7 Year War part 1 The Encampment

This may take several posts! This event is an annual event which is held in Ogdensburg New York. At the time, this whole area was owned by the Onedaga, Mohican, Iriquois, and a few others, all of whom figured that if they got the French on their side, they could control most of their known world. After all, the French had muskets, powder, ball, and a market for all those beaver skins. The French also had Christianity, and were not afraid to use it! They established an "abbie", (a combination church, hospital, and trading post) at a point about half way between the rapids of Montreal, and Fort Frontenac (Kingston Ontario), right at the mouth of a river which you could canoe South to (eventually) get to the Hudson, and Virginia Colonies. Because those pesky British would use the Oswegatchi river to try and raid French territory, the French army decided to fortify that spot, with a simple palisade fort called "Fort La Presentation". It was also a really good place to assemble raiding parties to "define their borders".

This small fort was founded by Abbe Francoise Picquete on the day of the Presentation of the Virgin in 1749. Hence the name. These pics show random pictures of the tents, encampments and re-enactors at the site of Fort de la Presentation in July of 2006, the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War. As usual, click on the images to see them full size.

Trip to Ogdensburg

The "Og" is not a spectuacular town, but it is pretty enough in a time worn way. There was lots of money there once, but, like so many town in upstate New York, industry has sort of passed it by this last century. It's high points include the Fredrick Remington Museum, the bridge to the USA, and the 7 years war re-enactment this weekend. If you get a chance to visit the Fredrick Remington museum, I believe you will find it was worth the trip! Remington was one of the foremost "western" painters and sculptors, and I'll bet you have seen his work decorating hotel lobbies and fine homes all your lives! All the originals are there at the museum...a converted home. Pride of place is the huge painting of Teddy Rooseveldt charging up San Juan Hill. But, like I said, you gotta see it in person! http://www.fredericremington.org/house_legacy_collection.htm


Now...off to the re-enactment! I'll have some great pics tomorrow! woo hoo!

Dream Book

http://sh1ft.org/shutterbug/archives.html

(A stunning site with stunning pictures. Please visit him. He takes cool pictures.)

This is a Malaysian Dreambook. You find what you dream about, and it corresponds to a number, which is your lucky number.

July

(click on image to enlarge)

The Limbourgs represent here the rustic activities of the month of July, the harvest and sheep shearing, in the vicinity of the Château du Clain in Poitiers. Poitiers was, in fact, one of the Duc de Berry's habitual homes, a part of his appanage like Berry and Auvergne.Two peasants reap, not with scythes as in the haymaking, but with sickles. One, closely resembling a harvester in the month of June, wears a straw hat and a simple shirt under which appear his drawers or petits draps as they were then called. Every detail of the wheat is minutely rendered. The heads are more golden than the stalks and both are speckled with flowers; on the ground lies the mown wheat, not yet bound in sheaves but already drier than the rest.At lower right a man and woman proceed with the sheep shearing. Each holding an animal on one knee, they cut the wool with a kind of shears called forces; the shorn wool accumulates at their feet.This miniature is a precious document of a château that no longer exists. The Duke had reconstructed the triangular building thirty or forty years hefore.This view is from the right hank of the Clain. A wooden footbridge leads to the right tower, resting on three stonework piers that still stand in the riverbed; at one end a moveable bridge leads to a rectangular entrance tower, and at the other a drawbridge is attached to the château.We glimpse a chapel to the right of the château amid buildings separated from it by an arm of the river. The towers are constructed in the style favored by the Duke and evident in his various châteaus: corbelled with machicolations and crenatures, and decorated in the interior courtyard with high windows.In the background the artists have painted conventionally shaped mountains, the asymmetrical cones often found in their works.


It is a shame that pretty chateau is no longer standing. But the country side is still awfully pretty. The above is all lifted from http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/berry1.html
As the tourism brochure for Pontiers says....

PoitiersLes chemins de Notre-Dame. Au fil du chemin Rouge Amateurs de nature et de grands espaces, cette visite vous conduira jusqu'au parc de Blossac dessiné au XVIIIè siècle sur les remparts de la ville. Le jardin anglais ajouté au XIXe siècle et Grand Pré complètent cet îlot de verdure. Vous admirerez aussi, dans le quartier Saint-Hilaire, le Doyenné -où a vécu Geoffroy d’Estissac, le protecteur de Rabelais- et l'imposante église Saint-Hilaire, construite sur le tombeau du saint et décorée de peintures murales au Moyen Age. Au retour, vous passerez devant les vestiges des arènes romaines et vous pourrez entrer dans la chapelle Saint-Louis du collège Henri IV. Elle possède un somptueux retable incrusté de marqueterie en marbre, ivoire et ébène. La sacristie, également du XVIIe siècle, présente un bel ensemble de portraits d’évangélistes.

storm....

click on images to enlarge. The storms over Toronto.

Toronto Trek 4

From the top down....The security staff. A fine bunch of pretty much exhausted folks. In the centre, is Adam, in the heart of his fine leather working business. I believe that is a picture of him pulling his hair out...and the bottom picture is Brenda doing a grip and grin with Garrett Wang. Somewhat changed from his days as "Ensign Kim" on Star Trek Voyager. He was a really nice fellow, very approachable. Looks pretty lethal with that hatchet he picked up off my table!

Toronto Trek 3

Well, as promised, here are some tattoos, and other pics. Activities which made the trip bearable. As usual, click on the images to enlarge. For some reason, there were no guys with particularly interesting tats. These fancy pictures seem to be a "girl thing". That good, since as a red blooded guy, I like looking at the "girl thing". Enjoy! (oh, the things a 50 year old sword maker gets up to!)

Toronto Trek 2

There were a fair number of male hall costumes...though you would not know it by my selection! They tend to be randome Klingons and Star Fleet officers for the most part. The He-Man, in the previous post, was one of the few worth the pixils.
The bottom pic shows Brenda in the background minding the table while I drool over the babes. The second from the bottom shows one of my armours, as well as an anime character I have no idea about! the top pic of course is me being assimilated by Six of Nine...

Toronto Trek 1

This was the twentieth year for Toronto Trek. This is a Star Trek convention, and is much more mainstream than your average Science Fiction Convention. However, it still seems a lot like the movie "Galaxie Quest". Like the Comix Shop guy on the Simpson's says..."What idiot sells a size MEDIUM star trek utility belt here"?

It wasn't quite that bad, but the "hall costumes" were very much in evidence. Many of them are not just Star Trek, but anime, buffy, angel, stargate, Deep Space Nine, and so forth. Its a never ending parade of cool things to see! I took pictures of some of them...and they are here. I got permission from every single person to publish their images here.

This is going to take a few posts....grin! I think this one will be just hall costumes. The next one will be more hall costumes, and then one on tatoos!. Click on images to enlarge.

Showing off

These are the bayonettes all done, and in the display box. Didn't turn out too bad. (as ususal, click on the images to enlarge.)

I think this project has got to be the most difficult, complex, and successful project I have ever done! They don't know they are getting the display box. Should be a nice surprise. This was Brenda's contribution to the cause. I discovered an interesting product..."noodle boards". They are like flat versions of the common "pool noodles", closed cell foam which kids would normally play with in a backyard pool. It cuts like a dream with the razor knife, and Brenda cut a couple of them in the shape of the box, then tucked a sheet of black velvet in around it. They nestle neatly into the cutouts, forming a sort of cushion. The top and sides were just cardboard with the velvet glued on with spray adhesive. Worked a treat!

I cut my trip short so I could deliver these scabbards today. Unfortunately, they are needed.

More ride

Here are a few more pics from Canada Day. The pipe band, the cute little dancers, the dogs...and remember all this is completely separate from the "ride" itself. I tried to get pictures of the musical ride, however the light failed by the time they rode out! All that fancy dressage being done in the twilight!

We all sang "Oh Canada" as the flag was coming down. There are two main versions of that song...an English one and a French one, and every musical director and stage manager makes his own "artistic" jumble of English and French lines. As a consequence, Canada is the only country in the world that the citizens cannot sing along with impressario with the microphone on centre ice.....grumble...

I got my "mountie" shot. I suddendly realized that here I have lived in Ottawa for what...twenty years, and never got the typical tourist shot of the mountie in uniform! Well, here he is, my kind of guy! Tired. Been a long day. Too many screaming kids, fat folks dripping hot sauce on his shoes...Wondering if those bulges in her shirt might be contraband....

click on images to enlarge

This weekend...Toronto Trek....the Star Trek convention. Though lately, it has turned into the "transformers", "anime", "stargate", and whatever convention. Regardless...it is nice to be able to have a place to sell my armour. Afterwards, a little tour through the Niagara Wine region. We are all packed up, and ready to head out as soon as I hit "publish post". See you on Wednesday...

Musical Ride

My Canada Day included a full days work in the shop, a steak barbeque, a visit to my friend Myrna's place on the motorcycle, a surprisingly lovely ride home in the rain, a tip to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police barracks to watch the sunset ceremony, and of course, fireworks on Parliament Hill afterwards. Wild Day!!

The musical ride is entirely an RCMP production. The ride itself is a fancy cottillion of lines of horses going in fancy circles, charges, and needle threading. They are world famous for the horsemanship, and many of the horses were presents from the Queen. The horses are all black, and trained to handle noise, gunshots, bands playing and so forth. Considering how spooky most horses are, this is amazing.

Posted here are a few pics of the sunset ceremony. The Musical Ride is only a small part of the sunset ceremony, which includes police dog demos, ring lancing, pistol shooting from horseback, and sword work. (click on images to enlarge)

From the top down....Constable Macy going for the ring with his lance at full gallop

Constable Macy stabbing the bad guy (the straw filled sack) with a sword

Minister and his wife being escorted in the carriage.

The largest number of red coats I have seen outside of the set of "Zulu".
(Kind of like that pic...there are several uniforms on display)

The bottom pic is Constable LeClaire holding a pistol, which he will be shooting balloons with during the jump. I believe they use wax bullets.

These action shots are a little blurry, but they are kind of exciting. They also do "tent pegging" with their lances. I could not get any good pics of that because they were tent pegging in front of the dias across the way!

Personally, I find the stuff these guys do for fun to be more interesting that the musical ride itself.

Happy Canada Day!

Canadian Trivia.

What animal is on the Canadian Nickel? The beaver, the buffalo, or the elk?
What animal is on the Canadian Quarter? The Elk, the Caribou, or the Whitetail Deer?
What animal is on the Loonie? The Tern (seagull!) , the Blue Jay, the Loon?
What famous stuffed bear is named after a Canadian City? Panda? Winnie? Paddington?
What is a Perogie?
What are bear paws? (in addition to the obvious...)
Which harbour vanished in an explosion?
Where in Europe is the Sheldt Estuary and why is it important?
Why do we have thousands of tulips in Ottawa every spring?
What are beaver tails (aside from the obvious...)
What are "square tires" and why?
What is that plug in you see coming out from under every Canadian car's hood?
How many provinces and territories are there?
George Etienne Cartier worked with what Canadian Prime Minister?
What was the result of their collaboration?
Canada's official game is: Lacrosse, Soccer, Hockey?

Finished! Well, almost!

After great labour, I created a "chrome" polished bayonette. I built a scabbard out of brass, and plated it. I cast and finished pewter handles for it. They are not plated yet, but I was doing a test fit, and figured I would take a picture. Not too shabby! When the pewter comes back from the plater, it will be as shiney as the rest of the unit! I am even getting the screws which join the two halves together plated! This might get interesting if the nickel messes up the threads on the screws! But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

As usual, it is hard to photograph a mirror! You can see the reflections of the yellow curtains in the scabbard! Yup...its shiny all right!

Click on the pictures to enlarge...

Cleaning up the castings

These two pics are of the same items...the blue painted one eventually got filed into the one in the middle in the top picture.

Now the real work starts! I sit down at the bench with my little triangular jeweler's files, and clean up the whole casting. It needed every single point to be re-freshed, and all the flat surfaces to be cleaned up with files, sandpaper, and eventually, a high speed buffer. The above picture shows the original black plastic handle, a handle which is well into the process of filing it clean, and the one on the right is what it looked like when it came out of the mould. I spray on blue ink so that I can remember which parts I have done...it all reflects light and is hard to focus on. I was well aware that one sloppy stroke of the file could ruin hours of work!


I understand the proper name for such a casting is called a "finding". That is...something which is actually produced in a "foundry".

I got complacent. I did one perfectly in what....14 hours or so, and the next one went a little faster, only 12 hours. I figured I knew what I was doing, so I cut off the sprues with the hacksaw, and carved the saw into the casting, ruining 12 hours of work in two saw cuts! Doooh!
The third one came along quite well, but because I had already used the two best findings for the job, it took a lot longer, about 18 hours, to finally clean up the "checkering" on the sides, cut the sprues and drill them out, and generally decide I was satisfied with the job.

The second picture up there shows the original, a casting, and my finished filed handle half. This pic was actually taken before I had done the final buffing, and I note that the usual problems of photographing mirrors is coming into play! The bottom edge looks rough, but actually, what it doing is reflecting the rough surface of the cloth it is sitting on!

Bayonette finishing

The first part of making a handle out of metal is to make the mould. I used a two part material called ATV325. It mixes like epoxy, and forms a rubber like compound which surprisingly enough, is quite resistant to heat. Useful since I would be pouring molten pewter into it! I used the existing handle halves to form the mould. Those are the black handle halves you see in the above pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't know how "rubbery" it really was, and its jello like consistency caused some problems due to distorted moulds. Well, that is the learning process I guess! I tried a couple of ways to pour....through the side, through the top. The top picture is of the mould wrapped up with a leather thong ready to use, with some of the cute little handle halves I made. I eventually made about 12 of them, of which 3 were good enough castings to actually use, and another six which simply got tossed back into the frying pan to melt.

There are things about pewter I never realized. For one thing, there is the "fizz" which comes out of it when it is poured. Like bubbles in soda pop, they seem to come from nowhere, and the bubbles come up the "sprues", making the sprues really porous. Ruins the surface of the casting as well...you can see how rough it makes the casting in some of the pictures above.

The end result of a couple of days trial and error (its not like I ever did anything like this before!) I got a nice bunch of nice hard shiney pewter handles, covered in pits from bubbles, oxodized from overheating, several little blisters on my hands, and a warm feeling. No wait, that was from the hot plate I forgot to turn off!

Click on images to enlarge.