The Armour Archive

Cap'n Atli

JMercier, I wanted to offer some constructive criticism of your post vise mount. I think your u-bolt attachment will fail in short order. Smiths typically mount the vise just below the screw box with a sturdy bracket (one that will resist torsion and rotations). It is also important to have a beari...

Cap'n Atli

Hmmm, WMA's vessel is not so much a boat as a low-flying projectile! Drachus: I've got barns, lands and waterfront; but I have discovered that unless you have an abundance of time, a large labor pool, and money, you can either do ships or horses. I do the boats, Drey does the horses, and we both avo...

Cap'n Atli

Well, it sure sounded like it would have been useful on the longship!

Cap'n Atli

Okay, forgive me for dredging this up from when I took a course on Beowulf in college back in the late Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ60sÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

There is a passage in Beowulf, in the Ã¢â‚¬Å“Lament of the Last SurvivorÃ¢â‚¬Â

Cap'n Atli

She's lovely; and the boat's nice too.

Cap'n Atli

Ye gods, I just love folks like that! Competence and enthusiasm; it's a wonderful combination. Give this fellow all the support you can.

Cap'n Atli

Hex Bolts on Fyrdraca: We usually painted them black to blend in with the tail and dragon's head. Then, over the winter, someone would misplace them, and we'd have to buy another set! Sometimes they got painted again before the season was out. The bilge plugs would spend the winter on my dresser whe...

Cap'n Atli

Back to you, after some more research for the "Murdock Wants a Boat" thread. In addition to my comments on later medieval faerings (and cogs) for Murdock, I finally spoke with Kevin Foster, our maritime historian. He suggested looking up publications by Fred Hocker, formerly of Texas A & M (and pres...

Cap'n Atli

Cogs are serious ships- probably starting around 50-60'. A good source on medieval ships is Cogs, Caravels and Galleons (The Sailing Ship, 1000-1650) edited by Robert Gardiner, from the Naval Institute Press and published by Brassey's (UK) Ltd. (ISBN 1-55750-124-6; LoC 93-87262). I have designed som...

Cap'n Atli

mike mercier wrote:
Hell, I dont believe Armourarchive was ever meant to be an SCA specific board, but it's turned into one.
Mike

"Follow the money."

Cap'n Atli

I was typing a reply a few days back when my computer died. (It didn't crash, it just went black, with a blinking yellow switch light. They're calling in Dell.) Meanwhile, my home computer is packed up a bit, so here I am on the laptop. Hope it holds out! Okay, faering boats persist from the Viking ...

Cap'n Atli

A friend once asked me why I had never tried glass blowing. Ireplied that I had done a little bit, but where blacksmithing was hot, heavy, dirty and dangerous, glass blowing could be hot, heavy, dirty, dangerous and fragile! I just couldn't handle the fragile part.

Cap'n Atli

Okay, Lake Michigan is a pretty unforgiving body of water. (Actually, anything over about an acre and 3' deep can be unforgiving. ) So, here's a few questions: What's your period of interest? Robbed any good banks lately? (Not a necessity, but it would help.) How many reliable friends/family do you ...

Cap'n Atli

Murdock:

Starting another thread with your name on it.

Cap'n Atli

Because I'm too flippin' busy taking care of longships to even go shopping at Pennsic.

Besides, as First Warlord of Markland, it's probably unconstitutional, sort of like "cous'n Charlie Windsor" converting to Catholicism.

My crew rendering the respect due my office and experience...

Cap'n Atli

...and nobody drowned* I trust?

Good to see the old girl in the water. Any progress on a dragon's head?

* Longship Company definition of a "successful voyage."

Cap'n Atli

More forges (from a previous thread):

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... ht=#744844

Cap'n Atli

I think we frequently face a dilemma when doing reenactment between the realities of the period that we are trying to duplicate, and the mission to teach and learn and to explore all aspects of the medieval world. A field-expedient forge, capable of light work and quick repairs (mostly repairs in my...

Cap'n Atli

More on spear statistics for Anglo-Saxon migration age inhumations:

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread ... genumber=2

Cap'n Atli

Question, addressed to spouse:

"Honey; do I look farb?"

Right answer: None. (If you have to ask, you know something's not right.)

Wrong answer: Any answer, especialy "No, but..." or "Yes, but...".

Cap'n Atli

You've got the shape, everthing else is just practice and finish.

Cap'n Atli

Too nice!

("Envy is a sin." X 1,000 on the blackboard of my soul!

)

Cap'n Atli

My understanding from other smiths that have looked for this is that there is no such animal. Can anyone produce any evidence to the contrary? An illumination, or a literary example, or something from a book of accounts? Captain Jamie Given the relatively easy portability of a pair of bellows, and ...

Cap'n Atli

The trouble with a pointed stick is that's all you have, a point. Spears can slash as well as stab, so a proper spearhead is more practical. (Lanceheads are more specialized.) Most of the spears discovered in Anglo-Saxon migration era graves, where they had a spearhead and butt ferrule, were around ...

Cap'n Atli

The only trouble being that you need at least two (and three is nice) folks to forge, tend and fuel the fitre and pump the bellows.

Cap'n Atli

Something like this?

Cap'n Atli

Are any of them as short as baseball bats? I have a few old baseball bats that I was thinking of modifying on the lathe into a less "bat-like shape for godendags.

Failing that they might become ash axe and hammer handles. God(s) know(s) the wood is good stuff.

Cap'n Atli

I bought his first book at Military Through the Ages this March. I'll probably stick with it, since the next two are far beyond my needs, historical periods, or capabilities. That said, the first book has a lot of information directly transferable to my blacksmithing and metalworking projects; so I ...

Cap'n Atli

Crystal carving- I think it involves pigeon livers? I'll have to consult my Theophilus tonight.

The fern-fed goat's/red headed boy's urine is for hardening steel. Boy, I'm not going to let y'all near my quartz crystal stash!

Cap'n Atli

They found one in an Anglo-Saxon prince's grave recently, too. I had a book from Kalamazoo last year (subsequently misplaced), but it didn't have much detail. I can't wait to see a dimensional drawing.

Cap'n Atli

Nagalschmied- Honest but booring work! One advantage of a multi-holed nail header is that if you have a nail a tad over- or under-sized, you can just use the appropriate hole and sort them by size as you go along. A trick that I've used is to take mild steel cut nails (NOT masonry nails) salvaged fr...

Cap'n Atli

Also try:

http://www.markland.org/lettherebelight.php

from the Markland website.

Cap'n Atli

Wyrm: A couple of sources that have proven useful to me: Church Chests of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries in England by P.M. Johnston ( m ) and Medieval Decorative Ironwork in England; English Ironwork from 1050-1550 by Jane Geddes ( m ). The latter is a little pricy, but you may be able to pul...

Cap'n Atli

So are marshmallows period for Colonial times? Actually worth further research, since the Marsh Mallow is a common flower in the tidewater, and used to serve as the basis for the confection. I have a review of the book on the Sorber collection on the Anvilfire bookshelf at: m It's a shame the colle...

Cap'n Atli

I always fit mine with heavy guage copper or brass jaw pads, so even somewaht chipped jaws are not a problem for me. I use them bare-jawed very seldom, and then for certain filing jobs or some general "heat and beat" where the finish or the resulting surface striations are no big deal. Sonds like a ...