Musket goodies!
Musket Goodies
Hmmm. This is what happens when you have a website, and you just want to add a new page.
NEW!!!! LOOK, A BAG!
Wow! On Dec. 14th, I finally finished the making of my snapsack. I am so happy! It took me a bit. I wanted to have a smaller canvasy bag, like in the drawings of soldiers. It is a long 'sausagy' type bag that goes across the back and the strap goes across the chest.
I made it out of very weathered canvas-it was outside the whole run of the Rosenthorne Renaissance Festival this year. So it got very very old looking :-D YAY! I then cut it, and hand sewn it with linen thread. My Dad had gave me a whole roll of it! Very neat stuff. The part that gave me the most trouble was the bottom. I had to fit a square piece into a round opening. I pinned it and moved it about, and finally got it in. Then the strap I had sewn didn't fit so I had to make a new one.
It came out beautifully tough, and I can rest happy!
I made myself a stuff bag too, for I don't wish to bring another non period green backpack that I need to hide. One of my goals for the new reenacting season is to have my tent flap open! And no 'new' stuff to hide. I don't want to have to do it anymore :P
WOWEE! Look at the size of them balls!
Finally, on Thursday, the 16th of October, 2003, I, Hellen, made roundballs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoopeeeeeeeeeeeee! I say! I am the man! Well, heeheehee!
WOWEEEEE!!!!!!! LOOKY HERE!!!!!!!
My Goodness! That's what I call a lead ladle :-)!
After my last attemps at casting roundballs failed miserably, I called up my good friend and expert Blacksmith Don Chesney at DunGowan Iron.
I needed something that allowed me to have the lead in it, both to melt and pour balls. Wow! What he made is this nice large ladle with a spout. He tested it, and said it would make a rather nice .72 calibre roundball.
YAY! I cannot wait to use this baby! It's got a loooong handle, to keep you away from the fire, and to have the handle not get so hot that you can't handle it.
Again, that's Don Chesney at DunGowan Iron, located in Duluth Minnesota. Very great man, I say!
This is a close-up of my bandolier, showing part of the belt and two bottles, or charges. A bandolier consists of a leather belt that hangs on your left shoulder, goes across your chest, and has a bag that hangs by your right hand. It then has twelve to fourteen little wooden bottles attatched to it that were used to hold a measured charge of blackpowder for the matchlock musket. The background behind the scan is my corset. The bandolier belt is leather, and is made by my Dad. Dad is a great leatherworker, and someday I hope to be as good as he is. The nicely turned bottles are made of wood-cedar, to be exact- and are made by my good friend Jay Henderson. He can do anything! This man has made clothing, cannons, a Wheellock pistol and at least two Matchlocks. He and his lovely wife Tracy, run a business called Artifacts.
This is my bandolier pouch. The pouch is from a pattern made by looking at one of the Clann Tartan bandoliers. It's big enough to fit my hand in, which is very nice. The pouch is made of leather and also was made by my Dad. I have made a few pouches, but since Dad wanted to do some leatherwork, I let him do it. It looks so much better than the ones that I had made :-). It's hand stiched with linen thread.
The items hanging next to the pouch are a screwdriver, and a priming flask. Both are extremely important. The screwdriver attached to the belt comes in handy to screw in those pesky loose pan covers. (Have you ever had that happen? Having your pan cover loosen at the wrong moment, spilling your priming powder all over? Uff Da!)
The priming flask holds the fine grained powder that is poured into the pan to fire off the musket. Mine's made of wood covered with a piece of leather.
These are just some of the contents of my pouch. Clockwise from the left, they are: My screwdriver I attach to the bandolier belt, a musket ball (A musketeer would carry more, but for reenactments where we don't shoot live, I carry one for show), some matchcord (also, there would be more carried, some on the bandolier belt, and some wrapped around a hat brim or any place! One can never have too much matchcord, heeheehee!), and a handy musket tool (which has a screwdriver on one end and a pointed end which aids in taking the pins out so you can remove the barrel).
Other items I carry could include: a piece of hard candy (for those long drills), some cardboard wadding, a piece or two of beef jerky (again, for those drills that never seem to end), and some spare change (for those impulse buys at events!).
Whey Hey! This is my musket! It's is a .68 calibre one (thanks go out to the fine folks at TOW for letting me know!), which is sort of average. It is no slouch as far as muskets go, but I have fired other, larger bored Matchlocks, and even heard of larger bores (I want one!!!!! .98 perhaps...) yet! It was made by John Buck, of Sykes Sutlery.
Back to 17th century page :-)
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