Capt Thighbiter

Investment Bankers - (soon to be on the Endangered Species List)

We used to keep powder for the cannon in a water tight, oak keg, bound with brass hoops and brass brads. 1f Goex. You know after 2 years, there was a goodly amount of smaller grain and also some dust. We no longer use it. I think if you use the horn only once in a while and it just hangs up on a peg most of the time , the degredation of the grain would be at a minimum. We are on the move come Apl 1 thru Nov and the keg was getting bounced around in our van quite a bit, apparently. We store all powder now in the Goex cans, in a wood lined metal box, until the day of an event , when the horns are charged.

While not a member of a three part patched club, I been around enough of 'em. Only a peripheral similarity, to my mind. A better comparison would be pirate to bank robber of the 1860s and up. Money and notoriety. Thats the ticket.

Prying is never a good idea !! You may scar up the edge of it, and also the face of the lockplate. The correct method of removal is to completely dis-assemble the lock, and then support the lockplate across the jaws of your vise so that the tumbler is loose between the jaws, and using a BRASS punch, tap the square shaft down and out of the hammer. Removing the cock (hammer) is unfortunately the last step to taking apart a lock. Sometimes they are not really tight, and can be gently wiggled a bit and will come off without complete dis-assembly, or they can be taken off with VERY careful prying, if they are not too tight. The tumbler shaft usually has a very slight taper to it so that the cock stays tight. If you try removal without complete dis-assembly, keep in mind that when in the fired position, the shoulder of the cock rests on the top edge of the lockplate, and in some locks, this is all that keeps the mainspring from falling off the toe of the tumbler. For that reason, if you remove the cock without dis-assembling the lock, you need to do it at half-cock. Thanks Arthur! I hate forcing anything ( except maybe my wife) to do stuff. >>>>> Cascabel

So, to stand behind my belief that there are no dumb questions: How the heck do you get the hammer off the pivot? I removed the screw and the hammer is still stuck on the square pin. Do ya just pry it off? Or is it secured by a second method that does not present itself so obviously? I am of the school where 'metal pats are not just stuck, but being retained by something - brute force never a good idea'.

Easy there Harbor Master, I was merely asking for opinions on a methods of construction. I didnt even offer a opinion on what was better or best. Sounds like someone needs hug!

And rum! Don't forget rum! We'll be bringing our favorite, Cruzan Black Strap Molasses Rum - like pancake syrup with some authority, to be celebrating with. Celebrating what? Who cares!

Gotta love a woman with her own rifle collection. In fact, you better love her!

Grey Dog i hopes ye come and says hello to us, we'll be the rowdy bunch making the music! We'd love to say hi to all the Pubbers at Baltimore. We're at the Admiral Fell too, it's like RIGHT on the square where everything is happening.

Thanks folks. Patrick, you should see what this kid can do with a pencil and paper - it's almost f-ing scary, like a fine grain photograph. He did a study of Jimi Hendrix a few years ago that I have framed - visitors aways ask where I got the photo from. If he gets the same skill level on the digital pad as he has on paper - watch out!

There is a Pirates game out there, you put the ships together ( pre cut plastic) and attach sails. Each ship is assigned different hold capacity, # of guns, weight of guns, # of masts, crew #s, etc etc. Rolling dice agains the opponent determines loss of masts, hulls or gold coins. Not a band game, and the ships are not bad either, but the cards ( ships) cover all sorts of pirates - vikings, GAoP, China, etc. Just get the card sets for the GAoP ships. Any good comix shop will have the packs of cards, usualy 6 ships a pack.

My son Erik did this with some fancy digital sketch pad, hyped up graphics computer at school and I forget which graphics program. Its all digital, it allow him to basically pencil sketch then color digitally. Thats him with the blue bandana.

If the turtle heads fit over the butt of a dog lock or other small arm, that would be pretty cool! all shelaced and weathered. Turkey feet - give them a couple coats of poly urethane ( to keep the stink down) and drill a hole thru the end and wear 'em as luck charms.

As a side comment, I for the life of me can't figure out why holdsters or buckets were not common, period. Seems like the technology was certainly capable at the time of producing SOMETHING, even if it was on a craftsman, individual level. THere was certainly a need for them, like some here I've done the experiments with multiple guns (5) and at anything more then a brisk walk unsecured pistols flop around badly and loose the priming.

Yeah, for Cruzans Black Strap Rum. It be all we drink. In fact we even put 'er on our pancakes and French Toast. Makes for baked goods with some AUTHORITY! We calls the stuff 'prune juice' for its resemblence to that vile liquid, but I assures ye that its the finest rum at a resonable price ! Yes yer Pyrate Rum and Elitist Rum and whatever shitist Rum be smoother or stronger or have fancy fruit flavors, but only Black Strap has the Molassess taste! And at $15.00 a bottle, well yer inner pirate deserves this!

We just added a link on our website http://thebrigands.com to enable the user to listen to 5 different songs by The Brigands. Go to our website and click on the "LISTEN" link. Songs from each of our four CDs are available. AND - we are going to give the 15,000 th visitor to our website a full set of all four of our CDs in current production: The Brigands (2003) Bloody Seamen (2005) Pirate Scum (2007 ) X (2009) All you need to do it take a screen capture showing the hit counter at 15,000 and send it to me wrench13@aol.com . Thanks to all of the folks who support The Brigands during the course of our concert season ( April - November). We hope to make 2009 our most memorable year, both for us and our audiences and fans. Al, Erik, Brett Mueller and Kevin McQueen The Brigands

Here is a link to some neat sounding receipes for mead, beer and some other period drinks. http://www.renaissancefestival.com/forums/...php?topic=358.0 LOL the closest I've come to making anything potable is making 21-day balloon wine with Welches grape juice, sugar and yeast. Yep, 21 days and yer good to go. We just made some for a hippie party we threw last summer. Oddly, all the balloon wine went! But, we had a half tray of 'special' brownies left over.

At the Blackbeard Festival, the Kalmar fired its two larboard cannon, iron 4" bore long guns. Blanks of course, and I dont know the powder charge they used ( we were further up the shoreline, working our pitiful little popguns) but they certainly roared! I believe those guns are full scale and are very impressive. I didn't even think of the weight, they had to be 3500 lb or more each. Having a line of them on the deck of a actual old vessel would stress the hell out of it!

As far as the size of any long guns aboard ship, that would vary quite a bit as to when the ship was built and at what stage the progress of cannon making was at at the time. The Kalmar would certainly have had different guns then the Constitution. I seriously doubt any ships have original guns mounted. Age alone would make these un-safe to fire, never mind the eventual honeycombing that happens to all cannon barrels over time. And original period barrels are mega bucks as far as thier value as antiques, where as reproductions are expensive but attainable. As far as how many Quackers any given ship has vs real guns, that would depend a lot on the $$ the owners feel like putting into the ship.

Nice looking carriage ( though not Naval). The ad says it's a turned barrel, so that means the trunnions are attached in one of the ways discussed under the topic "Trunnions".

Thanks for the eval of the re-enactor stuff, we were thinking about switching to that this year. Last year we went through almost 15 lb of powder and its getting expensive! Looks like we will have to eat less, so's we can afford to use the good stuff again!

I;ve seen cannon for sale that are machined as a tube of different sorts and then have the trunions attached in various fashion. 1) trunions sweat fitted into milled pockets 2) trunions sweat fitted into milled pockets and then welded at the joint 3) Trunions JB Welded into milled pockets 4) Trunions welded into milled pockets 5) Trunions threaded and screwed into tapped, flat bottom pockets, then welded. Milled pockets have flat bottoms ( as opposed to a drilled hole, which has the drill point at the bottom. Your opinions on these methods? For the cannon owners among us, how are your trunions attached to your long guns? I have all bronze guns, with the trunions cast as part of the tube.

Its great to read about new 'tina players ( and old ones too). Can I suggest something? We should all learn to play a signature tune on the concertina, so when we meet at faire, festival or encampment, we can treat the listeners to the sound of our mighty reeds being played in unison! Might I suggest 'St. Annes Reel' in the Key of D. Its a sprightly reel, and the playing techniques can be as advanced or simple as one might wish. The sheet music ( bleecch!) is available on line since its an old old traditional tune and tab is out there too. And all sorts of midi files, so us play by ear types can get it too. What say ye fellow squeezeboxers? Or has anyone another tune to suggest?

concertinas - i love 'em. No offense to others, but the Honer is not much better then the ones from China. BUT, try a cheap one before you decide to spend the bucks for a decent one. On the east coast, its THe Button Box - specializes in concertinas, decent student to professional grade. My Stagi ( considered a good student model) was like $600 - 24 button in G/D - most popular for playing fiddle tunes on. If your going to be backing singers, try a C/F Reeds go bad eventually and need to be replaced by a professional. 'tinas are so easy to play, once you master SCALES on them. and since there is only one scale on each button row, its pretty simple. If your on the East coast, The BB sponsors a Squeeze-In - a tremendous concertina jam session with hundereds of players. Good Luck!

The Brigands are proud to release our 4th album, titled "X". As one might surmise, it contains some music and songs that are rated X and are not suitable for young ears. No shit. "X" is available through our website http://thebrigands.com