Zephaniah W Nash

At first, I thought I should stay away from this topic like the plague. There is little more likely to create bad feelings than religion or politics. Then, I saw the huge copy/pastes. From skimming them, most are arguments I've seen before. Whether or not to go into a detailed commentary on them remains to be seen. I would like to make two points, however. It is extremely unlikely, in my experience, that this sort of debate is ever a wholly objective one. At some point, on one side or t'other, one or more of the debators falls back on accepting some point or other on faith. Once that happens, the discussion is no longer objective, it becomes subjective. Secondly, regarding creationist theories -- even if they are accepted, for the sake of argument, this in no way points toward the accuracy of the Christian Bible -- only that there was a Creator. It could equally well be Odin creating the Earth from the body of his father, Ymir. It could equally well be Izanagi and Izinami stirring the primordial ocean with a spear. It could equally well be the Great Old Ones creating a playground in their celestial insanity. Etc., etc. As I read the bulk of the thread in more detail (and if I see that the thread won't be too likely to devolve into arguments), I very well may post a more detailed commentary.

Thanks for the comment, Rusty. I wore one for about 6 hours this past Tuesday, very comfortable and my cutlass rode very nicely, but the next time I buy supplies, I'm going to look for a somewhat siffer grade of leather -- a heavier sword would tend to make it slide around a bit, I believe.

As Aurore posted, there isn't too much going on in Texas in a purely pyratical line, as far as festivals go. For the most part, it seems that if us Texicans want to do anything local, we have to glom onto some other sort of event, such as a Ren Faire or the like... With no local reenactor society to speak of (at least, in this particular line) it means very little bargain-hunting in hock shops and local trade days, unfortunately. Although, if we round up enough local folks, maybe we could start some sort of festivities our ownselves.

We'll hoist a few here to his memory...

Thanks for that info -- I'm sure you're right, and it's brass with a high copper content. I had managed to forget the existence of "red brass," even though I've come across it more than once. I suspect it may become part of a pistol belt...

Very good point, it may very well be bronze. No metallurgist, me... Apart from the color, I was largely basing my assumption on the odor, as well. As it was cleaned, it had a strong coppery smell to it...

Just amongst odds and ends of tack kept in a storage shed of my father's. It lost a good chunk of roof and wall in a relatively recent storm, and we moved everything out -- just now getting it cobbled back together and able to move everything back into it out of truck campers, trunks, the back porch, etc. These happened to by laying about. We had actually assumed they probably came from the same girth -- from which the center had rotted completely away. If that was the case, whoever made it was just matching together odd buckles, because they are definitely different, though cast the same.

I salvaged a couple of buckles from an almost-completely rotted-away saddle baldric. They were tarnished to such a degree it was really hard to tell exactly what shape they were in, so I cleaned 'em up with some lemon juice and steel wool, and discovered: Unless I'm very much mistaken, the one on the left appears to be copper, or at least a particularly heavy copper mix of brass. The color values in the pic aren't perfect, the actual buckle is an even richer copper-color than it shows here. So, if I'm going to use it for anything, I'll have to possibly find some other copper or coppoer-toned hardware (which, after a quick Google, doesn't seem that likely, to my chagrin), or use it without other hardware.

Elspeth had to walk by and smack me upside the head, my eyes were stuck... That is a truly impressive piece of work.

I don't have a holster pattern as of yet. I was trying to make one, but the leather I have now is just too pliable -- makes a nice baldric, but needs to be stiffer to hold a pistol firmly, in my opinion. And I'm still kicking around ideas myself, regarding whether to attach the holsters to the baldric permanently, or put together an arrangement where they can be moved easily to where the wearer wants them. And you are exactly right concerning the sizing of the baldric. I could easily add probably another three to five inches of play in this design without the hang of the sword being thrown off too drastically -- more than that, I would have to take out a bit of length, but that is one advantage to the pieced-together build rather than one solid length of leather, there's lots of places you can play with length without any problem. The other advantage I found being that, with nice pliable leather, you get stretching issues if you try to make the entire construction from one long, continuous strip of leather. Build comes into play quite a bit beyond height, this one fits my wife nicely and she is significantly shorter than me, but she has other... accountrements... that pick up the slack, if you take my meaning.

About equal parts freehand, using three other baldrics made by others (the professional kind), and trial-and-error. Basically followed the build of the others in the parts of them I liked, changed what I didn't to something I did like, and wasted quite a bit of leather along the way. Gotta love the scrap-bin. This pattern took... I think... four complete builds and re-starts, with a couple of other completed pieces that weren't bad, just not what I wanted for myself. Those I gave away to friends as gifts. One of the biggest changes I made from all three of the pre-made ones I have is a more vertical hang for the sword. It seems that quite a few baldrics are made for a rapier, which needs a fairly horizontal hang (relatively speaking, of course) to keep from dragging the ground. I wanted something more along the lines of an approximate 45 degree -- partially 'cuz I'm taller, and can manage a rapier that way when I need to wear one, and since I tend to wear the shorter blade, as in the pics. I've got to go leather shopping again soon -- the better half has declared that I am to build her one, but she would prefer a somewhat stiffer leather and a narrower strap across the chest. I'm also considering building one for a basic left-hand hang -- one to wear across with one of these with pistol holster(s) in-built (may have to go without a buckle, just joining the belt solidly to wear double), and because a lefty friend has decided she wants her very own, as well...

They are mostly fit to me (about 6'1") with only a few inches of play. I think you've hit on one of the flaws in my cunning plan, shadoes. I can easily adjust them for more play in the future, and probably need to. Cut everything out myself from a half-hide I picked up (apart from the lacing). Don't know the weight or any of that sort of stuff that I should know, but the leather is appx. 1/8" thick and pretty pliable -- which is why the particular weight-bearing parts are doubled, not that you can tell it in the pics. Cutting the small straps is, indeed, a pain. I did notice, however, that you can buy pre-cut latigo in the correct width. If I were to make these in any bulk, I might have to buy some... I have to admit, part of my thing about PayPal is that my brother-in-law managed to get into some sort of trouble with them. Never got the full story, apart from him saying he lost a good deal of money. Likely, it was his own doing, but it does make me leery... Guess I've just gotta come to the 21st century, at least for some things.

Don't do PayPal right now, I don't do enough online business for it at this point. If I manage to sell a few, though, I probably will. Plus, some other items. I've got a couple of other projects, just not happy enough with 'em yet to even consider selling. I did forget to put in the original post, though, that I'm willing to barter. Ideally, maybe trade for one, sell the other (use that cash to buy more materials -- buckles ain't cheap). Always looking to expand the wardrobe -- particularly a good hat. And always happy to get a new piece of sharp steel or piece of steel and wood that goes "boom." I realize any of the latter would be worth more than the baldric probably would, but happy to have something that needs some work -- I can do some myself or pay someone to do it here, end up better off than I was before.

Finished with a couple of leather baldrics. I'm posting them here mostly for comment or creative criticism, but if somebody needs one, I'm sure I could be persuaded to part with one or both -- and at special Pub pricing, to boot. These are both somewhat more roughly constructed than most I've seen. Rather than machine-stitched, these are completely hand constructed, sewn with leather lacings. Everything made by me, except of course for the buckles. It may be a bit hard to see great detail in some of the pics, black leather lacing on a black leather baldric... well... it blends a bit, but does show up more in person. An overall view: A closer shot of the frog arrangement: A view with sword in place: And a shot with it worn: I'm pretty proud of both (all shots are of one, but they are as identical as anything handmade will ever be), and would greatly appreciate any comments on 'em. Criticism of the constructive variety particularly -- I ain't gonna get no better without somebody tells me what I done wrong. And if somebody just has to have one or both, I'll let 'em go for $50 here (I'm estimating $35 in materials alone), plus s&h, whatever that would turn out to be. I'm thinking $75 anywhere else...

Those don't look half bad. It's sometimes hard to tell if the picture in the catalog is going to look as good as the real thing. When money is a little less tight, I may have to get me a few of those, for the "hangers-on" that like to dress, but not often enough to invest in their own kit. We've got a few of those, as I'm sure do others...

At this point, we're planning a run down November 11-12. Sadly, our plans are all-to-often more fluid than we would like (it seems that lately any time we plan more than a day or two ahead, something comes along to scuttle those plans for us). But, that is the plan at this point. We'll be heading down Friday afternoon, most likely rooming in Conroe, and coming back Monday morning.

blackjohn-- Not to be argumentative... Well, okay, maybe just a little... For my own use, I would agree with you completely. However, there are some advantages to stainless steel. Mainly, no maintenance. Okay, that's the single, only advantage. For someone who is only going for decorative purposes, I would actually recommend something like this. Not much sadder to me than a rusty sword -- which often happens to a quality piece bought for the single purpose of hanging on a wall or being broken out once a year to wear to a Ren Faire. Just 2 more of my cents, which makes 4 on this thread...

Halloween on a Tuesday kinda limits the activity on the actual day, drat it. I think I may have been volunteered to make a short appearance at the wife's work in kit -- we actually get the occaisional request there still, from customers as well as staff. As for this weekend, I was just thinkin' me and the wife should get nekkid and scare the hell outta each other...

They're pretty. And probably worth the price for what they are, although if you wait around a while, budk is pretty well known for running specials, so you could possibly find them cheaper if they happen to come around again to their specials list. If you're looking for something that you can use as more than decoration, though, avoid them. Just my 2 cents.

It seems to me that the spider webs, if nothing else, could just serve as a plug of sorts, no too different that stuffing cloth into a wound to stop bleeding. Not horribly hygenic, of course, but it might do in a pinch. If there are other, actual medicinal properties that actually do aid in clotting apart from the plugging factor, this is the first I've heard of it -- and it is somewhat interesting. And Dorian, with the hot musket barrel, I've done the same with other barrels, but it's always been my understanding to actually cauterize a wound, the weapon would have to be red-hot. Heat enough to just blister (as if that isn't hot in and of itself ) supposedly just wasn't hot enough. Having accidentally grabbed the wrong end of a branding iron once, there is a bit of difference there. Ouch. But at any rate, it looks like that particular method of treatment wasn't used all that much. I've never heard of the idea that one's own hair would be the best for stitching up a wound, but the idea seems sound, from a holistic point of view, at least, even if there's nothing valid behind it. I mean, it would just make sense that something from one's own body would be best, wouldn't it...? Of course, considering the state of cleanliness of that hair might make all the difference...

Does anyone have any general information on the impact piracy has had (particularly during the GAoP, of course, but any would be helpful) on the economy, either worldwide or on particular regions or countries? Google searches are mostly turning up modern software, music, and movie piracy articles. Some of it is interesting, but not that helpful at this point. Either information directly posted here, or links to useful sites would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard more of cauterization for wounds in later time periods, and even then only as an emergency treatment -- definitely not the first choice, but better than letting someone bleed out. I've even seen some anecdotal accounts of people slapping a hot gun barrel onto a wound to cauterize the wound, but that one seems pretty farfetched to me, particularly in the days of muzzleloaders. You'd have to be reloading allfired fast to ever get a barrel hot enough to cauterize flesh. And as far as butchering animals, I'm a life-long hunter -- and not for trophies. If I kill something, somebody is a-gonna eat it. Mostly deer, but there's other tasty critters out there, too. We had a major run of feral hogs throughout the local cattle country last year (and a bit this year). Wild pigs will completely destroy pastureland, and you don't know a good porkchop or ham 'til you've eaten one that isn't pumped full of all the stuff the corporate pig farms do to the meat. In fact, we gave away many, many pounds of the meat to a friend of the family who has an allergy to penicillin -- which left him out of eating most commercially produced pork products.

" Exactly! How many of you here have butchered a pig? Prepared the body of a family member for burial? Performed a bloodletting on a child, spouse or horse? Assisted in the delivery of a child, or calf/colt, etc.?" All of the above, apart from preparing the body of a family member for burial. Although I've dug a couple of graves -- picked up a little extra cash from a local cemetary. Okay, bragging aside... blackjohn; I'd be as curious to see the documentation saying specifically that maggots were not used in the appropriate time frame. I'm starting to become a bit leery of the tendency of some historians I've read to declare that if they cannot find a specific mention of some practice or other in a particular time frame, that it necessarily did not happen at that time. It seems to me that if something was common practice right up until the specific time in question, and common immediately afterwards, that we should probably infer it carried on throughout -- unless we have specific documentation that it did not. May not apply to this specific subject, just a general view I've been developing...

I considered the use of seawater as well, for cleaning/flushing out wounds if nothing else. I seem to recall having heard somewhere that, depending on where or perhaps where that seawater came from, it could be chock full of pretty nasty infectious agents. Purely anecdotal, though, old-wife tale sort of thing. And considering the sea-borne cloud of filth that would surround a becalmed ship, it would probably be a really bad idea in that situation. But it's one of those things that got into my head, so I discounted the use of seawater without really considering it. If it is, in fact, true, then a minor abrasion would probably be fine, but a deep wound opening up muscle and/or veins/arteries would be a bad idea to expose to it. Basically, I just don't know. Very possibly better than nothing at all, though. And some interesting stuff in the other posted info there, Jenny.

Good points all, Siren. The only think I don't think I would begrudge as part of the prison system would be the rehab programs. There seems to be quite a bit of strong evidence out there that rehab programs reduce recidivism -- get off hard drugs, commit fewer crimes to buy drugs and/or fewer crimes commited while under the influence of them. That one, at least, seems a good investment, with the returns (less cost in dealing with future criminal activities) outweighing the cost (the rehab programs themselves). Of course, hanging is cheaper than either. And you don't have to worry about recidivism. It may bring up a whole new crop o' problems, but so would my dueling scheme, so what ya gonna do...?