Hawkyns

Here's t' ye, Skull! strippers are always the perfect party favour. I admire yer taste. And good taste to have yer birthday on a 'oliday. Chuck a couple of bangers fer me, wouldya? Hawkyns

Answers to a couple of questions in this thread. 1) Matches were invented in the 1800's and first called Lucifers. 1830-1840ish if memory serves. 2) knives and fids would probably not show in a lot of pictures because they are frequently worn in the small of the back so as to be out of the way. 3)clay pipes will not survive being kept in a pouch and bounced around while working. broken too many that way. probably kept in the ditty bag or seachest. Best way I know to carry mine is in the strings of my tricorn for 18th c, or in a small hard leather case like Sir Walter Raleigh's for 16th c. 4)fingerless gloves are called skoggers and were definitely used by sailors. They found a couple on the Mary Rose, but they were first mis-identified as footless hose. Hawkyns

This bugger may have been a stinking traitor, but he knew his way around explosives!! ** Guy Fawkes plot 'was devastating' ** Guy Fawkes could have changed the face of London if his 1605 plot had not been foiled, explosion experts say. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/sci/...ech/3240135.stm > Hawkyns

I've done a bit of fighting with an axe in the left hand. Good for parrying, hooking your opponent closer, and, of course, bashing the bugger's head in. In a fight against a blade weapon, though, the helve gets pretty chewed up and is in significant danger of breaking. Most of the true boarding axes I've seen have langets to stop this (the metal plates that extend down the helve from the head). All this adds weight, which is useful for cutting line, but a real bugger for carrying all day. Hawkyns

I've got hawks, round poll, hammer poll and spike back. All have standard 16-18 inch helves. Not one of them would be any good for cutting a heavy line, let alone a hawser. You need the weight and length for that. So I don't know. I also wonder about the heavy spike back. It's said it was to help climb the side of a ship, but I got to wonder if that's real. Anybody have primary source documentation on that? Also, anybody who has 'Boarders Away' vol 1 (mine's still on order). Does he give a date for the earliest boarding axe as a purpose designed weapon? Hawkyns

Sounds like that could be a mite rough on yer mainspring! I've considered one but there's a couple of issues. Most of me time is spend in the 16th century and I'm not sure what the earlier ones look like. Second, they look great around a camp and all, but the ones I've hefted would be a bloody horse to carry about. 2 pound head and a 24 inch helve don't make for a light throwin' hawk. Hawkyns

Well, ye gets what ye pay for, I reckon. I've bought cheap and I've bought dear. The best allus costs more. Yule is a comin', and I got to say I'd love that shell guard cutlass hilt. Last year twas me blunderbuss and that cost more. Gots to talk to me wife....... Hawkyns

Speakin' o' bookmarks and wishlists, check out this cutler. http://home.earthlink.net/~kwillyard/ Gonna have to clean my keyboard now. Hawkyns

One thing to note about the tea/coffee dyeworks. It only works well on natural fibers- cotton, linen, wool, etc. Polycottons and synthetics do not respond well to this. Hawkyns

Try these. http://www.jastown.com/beltbag/lb-170.htm http://www.mountaintoptradingco.com/index2.htm Both are made for heavier use than renfaire kit, and will last forever. Since we're going into winter season, you might check if there are any 18th Century re-enactors trade fairs near you. You get a better selection and a chance at the real nice one-of-a kind pieces. Not to mention, clothing and weapons to warm the hart of any gentleman adventurer. Hawkyns

Ahh Dorian lad, ya missed a good time at St. Mary's City. A few of us got together with the heavy blades and had a rousin' Sunday mornin'. Micheal Stewart Graham abd myself played with baskethilts and offensive bucklers for a bit. A wonderful time and my thumb has nearly healed now. Hawkyns

Interesting. I'll keep that in mind. I've bought blades from AFS before, the double canelure, which I occasionally use for blunt combat. Never liked their hilts, though. Too crude and frequently too small for my hand. I got into the habit of custom hilts and just can't go back to the production stuff. This way, I can go to Norman, pick a hilt number, or just describe what I'm looking for, give them measurements and get exactly what I want. Hawkyns

I have several schlagers, from different sources. My problem with them is that they have no spine. The blade profile makes them just too flexible, especially in the longer length. That why the Del Tin with the diamond profile and tapered length is my blade of choice. Of course this is all for rapier play, point and edge, using masks. For re-enactment combat, I've got a couple of Armour Class blunts, full size, full weight, blunt edge, rounded tip pieces. Used without masks, edge only in the sword style of the Sealed Knot. Now THAT'S fun!!!!!! Hawkyns

Nah, they're both smallswords. The epee is a stiffer blade but so was the colichmarde and it was still a smallsword. Rapiers have longer, even stiffer blades. European rapiers went up to 4 feet or more in the blade. Some of them had only point and no edge, some had both. It got so bad that Queen Elizabeth issued a royal decree that rapiers entering London were to be broken by the watch to a length of no more than 36 inches in the blade. There are rapier repros out there today that are good for rapier play. Del Tin makes the best, as far as I'm concerned. Some of the practice schlager blades will also work and can be acquired in lengths up to 44". Myself, I just got a short Del Tin rapier (32") and had it mounted with a shell guard. Well balanced, stiff enough to do decent parries, and short enough to be able climb down my opponent's throat. My preferred supplier is Darkwood Armory www.darkwoodarmory.com Not cheap but excellent work. I've got 4 of their pieces now, and I'm looking at a 5th. A caveat- these blades are stiffer and heavier than sport fencing blades. Make sure you know what you're doing before you go attacking an opponent. They will bruise, break bones, and crush fencing masks if your control is not good. Hawkyns

Both really. Lye soap will take out the worst of the day to day grunge but does not do much for serious stains. It also gives the shirts an appropriate texture (stiff) and smell. I guess it's one of my pet peeves- people who are trying to look like something historical, but are too clean and smell like they just came from the perfume department. Hawkyns

Aye, Coastie has the right of it. Live in them. A lot. My re-enactment kit never sees a washing machine. When my shirts are too much to take, they get washed by hand in lye soap. My wool stuff never gets washed, just hung out to air. Getting it all drycleaned or machine washed and dried will never give you an authentic look, because its not authentic. Wear them for the weekend, sleep in them, go camping in them, do some backcountry hiking in them, spend a weekend on a sailing ship in them, and keep repeating until they look right. Oh, and when they rip, patch them or sew them up. Don't replace. Give it a bit and they'll look right. Artificial ageing always looks artificial. Hawkyns

Let' see.. currently reading "The Pirate Round", James Nelson; "Face Down Before Rebel Hooves", KathyLynne Emerson (elizabethan mystery); "The Armada Campaign", Angus Konstam (Osprey Campaign 86), and "English Civil War Fortifications 1642-51", Peter Harrington (Osprey Fortress 9). Plus some magazine articles and web downloads on 16th and 17th c military history. Hawkyns

I've got a couple of the DVDs and the CD also. John Tams is the singer, well known in northern English folk circles. Great stuff, just wish there was more of it. Hawkyns

Any idea of the titles on these two? Which part, India or the Peninsular? I picked one up in England in June, an extension on the Peninsular campaign with Harper and the old gang. Frequently they come out in England 4-6 months before publication in the US, so I may already have one. Hawkyns

For that money, I want it on a molded form, from one piece of leather. Jack's didn't have a sewn in crown top, that I remember. I'm going to try for a similar look by taking a brown wool blank and soaking it in beeswax. Get the same sort of effect and be a bit more waterproof. Hawkyns

'S'teeth, Cap'n. That is a prodigious amount of information and more than enough to bore lots of folk here. In short, though, it is this. Born 1550 in Skipton, Yorkshire, apprenticed as a harnessmaker. Through repair work for the Trayned Band, I became interested and joind the band and then the castle garrison. The castle is in the honour of George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. His Grace outfitted several privateer ships to sail to the West Indies and prey upon the Spanish. I was recruited and sailed on the Elizabeth Bonaventure as a gunner. (The Earl is famous in many ways, another being that he was the one who brought the news of the victory over the Armada to Her Majesty). I fought in the Armada campaign and wherever the Earl's ships went. In time, I worked my way to Master Gunner. When not at sea, I've received enough prize money to buy a small farm in Craven where my wife lives. Fighting and killing the dons is right and proper. I'm a member of the Church of England, but not a pious man. I attend service sufficient to avoid the recusancy fines. As a proud Englishman and supporter of Gloriana, it is my duty to defend against the Papists and their plots. As you can see, my Elizabethan persona is where I put most of my emphasis and there are several notebooks of detail on my shelf. The late 16th/early 17th c are my first love. More privateer/, unofficial navy than golden age pirate. My 18th c persona is relatively new. I'm still working on pulling that together, but it would appear to have left England for the colonies after the first Jacobite Rising. Hawkyns

Stynky- not so much error as style. As I said, there were commanders who tried the other way, and in a period where every regimental commander got to write his own drill book and uniform regs, there were most certainly units who wore the right side up. It'ud be the difference between a practical fighting unit and a unit more interested in putting on a good show with no substance. Figurin' that good pirates are like to be practical fighters, seems the way to go would be left side up. Personal like, I don't wear either. They blow off too easy in combat and get in the way more often than not. I'm more likely to wear a blue bonnet in combat that I can pull down to shield me eye. Hawkyns

Thank ye, that's the very piece. Guess Windlass is selling direct now, as well as through Hank Reinhart. Price has gone up a might, since I last saw it, too. Cutlasses are so hard to find, if ye wants an early piece. I picked up the shell guard cutlass from Museum Reps, nice hilt and shape, but the blade weighs a ton, 5/16 spine at the ricasso. Don't like the look o'the pirate cutlass. That chrome plated basket just looks wrong. I've considered that dusagge piece, too. My main complaint is that the quillon and knucklebow look too thin. I've got my orig blade, but there are times I just don't want to take that one out. May have to spend the dubloons for the Dutchy. Hawkyns

Ah well, Catherine Zeta Jones in Mask of Zorro and Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love would get my votes for top two. Got to think a bit more beyond that. Hawkyns

Most musket drills are based on some form of Jacob de Gehyn's drill manual published in 1607. Musket is carried shouldered on the left shoulder. I can tell you from experience that the barrel will knock your hat off if you have a wide brim. Firing a matchlock is very different from firing a flinter. The match comes down into the pan, and sets the powder off. It may be a short delay or a long one depending on the powder, heat of the match, and humidity. While you're waiting, you have to keep your musket on target, requires keeping your eyes open. So, you wear a large brimmed hat, drop the right side down on top of the barrel between you and the pan, and sight through the small gap between barrel and brim. It was said you could always tell a musketeer by the scorch marks on his hat. There were some commanders that tried to stop the practice and keep the hats looking better, and that is perhaps what you've seen. As the 17th century progressed, the rise of the firelock and the narrowing of the hat brim changed the style. By the 1680's, you see the military hats are turned up at the front, and have a narrow brim. About the time the matchlock is finally removed from service, 1712 in England, the tricorn becomes the hat of choice for the military. Hawkyns