Common Worlds

Fourth Sunday is still on, but I don't think anyone is going to want to fight outside today. So plan on research, crafting, and eating lasagna.

The holidays are over, so we're once again hosting all sorts of fun activities this weekend at our place. As ever, all these things are available, depending on interest and weather.

• Archery
• Thrown weapons
• Armored combat
• Rapier
• Pot luck food
• Armor, shield & weapon making
• Leather work
• Generic shop time
• Arts & sciences projects of all kinds: Patterning, sewing, learning.
• Book research for persona, heraldry, you name it.

As before, we start on Sunday at 1 and run until around 6. Students near Grounds without a car can usually get a ride. Just ask.

For a peek at what goes on at Fourth Sunday, check out http://delaflamme.org

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/01/spec-fic-parenting-this-my-son-is-a-sword?ut...

via amazon.com

I'm very surprised to see that http://delaflamme.org has fallen from its previously #1 ranking in Google search results to not even appearing in the first eight pages.

Now I'm wondering what site improvement I made that caused it. Was it moving away from the old URL that had /site/ in it? Is it my new reliance on Posterous.com for posting? Or is it changes in Google's algorithm? If this, then it isn't a very good change as households with sites unchanged for more than a year are now way ahead of this one.

I use t nuts to mount handles and straps on wooden shields. As mentioned elsewhere, years ago I standardized as much as possible on 1/4" inch nuts and bolts.

Just visited Lowes, They have bulk packs of 5/16" t nuts for an entirely reasonable price, but only sell 1/4" t nuts in 2 packs for $1.08. They used to sell a variety of sizes, but no more.

Found them via the web, and though they are available for quite attractive prices from a variety of sources, shipping generally doubles (or quintuples!!) the price.

Anyone have a source for quarter inch t nuts? Does Home Depot still carry them?

It is just too freakin' cold tonight for practice. Last week was about as cold as we could manage, and at practice at 7 pm it was about 38°. Today, with the sun shining down, it is all of 32°. By the evening, it will be below 30.

So that's it for practice this semester. Our most successful semester of practices since we started! I want to thank our new guys for their interest: Ross, Sebastian, John,  David. You guys were very consistent and easy to teach. 

Extra thanks to Sev, Jonathan, Daniel, Andrew and Eric, the returning crew who help keep us moving forward as a group, even with the crush of school work.

And none of us could have done half of what we did without Kelby & Aethelwolf's patience in and out of armor, acting as living pells, loaning gear and generally being just the kind of help we need at practice. Thanks very much guys!

Next semester I imagine significantly more fun as more as people get their own armor together (there's a holiday gift guide for beginning fighters here: http://www.student.virginia.edu/~isenfir/node/90) and feel more comfortable with their fighting.

Before you know it we'll be able to run some good sized melees! Just the thing to prep for http://Pennsicwar.org next August.

Wow, practice is going to be cold tonight. I'm cold now while I'm still in my office!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

I dug around in the shop today and found all this.
The first suit is better than the 2nd, though the cuisses are too thin and the coat of plates weighs about 25 lbs.

Second suit is missing a right knee. Left knee is not attached to the cuisse. Body armor needs reinforcing. Both of them need gambesons and attachments.

Both need work, and it seems the best way to encourage that is to long term loan them to a particular person who can clean, repair and improve a set of this gear. Anyone up for it? I think either suit could fit anyone from Victor to David.
The shield is the long awaited leftie heater! Rejoice, Ross!

A damp day off, so I'm heading to the shop.
It has been so long since I made a shield from scratch that I'm not sure I recall how to do it! At least not with what's on hand. I have a curved blank, but it is very heavy and the idea is to make a left handed new guy shield. On the other hand, the donated plywood I have on hand has not proven to be very durable in other shields.

Off to fiddle around!

Anyone from the Thursday practice enough of an artist to be interested in doing the painting on this when it is done? Not even sure what to put on it. We could go with the Bay Company's cog wheel, Isenfir's colors, or some sort of V and crossed swords for UVa recruiting.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

The fighting is, I like to think, just about the same.

The recovery time, and what it does to my body after, now that's very different.

Back in the day, I could fight all day and drink wine all night and go do it again the next night. Tonight, I was exhausted and falling asleep on the sofa after a medium afternoon of knocking about---at 7:00 pm.

Looks like we're picking up some steam for fighting Saturday.

At the moment, I'm expecting:

Me
Kelby
Eric
Aloisius
and possibly:

2-3 Perchaini buddies of Kelby's
William Thomas

Likely several others plan to attend as well, but just haven't told me about it.

Everybody, come on out this Saturday!

Hey guys,

These are from a reputable dealer, and make the rest of your gear a lot more comfortable to put on. What I don't know is whether it would work for what you want to end up looking like. These are useful if you like the 14th century metal and padding look. Not so much if you're going for a 11th century viking.

http://store.fastcommerce.com/icefalcon/arming-cote-in-solid-color-and-party-...

I have no percentage in this, I'm just keeping an eye out for bargains that you guys might be interested in. I will say that getting a gambeson made locally is difficult because it takes a lot of heavy duty sewing and once someone makes one, they realize how much work it is. So the price with the discount is quite reasonable. I doubt they will last long!

This coming Saturday is a chance for fighting at the Hilltop Winery Festival. The local SCA branch will be demonstrating all sorts of SCA activities.

http://www.hilltopberrywine.com/directions.htm

If any of our new fighters would like to come out, please let Corby know--we'll need to arrange medieval garb for you, and I want to make sure there's enough loaner equipment for everyone.
Set up starts at 9! Fighting more like 11 am.

We can also work out rides.

We're practicing at the parking deck tonight due to rain.

Last week's practice was big, but it could be bigger! http://www.student.virginia.edu/isenfir/node/138

There was a tentative plan for melees tonight, but the deck makes that awkward. Maybe we'll train a bit on melees, but not do any full speed.

I brought an extra helm tonight, but we're getting to the point where there may not be enough to go around. Everyone, please bring any and all spare anything you have.

Oh, and it's Andrew's birthday. I'm sure he's looking forward to getting best rattan wishes from all of you! I wonder if his birthday wish list included leg armor?

Last night's practice was great. We got three of our four new guys in armor for the first time, and they all did great. Special thanks to Kelby and Aethelwolf for the patience in working with these guys their first time out.

Daniel also armored up again for the first time in quite a while, and Aloisius was, I believe, entirely armored in gear that was his (with just a bit of borrowed stuff) for the first time.

All in all, last night we had 

• Aethelwolf
• Kelby
• Aloisious
• Adilric
• Eric
• Daniel
• The new guys:
  • John
  • David
  • Ross
• Helping out
  • Sev
  • Bubba
• Coaching:
  • Corby
• Missing Regulars
  
  • Philip
  • Jeremy
  • Andrew
  • Sebastian
  • Victor

Holy crap. If everyone armored up (which is currently impossible because we have to swap a bunch of gear) that would be seventeen people in armor! Oh, and again for those doom sayers who opine that armored combatants are "greying": Only three people on that list are over 25. Actually, I'm pretty sure all but three of them are under 23.

There was talk about melees last night, but it seems a bit early to be throwing new guys into that. Maybe in another week!