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Zorg

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Everything posted by Zorg

  1. Oh GODS thats funny. Knew it had to happen....sequel o mania leads to cross-breeding.
  2. I dunno if this is new, but it certainly be FUNNY. http://loadingreadyrun.com/showmovie.php?x...klikepirate.mov
  3. Ah, but as lovely as ye would be, there be so many doxies about the port. What else could we find? some of the Chinese pyrate ships had female gunners. And I knows there were female ship's chirurgeons and physicians in the Atlantic. Ye might ask Red Maria bout that one as it's served her well on the west coast fer some time. Hadn't it lass?
  4. I also seem to recall a really interesting letter of marque from Wm Bowles (billie bowlegs) and the State of Muscogee against the spanish for the sloop Miccusucee Mekko (if memory serves) in the musem at Ft. Walton. Issuing them is one thing. Makin em stick is another. Rather surprised that some of our less than enthusaiastic supporters abroad haven't issued letters of marque and reprisal against the US....or at least against some of the corporations. Corporations......Oooooooooh, now THAT could get tasty. :)
  5. Now, Maria, when was the last time ya looked at a man's FEET?
  6. LORD was I drunk last nite....
  7. Most of the descriptions and the few surviving examples seem to have been pretty crude, just an iron blade pinned to the end of a 7 or 8' spar. We made a couple of them using the lance heads we got at jas townsend and sons (www.jastown.com) which are pretty impressive looking, but I suspect would be on the high end of the real things. The pikes were apparently stored around one of the masts upright for quick deployment.
  8. OF course, with my eyesight, the first time I saw the post I misread it as "damsel in distress needs shaving..." Ah well. Wellcome, lass..
  9. This whole thing is complicated because, as we come into the 18th century, we are coming out of a period--read:all of human history--in which most of style and technology was local, not general. Couple that with the pirate characters that ranged the world, sampling, buying, and stealing their equipment, and you've got a formula for some really dubious "accuracy" debates. Nam Singh once sent me (ali if you read this, send us the source) a listing of criteria for accuracy used by a group he worked with. It makes sense: The goods involved: 1) Definitely existed: We have examples or multiple or very detailed illustrations of the goods from the period and location we're portraying. 2) Probably existed: We have drawings and/or descriptions of the goods from the period and location, the technology existed at the time, and similar goods may/did exist in neighboring civilizations at the same time. 3) Possibly existed: The technology existed at the time, similar goods may/did exist in neighboring civilizations, and the goods are a logical extension of usage or style for the culture we portray. 4) Probably did not exist: No pictures or descriptions exist for the time and locale, materials were unlikely to have been available, goods are culturally counterindicated for the group we portray. 5) Definitely did not exist: Technology did not exist at the time, materials used did not exist at the time or were unavailable to the culture, goods are too far out of period. Anyway, as a test for reenactment accuracy, it works fairly well. :)
  10. http://www.venganza.org/flash/fish2.htm :)
  11. Me favorite has always simply read: "If i want your opinion, I'll read your entrails...." :)
  12. Oh, check this out!! :) http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/con...otoshop#entries
  13. Me mum always told me to be perlite when pillagin' :)
  14. I also must admit to being highly amused by the fact that deadmentellnotales.com has seen fit to place a CHOAKING HAZARD warning beneath the ad for this sword. Now THAT's drinkin!!
  15. And I fully agree with ye Master hawkins, the things a serious forarm exercise unit. The end heavy blade is as much an axe as a sword, and finesse isn't its forte. The main thing to recommend it is that it's stout and monsterous cheap for such a solid piece. It also tends to resemble earlier period cuttos whose primary use was more to the hacking line and timber end of things (as oppose to the slicing skin and gristle end). There seem to be a couple of variants to the blade shape and weight over the years, as well as minor changes in the guard. These seem to be more a matter of who was making the thing rather than intentional design alterations. I've considered picking up another and regrinding the blade to make her less nose heavy. As tis, I have other activities to build up my forarms rather than swinging this thing. How say you?
  16. Deja vu. Did we have this conversation already? Or was that with someone else? I know this came up within the last week or three. Maybe even in this thread? (But I'm to busy too go back and look.) Anyway... the two swords in question. True, they appear from these pics to be close. But we do know that the DeadMen cutlass is a repro of a RevWar era sword. The tip of the blades don't match. Neither do the guards. On the plus side, it is dirt cheap, and guys I know have modified them into looking even more like a sword from our period. Just as a note, I use the bottom sword in question (I believe Cascabel uses it as well) and have found it stout and well constructed. I also believe this company makes some boucan style knives, though I've only found pictures of them and never a source.
  17. If you've be wondering why I've not been much in evidence on this board lately, I was in a mishap on July 10 that kept me offline for a bit. I thought it might be instructive to pass this on. I was at a meetup with some of the crew of the Juryrig (as nice a group o people as yd ever want to meet, by the way), and had spent a lovely afternoon shooting my doglock, shooting Duncan's giant slingshot, and helping set up his new period tent, eating way too much food, etcetera.. As evening wore on, someone suggested we start the fire, which was set in a metal fire ring. I decided to fire it up in traditional fashion, laying a small amount of powder in the kindling, then using a spark from my pistol lock to ignite it. Ive done this dozens of times before, at dozens of events. I have dealt with this stuff for over 20 years with no mishaps or injury. That record ended July 10. I took precautions that were reasonable and prudent, placing a small amount of powder in the cap to dress the tinder while keeping the bulk of the powder well behind me. only I don't smoke, and failed to realize that the fire ring might have been being used as an ashtray. The small amount of powder --most of it still in the metal cap in my left hand--flashed immediately, and, startled, I drew back. Which of course exposed the powder can. In my right hand. boom. Instantly, the whole area was wreathed in smoke. Duncan said he literally felt the wall of his house move from the detonation. The only thing I could see was that my right sleeve was on fire. I beat it out and ran inside and got under the shower. There was skin hanging off my right forearm, the back of my fingers looked grey and weird. I thought at first the injuries were minor, but then the pain set in, and Duncan, bless him, drove me to the hospital (and over his mailbox in the process). After a ridiculously long time in the ER, a doctor came in, took one look at me, and had me transported to the Johns Hopkins burn unit in Baltimore (a place which I highly recommend if you are so unlucky), where, at 5AM two nurses.....ironically from the island of Dominica.....debrieded the skin (which was fine except for the screaming parts). I was very very lucky...we all were ( I've had a few other reenactors say they don't understand why I still have hands). Dogg caught a bit of the flash and it dried out his contacts and he caught a sliver in his eyelid (whether from the explosion or the angle grinding we were doing earlier I don't know), but at last report was doing fine. He and I seem to have been the only injuries of note. I had been in garb (doublet, linen shirt, and no polyester) which protected me from the bulk of the flash. Aside from some powder tattoo (hey, its period), healing second degree burns on my hands and arms, and my hair, which will grow back, I'm fine. But. Aside from the pain, the healing time cost me a summer. It also cost me the trust and friendship of the Juryrig crew, which is far, far worse. If there's anything to come of this, it's two simple lessons. One is, no matter how careful, you can't forsee everything, especially where lots of people have their hands on the surroundings. And the second, None of us regard these things we deal with--the swords, the firelocks, the cannon--as toys. We do, however, sometimes forget that they are, pure and simple, instruments of murder, and however ancient, that they will happily fulfill that function given the opportunity to do so. No amount of apologies or explainations are likely to cut much ice with Duncan and the Juryrig crew, who frankly didn't know me from Adam. I only hope that my experience can keep someone else from having a similarly interesting evening........
  18. Until, I thinks, the 31st of August, Chivalry Sports.com be running their yearly sale. I just bought neigh to $700 US worth of costumin fer about $300. Much of their stuff is applicable for 17th/18th century, and the stuff is very nicely made. Z
  19. Didn't know that site....thanks studly
  20. nonononono, Bess, we said "worst" not "silliest. And the thing that scares me most, is that all this lot has SEEN it.
  21. nonononono, Bess, we said "worst" not "silliest.
  22. Actually, even a good starch will work. I know a number of fiber artists that use either spray starch worked into the fabric or, as you said, a dilute shellac. As for the effects of mercury, They're overstated. Now if you'll excuse me, the winged giraffe here wants to use the computer and I have to get back to working on the hats if the table will just stop melting.......
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