Matty Bottles

I asked because part of step 3 should include trying what we can and using that info to inform our logic. In this case, I have tried to hold a knife in my mouth by the blade, on more than one occasion. It absolutely sucks.

I can't remember - Swashbuckler, did you say you had tried it?

I'd love to go again, but drive down in a car and show off all the woodwork. I never realized until I flew to an event how much of my impression was supported by my period luggage. Alas, I can't leave my wife to wrangle a two and a half year old and an eight month old all by herself for a week. I mean, I could, but then I wouldn't need to bother coming home...

The writers on Cracked often don't name the articles. The editor Jack O'Brien does. It's sort of become a running joke that the titles are overblown and inaccurate. If these truly were the most terrifying, I would expect a few more entries from Esquemelings rogue's gallery.

Do those etsy repainted Nerf guns have orange tips?

Ah, I meant the boarding knife.

Well, since you bumped it... Lo those many years ago I spoke with the curator of a new england whaling museum (I forgot who) and he suggested that they didn't predate on-board rendering plants, which places them smack dab in the 19th century. And that's why I never made one out a paul chen hanwei rapier blade and beat up Rats with it.

BTW, Swashbuckler1700, those drawings were done by your nemesis Rickman.

Quebecois curse words tend toward the sacrilegious as well. I don't know if it extends as far back as couer du bois, but it sure seems like a 17th century thing...

Mark, you hit the nail right on the head. Swashbuckler 1700, I wanted to tell you that I wouldn't mind at all if every new reenactor started out with as much enthusiasm as you, but since you seem have a great brain for details and looking for documentation, I didn't want to assume that you were new to reenacting. I don't think anyone minds, but don't be afraid to use the search function, or to visit the Pirate Brethren site (NOT the Pirate Brethren of Texas). Between these two sites, a lot of good information has been consolidated.

It WAS the deck for me mate. +1 for Wicked Jim.

How long have you been reenacting pirates, Swashbuckler 1700, if you don't mind my asking? :)

Michael, was that on the deck proper, or in a hammock?

These are some good examples: http://www.liveaucti...m/item/10260852 http://www.christies...51&sid=&page=10 [edit: huh. I had a good icon that showed a falchion from 1440, but can't post it.] Collection catalogs are better, but I don't have any. I have seen some in the library, and that was enough to satisfy me, but I'm not at the library now.

Those are interesting - since I am in a part of North America that was starting to see European presence during this time, I prefer the broader dates since it gives me a chance to talk about King WIlliam's War and Queen Anne's War, which most Americans don't know anything about.

Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but what is sharpened steel doing around spectators (historically-minded or Disney-minded) anyway? Maybe it is the old Boy Scout in me, but if I have a functioning tool unsheathed - knife or axe or sword - it is to perform a specific task. Anyone not directly involved in the completion of that task has no business within range of the tool, period.

Here are some interesting tips and techniques for commercial barrel clean up, including dry ice blasting! This site does bring up the dangers of wine trapped in wood and breeding bacteria. http://www.barrelbla...solutions.shtml Off the top of my head, I bet you could do a good job with filling the barrel with boiling water and keeping it at a boil for fifteen minutes or so, either by the fresh application of water or the introduction of a properly insulated heat element. And I like the dry ice idea, but not by ice blasting, just to displace oxygen and kill some stuff that way. It actually looks like you can rent those dry ice blasters. Apparently they use dry ice as the cleaning agent because it sublimates and doesn't leave a residue.

For some reason I am thinking of Dr Who's Clockwork Man...

... that Bill Withers has never even been CONSIDERED for the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. It's... it's SAD, is what it is.

I second Zatoichi. There's a heavy irony that runs through the series, and not a cute, tongue-in-cheek kind. Whenever he tries to do something selfless, everybody suffers.

Oh, I agree - I was just pointing out that they at least used nice curtains. :) It reminded me a lot of the first time I notice that Batman was filmed on a stage. Cesar Romero and his goons (appropriately named Goon #1 and Goon #2) walked into the hideout as the camera descended and I remember thinking "How can I see over the walls of the hideout? And then it occured to me that it was a room built inside another, larger room, and suddenly, just like that, the whole series sucked. In other news, I caught an episode of Garrow's Law last night. Seemed interesting, although I think the fashions of the female lead more resemble early/extended Regency than the Georgian 80's. I'm not sure, though. It just seems that way to me.

As I recall, they were nice curtains.

After you apply the bluing or blacking, you could try coating the area with some lacquer. That will help it last longer, I think. Slightly related note: I understand that it looks funny, and hey, this is your sword, you should be happy with it, but I wonder if it's strictly wrong? I mean, if you rubbed the surface of old tarnished silverwork enough, would it get bright(ish)? Or do you need polish for that? I'm not telling anyone what to do with their sword, I'm just wondering for my own knowledge.

Is "I, Claudius" the one where everything is shot in front of curtains?