Gentleman of Fortune

Best of luck in the new venture!

Cascabel That is the ONE forum I have found so far that actually helps/welcomes new folks. It has been a big help so far, and I have no complaints. I should probably have mentioned them in my original post... but I was on my soap box and couldn't get off it... Shame on me!

I couldn't think of a catchy thread title to get your attention, but I got a legitimate question concerning some "other" hobby related forum site. While my ability to participate in Piratey kinds of things in person has lessened my participation on this forum... I still like this forum a lot, its got great people people, and its a nice open and welcoming format. I turn 44 at the end of this month, which will mark 32 years of involvement in SOME kind of Historical/Re-enacting..... I've done everything from a 15th sentry peasant/soldier, right up through the Second World War. While every hobby group has "its elements" and quirks, on the whole, most folks are very friendly and helpull I am also a Guitar collector/player, and participate in a number of forums in that regard (and run my own website www.revfan.com no problems... Great folks yadda yadda. BUT RECENTLY.... I introduced my kids to Star Wars about a year ago... starting with the CLONE WARS animated series last Christmas, and now we are slowly going through the "Big People Movies" and are about 1/3rd through the Attack of the Clones. So, my kids wanted to have "real" star wars costumes for Halloween... and I thought, "Hey, there is sure to be a local Star Wars/Geek society here, we can join as a family". If you have seen my Piracy Website ( www.gentlemenoffortune.com ) you will figure out quickly that I don't take my costumin' lightly (even for the wee ones in my family). So I have tried to navigate through the Web Galaxy to find good information and a friendly forum of SW enthusiast out there to help me out. MAN! Holy Cow! Aye Caramba! For most of these sites, I can't seem to get into the good stuff/threads, without being a member.... and to be a member I got to send in a picture to be judged.... Some other sites, I can't check out the Classifieds till I become a member, others I can't even check out the "Off Topic Lounge" until I've passed my grace period.... Now I KNOW some folks just like going into the Lounges and add "Yeah, That is cool" to every post in there to get their post count up but c'mon... If you are a newb, how the heck are your going to contribute valuable info if you are in fact A NEWB? How are you going to get good stuff for your kit, if you don't have access to the "good stuff" classifieds on their site? Am I supposed to get crappy stuff on my own, send pictures in for rejection, so that they can tell me I should have bought "acceptable" Space Galoshes from XYZ member? Are any of you folks members at these places? One of them has various threads regarding pirate stuff... MY WEBSITE is quoted as a place to go for good information about the topic, but I CANT GO IN YOUR FREAKIN' LOUNGE???????? Ok, Ok... I know. Its their playground, its their rules, but I am suddenly worried that once I go through their virtual spakin' machine to become "one of them", I won't like em anyway, and want to quit. Help me out here... say AMEN! or OUCH!

I stuck the number of players we had into the random number generator (Found here http://www.random.org/ ) then counted down using the first responder as #1 and so on... The winner is/was Oderlesseye! Congrats, now PM me your shipping details and I'll get it out this week. Cheers, and thanks for playing

Counting down... Still have till midnight tonight... I'll post the winner here tomorrow

Wow... cool to see this is still going on! We did the first one... 2006?

Cleaning out the closet. If anyone responds here, to this post, between now and Sunday (Oct 16), I'll put your name in the hat for this box of stuff I have. Its a crammed 12x6x6 box with high end fabric samples, a desk compass, Rev war era repro cartridge box body, unopened can of snuff from a UK company that has been making it for 300+ years... Etc etc.... I'll even pay the shipping you cheap skates....

Just saw the thread... I have a purple justaucorp from grosgrain silk. Purple was an expensive color... historically, very expensive and often used by Royalty, Higher ranking clergy, and to some extent the ultra wealthy. I looked for 100% silk grosgrain for about 14 months before I found any at all... and when I did, it was tomato red at $300 per meter or purple at $120 p/meter. You know how many meters goes into making a justaucorps? *Gulp* I lived in the UK for about 5 years (its where I found the material) and went to many castles, estates, museums there. I found VERY few period paintings of folks (men or women) that were dressed in shades of purple that weren't in the above categories.... but I did find a few. One that springs to mind was at an estate home in Bury St Edmunds.... it was a hugely significant religious town at the time,,,, but I found a pretty cool painting of one of the upper upper upper class gentlemen who wasn't a church official in an absolute gorgeous purple silk justaucorps. So, if you use purple, and want to use it historically, I think proceeding with caution is advised. If I was going to make a mantua out of purple cloth, I would probably choose a silk material. Cause when you wear it, you are not so subtly claiming that you are one of the most wealthy people at the event. So, you can't really wear a $10,000 dress and mate it with $25 payless shoes, and a walmart handbag... if you get my meaning. I couldn't take pictures in the museum house, but have found some other stuff relating to purple's use in the 18th century. I'll dig for it and post it here.... no promises though.

Agree with the naturalist here. If you need a quick weathering for theater or film, then the fake route will be the best way forward... but if these are your re-enactment clothes, that you will own/wear/use/loan over an extended period of time, the natural use might be the best bet. It doesn't take many events of sitting around and working the campfire, cleaning guns in your lap after a demonstration, or setting up/taking down tents and displays to make the clothes lived in/aged. Plus, after about 10 events you have the satisfaction of knowing you did it the hard way. If you use chalk, paint, and other artistry, it will look great when done, but maybe not so good when its has been washed and used for 5 weekends worth of events. Good luck though

Hurricane hit it on the head... Its fantasy... all fantasy. No matter how Historically "correct" we try to be, we are pretending to be something that we are not. Its escapism and fun, and neat, and all that stuff.... without the danger (hopefully). We get to live out a fantasy, and that is cool... and with so much crazy, wack'd out stuff going on in the world, we need to loosen up a bit and have fun. Men, women, children, and yard gnomes.

There was another thread discussing this topic... My personal opinion is that during the GAOP, most normal sized wood barrels should/would have wooden hoops. Only the very largest during this time period may be iron hooped... and those would be too big to use at an event. I believe there was a guy out of Czech or Poland that was making "reasonably" sized wooden barrels with wood hoops... but shipping might be a bear. I am unsure of any Stateside wood hoop coopers...

Another neat piece that maybe simple-r to make is the blunderbuss style pistols that were popular during the GAOP. I would think you (that is you with your skills) could take one of the Indian import pistols and retro fit it with the blunderbuss style barrel. Good work!

Somebody grab that axe!

PS Do yourself a favor and take MANY copies of your books to sign and sell!

GREAT Idea! Not only is it super cool, but I bet you could actually MAKE MONEY by sharping stuff at the events! **For those of you who have yet to figure it out, if you can get the hobby to pay for itself, you will have the system licked! AND it will keep your spouse off your back (somewhat!)*** Can't wait to see pictures of you plying your trade!

That is Really Cool Mr Foxe My guess is that folks who would sign up for such a Parley are going to be foaming at the mouth for any info. Depending on how much time you have to speak, I'd go with 1/3 of the time for a BROAD overview of Myth/Reality, 1/3 on some specific minutia that is cool (what are commons threads of all the probate and wills of all the pirates you have read through? as an example). And then leave the last 1/3 for Q and A.... but have some back up stuff in case the crowd is silent (but I doubt that). I hope you are going to have audio visual capability... slides of reality vs Myth would be cool. Best of Luck to you!

"I am not entirely prepared to rule out that Cullen was in fact a horse-riding transvestite, but in that case he probably ought not to be considered typical" See that there folks? That, my friends, is comedy!

Wow... A lot of time, effort and energy went into making this graphic... a shame to take the site's name off. Until you decide... get a Monmouth cap. Good for 1500-1800

Sew cloth stockings are right, and knitted ones were available too... But knitted stockings from the period are made differently, I believe on a knitting frame. There was a time when I was desperate for some correct stockings (knitted) but I think the cost to have someone do it the right way was $300+(they were reconstructing a knitting frame) I think there was a pattern for cloth stocking floating around... somewhere. Good luck!

I vote Foxe for Senior Class President! I have said my peace on this before, so I won't go into much detail However Everyone needs to seriously take a look at GAoP bucket boots. Here are some from early 1700 And another pair French, same period From Nicole Kipar's AWESOME 17th Century Site... where you will find more pics and great info 17th Century Boots My Point People use the fact that "boots were worn during the GAoP" to justify ANY BOOT they feel is "Piratey" If you are just goofing off with a pirate kit, fine. If you want to tell people that you are accurately portraying someone from the 1680-1725 time frame, at least get the boots right. Historically accurate GAOP riding boots cost a small fortune now, just like they cost a small fortune in the GAOP To get some now, that is ACCURATE riding boots, you'd need to spend $500-$1000 depending on who is making them So if you must, get Sara Juniper's 17th Century Riding Boots $972 Most folks, at best, have a late 18th century "riding boot" simpler to make and cheaper... but wrong for GAOP... or at worst:

Matthew Most decent "units" should have enough stuff to get you kitted out for your first event or so. The world of pirate re-enacting is a very large tent, and there are many different approaches. Some folks go in for the silliness aspects of slapstick piracy as seen in a lot of Hollywood movies. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I have known a few hard-core re-enactors from other periods who just want to do something to let their hair down and not worry about their stitching, or chrome tanned leather... There are also groups that try to do it as close to historically accurate as possible. Thank God for those folks too! Then there are the entertainment pirates, who sing and dance and make people feel good about themselves and make going to the event 100% fun for everybody. You might want to try each one... as you might "think" you belong in a certain category, only to find out that the grass really is greener in another camp... no harm/no foul. I am from the Tidewater area of Virginia myself, and there are LOTS of groups of all types within a comfortable drive of there... Hampton Blackbeard Festival is coming up... soon. Good luck!

It is about time somebody started making these... kudos! Now make the boarding pike head! Saw your grapling hook. I have pics of a simpler three tined model that might be easier to make. One long round stock piece folded in half with sharpened ends turned down. The fold in the middle serves as the ring anchor... Then another tine is welded to the other two. It dates to the 1700s. Found my picture Good luck

Long dead thread... though still stickey'd Looks like they are getting bigger and better all the time at RH... You should check them out http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/

Hey Guys! Well met indeed. Its good to "see" so many of you. I stick my nose in from time to time just to see how the winds are blowing. I especially like to see the thread from PIP and folks posting pictures of themselves in their kit. I was just reading some stuff from the forum at the PirateBrethren site... good stuff. CPT BO: Thanks for finding the "in your garb" thread and bumping. I swear I looked for it... damn my eyes! How is school going? Taking care of yourself? Hurricane: Glad to see you are still sailing. I can't tell you how many times I think of you and your group... down in sunny Florida! On my bucket list is hearing you play. Oh yes, I have a strange bucket list. FOXE: How are things in "Jolly o'l"? Still with the ship? I have been having a blast re-reading long dead threads here and at the PB forum. Keep all that good info coming. Folks do read it, and its priceless. Still go to TORM? Captain Sterling: I've been busy at your site too! You guys are still carrying the torch and setting the standard. Keep up the good work! Oderless: Thanks for the kind words about the buckles and hearing that they are serving you well. I handed the business off to Mike B, he should be coming out with something soon. Maybe you can be a shoe model?? Also, I think you are missing your calling. You should do a full Blackbeard impression and take the show on the road. Before I moved to Europe (in 1998), I taught school a bit in VA Beach. Part of their elementary school curriculum included a unit on Pirates. There was/is a well known pirate impersonator who the school system paid to come and give a pirate talk... I think he walked around in his "Black beard" outfit for 45 mintues and gave a talk... Then he was handed a check for like $200. There were 72 elementary schools in VA beach at the time. I'll let you do the math, you can ARRRRR all the way to the bank! I have scads of stuff that I never got up on the GOF site... and got to a point that I was willing to cut her mooring lines and let her drift. It still gets about 5000 folks a month visiting... maybe I should put up a viagra ad on there????? Take Care! GOF

Thanks! It looks to be over two months old... so it was burried Thanks for the "X" marks the spot bump!