michaelsbagley

Thanks for the tip on the yahoo group Morgan Dreadlocke... :angry:

I've just gotten into the forum there, and I can already see that there is a TON of good information for the backyard boat-builder (or potential one as the case is for me)...

Well JohnnyTarr, I'm an hour and a half (okay, maybe two hours) directly south of lake Erie...

Or more realistically, I am within 30 minutes of a number of smaller lakes that would suffice to take a small boat out on... Probably the nicest one of those would be at Deer Lake state park which is about 20 or 30 minutes from where I live...

Or the short version is I am in Columbus in Central Ohio...

I noticed from your profile (pardon my snooping) that you are in Wisconsin... Are you near either Lake Michigan or Lake Superior? (or neither?)

On another note, I had a VERY slow day at work, and I did some searching, and found a two masted day sailer of a similar line to the Swiftsure (the above linked design)... I didn't bookmark that one, but the design was called "The Happy Pogo Pogo" or something like that... The photo of the pogo did not leave as good of an impression on me as the Swiftsure did.

Actually, I prefer the smell of pipe weed to any other tobacco.... I could just sit there all day in the same room as a pipe smoker...

I smoked for about 15 years (on and off, but more on then off)... and damn it I miss it... Mind you I miss it less now that I live in the US than I did when I lived in Canada. No offence meant, but US cigarettes just don't smell or taste as appealing as Canadian ones do... And just about every American I have met (that smokes) says the opposite... I guess it's a situation as to what your used to.

I still light up occassionally after a few drinks though, because Dennis Leary said it best when he said that "nothing goes better with a beer, than a cigarette"... or something like that.

Ya know Johnny Tarr,

Now that you mention it, I took a closer look at the diagram on the wweb site... and it does almost look like there might be a forward cabin there... Then I look again, and think that those lines could be just about anything....

It's too bad that there isn't a study version of the plan.

I've almost convinced myself to buy the plans in a few weeks (have some other expensive items on order right now), but the other half has been rather firmly telling me that under no circumstances, am I going to be alowed to build a boat...

Not sure if I am going to listen to her on that.... But then agaion, buying the plans for my own amusement doesn't mean I have to actually build the thing.... Or there is always the option of buying the plans and talking a friend into using the plans to build a boat for themself and helping said friend so I might get the privelege of borrowing said boat....

I'm guessing that I should not have watched that at the office.... People from two and three cubicles away are looking at me funny because I am gasping so much to supress the laughter...

pout

Yeah $90 on the plans seems like a lot for a stack of paper, but the time, technical knowledge and skill in designing it needs to be considered, and from that perspective, it doesn't seem like so much... :)

But then, from what i have read, those plans rely on the fact that you know what your doing as far as boat building goes... Or else it will be another $30 to $40 for a book (or more for multiple books) on boatbuilding basics... Then the cost of materials....

I love the design and look of that little sloop... but if it was a little bigger to accomodate a small cabin (just big enough to camp in) it would be perfect.

Your welcome for the repost... I thought if there was anywhere that boat design would be appreciated, it would be in the Pyracy Pub!

and to everyone else, for the record, I am not an official sales person of that boat plan... Just someone who has randomly become very smitten with the design and concept...

Just had a quick look at the link JonnyTarr... and that is going to be a nice looking sailer when it's done....

Hope you'll post some pics when your done!

Sorry to those who see this twice.... But I posted the below link in response to JonnhyTarrs comment in another part of the forum.... and I think it might be better suited to this thread than where I originally posted it....

For anyone brave, good with woodworking, and a desire to own a scaled down pirate(ish) ship...

Plans to scaled down min-sloop

Well as you all know (or should by now) I am in the process of building my own sailboat. Next month I get to start buying lumber. I all ready have all the ribs laid out. So I am ready to start cutting. Any one want to come over and help?

That sounds like a hoot... a good ol' boat raising (in the tradition of a barn raising)...

Unfortunately while Wisconsin puts you closer to me than most, it is stilll a bit far for me to go for something like that..

Best of luck to you with that! What style of sailing boat are you building? Is there a link to the plan you are using, or a photo of the boat your plan is based off?

I saw this one... "A small sloop" and fell in love and have become almost semi-obsessed with giving it a go myself....

Thanks once again Kass for helping me learn yet another couple of facts about fabrics!

Period canvas is also greatly varied -- weave, weight, even content can vary from flax to hemp. Sailcloth I've seen has pair warp threads and single wefts. But I've also seen modern canvas with that combo.

I sometimes get my fabric terms messed up... But if period sailcloth (or the example there of Kass cited) essentially 2/1 twill made from hemp or linen?

Again, not I'm a fabric expert , but isn't most common modern canvas found in most fabric stores (also called Duck cloth) a 2/1 twill?

If my above two statements are anywhere close to being on track... Outside of the composition of the fibres, wouldn't period canvas be similar to modern canvas?... once you start talking about close examination things would get a bit different... I can just about always tell linen fibres from cotton fibres... The feel of two fabrics with the same weave made from the two materials are also noticeable to me, and there is generally a slight but noticable difference in the way the fabrics hang or drape.

Whether the same can be said for the difference between cotton and hemp (or linen and hemp) or not is beyond me as I have almost no experience with hemp fabrics....

Have to say Black John and Montery Jack, you are both more extreme than I... I love combat more than most, but I am pretty set on keeping it as real as possible with as little chance of real injury as possible (accepting all the sacrifices that stance brings with it)... Bumps and bruises are badges of honour (for me in my mind anyway ), but seeing stars and being knocked unconscious is something for the braver and bolder I guess.

I had a discussion similar to this with an old aquaintance... We were discussion competetive dulled steel combat versus SCA heavy fighting. To quote him on this "You can fake fight with real(ish) weapons, or you can really fight with fake weapons...". That quote has always been my favourite way of summing things up since I heard it. He prefered the really fighting with fake weapons, and I was (and still am) a huge advocate of the fake fighting with real(ish) weapons... (Although I still attest the fighting with fake weapons can be done pretty realsitically if done well enough)

This Shortsticking business sounds like it bridges the two as the sticks are real weapons in their own way...

As someone who started out with Olympic style foil fencing, and then moved to medieval blunted steel sword fighting, I had an incredibly difficult time breaking the habit of wanting to use thrusts...

I eventually did manage to find a way of doing thrusts that is still safe enough (by the standards of most dulled steel combatants, but opinions may vary), and it looks reasonably realistic as well...

I don't know if I can explain it fully or properly here, a it is one of those things that is definately easier to show (maybe we can cross blades sometime ), but it essentially boils down to thrusting with the blade at a slight angle so that when it contacts your opponent, it skids across his/her body... Almost like the opposite of a draw cut, yeah, like a push cut. If you keep your elbow unlocked, on the chance you misjudge (or your opponent makes an unexpected movement), you will less likely injure your opponent as the pressure of the connection will cause your arm to bend back rather than the point of your weapon being driven into your opponent...

Another thing to keep in mind is trying to do thrusts of this variety going with your opponent's body dynamic... if his body is turned more one way or the other (as it should if he/she is using a proper combat stance) do the push/draw thrust so that if said opponent does move laterally, again your point will more likely be knocked away from him/her rather than be thrust harder into him/her...

Hope this makes sense, I can try to elaborate more if you have any questions.

So they used blue quite a bit in the 17th century, then switched to red and grey in the beginning of the 18th century, then switched back to blue by mid-century.

That whole red state/blue state thing rears its ugly head early on, eh?

It seems the red/blue state thing began before the country even began...

Makes me wonder why we never colour labelled the Canadian provinces?

Wow,

Madder and Woad... Blue and red seem to go back further than the Middle Ages... I've sat through many a lecture on dyeing in the Dark Ages (and actually learned something in doing so ), and those two dyes with Weld (which produces yellow or green depending on how you use it) seem to be the most common dye stuffs used by most European cultures throughout most of history based on what Kass is saying here. Indigo was used in the Dark Ages as well, but was more scarce and a little more costly than Woad, and hence was more of an "Upper Class thing" (in the Dark Ages at least).

So was Weld still used this late in history as well? Or did it fall out of use sometime in the seven or eight hundred years between the late Dark Ages and the GAoP?

I'm actually happy that some of my knowledge of early period re-enacting is carrying over...

Thanks Kass,

The proportions of the line drawing you posted made the outfit look rather... well, unappealing to (in my eyes anyway)... But after seeing Patrick Hand in a reconstruction of that outfit or one simialr to it) in the photo he posted, it actually looks rather good. (Hat's off to you Patrick, and/or your clothing maker). Thanks for sharing the photo of the reconstruction... It really gies a far better impression of the outfit than the line drawing does!

Did this movie only get released in "limited engagement"... I have not seen any local listing for it showing in any theatres... Or has it just not been released yet?

I can wait for the DVD, but I would rather see it on the big screen.

You forgot the "quay" spelling of the words "key" or "cay"....

Do you mean Cossacks, as in the horsemen of the Russian steppes? Now that you mention it, the depiction looks very much like a cossack. Thanks Kathryn!

Ya know, after hearing Foxe's description... I got an image in my mind of a very basic canvas smock with a keyhole neck line.... I pretty much lost all interest... I'm making some pretty ig concessions with my garb by going for an "average seaman" type portrayal rather than something fancy and pretty... (Although after I get a basic set of starter garb done for an average sailor type portrayal I will make something nicer for vanity wear)...

But after seeing that picture... Gack! That is hideous looking! I guess it may suit some tastes...

The pants in that photo look very much like what Viking age Rus baloon pants are supposed to... What is the provenance of that drawing? Is it a picture of a Russian or Eastern European? Or something else entirely?

I've never heard of a frock coat made from canvas. But short jackets (as Foxe has quoted) and also sailors' frocks (not frock coats) were made from canvas. So were breeches and trousers...

Okay, I've done enough reading to know what the short sailor's (or common man's) jacket's are... But what is a sailor's frock? Is it something between one of the common man's jacket and a frock? Or is it another term for the justicorps?

And does Kass have a pattern for said garment? Which one is it, if so?

Just trying to get the garb lingo straightened out...

For boat hooks, is there any comments or evidence to whether they were split socketed, or cone socketed?

It's not a cruicial issue for me, but a little detail I am curious about...

To make sure I am being clear as to the terms I am using, both sockets are essentially the same, but the split socketed term denotes that the socket has a split running the length of the socket to allow for easier cinching of the metal to the wooden shaft.

I am so envious... Captain Sterling, that is an incedibly array of toys, clothes, books etc....

Having just moved from a large apartment of my own, to a mid-size apartment with my lady, I had to give away, sell, or just outright dump many of my belongings... Moving from one country to another helped force this mass disposal of my precsious goods....

But I have finally talked the woman into getting a larger place, so while I have no real workplace of my own for the moment, when the lease to her/our apartment runs out in a few months, and we move into a larger place, I will again build myself a sanctum to my hobbies!

All told, I think I would prefer Williamburg as well... Even though tt would be an additional 2 and a half hours of a drive for me... From all I've heard and read there would be more of interest to me in Williamsburg than Gettsburg...

Now to play Devil's advocate with myself, from what Kass said about Gettysburg being cheaper for conference space, and just knowing that the event being in Gettsburg would likely draw a larger American Civil War crowd, I think it would probably be better for the interests of the RF 2.5 to have the Festival in Gettsburg...

I heard about it through a Dark Age Saxon and Norse group... Alhtough from some of the talk on thier chat board, it sounds like some of the group's member also do black powder re-enacting and have links in those communities... Not sure if they also do American Civil War, American Rev-War, or 1812 stuff (or all of hte above, or something else entirely)... But it sounds like a great opportunity to help spread pirate re-enacting in the lmostly land-locked mid-west...