michaelsbagley

I'm still intending to come, and reasonably confident I am coming, but I won't know for sure until some time in October as well... It really depends on the satte of things with the job/project.... As I will driving down (assuming all goes well), I don't have to worry about tickets.

Congrats on the coming marriage. I'm with Rats, go with leather lacing or thonging, it will last longer, and probably be easier to do. Looking forward to seeing the pics of what you put together.

No..... I got told by me misses (we're not even married yet) to save my money until after we get back from vacation.... Normally I'm pretty good at the slipping things by her un-noticed, social disobedience is the life for me , but her tone this time made me reconsider.... So they will have to wait until the end of August, or perhaps even until early September...

If you are planning on going with that type of shoe (as typical of Fugawee or Jas Townsend), there is also Mount Misery / GG Godwin, they have their cheapest line of shoes priced at $80 (currently), which is cheaper than what both Fugawee and J Townsend are selling their shoes for.

Nicely done Edward T. Porter! I particularily like the look of the gear in the third picture.

I once made a Geteld comparable in size to what you have there, and I used 1 1/2 inch poles.... The ridge pole was a 2 X 3 that I round off into an oval profile with a router.... So I think your on the right track for pole sizes. I read of someone once using a length of narrow stairway bannister rail bought at Home Dept or somewhere like that as a ridge pole.... It was between 2 to 2 and half inches thick and a little wider.... Looks great man. As a side note, I use denim needles for sewing canvas on the machine, and I seem to have pretty good luck with those.

It was made by a local guy(local to me anyway)... M & K Armoury as a custom order. M & K Armouries tend to specialize in SCA standards and styles, but they will do nice custom work outside of that scope... They've done some great work for me in all I have bought from them.... (I know this is coming off as a shameless plug, and may better be suited to "Plunder" and I am sorry for that, and beg the pardon of all reading this post). I had Krieger (half of M & K Armoury) make the guard based on the below sword from "Swords and Blades of the American revolution".... It is made for a threaded tanged blade, I currently have a diamond profile 28 inch fencing blade on it, but I also have a 30 inch sabre type heavy fencing blade for it, both blades are too heavy for sport fencing, and the sabre style blades is even too heavy for SCA style fencing by the strictist adherance to SCA rules. I hope that answers the "Hanger or Banger" question..... Cause I'm not perfectly sure as to what exactly you meant by that...

I read that, and let me commend you on how well written it is! But please, Michael will do... I'm neither someone's father nor a school teacher.

I don't mean to further stir the pot, but maybe a part of the issue are the terms used. When I read the word "Forum", I think of the Pyracy Pub as a whole. While I don't believe it is incorrect to call the various "subsections" of the Pub "Forums", I believe it can be misleading to those less familiar with the Pub as a whole. Maybe calling the "subsections" (Such as "Twill", "Plunder" etc) something other than "Forums" will help keep the distinction. While I am by no means an oldtimer on this Forum, I have been around long enough to note that this issue does seem to pop up every now and then, and I would prefer to see the integrity of the various "subsections" (particularily Twill) upheld, but I would also wan't newcomers (or even those who have been around a while) to not keep repeating this type mistake due to a possible lack of understanding of the terms used, because the same term (Forum) can be equally applied to so many concepts existing at the Pub.

Here is my latest toy..... It's the only piratical weapon I have so far.... But I hope to change that soon.

Does that mean we have to start a union?

My favourite book on the topic (which I learned about via this message board) is "Swords and Blades of the American Revolution". It start in the mid-1600s (which a very few earlier samples) and carries forward right up until the dawn of the 1800s. Don't let the name fool you, while the focus is on American blades, there are equally as many English and European samples as American blades.

I've only seen "The Brotherhood of the Wolf" once, and it was some time ago..... But I always took the "beast" from that movie to be a hyena.... And I think this might belong more in "Pirate Pop" or some other channel in the forum than in twill....

Wascally Wabbit

I think the better question is where you can find someone that would let you fire such a thing at them? It's something I sure would like to see..... as long as there was a paramedic there to clean up the mess after..... and the poor victim didn;t have any permanent damage done to them.

Having played a great deal of paintball in the past (I got so into it for a time, I bought myself and still have a fairly high end paint gun). I have never had a problem with washing the paint out of any clothing I ever wore. That being said, I mostly wore darker colours, and it was also almost always a cotton knit fabric, and never linen or wool. How the paint would affect those fabrics couuld be different from how it reacts to cotton. Now taking a dip into my memory, I think most paint balls (this is what I was told when I played which was at least 5 or more years ago) are filled with linseed oil with mild colourants (not staying, but bright). Whether that is true (or was ever true) and whether that still holds is another matter entirely. Some of the guys I used to run with did on occassion wear a white or light grey cotton knit sweatshirt... and they never had any trouble getting the paint out of their clothes either, for what that is worth. Hope this might have helped shed some light on the matter. Edit: I always used common sense and put my clothes in the wash upon getting home as well, so prompt cleaning may have been a factor in my luck of never having stained any of my clothes.

I'm in Columbus just a couple of hours down the road from Cleaveland.... As for strictly Pirate festivals.... Not so much out here.... There is (was?) Great Lakes Medieval Faire Thier web site .... They have a Pirate theme weekend, next weekend it seems.... It's a long drive, but there is the Toronto Pirate Festival at the end of August... It would be about 5 hours drive for you. I only go because I am originally from Toronto... Toronto Pirate Festival Web Site The Archangel crew seem to be centered in Indiana and Illionois... You may want to contact them about any events they may have in those areas. There is the Ohio Renaissance Festival Thier web site.... They seem to have a Pirate themed weekend in Mid-september. It's closer to Cincy, so that would be about a 3 to 3 and half hour drive for you.... There is probably more... but off the top of my head that is most of what I know.

Thanks for the compliments Cheeky and Midnight! I appreciate that!

I finally got my new sword guard! (and way sooner than expected). Now I have even more motivation to finish the sword belt! I won't post the pics here as they are numerous and big (file size).... But I have them stored in this folder in case anyone would like to have a peek. Pics of my new clamshell sword guard I've also included a pic of the original that it is based on.... The guard is made for a threaded rod tang sword blade, so it is currently fitted with a 28 inch fencing blade, I also have a 30 inch sabre style fencing blade that fits the guard. I'm a little geeked up about it.

i dont get it I think pyrateleather means the colour of the photo.... The photo has a reddish or maroon tone to it...

Thanks Enigma. That is the segment I am talking about.... But I hadn't even considered that the reference to "Fireballs" may have been a translators issue related to my edition of the book (which reads differently from your quote, similar, but not quite).

It's a great idea.... I've used wood recycled from wooden shipping pallets for many re-enactment creations. The down side to it is it was hard to find consistant sized peices for what I was making, but the extra work was worth it, it gave the finished product a nice aged and used look.

Well, here is my latest outfit.... I was going more "authentic looking" with this, but I comprimised and used machine stitching and other short cuts as this set of garb is the basis of a set of fencing garb that needs to be more functional that authentic. And a shameless plug here, the shirt, long waistcoat, and breeches are all made from Reconstructing history patterns. And another shot of me in action... I don't have the footwear I want to go with this outfit yet, in the top picture, I'm wearing my modern work shoes, and in the bottom, picture I am wearing bucket boots (and my pair of brown trousers instead of the breeches).

I wouldn't rule out "hot shot" base on what little I know.... But the context of the battle I most recently read this in, the buccaneers had been travelling overland, and *probably wouldn't* have been lugging artillery. Patrick's suggestion of the goopey ball of flamible stuff sounds more like it might have been what was being used. as it would have been more portable.... Thanks to both of you for your suggestions though!

Sigh.... So I have been reading John Esquemeling's "The Buccaneers of America" (more like plodding through, my reading time recently has been extremely scant), and I have noticed a few instances of the Buccaneers using "fireballs" (or was it "fire balls"?). Each time I've read that, I've had a little snicker from my remembering playing "Dungeons and Dragons" when I was younger (is that a 10 or 12 die fireball? ), then the little joke in my head stops, and I read on assuming that the fireball was some sort of term for a "molotov cocktail" type thing or perhaps a grenado or similar device. Does anyone have any other references to the use of "Fireballs" within either the Buccaneer or Pirate eras? Better yet, does anyone have any reasonable evidence (or references to) of what exactly they were or may have been? I'm just curious, and don't currently have the time to delve into it right yet... Thanks in advance for any help. I've doen a quick search here on "Twill" and didn't find anything, if a thread currently exists, I will happliy even take a pointer to that thread.