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Smell Like a Pirate


Matty Bottles

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Adam C. wrote "master halfshell isnt the stuff you are reffering to pine pitch it was my understanding that tar was "baked" uot of the pine in large underground kilns. especially down in the carolinas which is where the name tarheel comes from. "

The tar from the carolinas was usually made from cooking the stumps of old pine trees that had been cut down, (cheapest way to get it, best use of a waste product resource) the stumps are a good source for the 'Fat Wood' you sometimes see sold in stores for firestarters, if you smell it, you can get a strong wiff of the pine tar/Turpentine smell. Tar can also be made from the pitch see http://www.puuvene.net/phuhta/artikkelit/tar.html

from the site:

""Originally tar was made by damaging the trees over 2-3 years. The lowest part of a pine was barked and only a hand's width of bark was left to keep the tree alive. The tree created a large amount of pitch, but most of it is inside the wood so just collecting the pitch wouldn't have been too productive. After several years of maltreating the tree it was felled. Also the stump was used, since it is the pitchiest part of the tree. Today the damaging is usually not done; they just get less tar for a certain amount of wood. And the forests are full of pitchy stumps to be used for tar after the trees have been harvested.""

As the tar is from the natural process of the tree living, sending it's sap, the basic stuff, be it from the wood or through damaging the bark, all comes from the same source. The fresh or older clumped sap/pitch/sticky stuff, will when the turpentine is cooked off, be basically a form of pine tar. So basically I cook the pitch/sap and what is left is liquid when hot and not so sticky when cold. If I were to want to paint something with it, I would heat it up and maybe add some turp's.

No Fear Have Ye of Evil Curses says you...

Aye,... Properly Warned Ye Be says I

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Merge away, my good man. Whatever you need to keep the site clean.

"The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning."

- Capt. Joshua Slocum

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heres a bit o' small thing to also consider......100% wool....wont hold a scent...besides that wool scent....let it air dry and a bit o sun and back to smelling like a lambs arse....dont quote me but i thought Linnen(100% natural had simmilar qualities? anyone know on this one?)......

soooo.....IF your wearring 100% and not a modern mixed fabric(which will hold the stink)....and unless you have the Tar stuck all over ya...how strong is the smell anyhow? or is it more the person hisself tha thas that odiferous aroma!??!

just for consideration....

and ps>

i will be sellin' my odiferous concoction.....ode de'Dogge..!?!?!

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Gibbs_with_the_pigs.jpg

"That was for the smell."

Mycroft: "My brother has the brain of a scientist or a philosopher, yet he elects to be a detective. What might we deduce about his heart?"

John: "I don't know."

Mycroft: "Neither do I. But initially he wanted to be a pirate."

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heres a bit o' small thing to also consider......100% wool....wont hold a scent...besides that wool scent....let it air dry and a bit o sun and back to smelling like a lambs arse....dont quote me but i thought Linnen(100% natural had simmilar qualities? anyone know on this one?)......

soooo.....IF your wearring 100% and not a modern mixed fabric(which will hold the stink)....and unless you have the Tar stuck all over ya...how strong is the smell anyhow? or is it more the person hisself tha thas that odiferous aroma!??!

just for consideration....

and ps>

i will be sellin' my odiferous concoction.....ode de'Dogge..!?!?!

Personal experience tells me that linen, left to it's own devices, can develop quite an aroma. Nothing like washing the household's small clothes after a week of marinading in the hamper to tell you how ripe it can get! :lol: I think I'll experiment and see what happens when you air it out and dry well after an event before washing next time. Maybe it won't be so bad. You could be on to something there Dogge, it could be the person, not the clothing, that smells!

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  • 1 year later...

I thought I would post an update to this project. I have another baby now, so I haven't been to an event in a while. And so my clothes have gotten to marinade in their hyperbaric (tupperware with a small crack in it) Scent Chamber for quite a while. I started with the smell of pine tar, tea leaves, and rum - I did wash the clothes in an unsuccessful lye bath once, because I wanted to see if I could recreate the smell on clean clothes, just for cleanliness. After a while I added the wood chips - a whole variety of them, a mixture of old world and new world woods. I added a measure of dried hemp twine, but that had no odor at all, unfortunately. Then I tried to add cargo items - tea leaves, coffee, and tobacco. Then I started to look up rations, but opted not to use moldering pork fat. However, I did get some skunky lite beer to use in place of rancid small beer, as well as some port wine.

This brings the entire ingredient list to:

Wood chips, oak

Wood chips, cedar

Wood chips, pine

Wood chips, apple

Wood chips, hickory

Hardwood lump charcoal

Hemp twine

Pine tar

tea leaves

coffee

rancid small beer

dark beer

rum

port wine

tobacco

Next will probably be brandy or blackpowder. Any other suggestions?

Oh, I've also started a second chamber for my French impression. Less beer and rum, more spices such as lavendar, fennel, etc. If anyone has suggestions for the french smells (other than B.O. har har har) let me know, please.

"The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning."

- Capt. Joshua Slocum

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William, did you get the hemp fibers from here? Do you know if there is a certain kind that keeps it's smell longer?

"The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning."

- Capt. Joshua Slocum

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William, did you get the hemp fibers from here? Do you know if there is a certain kind that keeps its smell longer?

"The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning."

- Capt. Joshua Slocum

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I understand that Putrified Bear Fat is good for keeping away bugs - they say it smells real bad but it smells even worse to bitting bugs ^_^

But personnaly I LIKE the smell of Stockholm Tar, I use it on all my rope work and occasionaly even make a stain or two in me clothes just for added measure.

~All skill be in vain if an angel pisses down th' barrel o' yer flintlock!

So keep yer cutlass sharp, 'n keep her close!

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If you've spent any time below decks in a wooden ship, you know they have a unique smell. Wet wood, tar, mold, bilgewater. Historically, you could add the scent of slush (rancid fat used to grease wood and line), and stagnant drinking water. These are smells that would permeate the clothing of anyone who spent time and stored their kit below decks. I'm not sure how you'd recreate it withjout a ship, but it would certainly mark a sailor in a crowd.

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

Cannon add dignity to what otherwise would be merely an ugly brawl

I do what I do for my own reasons.

I do not require anyone to follow me.

I do not require society's approval for my actions or beliefs.

if I am to be judged, let me be judged in the pure light of history, not the harsh glare of modern trends.

rod_21.jpg

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Thank you for the grease ideas. I have considered a small sachet of food materials to hang around my neck - rancid salt pork and salt beef and fish - but I have resisted storing the more putrid ingredients, or those that have the potential to be putrid over time, with the clothes. I actually washed them a few months ago, because I decided to see if I could replicate the odors I want with clean clothes. So far it seems to be a success.

I tried stagnant water once before - I actually went for swim in my shirt and slop house, lightly salted my clothes, and then wrapped them up tightly in a plastic bag. After a week I opened the bag, and my senses so grossly assaulted I left them in the garden to be rained clean. It turns out that the body of water I went swimming in was once the outlet for a gelatin factory, and there was an unusually high level of animal nutrients in the water and a corresponding spike in microorganisms. And could that sentence sound any snottier?

Wet wood is a real idea, though. The wood chips themselves have very little smell of their own. I could just wet them and use them to line the base of the scent chamber.

"The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning."

- Capt. Joshua Slocum

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As I see it, the patrons at an event are not going to say, "That guy smells like a REAL pirate", but they will say, "My GAWD !! That guy STINKS !!! "

I think the visual effect of grungy authenticity is of far more value than smelling horrible to everybody that comes near..... :D :D

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Good point, Cascabel. While we purists might appreciate the work put into smelling correctly, I doubt the general public would undestand or appreciate it. Personally, I'd just be happy if the pirate community would stop wearing modern perfumes, colognes, and deoderants with their kit. Nothing spoils a good looking kit like getting close and realising that the person smells like Victorias Secret or the Body Shop.

Hawkyns

Master Gunner.

Cannon add dignity to what otherwise would be merely an ugly brawl

I do what I do for my own reasons.

I do not require anyone to follow me.

I do not require society's approval for my actions or beliefs.

if I am to be judged, let me be judged in the pure light of history, not the harsh glare of modern trends.

rod_21.jpg

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Rotten pork and fish? I most definitely think that you should draw the line at anything that will make you feel ill. Consider your own health when proceeding into the territory of putrid and moldy.

The idea of the sachet was that if the idea did not survive the first five minutes (meaning I couldn't stand the smell), the satchet could be pitched in the fire without the clothes themselves having to be burned... :rolleyes:

"The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning."

- Capt. Joshua Slocum

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