Mick MacAnselan

I received my pouch today from Mr. Bagley. It's really nice. Better than nice. May be the best $45 I ever spent on this hobby. Well, that or the GoF shoe buckles. Thanks for doing the work for me guys!

If your breeches have any 'raw' fabric edges visible, see if they have 'unraveled' from the edge to the seam (or will easily unravel if you pull at the loose threads). In my experience, that'd most likley be linen.

Authentic GAOP garb patterns? Look no further than.... Reconstructing History

Thanks Greg. My Spanish is a bit rusty, but looking at the whole original picture, is the left hand side of the picture meant to be a soldiers uniform and the right side a sailor's? Love the 'sea boots'! <ducking and running>

Hey Foxe, What's the origin of your 'and one more for luck' picture? I know I've seen it, but I can't remember where. TIA.

Be there or be square. I know it conflicts with Maryland's opening weekend. One of these days PA will get it right. <hangs head in shame> Link to PA Faire Pirate Invasion Page

The patches I tried are actually pre-lubed... can't say with what, because the stapled-on label seems to have gone missing. Thanks for the suggestions...I'll try them if I ever get the size thing worked out!

Thanks. Actually I did the math before, but the patch is supposed to compress. I was told that a .15 with the .490 ball was the way to go. Even a 0.10 patch would be too thick (.490 + .10 +.10) not taking compression into consideration. Problem with using a smaller ball is that I haven't seen any that were not MUCH smaller, like .445 or so. Here's the thing too... I subsequently experimented with some more of the .490 balls from the same box. Some would not go into the barrel at all, just by themselves. So either they are too big or the barrel is too small.

So I found a reasonably local place to fire my Pedersoli Queen Anne (.50 caliber). But I could not load a greased-patched .490 Buffalo ball. (The patches are .015.) I wonder if this batch of balls is oversized or if the barrel is undersized. It's squeaky clean, so I know it's not fouled. I was able to load patchless balls just fine. Rolled part way in and then seated it against a pre-loaded patch a ramrod. Anyone else run into this problem? TIA.

You saw Black Powder on a shelf in a PA Walmart? Are you sure? I bet it was Pyrodex. Real Black powder has to be stored in a specific type of magazine until sale. I'm near Harrisburg PA and I had to drive many many miles to one of the few gun shops still willing to deal with the BP regs.

Not fragile? I bought two of these buckles for a baldric and a belt... Hand Forged Buckle at Crazy Crow

Anyone intimately familiar with Maryland and/or Fell's Point regulations on Antique Firearms? Specifically, can you carry a non-concealed, not loaded, flintlock pistol at the Pivateer Day/Pyrate Invasion without any sort of Maryland Carry License? TIA.

Update... I finally got in contact with Iain at Armour Class. For some reason they had not been receiving my emails, even though I was not getting bouncebacks/failures on my end. The sword should be ready soon and I am quite relieved. Should have listed to Kass when she said not to sweat it!

Well, we're at just over 19 weeks since ordering and not a word in reply to my three emails. You might want to drop them a line to see if they reply before placing your order. In fact, I'd be very interested in knowing if they reply to you too!

Has anyone had any communication with Armour Class (Scotland) in the last month or so? I ordered a sword back on November 10th and they charged my credit card for the deposit. I asked via email for status on February 14th, February 24th, and March 4th. All three requests have gone unanswered. Anyone heard from them lately? TIA.

Try Kevin Garlick at Kevin Garlick's Site I'd be surprised if he couldn't do brown. Assuming you want a 'pirate' shoe, you'd be looking for something like his catalog number Ref 18c 02, but with narrower latchets (about 3/4" wide). And I'd finish them off with a pair of period anchor buckles from Greg (Gentleman of Fortune) if he still has some. The end result would look something like this only brown... Those are 'rough out' (as opposed to smooth) by the way. If you order from the Garlicks, make sure they know you want a special latchet width. You could even tell them you want latchets just like those other nutjobs, Greg and Mick. Finally, a couple links to all things shoe-ish... Greg's Shoe Page More Shoe Stuff at Greg's Site

Thanks Kass! I have sent the appropriate electrons in Mr. Meekins' direction. I'm hoping he ships to the USA.

Yep, it does! I forgot that the slops contacts specified stockings at all. One of these days I'm going to print them out, frame them, and hang 'em on the wall. And I never knew that 'grey' could mean any color of undyed wool. So I'm thinking something undyed for me. I was looking at Paul Meekins' site and it may be just an illusion, but I think there's two different knits shown on this page... A Page at Paul Meekin's Site And I'm guessing the purplish stockings on that page are the knit you've been talking about, with the faux backseam?

Not to change the topic (much), but do we know anything about appropriate colors? I mean other than all the dyes we knew existed in the period, do we know if certain ones would have been most common for stockings?

I don't know any serious 'reenactors' that use a skull and crossbones on anything other than a flag. And to my knowledge, there's zero historical basis to do so. Otherwise, the only thing that comes to mind is the death's head of memento mori on tombstones and jewelry, but that's got nothing to do with pirates.

Thanks Everyone. I've had the shoes for a few months and I'm really jazzed now that GoF's buckles arrived. GoF: Feel free to pilfer the .jpg. Matt: There was no problem getting the Garlicks to do 3/4" latches. They asked me "are you sure?" once or twice, but they were more than willing, and didn't charge extra for it. I had been talking with a different well known maker, who was going to charge extra for 3/4" latches, and with a no return policy (even if they screwed up something other than the latches) due to the custom job. With the upcharge, they would have been about the same price as the Garlick's, and from the pics I've seen, wouldn't have been as nice.

Here are my Kevin Garlick custom shoes (3/4" latchets), fitted with the new Brass anchor style Buckles from Gentleman of Fortune. My photography sucks, but the shoes and buckles don't. Thanks GoF!

Thanks Matt. I took a look at those pages and some others but couldn't really find what I was thinking of, so I decided to build from scratch from basswood. Here's a pic, mounted on the wall. Nothing special, but I kind of like it.

Anyone bought or built a wall mounted plaque/shadow box/hanger/whatever to display a Queen Ann style pistol? Any sources, plans, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

Foxe, Thanks! I'm thinking the hanger might be the way to go. Maybe a wee bit early, but I think I've seen pics of 18th century hangers that don't look much different. Apparently the blade is available either double-edged or back-edged. Any idea which is more appropriate? TIA.