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By Cynthia Green


Any element that marks the top or end of some object is called a finial. Finials are meant to play a decorative role. Finials are also called hip-knobs. Finials are used in many different fields. These fields include architecture and carpentry. The term finial is used in architecture with reference to a decorative device which is typically curved from stone. It is used to emphasize the apex of a tower, gable, roof, or dome. Here are some useful facts regarding copper finials.

The stress that hip-knob achieves could be integrated at the top, end, or corner of buildings and structures. When several hip-knobs are combined, the term pinnacles could be used. In these instances, the structure could have a similar size or they could also be different. There is no particular pattern or order for arranging pinnacles.

Finials can also be used on a much smaller scale where they are used to make decorative ornament at the tops or ends of rods or poles. Here, they are used on items such as curtains rods, tent-poles, clocks, and bed posts. Lampshades are also fastened using decorative finials. Souvenir spoons also have the ends of their handles made into hip-knobs.

The idea of finials is not a recent one. In fact, there are several instances where these structures were used in ancient Greek and Roman buildings. That means that the idea originated long before even ancient civilizations were founded. The earliest use of hip-knobs can be traced back to Asian cultures of around 700 A. D. Hip-knobs were used back then to decorate pagodas.

Trade is usually given credit for the spread of hip-knobs to the rest of the world. The idea kept on spreading as Asians traded with individuals from the rest of the world. After Gothic architecture was finally adopted by the Frenchmen, finials were known to them already and they were added into the architecture. This idea spread more to the rest of Europe from that time. They have been adopted all over the world today.

One can make hip-knobs from virtually any material given that they have such a wide application. Plastics, wood, and metal are some of the materials they are created from in carpentry. Additional materials they can be made from include stone, masonry, composite materials, and bone. In different settings, these items are typically made from copper.

Hip-knobs can be made to any size one desires. There are instances where they are made very small to be fitted on utensils and cutlery such as spoons. Elsewhere, they are made very large and make an integral part of buildings and other similarly large structures. They can also assume any shape that the maker wants them to take. For instance, they can be made in the form of animals, plants, automotive, geographical features, heavenly bodies, and human being among others.

Besides decoration, one can use hip-knobs for many other reasons. For example, a person can design these structures in a manner that they act as lightning arrestors to conduct electricity from lighting into the ground. To act as lightning arrestors, they must be made using correct structures.




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