New weapons regulations Jan 2011

The Canadian Government likes to bring in new regulations on Jan first, a date which everybody is too hung over to really keep an eye on things. This year was no exception. Check out the complete regulations on this government web site here.

http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/regu/sor-98-462/latest/sor-98-462.html

Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited or Restricted

SOR/98-462

CRIMINAL CODE

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice, pursuant to the definitions “prohibited ammunition”a, “prohibited device”a, “prohibited firearm”a, “prohibited weapon”a and “restricted firearm”a in subsection 84(1) and to subsection 117.15(1)a of the Criminal Code, hereby makes the annexed Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited or Restricted.

a S.C. 1995, c. 39, s. 139

Registration September 16, 1998

It is part three which is of interest to re-enactors.

PART 3

PROHIBITED WEAPONS

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 1

1. Any device designed to be used for the purpose of injuring, immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating any person by the discharge therefrom of

(a) tear gas, Mace or other gas, or

(b) any liquid, spray, powder or other substance that is capable of injuring, immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating any person.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 2

2. Any instrument or device commonly known as “nunchaku”, being hard non-flexible sticks, clubs, pipes, or rods linked by a length or lengths of rope, cord, wire or chain, and any similar instrument or device.

3. Any instrument or device commonly known as “shuriken”, being a hard non-flexible plate having three or more radiating points with one or more sharp edges in the shape of a polygon, trefoil, cross, star, diamond or other geometrical shape, and any similar instrument or device.

4. Any instrument or device commonly known as “manrikigusari” or “kusari”, being hexagonal or other geometrically shaped hard weights or hand grips linked by a length or lengths of rope, cord, wire or chain, and any similar instrument or device.

5. Any finger ring that has one or more blades or sharp objects that are capable of being projected from the surface of the ring.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 3

6. Any device that is designed to be capable of injuring, immobilizing or incapacitating a person or an animal by discharging an electrical charge produced by means of the amplification or accumulation of the electrical current generated by a battery, where the device is designed or altered so that the electrical charge may be discharged when the device is of a length of less than 480 mm, and any similar device.

7. A crossbow or similar device that

(a) is designed or altered to be aimed and fired by the action of one hand, whether or not it has been redesigned or subsequently altered to be aimed and fired by the action of both hands; or

(b) has a length not exceeding 500 mm.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 4

8. The device known as the “Constant Companion”, being a belt containing a blade capable of being withdrawn from the belt, with the buckle of the belt forming a handle for the blade, and any similar device.

9. Any knife commonly known as a “push-dagger” that is designed in such a fashion that the handle is placed perpendicular to the main cutting edge of the blade and any other similar device other than the aboriginal “ulu” knife.

10. Any device having a length of less than 30 cm and resembling an innocuous object but designed to conceal a knife or blade, including the device commonly known as the “knife-comb”, being a comb with the handle of the comb forming a handle for the knife, and any similar device.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 5

11. The device commonly known as a “Spiked Wristband”, being a wristband to which a spike or blade is affixed, and any similar device.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 6

12. The device commonly known as “Yaqua Blowgun”, being a tube or pipe designed for the purpose of shooting arrows or darts by the breath, and any similar device.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 7

13. The device commonly known as a “Kiyoga Baton” or “Steel Cobra” and any similar device consisting of a manually triggered telescoping spring-loaded steel whip terminated in a heavy calibre striking tip.

14. The device commonly known as a “Morning Star” and any similar device consisting of a ball of metal or other heavy material, studded with spikes and connected to a handle by a length of chain, rope or other flexible material.

Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 8

15. The device known as “Brass Knuckles” and any similar device consisting of a band of metal with one or more finger holes designed to fit over the fingers of the hand.

So there you go guys. There is a huge number of other items specifically mentioned...automatic shotguns and that sort of thing, but this is the important legislation.

Just so you know.

Chain mail warrior

I think this picture says why we do this thing!!!
Thanks Matt for the good times.

Forging

A stunning book on decorative hand forging of steel.

http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924020587873#page/n7/mode/2up

Its a go

Hi Bill,
Happy New Year. I hope you had a wonderful holiday overseas.
From....Algonquin College.

This is a quick note to let you know that the above-mentioned course that you are scheduled to teach is a "GO". Currently there are 11 students registered however there may be a few more by the time the course starts. Hopefully we will get enough students and Shane will be able to join you as the second instructor. Your course is scheduled on Wednesday evenings from January 19 - March 2 from 7 - 9:15 for the first 6 classes and 7 - 9:30 p.m. on the last class or a total of 16 hours. You may want to check with your students and if it is easier and they are all able to, we might want to go 2 hours/night for 8 weeks. You can let me know after you first class. Your register and teaching agreement will be available for you to sing and pick up in C137.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or require additional information.

Regards,

Registrar's Office.

(woo hoo!)

Armourers marks

You have to love the world of the interwebs! For instance, all the stuff you can see by going to the armoury in Leeds is all here, in this series of books from the Internet Archive. Almost every single page from this book is fascinating, and I found the below appendix to be VERY interesting....it is a list of armourer's marks.
Click on the images to enlarge.
go here to read the book. http://www.archive.org/stream/inventorysurveyo01ffou#page/n7/mode/2up

Go here to read others in the series. http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=inventory%20and%20survey%20of%20the%20armouries%20in%20the%20tower%20of%20london%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts




http://www.archive.org/stream/inventorysurveyo01ffou#page/484/mode/2up

Auctions Imperial 2011

Greetings from Auctions Imperial!

We are pleased to announce our March 19, 2011 sale, which will include a fine selection of antique arms and armor, including helmets, shields, and mail coats to swords, daggers, axes, maces, rifles, muskets and pistols. Europe, China, Russia, the Middle East, Persia, India, Indonesia and the American Civil War are represented-- from a fine Imperial Russian Dagger presented to a hero of the Crimean War, to an important 15th century Italian broadsword, a superior Mughal lacquered hide shield to an ivory-hilted Karabela saber, American sabers and Cossack shashkas, there's something for everyone.

Visit our website to view a recent television interview with our director at www.auctionsimperial.com

We will continue to accept consignments until the end of December, any questions please email us at info@auctionsimperial.com

happy holidays,

Auctions Imperial

New classes at Plante Baths Ottawa

This just in from the staff at Plante Baths...January 8 2011

Good Morning Bill

Here are the current numbers for your programs in the Winter 2011 session:

· Chivalrous Sword Handling 1, starting January 16^th at 10:30, has 2 participants registered

· Chivalrous Sword Handling 2, starting January 16^th at 1:30, has 1 participants registered

Hopefully over the next week we will get more registrations. If closer to the date we are not meeting minimum numbers, I will postpone the start date one week.

Have a great weekend,

Budapest Statuary

My favorite period of armour. These statues in Budapest are stunning in their detail! No two armours are the same. This is what makes for good and interesting work, good and interesting sources! You must click on these images to enlarge them.
The first pic, the one above has some interesting features. Firstly, he is holding a really cool axe by the long spear spike at its top. The length of the handle is unusually long. He is wearing an open face helm, and half body armour over his torso only. The fustian shirt is collared, and looks very stylish. I am betting this fellow is a horseman because his legs are encased in chain mail, and that big gap at his belly would close up when he sits down.
The fine mustachio'd figure above wears a lobster tailed pot helm with cheek pieces. He carries a very business like four flanged mace with a very useful wrist strap. That nice cloak is the sign of a commander, and that bezant studded leather cuirass has a large number of floppy decorative bits on the front which no doubt jingle prettily as he walks. He wears no armour on his legs or knees, and the fancy greaves look quite serviceable. Those vambraces are unusual...a steel plate on the top of his forarm seem wrong to me...you don't normally get hit there...I would have thought the steel would have been on the bottom of his forearm instead of the top of it. Artistic licence or perhaps the gentleman prefers wrap arounds with that mace!
This fine gentleman carrying the lion's pelt and Asterix style winged helmet is wearing a light weight leather tunic over his linen gown. His high boots look really serviceable. Really interesting features would be the wonderful triple wrapped sword belt, holding the sword very tightly to his left side. His left hand is reaching for a saw. I am betting he is not a carpenter though.
Mail draped skull cap and spear show this fellow to be an old school warrior. The heavy leather tunic is a simple wrap around, secured by by a wide belt and it shows signs of being reenforced instide with metal plates. The legs are protected by thick wollen drapes, with no indication of any underlying steel. The drapes will prevent an opponent from figuring out where his legs are, which might well give him an advantage in a fight since you would not be able to spot foot changes or stance changes. A sword would simply get tangled in the drapery.

A very well armoured knight. His cloak is obscuring the small scales. His sword scabbard has a detachable feature called a "frog". You don't see his sword (due to weather damage), but it is a fairly long one, and he stands at the "at ease" position. His posture is very straight due to the weight of that scale, and the greaves are a little different in that they are vee notched in front at the top.
This sad looking fellow has a helmet decorated with hawks wings, and has a lion's pelt over his shoulders as a cloak. Very magistrarial. Though he is wearing a sword belt very high waisted, there is no evidence that it actually has a sword attached. All in all, a commander in the chamber rather than a commander in the field.

These statues were all inside a triumphal arch at the "fisherman's bastion" in Budapest.

Othello's Tower

The castle overlooking Famagusta Harbour is popularly known as "Othello's Tower", since the majority of Shakespere's play "Othello" is set there. More than a mere tower, it is an actual castle.
In the above picture, (if you click on the image) you can see the Lion of St. Mark over the iron shod main gate. Thats because the Venetians repaired Guy de Lusignan's castle in 1492.

The central courtyard is just big enough to parade the troops. It is now used as a theatre where they show Shakesperian plays... The wall you see in the picture above is many rooms thick...the main gate is to your right...and is very defensible with many places where stones and such can such be used to injure an invader. Directly ahead is a great room where cannon balls and other ordinance were stored. Most cannon balls were the light marble balls so beloved by mortar men...they could drop a 40 pound one foot diameter marble ball on any ship in the harbour. The ordinance was different on this side because it was the harbour side. The other towers, on the landward side, use steel cannons with iron cannon balls. Too heavy and numerous to pack out, they are all still there.

I like the above picture because the weather has worn the sandstone in organic fashion. The stones at first glance look like piled skulls. Or maybe that is just the ghosts in the castle which are influencing my vision.



Above...the corbels which must have held up a magnificent room.

And the courtyard is littered with remnants of statues.

This is Guy de Llusignian's great hall. Magnificent groin valted hall, once upon a time covered with marble bas relief carvings.

The above and below pictures are of that great hall as seen from outside. Above the hall were the apartments...many of which must have been very comfortable, with window seats and cool stone ceilings. I fear the apartments have been sheared off about the six foot mark. Below, you can see the lintel-less window openings, where the ladies would have sat on window seats, and admired the soldiers drilling in the courtyard below. The modern stairs in back are greatly appreciated, the original stairs are very steep!


As usual, I urge you to click on the pictures to see them a little larger. Because of the amount of detail available, I made these pictures rather larger than the usual ones I post here.

I am planning a walking tour of this tower, which I'll put up on these pages when I find my round tuit.

Vienna Armour

above is the famous Golden Armour in vienna. A fairly standard armour, but heavily decorated with bas relief. This is parade armour at its best.

The mechanism worn under the armour. Below is the description.

spring mechanisms for jousting armour. The right spot gets hit, the armour goes flying and the crowd goes wild. Below is the plaque which goes with the above armour.


above is authentic jousting armour padding. As far as I know,the only surviving examples. They are clearly removable from their helms and have brow and chin ribbons. They would probably drop a chain mail hood over the cloth and just slide the helmet on.
The above VERY unusual piece is a practice armour. The arms are just incredibly detailed!

and lastly, here is one of the armours from the back. You almost NEVER see an armour from the back. Good details to spot are the hammer marks in the neillo (blackened) depressed area, and the leather straps underneath the shoulder guard.

New course in the new year

This is the emails I got from Algonquin College. As you can see...there WILL be courses back to back in the new year...basic and advanced. Then concurrently in the Spring.

cut and paste follows. My request is below the answer (in typical email fashion! grin!)

Hi Bill,
Close but not quite.....

Basic Course ---- Algonquin Woodroffe Campus
Course Code GEN0088 Fee is $171 incl HST
Course runs from 7 - 9:15 p.m. for six weeks then 7 - 9:30 p.m. on the last week
Dates are correct.

Advanced Course --- Algonquin Woodroffe Campus
Course Code GEN0105 Fee is $171 incl HST
Course Dates: March 4 - April 15
Course Time: 7 - 9:15 pm. For six weeks then 7 - 9:30 on the last week

In the Spring Semester these two courses will run concurrently (Wednesdays and Fridays)

Flo

Florianne (Flo) Gauthier
Personal Development
Tel: 613.727.4723 ext 5079
Fax: 613.727.7727


-----Original Message-----
From: William Fedun [mailto:stag@southtower.on.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:16 AM
To: Florianne Gauthier
Subject: RE: FW: Chilvalrous Swordhandling and Advanced Chivalrous Swordhandling -- Spring 2011

Now this is what I have sent out to my students. Is this correct?
There have been so many emails that I admit to being a bit confused.



Basic Course....Algonquin Woodruff Campus, the gym in the "P" building.
Course Code GEN0088. cost for this course is $160.57 incl HST

Its a go! seven until nine thirty Wednesday evenings in P-121
January 19th until 2 March 2011. Seven week days of 2.5 hours per
night. We are trying a "combined" class, just as an experiment.

Advanced Course .....Algonquin Woodruff Campus (16 hours Friday
evenings 7 to 9:30 in the "P" building.

Course Code GEN 0105 Cost for this course is $160.57 incl HST
There is not a course scheduled on Fridays in January unless y'all get
together and ask for one. If there are enough signups, we'll do it.
The next scheduled advanced course is
Fridays, May 6th to June 17th.


Algonquin College Registrar's Office is 1385 Woodruff Ave, Rm. C150,
Ottawa Ont., K2G 1V8. tel 613-727-0002, or 1-800-565-4723,
fax613-727-7754 email AskAlgonquin@algonquincollege.com

Sword Arts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpSvotuJA1k&feature=related





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1yyQQJGFM&feature=related

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8339305234510333885&ei=bMuASbPkF5aWiQL80MGmCw&q=circassian+shashka&emb=1#

Plante Bath Grads.

Armouring AS a business

The South Tower Armoury is more than a business, more than a hobby. In many ways it is a lifestyle choice. I mean, in what other business can you run where you can travel to Europe every winter just to visit museums!

Watching the "Dragons Den", a reality show dealing with inventors coming into meet the "money lending Dragons", I was struck by the reality that my business, the South Tower Armouring Guild had been sort of spinning its wheels. Not growing, really, and certainly not collapsing backwards! What it HAS been doing is getting better and better at quality and beauty. I am certainly not getting ready to retire, in fact the opposite, I am getting ready to really get some great things going!
The fact that my bread and butter, the basic "beginner's" helms and such can no longer be made economically has caused me to re-evaluate the direction I am going in. There is still tremendous future in custom work...both medieval and in the Anime and fantasy worlds. And there is still a future in running all this AS a business.

A business is not a difficult thing to create. I ran mine for 18 years without so much as a business plan. A fellow who was in here t'other day (a banker) wants me to create a business plan, and a set of goals. He didn't really contribute much, but then he was not being paid to contribute much. My business is my life, and I won't take life coaching from anyone!!! (That's the problem I guess...grin!)

Normally a business has human resources which come together to create something. I watched a movie one time that had these immortal lines it. The girl was flirting with the guy, and said to him....
"So you are a business man. What does a business man do?"
"Fills orders"
"Well I have an order for you to fill..." she said as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

Cute. And what a concise statement THAT is! A business exists to fill orders. Not to play back biting politics, not to hang with cool people, not to drink coffee in the break room all day, not even to build or do great things. A business needs to have a buyer, a salesman to find the buyer, a producer or creator of the goods, a facilitator (the businessman) to bring them together!

I like running a business because all successful business persons have to be goal oriented. A successful employee's goals pretty much extend to "treat me like a human being and pay me a living wage". A successful boss's goals are "we have a product which needs to be sold/made/moved, and will motivate the workers to do that. A successful business man has to bring the goods to the customer, he or she needs not be a good employee OR a good boss to be a good businessman. Three different goals, three different philosophies.

As a businessman myself, I find that the greatest difficulty is the lack of sure knowledge of exactly what I am doing, with what and to whom! Even after 18 years, I feel like the Newfie going into the ditch, you know, the one who says "Here, hold my beer boy, and watch dis then!" I may not know what I am doing, but by George, it'll get done somehow!

I hate the term "Just Do It". It sounds so trite and mundane. But the fact is, if you don't Just Do It, you will always fail. It is shorthand way to overcome the natural timidity. I know you don't normally think of Bill as timid kind of guy, but there are times. I need to "Just Do It" every day! Most people are timid. They play a game called the "Yes But" game. I find myself doing it from time to time. (Oh you know that game..."Why don't you get a good job", "Well YES I suppose I could, BUT I need the education", "Can't you get the education at the High School? "YES BUT I need money to pay the tuition". Well, you have a job right now don't you? "YES BUT its not enough to pay tuition".) (All this is a distillation of "Transactional Analysis", a much overlooked field IMHO.) Justification for timidity is not appropriate for a businessman. But it is a natural thing, not to be ashamed of. It is our natural timidity which keeps us from driving into ditches "just to see what will happen".

So, if your goal is to become a businessperson, you MUST not be timid. On the face of it, this seems to fly in the face of common sense and advise. The usual naysayers all say the same thing..."if there was a market for that product, there would a hundred people selling it, and of course, there is the corrollary....a hundred people are selling that product, what makes you think you can sell it as well?" Well, I notice that cell phones are still selling like hot cakes even though most people now have them.

All business people are flying by seat of their pants with insufficient information and no resources. You HAVE all the knowledge and resources to run a successful business just like this one now! So, for the coming year, let me just say this...

Hang onto my beer, and watch this!!!


Bill

Quinn's Armour

I'm breaking a rule about "web marketing" here in that I am putting up some pictures of armour which are not quite finished, and not quite ready to put in the box and ship. On the other hand, it shows some of the construction details, and thats what it is all about eh? By now, they have been detailed and warped and added to, and are ready to ship.
Above is a full frontal. ( This armour does SO NOT fit my top apprentice, it would have almost been better to hang it on a stand. But, at least you can see that it does all fit together.) Quinn wanted a subtle line up the middle of the plaquart, which I had forgotten about until it was all assembled. The process of beating that line in there spread the placquart open a bit. It is all closed up now, but it gives you a chance to see the picadills (leather strips) just inside the top edge. Out of site, normally. Of course, by now, the plaquart has been warped back into place and it fits as well as the middle piece fits the breastplate.
The top buckles are solid brass with one inch buffalo leather straps. They will hold up better than most.

The side view shows that I have to make some belt holes which are a bit tighter, to pull the breastplate up higher towards the neck. And the startling lack of belts to attach to the buckles I cleverly installed on the back. When the belts are tightened on, the individual plates front and back will match up, and overlap. The slightly unusual nature of this armour is immediately apparent...the plaquarts are nearly flat and all the space in the breastplate is taken up by the chest. This armour will make Quinn look really trim and fit. If you look closely at the bottom flange, you can see the armour point eyelets which will lace the faulds into place.


Above you can see the back plate. Fairly standard backplate, with space for the shoulder blades and a dome over his spine up top where it might be vulnerable. Hard to see in that harsh shop light, it looks like a zebra! But the vertical zebra stripes are all carefully sculpted in and serve a purpose. The bottom of the back is a simple roll, instead of a flange. A flange simply makes it impossible to sit down on a chair with a back to it, and a roll is perfectly period and acceptable, though admittedly, a flange (or flare such as you see on the bottom edge of the breastplate) might be a bit more comfortable after an hour of standing.
The side buckles are made from zinc 3/4 inch buckles on 7 oz straps. A good place to use the less expensive zinc since they never get hit! And if they DO get flattened (once in a while, that happens), well, they are cheap and easy to replace.

And these are the faulds and tassets. Sharp eye'd visitors will notice that the straps are cinched up too tight! Oh well, easily fixed. The pelvic arch should have been more continuous instead of placing his genitals into parentheses like this. Dooh! Teach me to rush the picture portion of the job!
The faulds all neatly fold up to three inches, the width of one of the fauld lames. They are made with the english wheel to form a gentle 12 inch diameter globe. This will provide a good solid lame which should stand up to years of even heavy SCA combat, though as we all know, nothing will last forever. They will fit Quinn's hips perfectly, still allow him movement, and the tassets are rounded and the flare will ensure they won't dig into his thigh. The points match up to the breastplate. And the nice thing about tassets is that changing out the tassets can change the whole look of the armour.
These buckles are 3/4 inch solid brass with 7 oz leather straps, the heavy brass is good for a place which will get stressed a lot. And tassets get stressed a lot.

Roman Army Multi Tool

From the web site http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/2000-year-old-roman-multi-tool/

This is just too cool for words. Lets see...there is a spoon and a blade, making this clearly a mess kit, a hoof pick, and two tools I have no freakin' idea what they are for!

More on the FitzWilliam Museum web site...

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?_function_=xslt&_limit_=10&priref=70534