A very nice kit. It gives me some ideas to improve my own kit at http://ranger.budgetauthenticity.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2391&hilit=sewing+kit A few comments. Re the thread spool. Thread winders are lighter, easier to carry and they use up all those small bits of leather that you wou...

http://www.dumnonika.com/trousers.html If you go to the homepage and pause the slideshow where the three warriors are, the shirtless man with the round shield appears to be wearing these. Though it is a bit difficult to tell as he appears to be wearing underwear of the same pattern as the pants. St...

with all this talk about salt and how the Hobbits carried it because it was so precious, I decided to make my own salt box. Earlier I had purchased fro mthe swap meet a box of antler pieces. The guy had kept the tips and chopped the rest into various lengths and sold me the box for $10 which has bee...

Well.....I forgot to add the pic of my crossbow! A decent affordable crossbow is somethingI want but cannmot find in my price range. Those that I can afford are modern and the closest i could copme was modifying an old Wham-O that I bought in the 1970's. Those that are Period are either Wall-hanger...

Just started work today during break. I had a selection of books from a fiber-cover bok of hand-made pages from Indonesia (too large) to a Hobbit Journal (way too large) and so on. pics later. I settled on a book that was the right size but of mass-manufacture. I can make a leather cover later. Page...

These are some random pages (three jpgs of 9 pages actually) from my Archery Range Book that I keep in my range-box. http://rick-johnsons-writings.webs.com/mer298.jpg http://rick-johnsons-writings.webs.com/mer299.jpg http://rick-johnsons-writings.webs.com/mer300.jpg The idea is a memory jog, NOT a h...

My thoughts are that it is not a "how-to-be-a-ranger" instruction book but more of a reference book filled with notes so I do not have to rely on my increasingly poor memory. Example, there are so many formulae for pine glue, sometimes I get confused as to the best formula because i may be...

Re: Udwins comment on pine glue... You use the glue-stick, which is hard and non-sticky, by simply heating it over a small fire or match until it is liquid enough to drip into your head or stick to your fletching or whatever, it dries quickly and is very strong. I try to carry an empty altoids can w...

per udwin in the weapons thread: gather my own sap, keeping my eyes open for resinous trees on college campuses usually. You're looking for the hardened globs that ooze out where limbs have been cut/broken off or the bark damaged (fresh sap is too sticky!) I've found the ideal mixture is about 70% r...

http://rick-johnsons-writings.webs.com/mer216.jpg I am thinking that carrying a dozen shafts, maybe half with hunting points, the rest bare is a compromise between need and potential use. A Ranger is more a 'spy' than a soldier. Then also carry a bag of heads that can be glued on as needed. Upper r...

re: advice... not much. Mostly on mistakes I make<g>. I buy my feathers pre-cut from Saggitarius to keep them uniform, BUT I did buy a feather-cutter from 3-Rivers and have experimented with it. I can cut them easily with the cutter but am having trouble getting the spine cut-&-sanded properly. ...

I found some heads on Etsy so had to make a few awwors. http://rick-johnsons-writings.webs.com/mer216.jpg Top Row left to right: - couple old brodheads from the early 70's - birding head I got ofgf etsy - home-made varmet head. Bottom Row left to right - 3-blade broadhead I got from Cjhina - couple ...

The local ranges, including the 'walking-path-hunting' trails all use stacks of carpet strips (12-36") bound with steel straps. I hate pulling my shafts from these so I cruise craigslist for used foam targets.... cheap. I hang those over the range target or stick it on a plastic barrel in my ya...

sVord??????
Is that the name of the company or what?

The other one looks like a Hanwei Seax. I have one of those. Uncomfortable handle but nice knife.

I find that the biggest hindrance to a cloak is that people forget that we have shoulders. So a simple cloak, half-circle or shoulder cloak or wahtever simply does no hang well and slides off and bunches up. Once you add in a gusset to compensate for shoulders, it hangs well and is very comfortable....