Littleneckhalfshell

""Looks amazing, but the tripod looks kinda modern. Still great!"" Well, sure the tripod looks kind of modern, you can see from the date stamp on the pictures, They were all taken next year, in 2008, now THAT is modern. Hey Harbor Master, where do you have your tardis? but on a more serious note, how you going to cast your cannon balls? I have a 2.25 bore and I found a downrigger sinker mold at a tackle shop that is just the right size for casting white metal cannon balls. Just melt down some old washing machine gear casings or old carbruators, even some bases for some old swivel chairs (kind of ironic, no? part of an old swivel chair becomes amunition for a swivel gun)

It's not just the Fed's that are making it hard. got this from the NRA on Wednesday about my not so great state of New Jersey..... ""The New Jersey State Assembly is considering A3943, sponsored by Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-3) and Assemblyman Frederick Scalera (D-36), which would increase the permit fees to manufacture, store, sell, transport, or use explosive material by 100%. A3943 would also increase the penalties associated with violations of this law to as much as $25,000 for a first offense and up to $100,000 for any subsequent offenses. A3943 includes smokeless and black powder used by many hunters and shooters. From the manufacturer on down, these onerous fee increases will be pressed down to the consumers of smokeless and black powder."" I wrote to my representatives, pointing out how this will make it more and more difficult for Hunters, shooters, and reenactors to continue in their hobby. But then, NJ is one of two states that banned sling shots of all things. Hope no one gets any ideas from these anti gun nut cases in NJ. Living here is bad enough, but at least there is the hope to move somewhere someday where things may be better.

"I need something pewter colored" Jib, pewter is a low melting alloy to my understanding, it could easily be melted in a cast iron ladle over a charcoal briquett fire with draft supplyed by a small shop vac. With a little research, I am sure it would be within your ability, if you were willing to try to learn 'lost wax' Sand casting is quicker and easier, and certainly within the realm of the backyard tinkerer.

""Whaling ships must've been nerve-wracking places to work. They had big stoves on deck to heat the try-pots for rendering oil from whale blubber. So you're on a wooden ship with big fires burning, a cargo consisting entirely of lamp-oil and loads of firewood in the hold."" Actually, not that much firewood, from what I understand from what they said at Mystic Seaport, after the first 'books' of blubber were tryed out, what was left over, something sort of like fried pork skins was then fed to the fire. The process was somewhat self perpetuating, with the whales remains fueling the rendering of the oil out of the blubber. Also, there is a substantial brick platform and wall where the two try-pots are located. I would guess every precaution was taken, but I see your point, all that flamable oil, plus the normal combustables on a wooden sailing ship, tar, tarred rope, sails, etc... Boy would that make a bonfire! a lot bigger fire than Capt' Jack Sparrow's lost rum in the first POC movie.

""Has anyone here ever tried lost wax casting? I want to learn so I can make my buckles.."" no need for 'lost wax' unless things are really ornate, or have undercuts or other complicated curves or shapes to be followed, or you wish to mass produce. For something simple like a belt buckle, you can easily sand cast it. I have made numerous sand casts, some of them quite detailed. Usually I cast in 'white metal' (basically a zinc alloy) but I have also cast Aluminum. Brass is something I have not quite gotten up to, but it is only a matter or heat and a proper crucible (the zinc and aluminum I melt in a simple cast iron pot and ladle) To sand cast you do not need a 'centrifical caster' just get a high enough riser and proper vents. You just need a 'pattern' to press into the sand, which can be made of wood, or anything that will hold together. The sand can be as simple as play sand, mixed with some boiled linseed oil (for this type of bonded sand, you need to bake it to harden it so that it will hold together as a mold) I use natural clay bonded sand that I dug up in my grandmother's back yard, but natural casting sand can be purchased. Anyway, it is a good hobby. Wish you luck on your belt buckle.

The answer to your questions is somewhat based on where you live and wish to use black powder. Some states are more difficult, (like NJ where I am java script:emoticon(' ') ) but in less restrictive states, black powder for fun and sport is usually available wherever other amunition is sold. Black Powder can even be ordered through the internet. However, if you are included in the states in the following paragraph, you need to check out your local ordinances, (really a good idea no mater what state you live in, that way there will be no nasty surprise.) funny thing, years ago I bought 50 lb for my cannon's and mortar's, back when I lived in Michigan, and there was not trouble at all doing it, but that was over 20 years ago, now they are on the list below. "The sale of all black powder firearms and ammunition is regulated by law in the following areas: Michigan, Illinois, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico. Shipping is either illegal or requires some type of license or document exchange. In either case, we do not ship blackpowder firearms to these areas. Check your local and state laws before ordering."

Regarding Chapman's post on "Against the Gods" "What this guy proposes is that the accumulation of statistics, and the subsequent development of the Law of Large Numbers, resulted in a previously unknown (or unrecognized) phenomena: the ability to more or less accurately PREDICT THE FUTURE. He considers this event revolutionary; and I think he’s got something of a point." I found it interesting that this kind of math/science approach to telling the future is exactly the premise behind the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy ""The premise of the series is that scientist Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov and Campbell. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale;"" Another case of Science fiction actually predicting the future,,,, again?

Smoked a venison shoulder roast for five and a half hours, turned out nice and tender. I always like bringing things from field to table. Shot it, butchered it, cooked it. (not all in one day, it was shot back in deer season last fall) But it kind of gives me a link to the origions of the Bucaneers and their pre pirate ways.

("Biscuits aren't difficult to make, so I wonder why it wasn't done on, at the least, a weekly basis.") you are forgeting one important thing, ovens of the period were large and heavy brick structures, not something that you usually have aboard ship. Have a galley fire, by itself was a somewhat risky proceedure, since ships were made of wood, canvas, and tar. (makes a really good fire) The 'ship's biscuit' or 'hard tack' was the MRE of the period. Ships near port would have 'soft tack' or what we recognize as bread, but the longer the trip, you get the idea, it only lasts so long. Some ships and crews were out for long periods of time, between being able to get more supplies. Notably, Navy ships, and whalers, but It seems to me that many, maybe most Pirate vessels, were not all that long out of port, and often being smaller shallower draft vessels could put in at more places to re-supply. I would think that 'hard tack' would be kind of low on the list for food, if you could get better, and where it might be 'hard tack' and 'salt horse' for the British Tar's, I would be thinking of getting a different capt'n if he expected me to live on that. The Buccaneer, was after all one of the original people to bar-be-que

("The firkin, a small beer cask, holding nine Imperial gallons (72 pints) would have been of traditional wooden construction (often Oak) whereas modern day casks are usually made from Aluminium. ") I know of some modern day casks made from Aluminium (requires a special keg coating inside to protect the beer from the Aluminium), but most of the ones I have tap'd over the years were made from Stainless Steel. Traditional Kegs were of course wood, and there are places still that use wood for Beer, though these also have been traditionaly also lined with a 'pitch' since the beer is not intended to gain any flavor from the wood as do 'spirits' and wine. Oak is traditional for some uses, but there were a lot of other woods also used for casks. I have always thought that boxes and casks would be a natural kind of thing to have around any encampment, since wooden boxes and casks were the shipping containers for anything that could be shipped. The question is, how many and what size would be appropriate?

I am not sure what may be required at any particular encampment, but I know that Boric Acid has been used for a 'homemade' fire proofing for natural cloth and wood or other fiber items. How well it stands up to being rained on, I do not know, but it does work as a flame retardant. ("Flame Retardants: boric acid inhibits the release of combustible gases from burning cellulosic materials, such as cotton, wood, and paper-based products. Boric acid also releases chemically bonded water to further reduce combustion. Futons, mattresses, upholstered furniture, insulation, and gypsum board are common consumer items that use boric acid as a flame retardant. Plastics, textiles, specialty coatings, and other industrial products also contain boric acid to strengthen their ability to withstand exposure to flame")

Saw it for the first time today. Was sort of tied up last weekend with family stuff. My main judge of a movie, especially a long one, as this one is, is how fast the time passes. POCAWE went fast, I didn't sit and ask myself, what next? I just rode the roller coaster. IT's a MOVIE! not History. Enjoy it, I know I will, over and over. It is based on the ride I never miss when at Disney, I ride it at least once a day even if mainly attending one of the other disney parks, but I don't try to pick the ride apart! I ride it to enjoy it. Same for the movie. I have no idea what the critics saw or think they saw, but just remember that their name 'critic' does not have so much of a 'positive' conotation.

Note also the "A" in this logo of the VOC which stands for the Amsterdam division, (the largest group of the VOC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company has information on the Company: ..."The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Company") was established in 1602,".... ..."The VOC consisted of six Chambers (Kamers) in port cities: Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, Enkhuizen, Middelburg and Hoorn."..... ..."The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital 'V' with an O on the left and a C on the right leg. The first letter of the hometown of the chamber conducting the operation was placed on top"...... Thus the "A" over the VOC on the cannons I took pictures of out in front of the Bear Mt. Lodge in NY Also an interesting point made on the sight, Henry Hudson's 'Halve Maen' ("Half moon") was a VOC ship. His Hudson River exploration is coming up on it's 400th Anniversary in 2009 and he sailed from Amsterdam! so I would guess that things he carried were marked with the 'A' VOC Hey, Henery, you missing some cannon?

Ok, seems I still don't have a handle on this photo thing, I will try the link method. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/li...-19-07_1323.jpg http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/li...-19-07_1322.jpg

VOC cannons with Logo. I was up at Bear Mt. NY and in front of the lodge there were two cannon. Both have the A VOC emblem on them. I wonder what time period this might be from. remembered this thread, so I thought I would post about them here.

Morgan Dreadlocke, your Duckworks photo is in a members only area, is there any way you can post the picture or a link to it, so that we don't have to join Duckworks Yahoo group. I already have enough Yahoo groups that I can't keep up with them all, but I would enjoy seeing your 12 footer pirate ship.

arrrr, I be the Pirate King! with all nine pieces in hand. by cunning and confusion, and slight of hand, they all became part of my band. Now where be Jack?

Arrr, I be the Pirate King then with all Nine. Still, though they be common enough, for a Pirate, should there not be something that makes them uncommonly noteworthy, that not just any of a thousand would do?

Went into a Petco store recently and in the 'fish' dept. there was piped music that was the sound of the sea splashing against a wharf along with the distant sound of ship or bouy bells and sea gulls. No words, no instrumental stuff, just natural background 'mood music'. Getting a hold of a CD like that would be I thought a nice background noise for a pirate bar area in the house. Checked with the store to see what the CD might be, but was told that it is piped in from corporate on the computer feed. Was wondering if anyone has a handle on this kind or other 'background' noise/music that would be an 'proper' background sound for a pirate bar? Other sound tracks could be 'Tavern noise' (clinking of dishes, mugs, chairs or benches being moved, muddled conversation sounds, etc. I know there is a nature sounds CD out there somewhere for "gentle rain" and "thunderstorm" but they just don't really say 'Pirate tavern/bar' to me. I suppose some Sea Shanties would be part of a background, but, I don't think a pirate bar would be like going to a concert, you need some sections that are just background. Any ideas? Since this is the 'music' area of the Pub, I thought I would try posting the question here first rather than in Plunder. Feel free to move it there if you think it would be better answered there.

"Believe it or not, I have to technically register this as a handgun,andobtain a pistol license in NJ,as I'm sure that gun laws in your state are probably more friendly to flintlocks. Not in police-state NJ, the laws put blackpower guns in the same category as with Glocks and H&K assault rifles. Go figure." I was just wondering, Just for the fun of it, considering the large caliber of most flintlock pistols of the period, and the restrictive gun laws, as well as the dangers involved in 'live fire' events, would it be feasiable to make a "paint ball muzzel loader pistol" ? Even here in NJ you can go into any WallyMart and buy a paint ball gun. The gun pictured at the beginning of the thread is nice, would love to have one, but not sure I would want to carry it at events, nor sure you could get around bringing it out of state without excessive worry about what varied gun laws you were trespassing upon. I know that there are 'non firing' replica period pistols, but..... seems a lot like carrying a wooden knife or cutlass. I know Paint ball is not period, but if there were such a thing as a muzzel loader paint ball gun, it could open a whole new area of 'role play' play.

Two other considerations brought up on the same site I quoted from above if one desires to remain in period. One, is that the paper the Newspaper is printed on, would NOT be the kind of paper newspapers are printed on today, since wood pulp paper was not used until 1867, Second, from what I can understand, some newspapers were as small as 6"x 9" So..... 8.5 x 11 may well be within an authentic size, or could be cut down to an authentic size. "Newsprint . The paper upon which the newspaper is printed. The term is used chiefly to refer to the woodpulp paper which was first used in 1867 and which became standard by the 1890's. Unfortunately this paper is highly acidic, bearing excessive amounts of residue from the manufacturing process. This has caused the loss of the great majority of saved specimens over the years; ironically, well preserved modern woodpulp papers are much scarcer than earlier rag based papers in collectible condition. It may be that our era, with its emphasis on information, may be a blank in future history books, as all our records are written on such perishable substances as woodpulp paper, film, and magnetic media" "Octavo. Refers to the smallest size of newspapers and the usual size of magazines, about 6" x 9", abbreviated 8vo . It was the usual size of the earliest newsbooks and their forerunners of the 1500's and 1600's, and the format persisted for many years in several notable later publications."

from the following quote, it seems that a period newpaper from before 1713 COULD be small enough to do on a computer printer. "during the eighteenth century, the largest folio measured about 12"x18"; " some one with a wide carriage printer could do that, and since they say the "largest folio" was 12"x18", surely there were people printing papers on smaller sheets. Also, once for one of my kids school projects, we did make a 17"x 22" newspaper using just the regular computer printer, we folded the newsprint sheet (newsprint sketch pad) so as to run it through the printer to make the four sections of 8.5x11. After we figured out which ones had to be upside down to make everything right side up when we were finished, it worked out really nice. It can be done, but in this case, I think research will show that presses were smaller in our timeperiod and so was the paper. From: http://www.historicpages.com/glossary.htm "Folio . This term refers to the largest size of newspapers. In England in 1713 a tax was imposed on newspapers; assessed on the number of sheets rather than the size of the sheets, the law became the incentive for creating large format newspapers, as a means of minimizing the tax. The tradition continues, and is the direct reason why your morning newspaper is still a large folio, instead of the more convenient magazine size. During the eighteenth century, the largest folio measured about 12" x 18"; by the mid-1800's the norm had increased to about 17" x 21", which is still standard to this day. Many oversized folios, nicknamed "horse blankets," were printed over the years, in sizes ranging up to three feet by five feet. Such larger folios were formerly further described as "atlas," "imperial," "elephant" folios, etc. As almost no one uses these terms properly today, such terminology appears generally only in the most pretentious book dealers' catalogs."

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/li...isneySwords.jpg Hopefully if I followed the instructions properly, there should be a picture of the Sword Rack in the Fortress at Pirates of the Carribbean in Walt Disney World Florida. I ask, how well did they do? would these be a proper cutlass for the period? did Disney make these in shop, or do you think they modified something that is available out there in the market? and if so, who do you think the supplier might be?

I rowed over to the Disney site at the top of this declaration and boarded the ship with the cannon blasts. But it was only a ship on the ways, with no rigging to be found or any plunder aboard. All there was is a cryptic "coming soon" Did anyone get to partake of this promised game?

First of all, I loved it, can't wait for it to come out on DVD. But there are lots of things that must be swollowed with the explanation of "chalk it up to movie magic" in the movie. Examples, how did Jack slide down the rope when in hand cuffs. It looked like he was using the chain between the cuffs as his support, how did he get on and then off, since he had to get the cuffs broken off in the blacksmith shop? In another set when Jack is drinking, the drinking vessels change form from one view to another. How many other glitches can be found? Who knows But still it is a great movie and I would guess the next installment will be well worth watching.