Two simple accessories

[MorganTyre]

Below are two simple cheapie projects I made. The beer cap is for size reference.

One is a tobacco pouch sewn up quickly from a scrap of canvas. The toggle button is also (obviously) made from the same piece. The tie is a piece of hemp beading cord. To get that stained and weathered look I actually put some old (the company I bought it from years ago is no longer in business) dried out and forgotten about pipe tobacco in it then good and wet then gave it a couple of squeezes. Two days of drying in the sun later and what you see is what you get.

The other picture is of a blackjack (or lifesaver if you will) that was cobbed together from some old chafing gears leathers I had, a piece of manilla line, and some lead bird shot from another project. The end result is truly dangerous. I suppose it could be used in either form - either hold it at the knot end and swing a pound of lead to knock out or kill or turn it around, grip the leather and hit them with the knot to just bruise and injure. My choice of knots antedates the GAoP but otherwise this is a very passable weapon for the penny-poor cutthroat. Despite it's size it fits nicely in the pocket of my slops.

[MrSnailGrave]

they look graet now im going to make me one

[Captain Jim]

Nice work, mate, just one thing: that blackjack is considered a weapon in most states. As such it would be considered a concealed weapon if in the pocket of your slops. Just a heads up.

[casketchris]

very cool...OH i have a new project

[MorganTyre]

Nice work, mate, just one thing: that blackjack is considered a weapon in most states. As such it would be considered a concealed weapon if in the pocket of your slops. Just a heads up.

Ahh, thank you thank you. That saved some embarassment. Got to look into the local laws.

[Cascabel]

Nice work, mate, just one thing: that blackjack is considered a weapon in most states. As such it would be considered a concealed weapon if in the pocket of your slops. Just a heads up.

Well....

I have been doing events for nearly 40 years, and I have never YET heard of anyone being busted on weapons charges of any kind when they are in garb, and very obviously part of an event. We all carry swords also, which are very much over the legal length for "knives" in most jurisdictions.

Of course, after the event is over, if you go bar hopping with all your weapons, you are on your own.....

>>>>> Cascabel

[hurricane]

I always carry my doglock, dagger and sword into the bars around here, just during regular bar hits. Never a problem. Used to do it in Seattle too - I only had to check them once in 25 years, and oddly enough, it was in Key West at a bar there. Of all places!

-- Hurricane

[Graydog]

I too have never seen an arrest at a public event for weapons, (I have seen the arrest of a person in costume for being drunk just outside a beer garden inside a Ren-Fare event) however, I am well aware of arrests or near arrests not at public events that involved either living history activities or going to and from events:

1997, we were doing a timeline event at USC. It was Revolutionary War to Desert Storm. The event was for local elementary schools and middle schools that gave awards for the annual history days at USC each year. This was a private event that utilized the USC Auditorium and had displays in front of the library. We had many displays and started off with flintlocks and then wound up with Humvee’s and machineguns that we had coordinated with the Army Reserve. Despite the proper authorities in the Campus Police Station being fully informed and consenting, the local Campus Police threatened to have us all arrested for having weapons on school grounds. Here we are, some of us in full modern military uniform with military ID cards, release paperwork for the weapons, & vehicles, invites from both USC and the history group we were supporting and the cops are talking about arresting the whole group of us, from the flintlocks to the M-60 machineguns! The situation was surreal, they were threatening to arrest us, but never attempted to disarm us, the event organizers were screaming at the police, the early arrival kids were starting to become a mob because they couldn’t get through to the exhibits (us) and all the while we were standing around drinking coffee and eating doughnuts the event had provided. Geeze, we lost over an hour in setup as the police argued among themselves and then finally left us alone.

1999 two (2) cannon were seized on different occasions from the Boy Scouts during camping trips in the California high desert. Even though the cannons were not firing live ammunition they were seized and destroyed as public nuisances. The interesting part of that tale is that the cannon were not being used illegally; the cops just misapplied the law because the station's captain didn't like the idea of civilians having cannon. The charges against the Boy Scout Troop Leaders were dropped, but the cannon were still destroyed as a nuisance.

2000 a friend of mine, on his way back from a World War I event, was arrested for several hours and then released all because he walked into a Mickey D's in a German World War I uniform, unarmed but wearing a helmet. Somebody at the restaurant called the cops on him! The amazing part of that discussion was that the arresting officers didn't know World War I had been fought and had no idea what side the US was on. My friend was trying to explain the history of World War I and the officers thought he’s was just some nutcase come to shoot up the place. They arrested him for legally transporting an unloaded firearm in the trunk of his car (bolt action Mouser)! Many hours later they realized no laws were broken and let him go, in this case with his weapon. I wonder if they ever bothered to find out about World War I?

I have a couple more instances I could list, but I don’t want to bore everybody.

Now, with the above pointed out, let me add we have a police officer in our group who is new to the pirate side of the hobby. He saw a belaying pin and became very upset. Why? Because a belaying pin looks like an old fashion police nightstick and its a felony to carry a nightstick in California without proper accreditation. After we explained its use was as part of a ship. He took a step back and said that it’s no problem to have one. However, he went on to add, if you got stopped on your way to or from an event it could be the officer involved might not be so open minded and you'd have to wind up in court to show the law was misapplied if you got arrested. In other words, it’s that World War I situation all over again.

Of course, for each of the above items I have 30 years of no problems whats so ever. Most law enforcement enjoy the events or tolerate them very well. My examples are when you interface with law enforcement away from an event or in a stitutation where the officers had not been informed of what was happening. I am sure my friend at Mickey D's was trying to talk history and the cops were concerned about a man with a gun, so they were talking but not hearing each other, at USC the beat cops hadn't gotten the "word" and in the case of the cannon, yup, there are indeed some jerk cops in the world.

The only purpose of listing these items is to point out that common sense, weapons, and the reaction by law enforcement should not be taken for granted.

-Greydog

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Possesion of that slapjack in Missouri is a Cass B felony mate. We are pretty liberal with the firearms here, but improvised weapons are taboo. Illinois is even worse from what I have heard.

Bo

[MorganTyre]

Looking like a class A misdemeanor here in texas. It falls under the definition of "club" which is looking as a whole like it's right out. Funny, considering every you can walk into any local walmart, heb, or bait stand and buy a fish bat. Oh well, lesson learned - know you local laws!

[Zephaniah W Nash]

Hey, I'm just mightily proud of the Shiner bottlecap...

Something you don't see nearly enough, in my estimation.

[Perkeo]

I don't know about other states but here in Indiana.....as long as you are coming from or going to an event or at the event you won't get in trouble for possessing weapons.

[Sjöröveren]

Any advice on verifying legality of our reproduction weaponry? I am in Minnesota, and I would like to make a cat and/or a bosun's rope's end. Should I ask a cop? An attorney? Call the state patrol?

[Patrick Hand]

Should I ask a cop? An attorney? Call the state patrol?

Asking a cop don't work.... they will tell you that a straw can be used as a weapon.......

Weapons laws get wierd..... common sence..... nah.......

OK... my funny story....

I went to go see PotC when if opened in Sonora, CA. .... of course I dressed fer it..... walking home I got stoped by one of the Sonora police.....

Anyway.... he asked me what I was doing dressed like a Pyrate..... I told him I went to go see the opening of a Pyrate movie....

He kept looking at the two pistols in my belt... so I VERY carefully took them out and let him check them out.... explaining that one isn't even a real pistol, and the other is real... but without a flint, it won't work (they were both "obvously" unloaded)...

He had no idea what he was looking at...... black powder firearms..... woosh... right above his head.......

Funny thing....

If I was dressed up as a cowboy.... with a cartradge pistol.... in Sonora... it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.....

But I made the paper.... in "News of Report"....

"A police officer questioned a man on South Stewart street dressed as a Pirate"

Dang.... and everyone knew who it was......

[MrSnailGrave]

this is my shot at the tobacco pouch

[MorganTyre]

Wow, glad to see someone else give it a go. Very nice. I like the small craft-type projects. Very likely no one will ever see my tobacco pouch but it sits there in my pocket looking stained and weathered and makes me feel the part just that much more. I also want to try my hand at the hand grenades in the following link. From what I'm reading there it's just paper mache and yet documentably period. My only hold up is that, not being a black-powder-er I don't have ready access to musket balls to split so I've been keeping an eye out for something suitable.

http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Weaponry...1691)_p196.html

[Kenneth]

I've never had any problems with the police here in Bakersfield or most of the places I've been in California.

[Patrick Hand]

Kinda interesting.....

We make cool stuff that we stick in our pockets..... an no

one ever sees.....

Maybe a new thread ?

"what's in yer wallet....."

[wolf2hawks]

On the weapons thing, Being from the great state of Illinois as far as trying to verify weapons laws, don't even try in this state.

My brother tried to verify a couple years back whether or not you could still mail-order black-powder firearms(in this case, BP revolvers for cowboy action shooting). He went from local law-enforcement, to Dept of Natural Resources(who's in charge of hunting regs for the state) all the way up to Local branch of the BATF. Out of all these organizations, Nobody could give him a straight answer. Some mail-order places will ship to IL if you have a copy of your Firearm Owners ID card on file with them, some ship either way, some don't ship at all.

Illinois weapons laws read like stereo instructions, with separate sections for Chicago, Then the suburbs of Chicago(which have bans on everthing from pocket knives with a blade over 2 inches to swords, shurikens and softair guns), Then everywhere else. If you want to take a look, go over to the BATFs website and I believe you can get a copy of the Federal Laws for the United States. You could also try a web search under "State Weapons Laws" and I believe there is a site that tells state by state what the laws are.

I'm still trying to figure out if I can legally own the few spring soft-air guns I own.(Luckily I live in the middle of the state)--Wolf2Hawks

[Fayma Callahan]

Weapons laws vary greatly by state, but can even be different by county or city. We here in Aurora Indiana are very, very fortunate. Our Police Chief and another officer gave us a "Police Escort" Lights and Sirens and the whole 9 yards for the POTC3 Opening! Man, did they ever have fun with us! About 75 Pyrates, a 40 foot Black Pearl and a Police Escort through US 50 to the theater. Then the Chief and his wife joined us after the movie for a late night meal. Tis truly a reenactors dream to have helpful police with our events. They love us pyrates here in our port! The weapons were checked in to the managers office and locked up for us during the movie, as we could not sit in the theater with the sword belts on, but They let us play and have fun with it. The law in Indiana is the same for black powder as it is any other type of firearm, unload it, and put it in the trunk. As for the other weapons of choice, in our area, they would fall under "clubs/assault", which in terms of an event would pose no problems, but on a street, it may cause them to detain you and ask some questions.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Sjoroveren (sorry, no umlauts)

Don't worry about the cat. If the cops hassle you, just tell them you're into BDSM. That makes it a "lifestyle" thing, and it's protected. They know they're in for massive lawsuits if they bust you for a lifestyle choice.