in law had broken a light bulb while trying to remove
it . In earnest he continued on , until there was nothing but
the brass screw ring left inside the fixture . I scrounged up a piece
of thin rubber and cut it to a length the would fit inside the ring,
then I used a pair of linemans pliers,spreading the head of the pliers
until they made contact with the rubber. Then I put a lot of force
spreading the handles apart while backing out the rubber ring and
brass screw ring together . Leverage and friction ,…. two off- set
levers with a pivot point(pliers) ,working in reverse of what it was designed
to do , but it worked . Those clamps got me to thinking about
levers and pivot points …..interesting stuff .
Did you know Vikings made their shields out of Balsa wood . Sounds
crazy right ??? , …….crazy smart .
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_shields.htm