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I have a good sword

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Tiwas

NewBee
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Jan 30, 2011
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Oslo, Norway
Oh, I realize the geography of it, but when you live in the US which is capped by Canada, it sounds as wrong as someone from my neck of the woods saying they're going "up" to Los Angeles. Just doesn't compute. I live at 38 degrees N latitude, and my DiL's hometown--Kristiansand--is at 58. Oslo's more north than that, so, yeah, most places are "down" to Norway.

I'm still trying to convince the Danish to take that part of Norway :p

I've always envisioned our Nordic forfathers and mothers quaffing mead as well, and the romantic in me was very disappointed tfind that modern Norwegians not only don't drink it, but don't even know what it is! I'm glad you're about changing that a bit, Tiwas. My son in Oslo brews, but only beer. Mead takes too long.
:rolleyes:

If he hadn't gone and found a place in Kristiansand :)eek:) I'd might consider visiting him and teach him how to drink and swordfight :D

But seriously...ever since the Christians came, Asatru, and even norse history, has been kind of politically incorrect. Funny thing is that if you look at the old stave churches, they have runes carved into them all over. Brewing mead was actually outlawed for a few centuries, and so were writing down our history. Even when I was in school, which isn't that long ago, teachers weren't allowed to teach us about our ancestor's culture. We red a little about Eric the Red and how the "evil" vikings were conquered by the "good, christian" vikings, but never the rest.

Did you know that the last known scandinavian killed for being a pagan was in the middle of the 1800s ? The church tried to force a danish farmer to convert, and when he didn't, they killed his whole family. When he still wouldn't, as he no longer had any reason to, they hung him. That's like only 160 years ago...:S The largest written archive about vikings were actually located in Alexandria

So...we're kind of retarded when it comes to our own heritage.
 

Tiwas

NewBee
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This is a shame, but please don't confuse the "Church" with Christians.

Sorry, didn't mean to step on any toes, but up here they're kind of the same. We even have an official religion, and when you're born you're entered into the church as a member. You have to apply to get out.

But I do understand it's not like that everywhere :)
 

wildoates

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Mar 22, 2009
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But I do understand it's not like that everywhere

Definitely not here, it's in our Constitution: the government cannot form a national religion and they cannot require anyone to join one. Here we choose our religion, or lack thereof.

People in Norway are shockingly secular, at least to this Christian. Empty churches, so sad.

If he hadn't gone and found a place in Kristiansand I'd might consider visiting him and teach him how to drink and swordfight

Oh, he's in Oslo, and already knows how to drink. :)
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
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Apr 27, 2010
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Chevette Girl, when you use sugar as your fermentable, what kind do you use?
If it's just regular table sugar, do you use it as is, or do you invert it?
The skeeter pee recipe which was referred to in the forum mentions heating table sugar with water and lemon juice to invert it.
I'm curious if this is required, or just makes the ferment easier.

First I've really heard about inverting sugar, I just use white sugar bought in bulk, straight from the bag, boiled in water to dissolve it. My yeasties seem to do fine on it so far, any issues I've had are more likely to be lack of oxygenation and nutrients than overexerting my yeasties.
 

Chevette Girl

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That's what I thought you'd said before. Have to check when "bring swords to work day" is ;)

Hallowe'en has always worked for me... although the sword I brought to work was a dull practice blade (although still steel), everyone was still impressed with the chain mail vest...
 

Tiwas

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Jan 30, 2011
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Oslo, Norway
Hallowe'en has always worked for me... although the sword I brought to work was a dull practice blade (although still steel), everyone was still impressed with the chain mail vest...

Which reminds me that I still have a 50% complete maille that I need to finish.

My blades are also dull, but at 7kg it's still sharp enough to do damage ;)
 

Chevette Girl

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Which reminds me that I still have a 50% complete maille that I need to finish.

My blades are also dull, but at 7kg it's still sharp enough to do damage ;)

Heh, I have since moved on to articulated plate...

7 kg!!! Holy crap, what are you swinging, an angle-iron claymore?? Mine's only 3 lbs!!
 

Tiwas

NewBee
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Jan 30, 2011
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Oslo, Norway
Heh, I have since moved on to articulated plate...

7 kg!!! Holy crap, what are you swinging, an angle-iron claymore?? Mine's only 3 lbs!!

Mine's a period "replica" ("replica" since it's my own design and is somewhere between a highlander and viking sword) broadsword. Since it's not for fencing "the fro...french way" it should be heavier. It's not for slicing and dicing - it's for cutting and maiming ;)
 

Tiwas

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Jan 30, 2011
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Oslo, Norway
That kind of reminds me of the first time my girlfriend came over (a few weeks ago). First she was like "oh, you're brewing mead? That's so cool!". Then she was like "oh...you have three full contact training swords? And you designed them yourself? They're really beautiful, but...you're not the kind of guy who dresses up and goes to fairs, are you?". Just waiting for her reaction when she sees what I'm knitting :D
 

wayneb

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All right - this has absolutely nothing to do with ingredients for mead, but since all of you are talking about dressing up and banging bits of metal around, I feel compelled to post this pic showing that I used to play "dress up" from time to time in years past, too. ;D

For the record, I used to participate in a Polish Hussar re-creation group in Southern California, along with my buddy, Rik Fox, who first organized the group. This pic is from about 7 years ago. Rik is the "real hussar" in the back left, I'm the guy on the right in back, and my two sons (both of whom are taller than I am now) are down in front.
 

Tiwas

NewBee
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Jan 30, 2011
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Oslo, Norway
My armor's not done yet, but I like to think along the lines of "if I didn't make, I ain't wearing it", so I've never dressed up (like that). What was really amazing, though, was the aussie crowd. One group even had a tank they'd transported from Europe and fixed up. Those were wearing nazi uniforms and driving around in their nazi tank - and even though I don't like the ideology (don't know what ideology the people in the group had) I do see the fact that the nazis were a pretty awesome force, and I applaud the fact that they actually got themselves a tank. Now *that's* commitment :)
 

Chevette Girl

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Nice pic, Wayne!

A tank? Wow. And yeah, not sure what I think about the nazi part of that either, but still a pretty impressive recreation!

Erm, yeah, when we drill for show, we bring out the metal blades but when we spar, we use padded wood swords, and most of our sparring shields are plastic made from 55 gal drums (it's lighter than plywood!) and you'll never find something that looks exactly like my armour in a book anywhere, although similar bits and pieces will be strewn all over... if we didn't work with padded practice weapons, I'd never have blued my armour (OK, purpled, I pulled it out of the oven before it got blue). Recreation's all good and well, but so is safety when you're training like a martial art. And for the record, a 3 lb dull steel stage blade will still go through a pumpkin just fine if your strike is aligned... I think I'd be able to swing your monstrosity about twice before I ran out of energy or my elbows told me NO. :)

Oh, and the first piece of plate armour I ever made was for my pony... here's a link since apparently my 104 KB file exceeds 1.91 MB :p

And one of these days I need to attend a real ren faire...

 

Tiwas

NewBee
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Jan 30, 2011
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Oslo, Norway
I think I'd be able to swing your monstrosity about twice before I ran out of energy or my elbows told me NO. :)

Nah, you'd be fine. The only thing you'd have to remember is that you never stop the movement or momentum of the blade. For me, being pretty strong, I like to stop it mid-movement and change to a stabbing action. Always takes people off their guard :D
 

Chevette Girl

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Apr 27, 2010
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Nah, you'd be fine. The only thing you'd have to remember is that you never stop the movement or momentum of the blade. For me, being pretty strong, I like to stop it mid-movement and change to a stabbing action. Always takes people off their guard :D

Gaah, no, 8 years of stopping a very light blade in Iaido has fragged my elbows to the point where I barely do anything without braces on anymore. I likes my German sword-and-board style, strikes are all just holding the sword in the correct position and the power comes from the hips...

And Wildoates, in theory, you shouldn't need armour for the sport of meadmaking anyway :) (and no drinking and fighting!)
 
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