FREE ARMOR: To SCA baronies, shires etc...

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 11:26 pm

Like so many things that should be uncomplicated but get totally out of control, I see how this could as well, so please read the ENTIRE following bit of information before contacting me. Also, please do ALL contacting on this thread. My inbox on this site stays too close to full all the time anyhow...

Now, producing the quantity that we produce, from time to time, I get a piece that is a "second", and I do not want to sell it as our primary run merchandise. These can be in any state of finish. It might be a deep scratch all the way to a tear in the metal. I usually throw these in a pile and they go to the steel recycling plant along with the rest of our scrap. Its kind of a shame because most of the time they could be used, ESPECIALLY as loaner armor... Of course it will be seconds, there might be rust, scratches, edges need sanding, etc etc etc.. Most of the time it will probably be cops, sometimes nicer things, sometimes leather or leather pieces. sometimes it might be stainless armor pieces, you just never know what you are going to get till you open the box.

What I am proposing is if your group wishes to get on the list to recieve some of this merchandise, I will start boxing it up (quite at random) and if you are on the list I can then contact the rep of your group, give them a quote for whatever shipping will cost to their location, and as soon as we get that in we will get it shipped off to you. Any delays or "I will have to check" and you will simply be passed over. Since we only use Priority mail from the US Post office we need to limit this to groups inside the 48 states where shipping is the least.

I see no reason to scrap some of this usable armor when it can be put to good use.. Also, by donating it to a non-profit organization, I can take a portion of it off our corporate taxes.

ALL Inquiries WILL be checked into. The SCA has a wonderful website which lists your local senechals and treasurers. Considering both of them would have to be completely informed of this type of donation, they should know exactly what i am talking about when I phone them, and I WILL phone them... If they have no idea what is going on, I will give them your address and name so they can pursue any legal action they desire.

What you will need:

1) Permission from your senechal and treasurer

2) Fax machine available (I will fax an "invoice" showing donation to your local group) This will need to be signed by your local treasurer and MAILED back in, so I have the original signatures.). I will have this paperwork ON-HAND and ready to fill in as soon as I get a full box. I'm not going to have boxes of stuff just sitting around in my shipping bldg waiting on so and so to get me this or that...

3) A shipping address inside the 48 cont states which can recieve US Post Office packages.

4) Be able and willing to immediately send whatever shipping charges come to.

Final word on this... I am going to send groups FREE armor... any pickiness, hesitation, or basic waste of my time, and your group will simply be axed off the list and the next group will be contacted to see if they want free armor. If I get a good list of groups together that everything flows smoothly and easily, then I will continue to do this and they will probably recieve multiple shipments until they advise me they no longer need loaner armor in their area.

Like I stated before: All contact keep in this post NOT my personal inbox. If you send something to my personal inbox and I never reply it is because I deleted it...

Charles the Brown · Post by **Charles the Brown** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:11 am

i think this might be a great thing for the hurrican victims

Mike F · Post by **Mike F** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:20 am

We don't have any fighters except myself (and I'm not even authorized yet) but I shall talk to our Shire and see if they're interested. I think we could get a few people interested if we had the gear. Plus with Caer Anterth so close, we could always send them down there with our own loaner gear.

Do you have a method of credit-card orders that doesn't include paypal?

I'll get you more information when the senechal and treasurer sign off on it.

Michael Constantine,
Herald of the Shire of Lub Siochail (West Bend, WI)

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:23 am

Well, Id definitely have no problem giving groups that lost all their loaner gear special consideration as high need groups. Speaking as someone that just went through the hurricane, and we had over 20 people sheltered here at our facility for over a week with no electricity, little water, no gasoline, stores without much food, I'd think loaner gear is probably a low priority for most of them. I know two of the families that were staying here completely lost their homes. If and when they were in a situation where it became a high priority again, I would definitely put affected groups high on any list if they lost all their loaner gear. I think for right now those people have more on their minds than sca eventing. If a group wants or needs special consideration because of a total loss scenario, I will definitely put them high on any list we formulate.

We can actually take money orders, mastercard, visa, diners club (why I dont know but it came in the package), and of course paypal. We dont normally accept checks of any kind, but coming from a sca group for just shipping, we would have no problem taking them.

olaf haraldson · Post by **olaf haraldson** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:57 am

I'm pretty sure we'll be interested here in Outpost... I'll run it by our people today...

Thorbjorn · Post by **Thorbjorn** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:13 am

I'll check in with my shire Marshal and see what she thinks. If she things that the Senechal will go for it, I'll let you know. We're definately solvent enough to cover shipping from TX, I'll have to check in with the exchequer as well.

I'll give you an update from our next business meeting as to whether or not this would be something that my locals would be interested in. (Something tells me that extra armor for the cost of shipping might not be frowned upon!)

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:31 am

I'll check ASAP.

-Aaron

Hrolfr · Post by **Hrolfr** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 11:42 am

I just contacted my seneschal and exchequer via email, and am awaiting approval.

Thanks for the great help!

HrÃƒÂ³lfr
Shire of Donnershaufen, Region of Pentamere, Midrealm

mka
Roger Korthase
Northen Lower Michigan
or in other words, the tip of the mitten

anneskerre · Post by **anneskerre** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:45 pm

However, we don't yet have a fighter program (in part because we don't have armor). My first thought would be to send everything you can south to Meridies for now.

But, anything after that, we'd love to be a part of the receiving list.

We do have a fax number, a seneschal and an exchequer. I've put it to our list for discussion and will reach a likely Yea consensus by our next Tuesday meeting.

In the meantime, I'd be happy to field any questions you need answered in a more timely fashion.

Thank you so much for offering this!

In service to the Freehold of Skerjastrond and the Dream,
Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon
Herald of Skerjastrond, Warranted Herald of Northshield

mka
Anne Newcombe
(nine-zero-six two-five-one zero-three-seven-two)

Seaan O'Hagan · Post by **Seaan O'Hagan** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:17 pm

Here in Stonemarche we are in the process of fixing up some loaner kits. I'll get the info asap.

Christophe de Frisselle · Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:28 pm

Olaf Haraldson wrote:I'm pretty sure we'll be interested here in Outpost... I'll run it by our people today...

Damn, you beat me to it. Which is fine, you'll see the our Exchequer before I will.

Oh, yeah, the Seneschal thinks this is a cool idea and approves being on the list.

Seigneur Christophe de Friselle
Seneschal of the Shire of the Northern Outpost, East Kingdom

The Midnight Rust · Post by **The Midnight Rust** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:06 pm

I just sent an email out to the Shire of Far Reaches's list. We're pretty small right now, but we have a number of people interested in fighting who lack armor.

Hopefully the seneschal will be interested enough to register here and give you the information you need soon.

Scarneck · Post by **Scarneck** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:55 pm

There is a group of live steel combatants in New England, led by Jeremy at Knightly Arts. He runs a European martial arts school in Mass. and also runs tournaments that have classes from boffer to no holds barred steel. I am sure that this equipment would be greatly appriciated by him and his students. You can contact him at jeremy@knightlyarts.com

Thank you for your consideration.

anneskerre · Post by **anneskerre** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:11 pm

Lady Zoe Anne in Skerjastrond (Marquette, MI, Upper Peninsula) here again. Both our Seneschal and our Exchequer approve of this and we have a fax (non-dedicated, gotta call them first to let them know a fax will be coming) and a shipping address.

Although we don't have any fighting programs yet, per se, we do have a few people actively pursuing Rapier MIT status, and at least a few folks interested in heavy. We have been traveling up to our neighbors to the northwest, Mistig Waetru, on occasion to play with them until we get our own programs going great guns.

Standing by for further instruction.

And again, MANY Thanks!
In service,
Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon of Skerjastrond in Northshield

juan · Post by **juan** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:59 pm

I have sent out emails to the relevant people in the Shire of Teufelberg (Contra Costa Cty., CA) letting them know.

Thank you very much for the generous and thoughtful offer. I am sure that many will benefit from and you can be sure that your work will be used as intended instead of being mashed by the recicler (OUCH! I cringe to even think it)

Regards,

- Juan

Sixtus_Goetz · Post by **Sixtus_Goetz** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 4:23 am

I have also and am awaiting reply from our Knight Marshal in reguards to your generous offer.

Cheers

Halberds · Post by **Halberds** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:16 am

Cool.....

anneskerre · Post by **anneskerre** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 12:59 pm

Lady Zoe Anne of Skerjstrond again--

Our Seneschal and Exchequer have asked me to post their phone numbers in case you need to reach them.

906-346-3532 (Seneschal, Johanna de SwynfordÃ¢â‚¬Â¦will soon be another person, Katriona Faa. We will forward her information when the change of officer status is complete).

906-485-5052 (Exchequer, Sofia of Aspenbrook) This is the preferred contact person at this time as she will be in her office longer than Johanna or myself. She will also be the person to whom any shipments are sent.

Standing by for further instructions.
In service to the Dream,
Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon, Herald of the Freehold of Skerjastrond, Warranted Herald of the Kingdom of Northshield

nzanesmith · Post by **nzanesmith** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:26 pm

Our Seneschal is looking into it with our kingdom to make sure its legal for us to own armour so ill postt whatever i hear from our shire

Hedinn · Post by **Hedinn** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:47 pm

I will check into this as well, and get back with the info. We have quite a few new fighters with no gear in the Shire of Nordenhal. Even pieces of armor would be a great help.

Thanks for this very generous offer!

Update:
I talked it over at our meeting and The Seneshal approved. Feel free to contact him or the exchequer.

Shire of Nordenhal, East kingdom
Here is the officers contact site:
http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/Nordenhal/officers.htm

Tiberius Iulius Rufus · Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:18 pm

Good Sir of Stonekeep:

My home Shire, PantherVale (In Vermont, East Kingdom), was excited to read of your generous offer.

Our fax number is through EFAX and the number is (309) 401-3761. Our Seneschal is Mairead Scherbatskaja and our Exchequer is Cainneach mac Ulliem. Both are in awe of your offer and have asked me to contact you for further instructions. I have their contact phone numbers, and they are also available on the member pages of Panthervale.com, our unofficial society page.

My contact information is 802.626.3875 (home) and 802.274.1312 (cell) for any further needs.

Gratias Tibi:

Tiberius Iulius Rufus

TechnoWizard · Post by **TechnoWizard** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:44 am

I see that you are willing to ship your items toshires and baronies of the SCA, but would you be willing to send anything to a Student Organization that is a daughter group to Shire. I am John Wenger, the Technology Wizard (web minester) for the Falcon's Gate, a Student Organization at UWSP and a daughter group to the Shire of Falcon's Keep in the kingdom of Northshield. We Often bring in many students interested in Armed combat, but it is often times hard for us to get armor for our members. We would probably be more than interested in purcasing some of your scrap armor to use as a set for our members, so we don't always have to borrow from our parent group. please, let me know if you would be willing to give to a student organization that is not technicaly part of the SCA due to campus rulings but works closly with it. also, please visit our website at www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/falcon to get a better idea of what we are.
John Wenger of Falcon's Gate

freiman the minstrel · Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:04 am

Yes! Yes! Yes!

I am the local marshal for our group, and we have several folks in line for loaner gear every week. I can also use the "seconds" aspect to organize a class/workshop on "how to prepare new armor for use", that is, how to sand edges, clean off scale, put a first polish on things, set straps, ect.

I need to get with our Exchequer/Seneschalle and get the paperwork handled. Fax machine should be no problem at all, nor the receipt. We have a couple of folks who are paperwork wizards in the group. We had one guy who was able to handle the labrynthine puzzle of military paperwork enough to get the army to literally issue our local group a building. We have to give it back when we are done with it, but it's ours for the forseeable future. We're good with forms.

Just a word. We are an military base Stronghold, in Germany. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT POSTAGE COSTS ONE PENNY MORE. Shipment by US mail to an APO costs exactly what it does to (I think) Dover, Delaware. It doesn't even take very much longer. Priority mail usually comes in in 5-7 days just like inthe states.

If you are willing to handle the actual making and donation of the armor, I am positive that we can handle everything else. I mean, everything.

And thank you. Getting our hands on armor is one of our biggest problems.

freiman
Knight's Marshal
Stronghold of Nebelwald,
Vilseck/Graffenwoehr/Hohenfels Military community.

(Have the Icelanders been told about this?)

Sir Guy · Post by **Sir Guy** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:39 am

Yes,

I am the Seneshal of Vale De Draco, the Stronghold i Tokyo. I'm also the Baronial Marshal. Yes we need the armor and I would like to get on your list. I will have our money person get with you as well.

Sir Guy

Morgan · Post by **Morgan** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:15 am

Passed along to our baronial KM.

Corwin of ArgentLupe · Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:11 am

Wonderfula dn Gernerous offer.

The Shire of Blak Rose would be honored to accept donations for our new fighters. (A number of us already own peices from you, so we are very familiar with your work.)

Knight's Marshall and Senescal and are approving. Waiting to hear back from the Exchequer.

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:54 am

Just got in this Monday morning, and I see this was well recieved...

Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon: Could you give me the Kingdom and physical mundane location of your group (I think I need that to look it up on the sca website)

Ive started a notebook for listings. I probably will consider special needs as well, such as the hurricane wiping out everything a group has etc. The main thing right now it to get the list together (and checked out), get all the paperwork back in. In the meantime I of course will stop trashing our mistake pieces.

Tiberius: good job i think you coverd all I need here. I will look up your shire today and make some phonecalls. and try to get the form faxed to you guys tonight (right after i actually draw up the form..haha)

Frieman: I went ahead and put you on the list pending info,because yes we ship to APO's all the time. I bet I dont call more than just your treasurer. haha Oh and what kingdom etc would you guys be listed under? Being able to take parts that need to be put together, does increase your value to me....

Just a general statement.. Like I said, this is for SCA groups only at this time. The SCA is grouped under one tax exemption number (which I have around here somewhere because I have donated to my local group before, as well as hosting events on my ranch and donating various things for that. One thing we did have to check on, and this is what we found out. Donations of money etc. cannot exceed $500 per donation.. I dont think we will come close to reaching that on any donated box of stuff, but of course i will monitor that and make sure. I was also told on physical property this does not even apply, but we wont be in danger of even testing that (per donation)

On the sister college group: I doubt you are even allowed to accept donations of this short, and it does not really fall into the parameters of this post. You would be better off trying to contact your sister group to get them on board so they have more to loan you.

To make it clear what i really need (after you ok it locally):
Is your senechals and treasurers name and phone, group name and what kingdom (so I can look it up at sca.org). I will ask your treasurer for a fax number, just please have them prepared to give me one. I am going to draw up the form we spoke of now, so we can get the ball rolling on the two groups that seem to have this ok'd and ready to go.

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:00 am

Oh, and while it was good to know so many people are working towards this (so I know it was well recieved and people have got things "in the works" so to speak) Could we strictly keep the posts (from this point) to questions for me, or to provide me with information. Its going to be a lot to read through eventually probably, and will be hard for groups to find the pertinent information (as well as myself) when this stretches out to a lot of pages.

I am glad that people posted "in the works posts" over the weekend so I do know this was well recieved. That lets me know I need to get moving on my end.. Now I just need to collect pertinent info, and do my anti-fraud research on my end.

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:18 am

I just wrote to shire Panthervale in the East Kingdom, and this is the form letter I will be sending out to the group senechals and exechequers:
Also, as an addendum, it has become obvious that email will work fine and a fax number is not even neccessary if email addresses are available for your officers through the SCA website like in most cases.

Hello Meg and Erin,

I am writing to you as you are listed as the group senechal for Shire Panthervale, East kingdom on the SCA website.
I own a large armory with a high production and we often have products that come out damaged, or just "not right" and we generally destroy them, even though some could be used for loaner armor.

I have been informed that you have been contacted, and are aware of this program and are interested in getting on the list as a potential candidate for recieving some of these products. I am taking nothing to chance as far as potential fraud is concerned and I am only contacting local group officials through contact information provided through SCA.org.

I posted on an armor list, that I would prefer to set up some kind of donation program for these "seconds" to groups in the SCA as I am a 10 year member myself. I have donated to my local group in this manner, including hosting events here on my ranch free of charge, as well as various donations going along with the running of those.

What I (we) have always done is to have a donation form signed by the local treasurer and senechal on hand. Then when I have armor or other things I could donate, they could just pick it up and I put down the monetary value on the form, and I take it off the taxes of the armory or the parent company of the armory, which is Spiers Saddlery and Tack Inc. The only thing different we are doing in this program is we ARE requiring local groups to pay the shipping charges USPS to their location. It's basically armor/leather/ sometimes buckles/rivets for the shipping cost. The shipping cost will be variable as the weight of the boxes would be variable. You would be contacted in advance of shipping, informed what the shipping cost is, and as soon as the local group check or money order comes in, the box will be shipped to your group.

By doing this, armor or products such as leather/buckles is given to SCA groups instead of being recycled, and I also acquire tax deductions to be used for our corporate taxes at the end of the year. It never hurts to have as much of those as you can.

What I will need to do is fax or even email a Word document form which would need to be filled in by your local group and signed by the current Senechal and Exchequer of the group. this will actually need to be snail mailed (post office) back to me so I actually have the original signatures (In case I ever needed to provide these documents to the IRS to prove we made these donations.)

The address here is:

Stonekeep Armory
RR 1 Box 116
Kennard, Texas 75847-9735

Please contact me back that this was indeed not an attempt at fraud and you are aware of the program and wish to be involved. Please list your current needs, and most importantly what type of products would benefit you (ie: we end up with products in various stages of non-completion all the way up to completed, but just not perfect. We also have leather scraps and straps from time to time. The main thing I would like to know is how prepared and what skill level does your group have in taking an unfinished product and getting it to completion. Having a low skill level does not mean you would not qualify, it just means I do not need to send unfinished products to you which would better be shipped to a group which can finish and use them. There would be no sense in me sending leather scraps to a group that that has absolutely no use for them as well. Also, when we contact you with the shipping amount, please be diligent and forthcoming. I really cannot afford to have my shipping bldg full of armor parts and/or leather in boxes earmarked for certain groups that just collect and take up space. When I have contacted you, it will mean I have taken the time to box up the products we are sending you, fill out the form you have provided, weigh the box, get the shipping quote, all before contacting you. So please be respectful and be diligent.

After hearing back from you, I will then fax or email the donation form to be signed. (You can send as many sets of these in as you want. We will need a seperate form for each donation box, but you could simply send another in after you recieve each donation if this works better for you). As soon as we get that back, along with your needs list, your group will be placed on the list. Every group on the list with a donation form in their file, is a potential candidate for donations.

Robert d'Audrieu · Post by **Robert d'Audrieu** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:14 pm

Frieman: I went ahead and put you on the list pending info,because yes we ship to APO's all the time. I bet I dont call more than just your treasurer. haha Oh and what kingdom etc would you guys be listed under? Being able to take parts that need to be put together, does increase your value to me....

Friemans Group is in the Kingdom of Drachenwald

anneskerre · Post by **anneskerre** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:31 pm

[quote="Stonekeep"]Just got in this Monday morning, and I see this was well recieved...

Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon: Could you give me the Kingdom and physical mundane location of your group (I think I need that to look it up on the sca website)

Our Exchequer wrote to us of your conversation earlier today. She was delighted to speak with you. Just in case you do still need info you requested above: Kingdom, we are Northshield, and our group is in Marquette, MI in the Upper Peninsula. If you need further information from me, I remain gratefully in your service,

And to Skerjastrond and the Dream,
Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon

Sir Guy · Post by **Sir Guy** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:35 pm

Stronghold of Vale De Draco.

senechal- guylestran@aol.com
local treasurer- Lady Ysabelle- fwcoronet@yahoo.com

Sir Guy

Tiberius Iulius Rufus · Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:28 pm

Sir:

Many thanks for the update. I have forwarded your posts to our Shire and told them to expect mail.

I trust all is well with you, and again, thanks!

Tiberius Iulius Rufus, of PantherVale, EK

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:30 pm

Thanks Robert.. I should have all I need to get in touch with Frieman's group now and get them rolling...

Lady Zoe Anne d'Avignon I have everything I need now from your group. Including your armoring abilities, and what your group can handle from one of your officers. Just waiting on a letter from you guys with those signed docs and armor will be on the way.

Sir Guy: What Kingdom is Stronghold Vale de Graco in? Or anyone that knows answer for him and I can get the info out to them as well.

Panthervale should have emails as of this afternoon...

I am really glad this is being well recieved....
I wish I had been saving armor parts for some time.. I normally recycle them which is a shame now. I wish I had a mountain of them.. Leather on the other hand I currently have tons of. mostly it will be smallish pieces which i will run through my strap cutting machine and make you 1/2 inch straps for strapping with.. I even have buckle styles and sizes we just dont use anymore. I will be sure and spread those around since they are pretty valuable.
Even though i dont have a ton of seconds armor right now since i have been sending it to the recycling place, this will be an ongoing thing as well as it is being recieved. So even if you are waiting for a while if i have all your paperwork in eventually you will geta call/email that I have stuff for you.
I have armor stuff for maybe 5 groups right now, leather strips for 10 dozen...

Stonekeep · Post by **Stonekeep** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:40 pm

Stronghold of Nebelwald, Kingdom Drachenwald : Yalonda Willhoite senechal
Emailed, and forms sent.

FREE ARMOR: To SCA baronies, shires etc...

FREE ARMOR: To SCA baronies, shires etc...

We are a young Freehold in need of any armor at all--

Our ducks are in a row!

Student Group

Info you requested...