Grymm

theres a picture of one here: http://www.crossmanc...d%20sheath.html Pretty wee thing ent it? And the fella carrying it circa 1542 looked like....well a sailor From the Embarkation painting at Hampton Court Palace, short jacket slops/trews and a woolly hat. Laguiole in France do a trad folder (Pliant) http://www.laguiole-...briques&rubr=27 and the custom (sur commande) have a spike option as well as a corkscrew. And the trad Spanish in the penknife section of this site....well take a nose round there are some cracking blades and a lot that haven't changed design since the 17thC. http://www.aceros-de...star&pa=navajas There's also some abject shite on there too, especially in the 're-enactment' section but the penknifes well worth a browes. Me, in 18thC kit I carry a horn handled sheepsfoot folder made for me by the late John Buttifint a quiet and talented man andknife maker who I was proud to call friend. Sadly John circumed to bone cancer a few years ago now =o(

If your looking for stripe patterns other than the standard mattress ticking try searching for French ticking, in the UK a very nice lady to talk to is http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Morgaine-Le-Fay-Antique-Textiles She also has a shop down in deepest darkest Sussex

This is going to make me sound like a right stitch counting twunt but;- Plaid meaning tartan/checked/multi-coloured stripey/checky is a later application of the word, in 16th-18thC weaving and Scots type speak plaid means either a blanket or a length of cloth and there are many refs from the 16thC onwards, when the Scots Highlanders start wearing belted plaid/great kilts, to plain white, grey or 'russet' 'plaids'. No offence meant to any one btw, it's just one of those OCD button pushes for me.....I really must up the medication.

ebay site selling point blankets Also search for hudson bay blankets From the witney blanket site By the 1670s Witney blanket makers had established new markets for their products in North America and Africa, as well as having a good domestic reputation. By now carts were travelling every week from Witney to London loaded with blankets to sell and export, and returning laden with raw wool. The Hudson Bay Trading Company was established in 1670 and placed an order for 45 pairs of 'Oxfordshire' blankets in 1681; it was to become an important client of Witney manufacturers in the future. In 1677 the historian Dr Robert Plot wrote that Witney blankets 'are esteemed so far beyond all others, that this place has engrossed the whole trade of the Nation for this Commodity'. He also recorded that the Witney Industry employed at least 3,000 poor 'from 8 years old to decrepit old age'. 18th century The Witney Blanket Weavers' Company was formed in 1711, following the issue of a Royal Charter of incorporation by Queen Anne. The 'Company' was really a guild set up to regulate the manufacture and sale of blankets made within a twenty mile radius of Witney. This degree of protection for the local trade had been a long time coming, since Witney weavers had for at least 60 years occasionally been voicing concerns about standards and fraudulent practices. The Company built its headquarters (known as the Blanket Hall) in the High Street and here blankets were weighed, inspected and marked, courts held and fines imposed on the members. It has been estimated that when the Company was set up there would have been about 180 looms working in and around Witney directly employing around 360 people, with perhaps a further 2,000 or so men, women and children working in supporting roles as carders, spinners and quill winders. Trade with the Hudson Bay Company increased from the early 18th century. Coarse blankets were sold to North America and finer ones to Spain and Portugal. The blanket trade generally seems to have expanded from the mid-18th century onwards, four or five waggon loads being sent to London every week in the 1760s.

Witney Blankets have been around long time and were certainly being traded to the colonies in the 17th & 18thC Witney Blanket Story Website They ent cheap by they is warm =o) Early's (of Witney) were the best but I think that duvets and quilts have killed their blanket trade, they turn up on ebay occasionally and there are some manufacturers making looky likey 'point blankets'. There's even a site dedicated to vitage point blankys The Point Blanket Site But essentially Early's are good from mid 17thC to about now =o) A search for Early's of Witney or Point Blankets on ebay turned up a few most at $100+

A Watteau late 16thC -mid 17thC Dutch Dutch circa 1630-50 Teniers mid 17thC

In creamware possible 18thc or a 19thC copy of an 18thC painting Hogarths The Enraged Musician (Grinder is bottom right)

For those looking for the meaning of odd words in documents and letters Wrights Dialect Dictionary, available on Archive.org in various forms inc a kindle download. Vol1 A-C Vol2 D-G Vol3 H-L Vol4 M-Q Vol5 R-S Vol6 T-Z

Bit early but the Mary Rose book has some knives found in and around the wreck, they come in pointy and sheeps foot varietys with some fantastic carved wooded scabbards. Buggered if I can find any images online though. Pete Crossman of Crossman crafts used to have some on his site but I can't find it anymore.

Beer rather'n rum but very much in the same vein Bombadier Beer ad

Cotton from India, a multitude of different stripe colours and patterns but that pattern is one that turns up. Remember to make sure it's a woven stripe not printed,( I got caught out once, made it into a tablecloth and a play pirate petticote for me Neice so it dint go to waste)

It's from the same set as the chaps gutting fish stood in barrels, but which flipping forum that was on evades me, think it was here or ukpirate'. Looks to me like badly drawn trews/slops under an apron with a sleeved waistcoat over that. He also looks like he's midway through this song, I'm a little teapot short and stout Here's my handle, here's my spout When I see a teacup hear me shout Tip me up and pour me out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez3BFGXR02A

The big squid have a lot of ammonia in their system, a freind who is a marine biologist said that a fresh(ish) washed up Humboldt Squid (one of the big buggers) smelt like a cross between burning car tyres and a hot gents urinal!

The Somme (and first use of the tank), the big bang at La Boisselle, Verdun, Jutland, German agents blowing up stuff in New Jersey(Black Tom), Lawrence and the Arab Revolt, oh and the Irish thing. *edited first to tidy up the punctuation and second time to say why i'd edited it the first time.

Apologies, the recipe was for cuttlefish.....well they are a bit squiddy To dresse a Cuttle fish. This fish is of no account, & therfore dresse it as you will. It's from Epulario which was originally late 15thC but gets recycled and reprinted right up to the early 18thC.

It's one of my favourites from the period, for the offhand language, not the flavour! To prepare squids Cook and dress your squid as you will, they are of little worth.... I'll see about hooking out the ref/date for you.

The question was what sorts of cargo was valuable. Tea was a valuable cargo. Tea was being made into bricks at the time. So the debate is where this particular form was used during the GAoP. I was quoting someone from a group that claims to be the most accurate pirate group anywhere. Apparently I made a mistake. That said, I am really offended by all of the "Look what he said! Isn't he an idiot!" on what is at best an obscure subject. My minions will be waylaying you in a dark alley. My seconds will be calling on you. No offence meant, more putting myself up as a tea nerd/teachers pet, guess I've been watching too many editions of QI. http://www.qi.com/tv/clips/series_D.php I have been researching the tea brick thing in fact it's become somewhat of an obsession (Well one amoungst many) and best evidence for the production of teabricks is mid to late 19thC as an export from China and India to Tibet and Russia. The smuggling of tea was as big if not bigger in Britain as it was in the Colonies, tax on tea here was 5/- a pound from 1680 making the cheapest 'legal' tea 7shillings a lb as opposed to the smuggled stuff at 2/- to 2/6 lb. Late 17th and 18thC smugglers bringing tea into Britain used 'packets' or 'dollops' oilcloth bundles bound up and weighing around 40lb a throw, size of a medium suitcase, each member of the landing team was expected to carry at least 2 sometimes up sheer cliffs before loading onto the pack horses/mules for the trip inland. They then stop at various points and divvy'd it up into smaller bags of 1 and 2lb for distrribution by local agents enroute, the bulk ending up in a big town of city. From the descriptions it's loose not bricked. And my choice of weapons is handbags at dawn.....

You caught that too, did you? Haven't we been there before? And I just left a room full of people who could have weighed in on that topic! But today we were focused on beer, wine and cyder now Cider is a subject I'm very fond of, especially with the warm spring weather we've had here over the last week....A Chiltern pub garden, pint of cider and a goodbook, heaven Didn't some pirates rob fishing boats in the Atlantic when things got a bit 'hot' in the West Indies?

=o) [Grymm minor] Sorry Sir. There is no evidence at all for tea bricks in Europe or The Americas in the 17th and 18thC sir. As is/was being discussed here http://pyracy.com/in...483#entry398483 . [/Grymm minor]

More 'browning' instructions. http://www.laurelmou..._brown_inst.htm and the product http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/barrel_brown.htm

This is the stuff Birchwood Casey Plum Brown Barrel finish http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Finishing/FinishingDetails.aspx?ProductID=c13fa667-ed45-4e20-ba31-b39c418ed211 Heat barrel, paint on, job done, the odd light oiling, no more rusting.

Sir! sir! He said tea bricks sir!

Red sky at night ......sails alight!