The Beaver Academy of Offense
"The Best Defense needs a Good Offense!"
The Beaver Academy was founded in the Shire of Ravenslake in A.S. XXXII as a public Academy for the Study and Practice of Rapier Fencing in the Style of our esteemed predeccesors DiGrassi, Silver, Savolio and others.
Recent innovations of the Beaver Academy include the Rapier Pike and notorious
"fish fight" in the Midlands Rapier List. The Beaver Academy also hosts a
Middle Kingdom Academy of Defense (click Upcoming Events for more info) on
a regular basis at the Shire of Ravenslake
Founding
Lector
Lord Alexander de Seton of Altavia
Founding
Scholars
Lord Kevin O'Shaughnessy
Lord John Quartermain
Lord Reinmar of Ravenslake
Current
Lector or Lectors
Warder Cy
Previous Lectors
Mad Molly McGee
Catalin Zöldszem
Lord Kevin O'Shaughnessy
Lord Alexander de Seton of Altavia
Lord Damien Nihthauk
Lord Neko Me
Master Sir Ixtilixochitl de los Indios
Neko Me Jr.
Warder Torquil MacGillavrey
Cerian Cantwr
List of Beavers
Rheinmar
de Haus Zestroyer (1st Student)
Gintaras Tauras
Cecil du Pont
Christian Fournier
Gwenfife (Lector-at-Large - AEthelmearc)
Sir Ixtilixochitl de los Indios
Master Isaac de Hugo
Viscount Syr Myles Blackheath
Neko Me
Liam of the Bow
Adrian Flechyr
Kyrstyan Makfall
Sebastian Elger
Moira MacGillavery
Torquil MacGillavery
Sorcha MacGillavrey
Damien Nytehauk
Yehoshua ben Israel
Yoshitomo Toshio & Siobhan (breeding pair-Atlantia)
Lord Leon Jeronimo Suarex & Lady (breeding pair-Meridies)
Giovanna di Ferrara
Molly Magee
Mistress Isabel Moundoghter
Uadahlrich von Sassmannshausen
Simon Hondy
Catalin Zöldszem
Crew of the Raging Beaver
Letter
of Marque for the Raging Beaver
please click the thumbnail for larger view.
For those unfamiliar with the Beaver Academy, you might wish to confer with Master Alexander de Seton for proper modes of address to the Lector.
Middle Kingdom Academy of Defense Teachers see www.mkaod.org
Thorbjorn's Favor
Current bearer of Thorbjorn's Favor:
On Labor
Day Weekend of this year (2006), at the Middle Kingdom Academy of Defense,
fencers will be asked to elect a new bearer of Thorbjorn's Favor. The current
bearer is His Excellency, Baron Philippe de Leon.
Explanation:
Thorbjorn's
Favor is a traveling honor, created in remembrance of Master Thorbjorn the
Greysides, awarded once a year to an attendee of the Middle Kingdom Academy
of Defense in the Shire of Ravenslake on Labor Day Weekend. Citizens of the
Middle Kingdom and of the kingdoms of Northshield, Ealdormere and Calontir
are eligible. The bearer is chosen each year by a vote of those fencers in
attendance. Tie votes are decided by the previous bearer. The new bearer is
asked to wear the favor for one year, to bring it back to the next MKAOD,
and to have his or her name embroidered on the favor before passing it on
to the next bearer.
BEARERS OF THORBJORN'S FAVOR:
1) Master John Inchingham
2) Master Fritz Bare
3) Sir Guillaume LaFort
4) Baron Adam Comyn
5) Master Alexander de Seton
6) Warder Christian de Fournier
7) Don Mateo Montero de Madrid
8) Warder Gallien le Cavalier de L’lle
9) Baron Philippe de Leon
10) Warder Moira MacGillavrey
11) Warder Anton du Marais
SCA Rapier and Historical Fencing Links
The Middle Kingdom Fencing Marshallate Page
The Academia: A Public School of Defense
Old Sword-Play by Captain Alfred Hutton
Classical Fencing and Historical Swordsmanship Resources
The Arte of Defense by William E Wilson
Classical Fencing Mailing List
Don Danulf's Academy of Defence
PDF downloadable documents
For a pdf printable version of Kevin's Sword Rack click HERE
My experiences as a Rubber Band Gun Artillerist in SCA Rapier by Kevin O'Shaughnessy
A Portable Take-Down Sword Rack
By Warder Kevin O'Shaughnessy
Background:
A few years ago I decided that I was tired of having to dig through a pile of swords, daggers and other equipment in my Rapier carrying case during the middle of a tourney. It was inconvenient, looked sloppy and more than once I pinched the #*@@$$% out of my fingers while I was shuffling swords around. I wanted a better way to handle things.
My answer came when I saw a marvelous contraption assembled at an event by Sir LOGOS Von Schenecke. He had made a simple sword rack that disassembled readily. It didn't take up much space and left him better organized. I decided I wanted something like that.
However, by the time (weeks later) that I got around to working on it I couldn't remember the details of the construction. So I had to wing it and come up with my own design. I had some simple criteria in mind:
1) A rack capable of holding several rapiers, daggers and such.
2) Easy to assemble and take down.
3) Take up very little space during storage and transport.
4) Low cost.
5) Make with available shop equipment.
6) Make my friends envious.
I made some sketches (long since lost), went shopping for wood and then set to work measuring once and cutting twice. Then I went shopping for wood again, curbed my enthusiasm and proceeded to do it correctly.
The end result worked very well for me. It breaks down nice and flat, assembles easily and holds nine blades. I can also set my rapier helmet on to one end and lean stuff against it as well. Sir LOGOS even said I had improved and simplified his design.
The rack consists of six major pieces of wood and four wedges made from scraps from cutting the major pieces. It also took eight wood screws. That's it.
Tools consisted of a jigsaw, a drill with spade bits (for making big holes in wood), a saw for cutting the boards and a wood rasp and files for squaring off holes. A tape measure, a screw driver and a square are also necessary. A hammer and simple wood chisel are very useful as well.
Here is the vertical side piece for the rack. Make two of them. I used a piece of 1 x 6 pressure-treated wood I had on-hand in my garage (deck leftovers). You need an 8 foot long 1 x 6 as your raw material for this.
Here is the horizontal support. It has the slotted holes that the swords and daggers go through. Make two of them. You need an 8 foot long 1 x 4 as your raw material. A 1 x 6 can be substituted for a 1 x 4 if you want more spacing between the rows of holes. That could be useful if you use large guards on your rapiers.
Here is the "foot" that gets screwed onto the bottom each vertical support. It is also made from a 1 x 4. The total length you need is 24 inches (2 twelve inch pieces). This will leave you with leftover wood, even if you can buy a 4 foot board. You need the scraps to make your wedges that hold the rack together.
Note how the bottom horizontal piece is very close to the tip of the
sword. You may want to raise your bottom piece a couple of inches if you
use shorter blades. Here is a picture showing the lower wedge peg on one side. It also shows how the "foot" is mounted onto the vertical support. I did not try to fill in and cover the screw heads with wood putty. It would look better if I had.
As you can see, the ends of the rack are good places to hang helms, masks and hats.
My sword rack is very plain and utilitarian. That is fine by me
since it mostly resides in the back of my pickup truck. It would not take much
work for you to make yours look a lot fancier. Fancy cuts, decorative
scrollwork and holes, even carvings could easily enhance the looks of the rack
you build. Have fun!