Monthly Archives: March 2015

Don’t Let Them Spoil Your Fun!

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Foreward: Although this writing focuses on the SCA, much of it applies to other groups as well.

Last year, at about this time, I wrote a blog about why I thought that everyone in the SCA should go to a “great war”. That blog was inspired by the energy renewal that I had from attending Gulf Wars. Well, Gulf Wars did it again. I was standing in my booth chatting with a customer. I asked her where she was from and she hesitated for just a second.

She was not the only person that I ran across at Gulf Wars that I had this discussion with. It really has nothing to do with Gulf, and everything to do with people having to move between groups and Kingdoms, or even finding kindred spirits in their home area or online.

The look on her face told me everything. So let me give you a little background on my history in the SCA.

I started in the East Kingdom, in the Boston area, the Barony of Carolingia. I knew nothing, and do mean NOTHING, about the organization. The Barony that I played in included universities like MIT, Harvard, Boston University, Brandeis University, and Wellesley College. The people that I played with were all lifetime learners, archers, artisans, musicians. People who were well-rounded in their real life and transferred that attitude to the SCA. There were only a few heavy list fighters in our area, but they were also other things in our group: bards and artisans. We were fortunate to meet some truly awesome royalty, who understood the need for good court theater and chivalrous behavior. My husband and I were hooked. We jumped in with both feet, went to dozens of events and meetings, and earned our AOA’s.

And then we moved to California … the West. We were lucky enough to land in a small group that was very excited to have new members and welcomed us with open arms. There were some moments, but we jumped in enthusiastically … again. After a year of playing mostly locally, we started really getting out into the Kingdom, teaching, working with the Brewer’s Guild, and A&S, and holding officer positions. We had a little problem dealing with the lack of documentation that we saw in some of the A&S competitions, but we kept working, and helped people figure out ways to encourage better documentation. We were in our element. We had once again found the lifetime learners, the over-achievers, kindred spirits. We both earned our Laurels.

And a couple of years later, we moved again. To the Kingdom of Atenveldt. We moved based on where we could afford to buy a house, without any concern for where we would play in the SCA. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we were driven by finances and did not understand, having come from very populated areas, how few and far between SCA groups can be in some areas. Our house is located on 43 acres –  an hour drive from our home Barony and an hour drive from another Barony. When we moved to the area, we more than doubled the number of Laurels in the area. We really didn’t play much for over a year. Finding kindred spirits was difficult. After a year we slowly started to attend events again. We played with both of our “local” groups because the activity level was waaay below what we were accustomed to. We eventually met a few kindred spirits around the kingdom. We actively supported both baronies and eventually sat as Baron and Baroness for our own barony.

So, what is next: How to find or create kindred spirits.

Fighters practising at Gulf Wars XIII (2004)

Fighters practising at Gulf Wars XIII (2004) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Camping, Batteries and CPAPs

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Over the past year or so we have written several blogs about camping and dealing with electrical needs. From charging your cell phone or iPad to running a CPAP machine, we have discussed the use of various sorts of batteries and inverters, and how to figure out how much power your machine needs. Make sure that ANY system that you use for medical purposes is tested before you plan to use it camping. If you don’t have the skills to evaluate a design yourself, find a competent person to aid you. Make sure that you discuss your medical needs with your doctor.

At a recent week-long camping event I was approached by a camper. She thanked us for all of the articles…she had read them all, but now she had a new problem. The temperature. Now I know personally that I have to sleep with my current cell phone in my pocket in order to protect it from the cold. The battery in the new model is very cold sensitive, whereas the older version of the same model was barely affected by even the coldest nights (How is THIS new and improved?)

I know that some folks only camp during warm weather, but there are several events a year that I camp at which can be quite chilly. What exactly do I mean by chilly? The forties (Fahrenheit) and down as the very low 30’s. Yes, I have seen the water in the dishpan freeze overnight. It actually made me feel good – I thought I was getting soft in my old age!

I was aware of the effects of cold on batteries because I do a lot of nature photography, and when photographing outside in the snow I knew to keep my spare batteries in the inside pocket of my parka to keep them warm. If you are going to be camping outside in cold weather, you need to check your batteries ahead of time to make sure that they can take the cold. For easily transported electrical sources, generally alkaline batteries perform poorly in very cold weather, and lithium batteries are only a little better choice. According to the experts your best bet is the NiCad battery. But just as we recommended that you test your battery set-up before you used it while camping, you need to see how your batteries will respond to cold temperatures, too.

In addition to the problem of battery failure from low temperatures, the camper who stopped by to talk to me had another issue – the air from her CPAP was sooo cold that she couldn’t tolerate using it. So we talked about it for a while. The only thing that both of us could think of, that would be non-toxic, and not require additional electricity, was hand warmers. Her plan was to create a box around her air intake and put a hand warmer or two in the space to preheat the air. Larger “body warmers” were also available. For people who may not be familiar with these little camping gems, there are several types. I am aware of two different forms that do not involve any sort of combustion (we were concerned about toxic fumes). The most common form is a disposable pack, containing cellulose, iron, water, activated carbon, salt, and vermiculite. You unwrap the pack, shake it up, and it produces heat for one to ten hours. Another self-contained, and reusable form of the hand warmer uses a super-saturated salt solution, but it is usually only good for a maximum of two hours.

I have been thinking about using a small cooler with a hand warmer to keep our phones warm for a while. I would be interested in hearing about other people’s experiences with cold, batteries, and CPAP machines!

A pair of air-activated disposable hand warmer...

A pair of air-activated disposable hand warmers, US quarter to scale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Casting Metal: Soapstone Molds – Part 5 – My Piece is Not Casting Well – What do I do next?

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Diagnosing why a pewter piece is not casting correctly, without looking at the mold, is not easy. But there are a series of things that I always go through when I am having trouble with a mold. It is a process of elimination. Eliminate all of the potential problems and the piece should cast properly.

First, let’s look at the metal. Every metal alloy has a specific temperature at which it pours properly. Are you getting your metal hot enough? Does it flow well? Are you transferring the metal quickly from the melting pot to the mold? Are you getting your metal too hot? Metal that is too hot will put off a lot of fumes, which means that you are actually cooking off some the metal. This is not good for you or the metal.

Next let’s look at the general form of the mold. Do the two sides of the mold fit together properly? Does the metal leak out? If the metal is leaking out somewhere, and you are clamping it properly, then the faces of the mold – the two surfaces that are supposed to fit together – are not surfaced properly. You will need to resurface the mold to make the surfaces fit properly.

Is the funnel and the sprue large enough to allow the pewter to flow properly into the mold cavity? If the two sides of the sprue are not symmetrical or the sprue channel is not smooth enough the roughness of the mold may cause turbulence in the metal flow that will prevent the mold from filling completely. The inside of the funnel and sprue should be as smooth as you can make them and uniform. Be sure that the sprue does not narrow towards the cavity of the piece and that the transition between the sprue and the mold cavity is smooth.

Is air being trapped in the mold and preventing the metal from getting into the details of the mold? Before you consider making any permanent modifications to the mold try dusting the inside of the mold with caster’s talc or graphite dust. Simply use a small brush and lightly brush the entire inside of the mold with the powder. Sometimes that is all it takes to make a mold cast properly.

If this does not work it may be necessary to carve very shallow lines, about the diameter of two hairs away from the edge of the mold cavity to allow the air to escape from the mold. in some cases a larger channel, called a riser may be necessary if large quantities of air are trapped.

This graphic shows a couple of examples of air being trapped because of the design of the piece. The use of either shallow cut lines, or a riser should fix the problem.

soapstonemoldproblemsIf you have run through all of these points, and the mold is warmed up, and the piece is still not casting, it may be time to enlarge the size of the sprue or the funnel area. Begin by enlarging the funnel area, and then if the problem is not fixed, enlarge the diameter of the sprue.

I hope that you find this information useful in helping you to improve your pewter casting. This series was not intended to be a comprehensive reference to pewter casting, but rather an aid to understanding the process.