Captain_MacNamara

I for one am a little tired of the prices... and the excuses. Every hiccup is a "reason" to spike the gas prices. Gas prices drive up the price of everything else... minimum wage stays the same. Cost of living goes up, minimum wage stays the same. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor sink deeper into poverty. And before you get into the "choices" debate, lemme shed some light on the "poor" side of the coin. I am like alot of the poorer people... so hopefully this will hit home and not sound like I'm whining for my own benifit here:

I am poor... I grew up in a poor family, in a small town in rural Oklahoma. I was home schooled, which in itself costs more than public school obviously... but I couldn't go to college. I didn't have the grades to get scholarships, and my family simply didn't have the money or the desire to send me. Home schoolers don't get a high school diploma, so I had to settle for a GED... Meaning minimum wage jobs, at least for a while. I was forced to move out of my parents' home when I was 16, because they didn't want me to have a girlfriend. I also was not allowed to have any kind of job when I was living at home, so saving any money for anything was out of the question.

Living costs money... moving costs money. I could only move to the slightly bigger town "next door" so to speak, because of lack of money... I hit life head on so to speak. To get a job here that pays more than minumum wage, you have to have a college education. College was out of the question... you can't go to college that costs more than 20k a year on a 16k a year job. When you barely scrape by, you can't afford to save up enough money to pull up stakes and move somewhere else, hoping and praying to find a job and a place to live. So we didn't *have* a choice of where to live... we had to take what we could get.

Same thing with vehicles... if you want a gas efficient vehicle, you're going to pay for it. When you can't afford a new or near new vehicle, you settle for what you *can* get... like my truck. It's a V8, and gets 12 mpg... but it's ALL I could afford.

I know that was a bit of a long rant, but the point was not all of us *have* choices. Whether it's where to live or what vehicle you own. And to those of us who don't have the choices, the crisis with the Gas prices is extortion... because the cost of gas drives up the cost of everything gas transports. And while the government may not have direct control over the gas prices, they *do* have control over minimum wage.

And for those who may not know, Minimum wage is a (censored) joke.

While we're on the subject, can anyone (Hint Foxe ) tell me when the tri-corn came into being?

I've always wanted to do a nighttime firing... but ther're not allowed at any event I've been to.

One of my Captains makes them... unfortunately, I personally haven't learned how to make one of those yet. I'll drop him a line and see if he'll share the "pattern" with me... Otherwise, I'm sure I can come up with something along those lines.

Thanky for the compliments...

and Nice work there, Morgan

Yeah, that star knot is out of nylon, my first one. I do all my work in cotton now

You can email me the pics too... but there's an IMG tag you can use to post pictures.

No... coachwhipping is on my short "to learn" list. I'm saving it for when I make my sea chest beckets.

If any o' ye needs custom knotwork, however... lemme know. I'm open to new ideas.

Yes, though not in the style I make. A traditional Cat' was usually made from a 3 foot piece of heavy rope. Roughly a foot of the rope was left for the handle, and the rest was unlaid into it's 3 strands, which were further unlaid into their 3 yarns, giving it 9 tails each 2 feet long. 3 knots were ties in each tail, and the Cat' was sometimes constructed by the person to be flogged.

Sometimes they were just that simple. I have, however, seen examples where the handle has been wormed and parcelled, and some that have been wormed, parcelled, and served. I've only seen one that has been made of decorative knotwork, and I can't remember if it was an extant period piece or not.

Bellropes:

Here's some things I've been working on. With my disability, I've been looking into an alternate means of employment, so I thought about selling some of my work, and perhaps taking on some new custom work.

So far, I can make a plethora of things, ranging from monkey's fists to bellropes.

PM or Email me if you're interested in having any work done

A couple Cat 'o Nine

Star Knot, with a bead in the center

One of my belaying pins(which I also make out of oak) with a Turk's Head Knot

Simple Boat Fender

Monkey's Fists

Ropework Handle

Knotty Bottle

Ratlines

Are you talking about the frizzen?

I use the one it came with... I get a good spark with english flints from Track of the Wolf

Here's the pictures of mine:

I used something odd to color my stock. I was cleaning it after it was assembled, to get a bit of surface rust off the barrel, and noticed that the never-dull I was using discolored the wood. I was out of stain, and didn't have anything else that would suffice, so I rubbed the wood down with the never-dull.

It worked beautifully, and after a few days I pust a layer of clear coat over it, which wears off in places, creating a nice aged look.

For the lock and barrel, I initially used brown... the kind you have to bake on. I was unhappy with the results, because it seemed to make the metal actually rust *faster* than with it plain. So I attacked the metal with steel wool, removing the most of the brown in most spots. I used 4 coats of perma-blue, which came out almost black. Mixed with the rust brown, it also enhanced the aged look. Then for giggles, I baked some brown on the brass sideplate, and polished most of it off, also adding to the aged look.

All of that, with my other modifications, make for a nice one-of-a-kind piece.

What a coincidence... Mine is the *other* review concerning the triggerguard

I built mine in one evening, and snapped the guard in the same spot... as with yours, mine doesn't detract from the beauty of the gun. I added genuine burma rubies and brazilian emeralds to the triggerguard and grotesque. I also added silver crosses to the sideplates... so no one really even notices the break.

Dixie offered to replace the triggerguard, but I have it well in place and have an emerald set into it, so I wasn't too keen on dismantling the piece. Besides... imperfections add character.

*sits on a nearby couch and munches popcorn*

Hey, this is better than what's on TV...

For myself... I wear leather combat boots. No one has ever even noticed my shoes... though I want a pair of buckets. Because *I* like the look. I couldn't give a damn about authenticity when it comes to footwear. I play this game to have fun, and if you're not having fun, then what's the point?

To the authenticity nuts... I mean... Historically motivated pirates, huzzah for your efforts. It take alot of work to put together a *few* period items, much less a whole kit.

To those of you who are in it for pure fun and fantasy, huzzah! You enjoy having fun, and most of you get the whole point of the "game".

I float somewhere in between. So I catch it from both angles, as it were. I based my persona loosely on my family's actual history... and some of my stuff is accurate. Alot of the rest is there because it looks good.

Sloth... Love... Wench... Rarrrrr!

Both blank and projectile:

44mm/1.73" bore Deck Cannon

Just blank:

.40 caliber miniature

.50 caliber miniature Naval Cannon

.60 caliber miniature Carronade

We had more, but some scurvey rat stole half our armoury a couple months ago. We're also getting one of the 1" bore Grey Star barrels in February.

You could afford one from Grey Star... 1/3 scale 6 pdr for $185. That's a price that can't be beat for a 23 inch long barrel.

Harbormaster has a couple, one of his is in that picture. The large black bastard on the left. By comparison, the large bronze one on the right runs about $900.

I'm gettin' one or two in feb.

Excellent....

Me and my cannon crew use a linstock and slowmatch... and stand to one side and slightly behind the cannon. No need for goggles, and I *offer* hearing protection, but so far no one wants any of that.

Course... we are a bit on the crazy side.

Cold enough to freeze the balls off the brass monkey.

It's not that I mind the cold, in fact I preferr cold to blisterin' heat. But me pipes are frozen, and we've got no water.

Trailer coming soon

Gotta be quick around here... And I missed it

This one was just for looks, out of wood I had on hand...

If I wanted it functional, I'd spend the extra coin for oak...

Thanky Patrick, I'll be on the lookout fer that one.

Rhumba:

"A deadeye is an item used in the standing rigging of old sailing ships. It is a smallish round thick wooden disc with a number of holes through it, vertical to the plane of the disc; there are usually three holes. They are used in pairs; a line is run back and forth between them, through the holes (in sequence), so that they function much as a pair of pulleys would, to provide mechanical advantage, pulling harder on whatever the deadeyes are attached to. Pairs of them are placed in the shrouds (the lines that hold up the mast), where they are used to create greater tension in the shrouds."

Ahh... I'll make you two sets of axels for 2 sets of caps

I just need to know the width of the truck base, and the width of the wheel so I can get the axel spindles the right length. I'll make the axel spindles 1" in diameter so they'll fit. I'll leave them un-drilled so you can finish them to taste...

Edit:

The Wild imports ones are turned, just not completely rounded out on the spindles. Then they're hand finished... gives the illusion of being hand carved.