SCA-camping-lnks

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SCA-camping-lnks - 2/6/05

A set of web links to information on camping in medieval style by Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous

Stefan at florilegium.org

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From: Lis <liontamr at ptd.net>

Date: June 3, 2004 4:49:05 PM CDT

To: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>

Subject: Spiffing up your Pennsic (Lillies, Gulf, Estrella, GWW, etc...) Encampment

Hail, fellow campers!

Camping should be a joy and an experience of beauty when done in proper

medieval style, not an experience to be suffered through. This issue of the

Links List can help with that, as it is about camping with flair. Below you

will find 31 links in all, with links for camp furniture and accessories to

make your encampment the envy of your neighbors.

As always, please "pay it forward" and send the Links List along to others

who might find it useful.

Cheers

Aoife

Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon

m/k/a Lisbeth Herr-Gelatt

Riverouge

Aethelmearc

Camp Furniture by Thomas Rettie

http://www.his.com/~tom/sca/campstuff.html

(Site Excerpt) Boxes and Chests. Perhaps the most basic and fundamentally

useful piece of kit for a reenactor is the six-board chest. In a pinch this

can double as a bench, and it has much to recommend itself over plastic

tubs. In its simplest form, the boards simply butt one another, but you'll

get a more weather-tight box if you rabbet the edges. If you nail strips

across the bottom, it will keep the bottom off the ground and lessen the

effects of mud, wet grass, etc.

See also "An Article on Making Medieval Tusk Tennons for Knock-Down

Furniturehttp://www.his.com/~tom/sca/tusktenons.pdf and "Tryangle stolys

for my Lord" at http://www.his.com/~tom/sca/turnedstools.html

Regia Anglorum Anglo-Saxon and Viking Woodworking

http://www.regia.org/woodwork.htm

(Site Excerpt) Timber was the most important resource for the Anglo-Saxons

and Vikings. The early medieval carpenter was not only skilled in working

the wood, but also in selecting the correct timber and shape for the job. If

the finished item needed to have a curve in it, the carpenter would select a

piece of timber that had the correct natural curve. You can use natural

junctions where a branch joins to the tree as joints that have grown to suit

a job that you had in mind. These natural joints are stronger than man-made

ones and save the carpenter a lot of time creating joints. Wherever possible

they would 'follow the grain' to leave the finished product as strong as

possible.

David Friedman (Cariadoc's) Miscellany article: A Period Rope Bed

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Articles/rope_bed/rope_bed.htm

(Site Excerpt) The basic problem with rope beds is that unless the rope is

very taut, they sag. The solution in this design is to have the mesh of

ropes fasten not to the food of the bed but to a horizontal dowel a little

above the foot. You wrap a rope six times around the dowel and foot and

pull. This pulls the dowel towards the foot with a mechanical advantage of

twelve to one (minus substantial losses from friction and some loss from the

rope not being quite a right angles to the dowel), tightening the bed.

Making a Rope Bed

http://www.lydia.org/~zaphod/sca/ropebed/

(Site Excerpt) the disadvantages there is no such thing as a free lunch.

here are two problems with rope beds.

sag rope beds sag into the middle, they all do. If you are one person

sleeping on the bed, then it is not a big deal (although a really saggy bed

can cause back pain) but two people sleeping on a rope bed will find

themselves rolling into each other a lot. it is up to concerned parties to

determine if this is good or bad.

stretch the new rope in a bed stretches a lot, and you'll find yourself

retightening the ropes a lot. Even in older beds with rope that should darn

well have stretched itself to limit, you will find yourself rolling into the

center of the bed during longer events. See the hints on using wedges as a

way to quickly tighten up a bed.

My Slat Bed by Jon MacQuarrie

http://www.checksix.net/jon/bed/bed.htm

(Site Excerpt) The bed depicted here is for a full-sized mattress (aka.

"Grandma") and tall enough to store those green Rubbermaid bins you can get

at WalMart. There is no headboard on this design, although one is planned

and will be easily added to the head of the bed.

Ravensgard Viking Beds

http://www.ravensgard.org/gerekr/bed.html

(Site Excerpt) Beds and fragments of beds have been found in two

archaeological sites from the Viking Age: Oseberg and Gokstad in Norway. The

Oseberg find is dated to circa 850 and Gokstad circa 900. This is a

reproduction of one of the Oseberg state beds from a museum in Norway. Note

the angled headposts.

Medieval Benches by Master Terafan

http://www.greydragon.org/furniture/benches.html

(Site Excerpt) All of the wood joinery is done using a 10 degree angle.

This allows the top to stay attached to the legs when you pick the bench up

by the top. It also allows the bench legs to not be at the ends of the

bench, yet not cause tipping when someone sits on the end of the bench. The

stabilizing bar is also cut at 10 degree angles to allow the edges to meet

flush with the legs, and then a peg locks the leg tight against the

stabilizing bar, and everything is held in place. A picture of the peg is

at the right.

Early Furnishings: Ancient Chairs (Acrobat required)

http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/article3ancientchairs.pdf

(Site Excerpt) As our Saga of Medieval Furniture Continues, in this issue we

look at a couple of early period chairs.....the first is modelled after what

may be a single example of a viking "hex" chair.

Sligo Chair by Matthew Power Artol, Count of Aaramor (Acrobat Required)

http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/chair10sligo.pdf

(Site Excerpt) Although the Irish Taum remains one of the most popular sets

of plans I have included in Sacred Spaces, you may recall that inmy previous

article I cofessed to having little research to support it's

existence...aside from a photo I had found in a book on Ancient Irish

crafts. Well, all that has changed, with the publication of a densley

researched book titled Irish Country Furniture....

that this is a web-publication of one of his book articles)

http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/chair8glasttext.pdf

Reconstruct a Tudor Table by Matthew Power

http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/table2tudor.pdf

(Site Excerpt) Building MEdieval Furniture doesn't get any better than this.

When the photo above was taken in 1919, this rugged trestle table, built

during Henry VIII's reign, looked as if it might last another 400 years.

How to make a replica of a Viking Table based on the Sala Hytta Find

By Stephen Francis Wyley

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/svenskildbiter/Viking/viktable.html

(Site Excerpt)After making numerous replicas of the 'Lund Viking' stool I

was enthused enough to look at making other forms of Viking furniture.

Amongst the many tomes of Peter Beatson's Library I had previously come

across an article on the "Hørning Grave, a chamber grave from ca. 1000 with

a woman buried in a body of a carriage".

Italian Cassone

http://www.greydragon.org/cassone/index.html

(Site Excerpt) Italian Cassone. Master Dafydd ap Gwystl and Terafan

Greydragon created a reproduction of a 15th century Italian cassone (chest).

They created the cassone to raffle off at Kingdom Twelfth Night to raise

funds for the Oak, which is the Atlantian Arts and Sciences newsletter. The

chest is based upon a late 15th century Italian cassone in the Philadelphia

Museum of Art. The hardware to carry the chest is based upon a 16th century

chest. The enlarged detail at the right shows the original hardware. To see

the whole chest, click the image at the right.

Dragon Wing: A Medieval Wooden Chest. Plans for a storage box that doubles

as a camp stool

http://midtown.net/dragonwing/col0011.htm

(Site Excerpt)This box is the latest addition to the tourney gear we usually

bring to events. It's not a strict reproduction of any particular box, but

rather acombination of two styles. The first style, shown in Figure A

(below, left) is a fifteenth-century gabled chest, was my inspiration for

the carcass of my chest (although I used different carving patterns), but

since I wished to use the chest as an extra seat in camp, I elected to make

it with a flat top, like the thirteenth-century German chest shown in Figure

B, on the right.

The Voxtorp Church Chest, Plans and Pictures of a Replica by Stephen Francis

Wyley

http://www.geocities.com/svenskildbiter/Craft/voxtorp.html

(Site Excerpt) This article is set forth to aid the re-constructor in

building a chest based on the Voxtorp Church Chest. The Voxtorp Church Chest

is a rectangular sided chest made from pine with decorative ironwork, from

Småland in Sweden, dating from c. 1200, the length of the chest is 146 cm,

the width is 32 cm and the height is 90 cm. The chest is currently housed

at the Statens Historiska Museum in Stockholm, Sweden (ref no. 4094). See

Figure 1.

The Medieval Chest by Master Dafydd ap Gwystl

http://www.greydragon.org/library/chests.html

(Site Excerpt) This article examines the six general styles or classes of

medieval chest: box, standard, Viking chest, six-board chest, hutch, and

panel chest. The first two classes (box and standard) are legless designs;

the other four (Viking, six-board, hutch, and panel chest) are designs with

legs.

Greydragon Furniture Collection: Medieval Chandeliers

http://www.greydragon.org/furniture/chandeliers.html

(Site Excerpt) The chandelier comes apart for storage. It goes together

with a single screw that stays in the bottom of the vertical hanger when

stored. For 'candles', I choose to use refillable, liquid paraffin lamps.

The liquid paraffin is much safer than lamp oil or citronella, and it

delivers a clean, odor-free flame. It is classified as non-toxic (unless

consumed internally) and non-flammable.

Building an Armour Stand by Eric Slyter

http://www.arador.com/articles/stand.html

(Site Excerpt) Quite a few people have asked how to build a display stand so

that they may show off their armour at their home, event or wherever. I have

an armour stand that I designed that has served me very well for quite some

time, and is simple in it's construction. You'll require some 2x4s, some

1/2" plywood, wood glue, nails, and preferably a ripsaw and a jigsaw. I am

not providing exact dimensions for the pieces of this stand, as there are

many variables due to customization, which may change the 'formula'. Adjust

at will, and as necessary.

She'erah's little house on the flatbed

http://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/

(Site Excerpt) This house was built in the spring/summer of 2000 to satisfy

a dream of many years of having a "little house on a flatbed" at Pennsic

(like some of the merchants do). It was assembled at Coopers' Lake

Campground, where it lives year-round.

Portable Period Shower by Peter Ellis (Duke Sir Gavin Kilkenny)

http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/article4portableshower.pdf

(Site Excerpt) ..One of several items of interest we found in Visby was a

pumphouse, in the courtyard of the museum. The structure is about eight feet

tall....

Stenciling By Lady Faoiltighearna inghean mhic Ghuaire

http://www.mfgraffix.com/hird/faoilt/stencil.html

(Site Excerpt) I have found this to be the easiest way to decorate a

pavilion and have had many requests to teach this technique to others. We

have evidence of painted pavilions in period, but I have not found any

evidence (yet) that they were stenciled. I have also used this technique to

decorate a cover for my cooler, a wooden kitchen table, my lords shield,

napkins, t-shirts, hats, and shoes. Someone joked that if you stood still in

our encampment too long you would be stenciled! Once you have the technique

down, you will find that it is very addictive.

Maestra Damiana's ingenious stenciled cooler cover

http://www.mfgraffix.com/hird/pictures/cooler.html

Photo only, but a real beauty.

Footstools for the Royal House of Meridies

http://cls.coe.utk.edu/mcnutt/SCA/portfolio/woodworking/royalstools/default.htm

(Site Excerpt) Brother Michael hit upon the idea of low footstools for the

Queen and Princess. As an optional accessory to the Thrones, the ladies

would be able to step up with dignity, and comfortable rest their feet

during court as well. Because he wanted to focus his time as creative

energy on the thrones, Brother Michael opted to sub-contract the footstools

to Lord Richard and myself. As Brother Michael is a Master Finisher by

trade, that he would entrust a project to be display alongside his work was

a great honor.

Was medieval furniture "sanded"?

http://www.his.com/~tom/sca/abrasives.html

(Site Excerpt) Sandpaper (or glass paper) is a relatively modern innovation.

Prior to its introduction, woodworkers relied on chiefly on skill with a

plane and scraper to produce a smooth, flat surface. When abrasives were

needed, natural alternatives were available, such as cattails (used by

turners), fine sand, and rottenstone (a soft, decomposed limestone).

Camp Chair Plans by Boy Scouts of America

http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters/chair.html

(Site Excerpt) These plans are based upon several designs used by scouts in

our council. Some people call this a scissors chair. The chair is composed

to two pieces: the seat and the back. The two pieces slip together and

require no fasteners when used. When carried the seat stows between the

sides of the back for a very compact package.

Fauldstool

http://www.thirteenthcentury.com/pages/fauldstool01.html

[link updated - 2/6/05 - Stefan]

(Site Excerpt) Having seen these stools in the Maciejowski Bible and

elsewhere, a few years ago I decided my pavilion needed one. So, blissfully

ignorant of furniture making, I went ahead and made it. It was not hard, it

was not expensive, and it looks lovely.

Stefan's Florilegium

http://www.florilegium.org/

The florilegium has a host of articles on various types of furniture. Click

on home-sweet-home for a plethora of information.

Medieval Encampment Guild (a yahoo group)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MedievalEncampments/

(Site Excerpt) Known World Medieval Encampment Guild-- mailing list

for those interested in tents, wood-working, furniture research and

construction, camp cooking, and any other aspects of reenactment camping.

Tournaments Illuminated Index: Furniture

http://www.sca.org/ti/topic.html#furnmisc