I just returned from four days of camping in the mountains with the Boy Scouts. Lots of rain and fog this year at the Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch in Colorado. This year the theme for the Cubs and Weablos was "Knights of the Round Table". Of course, my lovely wife volunteered me to give an A&A presentation :eek:

Due to space limitations I didn't take much. I did take along Big Johnsson, Milestone, and my Evans Scramasax, along with a replica of a medieval crossbow (Which had been in storage for ten years, and something that I had honestly forgotten about until my wife mentioned it. Look for pics in my collection in the future.), a viking style shield, and my maille hauberk.

BJ and Milestone were the hit of the presentation, with a lot of "ooooh!" and "aaaah!" when I pulled them out. Fortunately the parents got into it as much as the kids. I fielded a lot of pretty intelligent questions and managed to dispell a few of the well know sword myths. Everyone seemed to be very interested in the scrams' pattern welded blade, as well as my explanation of PW'd blades vs mono-steel blades, and the reason for both.

I talked one of the camp staff into putting on my hauberk which was a real hoot. Overall the response was honestly more than I had expected, especially from the parents. Given the rain and fog I did spend quite a lot of time wiping the boys down. Fortunately everyone came home intact.

Now for some dry socks.

Way to go, Patrick! That sounds like it was a great four days ... and it sounds like everyone, especially the kids and parents, took home some great pleasant memories that'll last a lifetime. :) The rain & fog may have caused the need for some good wiping down on the equipment, but I bet it sure made for a nice setting given the theme of "Knights of the Round Table".

Glad to have you back, and glad you all had a great time! :)

Your such a good guy, Scoutmaster Patrick !

It's wonderful how you added an extra level of education to this outing .... must have been alot fun, too !

Now go double check those knooks & crannies for rust ;-) Mac

Sounds like good fun.
As a treaser who made the crossbow and what do you think of it, in a very general sense?

Thanks guys,

As a rule I'm not the touchy feely type (big suprise to those of you who've met me) so I wasn't wild about the deal. I can talk for hours with adults on the subject, but I wasn't really thrilled about doing a "gosh, gee wiz!" kind of kid thing. In the end I have to admit that I really enjoyed it, and I recieved a lot of positive feedback from the parents.

The only problem I had was with the Camp Director. I was approached by our District co-ordinator on the deal a few months ago. Apparently the Camp Director wasn't fully informed that I was bringing this stuff along. He's a bit of a recluse who lives at the Camp year-round and really seems to have an authority complex. (He really climbed on a bunch of ten year old kids for not showing proper etiquitte during the daily flag ceremony. I agreed with him in principal, but he was a complete butt munch in his delivery.)

After I had done my presentation I suggested that we give the kids an opportunity to shoot the cross bow. We do archery every year so I thought the kids would get a kick out of it. None of the Staff objected, including the Range Master who was excited about the idea. The Camp Nazi, however, went ballistic. I was then informed that I never should have brought any of *that* stuff into Camp, and that I wasn't going to do "shi!" unless he said so, etc., etc. (Everything was kept secured in a locked steel trailer that I personally checked several times a day.) He's into the Mountain Man/Rendesvous thing and doesn't hesitate to carry a muzzle loading rifle around camp, so I find it a bit illogical that we're having a fit over a bunch of swords and a cross bow. Needless to say, the shooting demonstration didn't happen and the rest of the Staff were very apologetic. My wife was proud of me because I didn't bitchslap the guy right then and there (getting soft I guess).

Joe,

The crossbow was made for me by a gentleman with the last name of Watson (no relation to Angel Sword). I picked it up from him at the SCA Estrella War about fifteen years ago, so I wouldn't know how to contact him today. It's a large hand held crossbow with a walnut stock with ash or oak inlay (can't remember which). It's an interesting weapon, although I find the longbow far superior (wish I had one). It's definetly more powerful than the average bow that we use today. I can see why it was used by the rank and file of other european countries rather than the longbow. It's far more forgiving than a bow of any kind. After I post some pics I'm considering selling it off.

The crossbow-- would that be David Watson of http://www.crossbows.net/?

JSA

Well I look forward to the review.

I have a couple more swords to get.

Then I need a good gambeson and some mail.

Then I want good Crossbow replica. They did not interest me that much until I saw a few originals in museums. All the inlay and care that went into them really caught my eye for some reason. Its a weapon appropriate for a good cross section of my ethnic roots too. Of course I have to get one that is function so that is why I'm curious about your'se. ;)

Hello Patrick,
Yes, this sounds like a great trip, perhaps one the little ones will be bitten by the same bug of historical A&A study/collecting that has afflicted us. If you don't mind- who made your hauberk and what do you think of it. Thanks very much, Jeremy

Sounds like everyone had fun despite the totalitarian regime! ;)

We used to do similar things with one of the local elementary schools here. they always have a week of "king Arthur" where the whole school has a medieval theme for a week. We'd have a limited weapons collection and demonstration at the end of the week and would have parents and all in attendence. The new principal decided this was against the school's zero tolerance policy and stopped it cold. To top it off, he felt armour fit into the same "violence oriented" category. Oh well...at least we had six years worth of kids who got a new interest!