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SCA On the Cheap
March 13, 2009 - 2:51pm
I'm interested in hearing folks' opinions, advice, and experiences with engaging in their SCA hobby on a budget. It seems that it would be too easy to spend way too much on the many, many cool things that happen in the SCA. What are some of the best ways to get started without coughing up a big chunk of cash?
March 13, 2009 - 3:40pm
#2
In addition to Phaedrus'
In addition to Phaedrus' comment, there is also the 'try / borrow' factor. I dont know how many things in the SCA I started and then dropped, after having spent money on them. What I could have done is borrowed some resources from someone and tried it before spending any money. Cultivate friendships, go to the relevant get togethers (fighter practice, string thing, meetings, etc.) and talk to people. Its amazing what people have that theya re not using and/or would be willing to lend out.
March 13, 2009 - 4:00pm
#3
Excellent points. I totally
Excellent points. I totally neglected to mention that when I first started heavy fighting I fought for two months in a loaner helm and that horrid carpet+street sign rig that Elvegast was loaning out back in the day. I often wonder what happened to that thing. It was too ugly to die. I harbor some small hope that it's still out there somewhere collecting dust in a bin in someone's garage.
Hell, I fought at Pennsic my first year and at the time the only thing I owned outright was my plywood shield and some leather shoulder guards I'd patterned after Melrakki's. *sigh* nostalgia.
Anyway, like Nikulai was saying, if you're interested in SCA activities it usually isn't hard to find someone in the area that's already got the tools or equipment you need to try it out, and if SCAdians have anything in common, we tend to love it when new folks want to try out our activities.
March 13, 2009 - 4:18pm
#4
workshop and tools available
I have a fully equipped woodshop that I am willing to let people use. I also have basic metal armour making tools in the shop. We also have a pottery wheel and kiln, and basic silver/coppersmithing tools. I have a small forge for iron work but haven't learned how to use it yet. :(
If I'm not available, my squire Bjorn can get you access to the shop if he has the time to work with you. If it's a tool that can burn the house down, I have to be there when you use it. :)
I've had a standing offer for six years now. If you want to fight and need inexpensive armour, I will let you make it in my shop. You pay for the materials you use. A full set of armour will cost less than $100 in materials. (It's the darn buckles that add up!). If you can't afford the $100 in materials, I'll provide the materials to make 2 sets of armour. You keep one and I resell (I hope!) the other one to cover my costs.
March 13, 2009 - 4:34pm
#5
Why in the world would you
Why in the world would you pay for buckles? They're pretty easy (if time consuming) to make if you have a drill handy. Where are you located btw? Once you get back in town I may just take you up on your offer, I've got a bunch of armor fab projects on deck that would go a LOT smoother if I wasn't working (literally) in a closet. I'm also quite sure my armoring techniques could benefit greatly from a little scrutiny by someone more experienced.
Also, by coppersmithing tools I assume you mean a working foundry and some crucibles?
March 17, 2009 - 11:36am
#6
Consider narrowing your focus...
I am the world's biggest advocate of picking a particular persona, so take this with a grain of salt if that's not something that interests you. However... by choosing a single time/place that you're interested in, it significantly raises the impact of any given purchase or project - ie one can get one nice pair of shoes for 14th century rather than trying to find cheap shoes for roman, and for 14th cent, and for viking, and... etc. And it helps at least a little on the ooh shiny! factor Nikulai describes - one can say "ooh shiny!" about something and then realize "oh, that's cool, but I don't do X, and it's a lot easier to walk away.
March 17, 2009 - 12:21pm
#7
Hi Pontiius,
My home is in
Hi Pontiius,
My home is in downtown Fayetteville. You're more than welcome to work in my shop.
I'm not an 'experienced" armourer. I made a lot of simple helmets years ago and have made shield bosses and such. Nothing fancy or complicated. It's never been an interest of mine, just something that needed doing to get people equipped. I've got a Harbour Freight Beverly Shear knockoff and a Whitney punch. A tree stump, a cheap anvil, and a couple of hammers. Nothing particularly fancy.
As for coppersmithing, I've got a small jeweler's anvil, an oxy-acetylene torch, and basic punches and hammers, and a jeweler's saw. Pretty much the basics for that type of work.
We have a small kiln for doing jewelry work I got Fuiltigherne years ago to do cloissonne with, but we haven't tried it out. Just got the supplies to try it out before I left the country. Don't remember if it will get hot enough to melt copper or silver. I think the oxy-acetylene torch will do that, though I haven't tried it yet. I'm still trying to solder right! :(
March 17, 2009 - 11:56pm
#8
An oxy-acetylene torch will
An oxy-acetylene torch will most definitely vaporize your copper, and probably your silver too! I learned that the hard way.
March 18, 2009 - 12:11am
#9
Oxidize it until nothing's
Oxidize it until nothing's left, surely. Vaporise? Highly unlikely outside of a VERY controlled environment. Oxygen and acetylene combined do burn hot enough (copper boils at around 4500F whereas a normal oxy-acetylene rig burns at a bit over 5k), but you'd have to prevent radiant heat loss from your sample to make that happen. This is why melting cupric alloys is such a PITA without a dedicated foundry setup. Speaking of which I need to go get mine from Solvarr at some point. I've got a few pours I'd like to do.
-Phaedrus
March 19, 2009 - 12:15pm
#10
You would be surprised at the
You would be surprised at the bargains you can find at a thrift store if you stop by regularly.
My first set of armour was roman style leather armor. The "skirt" of leather straps (I forget its proper name) was made from the left-overs from the belt maker at the leather store.
The actual armour was made from carpet scraps I liberated from the dumpster behind a carpet store. Like Porthos and his golden belt, I only had enough money to buy a very then piece of leather to cover the carpet from the front. I wore a cloak to hide the carpet in the back.
March 22, 2009 - 10:45am
#11
Oxidise, vaporise, whatever
Oxidise, vaporise, whatever you call it... when I used the torch on my copper, it went poof ! :)
Caelia, who likes fire and metal but isn't so good with the science.
March 22, 2009 - 10:48am
#12
The Scrap Exchange is also a
The Scrap Exchange is also a good place to get stuff, I'd wager. I wasn't thinking SCA when I went there the other day, but with all the various materials they have running around, it could be a veritable goldmine. And for a good cause!
March 22, 2009 - 1:31pm
#13
Scrap Exchange
What is the Scrap Exchange? Where is it? Phone and/or WebSite? What kind of materials does it have?
March 22, 2009 - 2:40pm
#14
Scrap exchange link
http://www.scrapexchange.org/
Since 1991, we have been collecting industrial discards and distributing these reclaimed materials through our retail store, community events, parties and workshops.
March 23, 2009 - 1:32pm
#15
RE: Scrap Exchange
This is a perfect example of why we need to organize ourselves and build "Where to get it" articles on this site! I've lived in this barony since 2001, my wife loves to make costumes, and we didn't know this place exists.
So if you know a good place to get something that SCA folks need, start or add to a Where To: article on that topic today! :)
April 3, 2009 - 7:18pm
#16
Focus, Focus, Focus.
Pick one
Focus, Focus, Focus.
Pick one thing at a time to explore. Once you have some basic garb, feast gear, and a cloak, everything else is optional. Many old time SCA'ers have a closet (or shed, or basement, or attic) full of stuff they bought to play with in a SCA context, that in hindsight they regretted obtaining, and that will never see an event again...
Almost all of the martial arts; rattan combat, rapier combat, combat archery, siege weapons, thrown weapons, and target archery have folks participating who have spare or loaner equipment. Don't expect to use it like your own for months on end until it is worn out, but borrowing some gear will perhaps allow you to choose the area you would like to focus on. Your biggest way to save money in SCA martial arts equipment is to get the advice of an "old dog" before buying anything. What may look like a great deal on EBAY may be unsuitable for your needs. I have had more than one person tell me that they spent more money buying and replacing cheap gear than they would have getting good gear to start with.
As for the arts, many of them have low entry costs; dancing, poetry, singing to name a few. Other arts that require more involved tools often have practitioners who will not only teach you but will often share access to some very expensive tools (caution: there may be some "sweat equity" involved. ).
If there is still more to be done and too little funds, consider exploring a high demand trade like shoemaking, pottery etc. If your skill becomes high enough you will often be able to trade the fruits of your labor for what you can not afford to buy, or in some cases for cold hard cash.
Remember though, the SCA is what the participants make it. If you want it to be an amazing place that transports you from mundanity to an Arthurian fantasy for the weekend, it can be that. If you want it to be some silly folks who raided trash on the curb and the local junk yard to play Monty Python dress up, it can be that too. It's all up to you.
Cheers, Eldrid
April 5, 2009 - 11:04am
#17
Budget
Another suggestion is to set up a budget on how much you are willing/can spend on SCA stuff each month and stick to it. Keep a list of things you want to get and save up for the bigger ticket items.
Thrift stores are sometimes good options as well as just asking around because some folks might have stuff they are willing to give away or sell.
Like other folks have mentioned, borrow stuff. Especially if you think a craft might be interesting, play around with someone else's stuff to see if you think it is something that will really want to have yourself.
If you are just starting out, unless you are made of $$'s, you are probably not going to have all the SCA stuff you want right away. It's just stuff you build over time.
Also, keep in mind the amount of space this stuff take up as well. ;)
April 5, 2009 - 11:52pm
#18
Master Eldrid, weird
Master Eldrid, weird style definitions generated by Word aren't going to work on the site. I've taken the liberty of removing them from your last comment in this thread. Please consider using the rich text editor to style your posts in the future. If this isn't sufficient for your needs let one of the site administrators know. Thank you.
April 6, 2009 - 2:02am
#19
The problem is that the wonky
The problem is that the wonky MS Word stuff doesn't show up when you paste it in. It shows up after you save it.
April 6, 2009 - 11:09am
#20
Of course. Word is
Of course. Word is incredibly poorly behaved, especially when it comes to copy & paste to a typical web form. The rich text editor has a paste from word function that should handle stripping out this stuff.
April 8, 2009 - 12:08pm
#21
Yea, I found those buttons
Yea, I found those buttons after I struggled making the first posts... I must have spell check.
Cheers, Eldrid
April 8, 2009 - 3:49pm
#22
Would adding spell check to
Would adding spell check to the editor be of benefit or is it simpler to do your formatting in Word and then use the paste button?
April 8, 2009 - 4:58pm
#23
Id love hjaving spell check
Id love hjaving spell check in the editor..
January 5, 2010 - 5:37pm
#24
I agree wholeheartedly with
I agree wholeheartedly with all the suggestions here - borrow things to try out new things (I quickly determined that fencing is not my "thing"!), pick a generalized time/place for a persona to focus on, and scour thrift shops, flea markets, yard sales, etc.
The only other thing I'd add on here is that I highly recommend that when you DO purchase things specifically for SCA use (garb, armor, weapons, etc.) , save your pennies and get something of good quality that will last you years, as opposed to something that may cost less but is of lesser quality.
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Oh yeah. This stuff can definitely get expensive FAST.
When I first got into leatherworking I was heading up to Zack Whites at least twice a month, and it's impossible for me to go in there and spend less than $200, simply not possible. That was quite a while ago though and I've gotten a little more savvy since then.
Case in point I've recently taken up metalworking (brass, some armoring) and experiments in metal casting. Instead of flipping out and buying a couple thousand dollars in new tools I hit Harbor Freight and picked up a sturdy vice and a decent knockoff Beverly style shear. When I was shopping around for engraving tools I ended up picking up a set of antiques for $10 off of Ebay. If I'd bought similar tools new it would have cost me over $100.
Another potentially massive cash sink is heavy fighting. I managed to go from nothing to a full kit for less than $200 by picking up some lacross gear that was on clearance and filling in the gaps with some leftover kydex someone was kind enough to give me. Helm was a super-cheap $75 ashcraft job, made my own knees from a half-sheet of 16 ga steel I picked up locally. Nothing like dishing knee cops in your livingroom when you live in an apartment. I'm sure the neighbors loved me for that. I also fabricated my own steel gauntlets (I'm paranoid about wrist injuries).
Major take-aways for me for keeping it on a budget have been:
1. Don't buy tools retail. Ever.
2. Cultivating clever sources for raw materials can save you huge cash (dumpster diving & scrap yards being two of my faves)
3. Don't pay someone else for something you can make yourself
4. If it's ugly throw a surcoat over it and nobody will notice