[RUSTYME]

Nowt to do with smallholding but there you go .... I have got interested in black powder muskets again .( 'Black powder' is more or less just the modern name for gun powder. ) I was really interested in them years ago , but had nowhere to make them or to use them . I am not a gun nut  at all (a nut maybe !!! ), as they are only for one purpose really, to kill !!! No desire to kill anyone ..YET ? . But I really like black powder muskets , and would love to actually make one.
 You can buy kits , with all the parts semi done , just need finishing off and putting together . However, they are loads of money ...way out of my range  ( my range is about £10  ) . So I will have a go at making all the parts from scratch . I have enough beech for the stock , I have as much brass, for casting the fancy bits ,as I need and the rest ie the barrel and lock etc , will  come out of the scrap pile. The black powder is easy enough to make , charcoal , sulphur and saltpeter , are all that is needed . The charcoal I make anyway , and the others can be bought very cheap either online or in any high street . About £5 would make a 10lbs or so if I only bought in small amounts.
 I would like to have a go at making the good ole Brown Bess .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJMbxZ1k9NQ&feature=related
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/GunKit.aspx?catID=13&subID=77&styleID=286&partNum=1746-BROWN-BESS-MUSKET-PARTS-LIST&partList=True
 A complete set of drawings for 3 different versions is available for about £10 or so ... Something different  !!! I already have a longbow , the musket just sort of follows on from there really ...

cheers

Russ

[Wizard]

Oh Russ I can think of a lot to try it out on the all those Wesleyan Hammer MP's to start with I see our man is on the list now

[RUSTYME]

lol... yes I can think of one or two as well ....but the longbow would be more acurate than the musket , and the longbow don't make a noise ... . Man sized target at 100 yards with a longbow ... yep easy .... same target with a musket ? 50 yards maybe ? 
 I don't even like killing rabbits for gods sake !! let alone people .... mind you ..do Tony Blair and Gordon Brown count ?


cheers

Russ

[Wizard]

I dont know Russ maybe mrs of each might think they are human

[shetlandpaul]

do you need a licence to make gunpowder. 10lbs could make a nice bang. were would you get the barrel tested.

[RUSTYME]

you need a shotgun licence to own a blackpowder gun , whether it be a musket , pistol or rifle even , and you need a black powder licence to use black powder . I would think there would be a limit to how much you can store , but I would only ever make up very small amounts (an ounce or so !! ) at a time anyway . You don't need a licence to store saltpeter , sulphur or charcoal , just the black powder once it is ground and mixed .
 There is a gun shop , well it is a gun 'shed' really , near to me , and he is a gunsmith and has the all the appropriate licences and equipment, for testing gun barrels etc . , but before it went there , I would test it myself !!! I like playing  !!
I have made 'thermite' using aluminium powder and iron oxide (rust ), and all you do is mix the two together , and then add a fuse. Light said fuse and leg it !!!! the mix will melt it's way through a car engine in about 2 or 3 seconds , right through from top to bottom. Really scary stuff... so if you are drilling aluminium in your shed or garage , make sure there is no rusty metal about and that you are not smoking .... it is also another reason why you never work aluminium on a lathe without cleaning it very well first . Or work metal on a lathe after ali ...same thing applies ....mix the two and let a spark hit the mix and watch your lathe dissappear !!!

cheers

Russ

[sagehen]

Are you into the reenactment scene, or are you just interested in the weaponry? I think TORM have got a few markets in line this year. I don't do reneactments, but I'm involved in a medieval demonstration (spinning) this June and I've got to dress up for the part, yay! Have done some research, and it's pretty exciting stuff 

[RUSTYME]

I don't do reenactment , but if I didn't have the dogs I most likely would . 4 crazy mental dogs would be just too much to cope with at the Battle of Bosworth Field ( or should that now be 'Just down the road from Bosworth field ' ?). I really like the longbow and making all the gear , arrows , quiver , strings etc , even  making the bow ...it's all free . Well apart from the heads I have had to buy them till now , but I now have my forge set up  , so can make my own arrow heads now too.
 The muskets I have always liked , but have no interest at all in guns otherwise . It is really just the longbow then the crossbow and then muskets that I like , along with the armour of the time 1400 - 1700 appx. I have made a few shields and some chain mail and a pike or two . I will have a go at making a norman helmet sometime now I have the forge . 

cheers

Russ

[sagehen]

Can't you leave your dogs for a day while you go to a reenactment? I found it funny that the Bosworth field was just down the road from the official site  I've got a friend, a lady who's into reenactment, and she gives away arrow rods for us to make peg looms  It's interesting, all this, I like the skills and techniques that people are rediscovering, but also mourn how much knowledge we've lost.

[RUSTYME]

I am up that creek without a paddle as far as money goes , so haven't got a car (don't want one either really !! but couldn't afford the fuel even if I was given a car , and I have been offered a few !! ). Plus I haven't got any kennels/run   that I could leave the dogs in . Also Millie , the Weimarana , will not be parted from me at any cost , she just goes mental , and the 3 spaniel boys would have to be left in separate runs as they would fight if all together. But , all a bit hypothetical really , as I have no spare cash for the kennels/run either ...lol.
 I have made a few peg looms and Inkle looms , but it is the bigger looms I am really interested in . I didn't have any need for narrow belt type stuff off the inkle loom . If I want a belt I make one out of leather .  I also made a few arrows out of a bit of ash off my land , the fletching (feathers ) were found on the land also , 3 of the heads I made myself , but I didn't have the forge set up then so it was hard work , I therefore just stuck some bought ones on most of them . It is really annoying that those arrows ( the ones with the hand forged heads) are the only ones I have lost in the woods  ....lol . All that work and one by one ...gone .
 Talking of old skills , I have made a couple of bee skeps . I used barley straw as that was what I had at the time . They were fine , although rotted away now ...lol. I want to have a go at making straw hats too . They are silly money to have to buy , that will be another book for me to buy when I can stop buying haylage for the horses. I made a few coiled straw baskets along with some willow ones . Willow also makes good arrows too.

cheers

Russ

[sagehen]

Do you get everything delivered then, if you can't travel? Where we are, the bus only comes once a day (or maybe twice, because obviously they can't leave shoppers stranded overnight?).
 Anyway, I was more interested in your big loom as well - peg looms I don't really consider as weaving, and inkle looms are, like you said, only good for sashes and belts (and how many belts do you need when you've got good old baler twine  )
You lost arrows in the woods - I assume you were actually trying to shoot some game or something - you could always try training your dogs to retrieve lost arrows!

Added a link for crossbow reconstruction:

http://www.angevin.org/


You're growing tall wheat anyway aren't you, so that's suitable for straw weaving - in fact tall straw is quite a niche market for the few straw weavers out there ( I know because I was looking for some for a straw hat, too), so you can always grow a bit more to sell. I've noticed someone is also selling beeskeps on ebay - doesn't take too long to make one, and it's good for selling to the growing bee keeping community, and if you could do that, you could start selling that as well.

[RUSTYME]

yes , only got the one shop in the village , was a spar now a premium , but it is so dear I just can't afford to buy my stuff there. So it is my favourite shop that delivers all I need ...Tesco... I hate the company , but they deliver  !!!! and I can't fault their service . They have been truly excellent , but I still hate the company ...lol.
 The bus service is similar here , but it is only Tuesday and Thursday I think ? I have never used it as I suffer terrible travel sickness these days .
 The local shop used to be a sub post office as well , but thanks to orders from the EU it was one of the many that closed down , and now we have a van come round once a week for 2 hours.
 It is that, that makes it difficult to sell on ebay , as I have to carry everything half a mile or so to the car park where the post office van stops . Ok in the dry weather , but this is Wales !!!! Plus when I move onto the land , I won't have mains electricity , maybe no telephone either (if they will connect for £75 then I will have it put on , but they also said it may cost me £1500 ..FORGET IT  !!  ) . So if I don't end up with a land line then as there is no mobile signal down there , I won't be on the internet anyway ..so no ebay ...lol.
 I lost the arrows while shooting at a target in the hay field . I was some 100 - 120 yards away , so was shooting at nigh on 45 degree angle , well every now and then the wind would catch an arrow and take it miles, arrows shot at that angle go up 150 - 200 feet in the air. So it was just sods law that it was my best arrows that went AWOL ... .
 It is illegal to hunt animals with a bow in the UK , and although I don't always follow rules or even laws , I don't like killing anything for sport . I know many people do , and I have no problem with that , it is just I don't like doing it , so I don't . 
 The straw will be used to make all sorts of things , which I do hope to sell , but it is just how I sell them that is unsure at the moment . I will also sell willow work , baskets , fencing etc . The problem there is, the horses keep eating all the bl**dy willow !!!  little sods .
 The loom was a big old lump made from some bits and bobs of timber  I had at the time .


It looked something like the ones in the pics , more like the newer one maybe . A real shame it got lost somewhere , I could really use it now . Still I will make another one , they aren't that hard to make.
 I was going to make another crossbow , I made one years ago , a Barnett Wildcat . I still have the plans now . But the Longbow shoots just as far if not further !! , and is easier to look after and is more accurate over long distance . But I may make a crossbow just for show, a replica medieval one . 

cheers

Russ

[sagehen]

I've seen that first loom somewhere - (in a museum maybe?) and I think it's beautiful! Look at all that old wood 
It's a shame that you haven't got access if you move - what are you going to do without your TAS forum  Seriously though, these days if you want to sell anything, you need access to the net, so hopefully you get a landline for less than what you've been quoted.
I've also seen longbows in action - the archer was bl**dy fantastic, he managed to hit the targets and they were a LONG way away, although in a battle, I believe crossbows would probably do more damage (?)
As for your willows, fence them, or don't let the horses graze where they are, if that's possible.

[RUSTYME]

I like the old one better too , but I always like the look of well used wood anyway .
 Once on the land I will only have minimal leccy anyway . Some from a small wind turbine , some from solar panels (but they are dear and I have no money !!) , and once I get it made and in situ , the water wheel . I also have an old lister genny , but that won't be able to run all the time because of the fuel .
  The longbow was far better than the crossbow in nearly all respects. It would shoot over much greater distances , a 100lb + draw weight longbow could send an arrow over 400 yards, and still kill a man , or a horse !! or even pin the rider to the horse . But a crossbow took longer to load , couldn't shoot as far and only the later ones were as deadly really . The real benefit that crossbows had over a longbow was that anyone could learn to shoot the crossbow in a very short time . However , it took years of training, from a child , to learn to use a longbow. Most men of today could not even draw a real longbow to shoot it , they really are hard to use.
 The longbow wiped out some 30,000 French men in the battle of Crecy in 1346:
http://www.britishbattles.com/100-years-war/crecy.htm
 English casualties were very few .
 It is possible to shoot 12 arrows a minute with a longbow , and have three in the air at once . Not anywhere near that with a crossbow.
 Yes the willow .... I will get them fenced .... once again it is money .... but I will get it done this year ( fingers crossed ).

cheers

Russ

[sandy]

Oh yeh!!