The six and eight-vertex models revisited

Elliott Lieb's ice-type models opened up the whole field of solvable models in statistical mechanics. Here we discuss the ``commuting transfer matrix'' $T, Q$ equations for these models, writing them in a more explicit and transparent notation that we believe offers new insights. The approach manifests the relationship between the six-vertex and chiral Potts models, and between the eight-vertex and Kashiwara-Miwa models.