vol 1 no 1 feb 2005
TRANSCRIPT
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Dedicated to Western Martial Arts and the warriors who study them
SAMPLE ISSUE - VOL.
Inside:Extreme Self Protection...........pg 1
Irish StickFighting...........pg 3Women Warriors...........pg 6
Personal Perspective...........pg 8
Mendoza Pugilism...........pg 10
Humor & Wiskey...........pg 13
Homemade Armour...........pg 15
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Welcome to the very first issue of Live Steel Magazine™. Our goal is to be able to give you the
reader a chance to purchase a Western Martial Arts magazine dedicated solely to the arts. There
will be no information about Ren Faires, or history about shoes, or details about medieval
gardening. This is purely a fighter’s magazine. The time periods covered are from BC to the
present. If it is Western Martial Arts, we will cover it, plain and simple. Hundreds of different
styles from all over Europe and America. Do you make armor? Do you have a story about
training? Do you want to promote your school? Let us know....if it has to do with WesternMartial Arts, we will get it out there.
Live Steel Magazine™ will be published quarterly in multiple formats - Paper, PDF, and as an
E-zine.. All advertising must be submitted, proof approved and payed for no later than one
month prior to printing. Live Steel Magazine™ is not responsible for any innacuracies or
deletions that are in supplied ads.
This month’s contributing writers:
Mark Hatmaker • Wic Kanagie • Scott Oisol • Jessie Brock • Ken Pfrenger • Joe McLaughlin
Contact:
Live Steel Fight Academy
1200 East High Street, Suite 312, Pottstown, PA 19464
610-705-8705
www.theoldcelt.com/fightschoolmain.html
The Medieval Horse Guild is a group of horsemen and horsewomen who occasional-
ly cast off the trappings of modern life and cloak themselves in the pageantry of the
Medieval Period. As a group they engage in a variety of activities ranging from the
study of the techniques of horsemanship in the Middle Ages to participating in
parades and battle recreations. Members are encouraged to make their own medieval
costumes and armor as well as tack for their mounts that is appropriate to the period
being portrayed.For more info go to:www.horseguild.com
or email:
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What is Extreme Self-Protection
(ESP)? ESP is an amalgam of
Western disciplines: Western
Boxing, Western Wrestling, and
Western Empiricism.
ESP promotes the idea that the
martial arts of the east are not the
only repositories of knowledge
available on the planet. Western
civilization has its own rich history
of unarmed combat disciplines that
in many ways are superior to the
dogma of the Eastern traditions.
ESP does not deny that there is
much of value in these other disci-
plines, it merely suggests that the
rich tapestry of Western combat
arts has much to offer. Perhaps less
so in the aesthetic sense but this is
more than made up for by its prag-
matic expression.
What Western Arts comprise the
ESP system? Pugilism forms the
foundation of our striking system.Pugilism is the pre-Marquis de
Queensbury form of boxing in
which elbows, head-butts, goug-
ing, hip throws and other such
NHB tools were still legal. We've
taken these tools from the legends
of boxing's beginnings combined
them with positional and entry
concepts utilized in Western fenc-
ing, added a touch of the illegal
punches found in Boombattle, andfire them with the advances made
in the Sweet Science over the past
100 years. This combination of the
early Pugilist's brutality, the
Fencer's finesse, and the Boxer's
conditioning and overwhelming
scientific attack make for a solid
striking base well suited to the
ring, the octagon, or the streets.
Mark Hatmaker is the founder
and head instructor of ESP. For
more information got to:
www.extremeselfprotection.com
HARD WIRING AND
PALM STRIKES
by Mark Hatmaker 2004
Ask martial artists/self-defense
coaches to make a choice between
which body weapon is preferred in
the street confrontation, the fist or
the palm heel, the majority will
answer, the palm heel. I, too, have
a knee jerk intellectual reflex to
answer that the palm heel is the
preferred street tool of the two and
yet closer examination reveals that
the palm may not be the wisest
tool. I know that this answer is
anathema to most. People point to
the fragile human hand with thedelicate skeletal construct of its 26
bones. One can also point to the
anecdotal information of Mike
Tyson, (at the peak of his career) a
professional boxer who throws
punches for a living, breaking his
hand upon impacting Mitch
Green’s skull in a street confronta-
tion in Brooklyn as proof that the
fist is not the way to go. These
arguments are all compelling, butstay with me for a few paragraphs
while I present the other side of the
issue.
Martial artists (particularly west-
ern combat practitioners) are
aware of the truth of the maxim
“How you train is how you will
fight.” In other words, if you train
to shoot for takedowns, chanc
are that is the bias through whic
you will view confrontation. (
bias which I, myself, hold.) Th
maxim also “teaches” us that if w
train with the closed fist the closefist is what we will resort to in
self-defense situation. To be ab
to use the palm heel intelligentl
one must train it assiduously wi
the majority of the striking trainin
forgoing the fist so that in times
stress this tool may present itse
But I put it to you that this focus
training of the palm heel may st
not be enough to bring the pal
heel out in confrontation.
Another maxim of profound wi
dom is “Let your training be
reflection of the battlefield cond
tions.” In other words, if the rea
ty of the fight is one of clinche
scuffling, then you had be
emphasize that contingency
your training. Allow me to add
this maxim with one of my owdevising (not that I can take cred
for reflexive reactions) your trai
ing should be informed by yo
evolved neurophysiologic rea
tions. In other words, if stre
triggers a particular ingraine
response, it is wise to shape/cra
that natural response rather th
wagering that you can subvert m
lions of years of evolved reactio
with a mere several hours of traiing tools that do not refle
the realities of the sympathet
nervous systems fight-or-flig
responses.
How does the above academ
gobbledygook translate into a ca
against the conventional wisdo
of palm heels? Let’s look to huma
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stress reactions for a few clues and
then to primatology. Healthy
human infants are tested for a
fight-or-flight response known as
the Moro Reflex. The Moro Reflex
is triggered when the infant feelsthat it is falling. Once this trigger
is applied, the infant will throw
his/her arms out wide with palms
outstretched and then the hands
will close into fists as if clutching
at something. They, in fact, are
clutching at something. This same
reaction is seen in young primates
and it is an evolved response that
allows the infant primate to clutch
at his/her mother’s fur to prevent a
fall. This reflex in humans is a
holdover behavior echoing a phys-
ical strategy that once saved our
young ancestors’ lives.
This link may seem tenuous, and
I can see that argument myself,
but allow us to take an animal
ethologist’s look at primates in
battle. Many primatologists (theesteemed Frans de Waal, included)
have documented that our primate
relatives in physical confrontation
close the fist to strike or close the
fist to clutch at an object to strike
with. The open palm is only seen
in the occasional open handed
swing at a rival. Now, I am not
suggesting that because a chim-
panzee without directed training is
unable to throw an educated palmheel strike that we are unable to do
so, but I do proffer this information
as food for thought as we look at
the next bit of data.
If one examines their own per-
sonal experiences in confronta-
tions and/or relies on security
tapes of street confrontation or
uses impartial bouncer/security
personnel accounts, the human
animal, in stress situations, clinch-
es the fist and falls back/regresses
to the “swing” more often than not,
even if trained to do otherwise. We
may be able to keep our trainedresponses true to our training in the
sportive atmosphere (not always
even here, as MMA competition
often shows that there is a
Darwinian culling aspect to stylis-
tic preferences) but the street/self-
defense environment is altogether
different.
In the street confrontation we
have not chosen the time or place
of the confrontation. We have not
chosen the opponent. The stakes of
life and limb are without a doubt
much higher than in our sport
matches. We have a myriad of vari-
ables working not for us, but
against us. (I offer this argument
not to discourage active intelligent
training , on the contrary, I offer it
to make sure that we direct ourtraining in an intelligent manner to
mimic ingrained reflexes).
After much thought and
research, I am of the opinion (as if
one could not already see) that the
palm heel is an excellent tool in a
controlled match or in a street con-
frontation in which one is able to
fire first or at least with some
deliberation before launching.Clinching the fists is a very likely
occurrence, and since that may
indeed happen we should learn to
roll the fist properly (I won’t get
into that here as I have already
labored the point repeatedly in
books and videos). We should also
look to the palm as being effective
(perhaps more effective) as a
swing/slap than as a straight pal
heel weapon. Anyone who has ev
worked a true palm heel worko
knows that beyond straight shot
the wrist is torqued or folded to a
uncomfortable degree wheattempting hooks and/or uppercu
with the palm. When used in
“swinging slap” manner as o
sees in Pancrase, the wrist is tak
out of jeopardy (as is the fist) an
one is left with a surprising
effective tool that closely mimi
evolved response.
In conclusion, our trainin
should dovetail with our fight-o
flight responses. We should bui
intelligent structures on top
evolved instinct and strive not
subvert that which may not be su
verted no matter our efforts. In th
controlled arena of sportive com
bat the above discussion is useles
In the arena of the streets, it seem
that our fists and roundhou
blows (open-handed or closefists) are the striking legacy of o
species. Rather than deny the
facts, we should embrace the info
mation and build upon that know
edge base to provide us with
strategy for constructing our be
defense against the street predato
of this world.
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Dating its origins exactly, of course, is speculation, but what iscertain is that the use of the stick as
a weapon seems to have been con-sidered -- by the Irish themselves -- a quintessentially Irish character-istic.
To buy John Hurley's book, click on the cover imageThe origins of the Irish martial artof Irish stick-fighting, colorfullyand accurately portrayed in MartinScorsese's Oscar-nominated film
"The Gangs of New York," goesback millennia.
Dating its origins exactly, of course, is speculation, but what iscertain is that the use of the stick asa weapon seems to have been con-sidered -- by the Irish themselves -- a quintessentially Irish character-istic. This Irish fondness for thestick as a weapon also belies a
cherished cultural preference,rather than a historical necessity,which dates from Ireland's ancientpast.
The Gaelic game of hurling, forexample, was itself a form of mar-tial arts training before it wastamed (only somewhat!) and stan-dardized into a national sport by
the Gaelic Athletic Association.Like the "melee" of the Normanknight, hurling matches were orig-inally meant, in part, to both imbueyoung warriors with a feeling for
combat, and to aid them in theiragility with sword and axeweaponry.
"Gangs" Film Shows Rites of Violence. Martin Scorsese's film"The Gangs of New York" has
received both commercial successand critical acclaim, along with 10Oscar nominations. Yet some Irish-American commentators andscholars have criticized it for itsmanipulations of history.
With regards to certain details(such as the New York City DraftRiots), it is true that Scorsese took artistic license with places, dates,
and events. But without question,the overall content of the moviedepicted with remarkable accuracythe sufferings of the Irish immi-grants of the 19th century. The filmwas unabashedly pro-Irish.
Particularly well-portrayed in thefilm are some of the traditions of Irish faction fighting and how
these traditions were transplanteinto 19th century America. BoHerbert Asbury (author of the "ThGangs of New York" book thinspired the film) and Mart
Scorsese were likely unaware these traditions, yet their historicexistence was documented by Iriauthor William Carleton in h"Traits And Stories of The IriPeasantry" and other workCarleton lived from 1794 to 186and grew up near Clogher County Tyrone. Through his wrings, we can examine these tradtions and see how accurately the
were depicted in the film.
Many accurate details made into the film. For example, Irifactions always carried a symbof their gang into battle on a pikIn Carleton's childhood, his factisymbol was a potato stuck on pike, and this is depicted in thfilm with the Dead Rabbits carring their rabbit on a kind of spea
One of Carleton's faction fightewielding his "shillelagh."Brendan Gleeson's character armed with one kind of the Iriclub known as a Sail Eille "Shillelagh" -- a "thonged cudgelAs Carleton and other Irish writeof his generation show in their stries, Irish faction fighters also usa variety of weapons besides sh
lelaghs -- everything from scythesickles, and flails to swords, braknuckles, hobnailed boots, anguns. This variation is displayed "Gangs of New York."
I do wish Scorsese had includmore authentic styles of Irish matial arts -- especially the varioforms of Irish stick-fighting. B
BATAIREACHT:
THE ART OF
IRISH STICK-FIGHTING
by John W. Hurley
Special to The Wild Geese Today
Part 1:
The ‘Faction-Fighting’ Irish
Irish faction fighters use their
“shillelaghs” on each other
in an illustration from
Carleton’s book.
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he very clearly delineates thebloody nature of the strugglesfought between the Catholic Irishand Protestant Americans in the19th century. And that, after all,
seems to have been his ultimateintention. -- JWH Fatalities oftenoccurred in hurling matches, justas in the melee, and even at muchlater dates, such as the 19thcentury, some of the largeststick-fighting battles on record --involving whole villages - startedout as a kind of hurling matchknown as a "Scuabin". The variousarts of Irish stick-fighting reached
their zenith in the first half of the19th century, when Irish gangswere beginning to dominate NewYork's streets. These sorts of out-breaks, along with the generallychaotic nature of stick-fightingmatches, aided in the demise of popular stick-fighting in Ireland.
Stick-fighting matches usuallyoccurred at fairs and on Pattern (or
"Patron") Days, and involved twoopposing gangs or "factions."These matches became known as"Faction Fights," and eventuallyIrish stick-fighting became strong-ly associated with them.
At first encouraged by Englishauthorities as a way of keeping theIrish divided, faction fighting waseventually outlawed as fatalities at
matches increased and the size andpolitical power of the factionsgrew. They encouraged lawless-ness within the already largelylawless "underground" culture of the Gaelic Irish and aided in theempowerment of the network of Irish secret societies that came todominate the life of the country-side.
In time, An Gorta Mor (The IrishFamine), the influence of theCatholic Church, and the rise of Fenianism (militant Irish republi-canism) put an end to large-scale
Faction Fighting, as more andmore of the agrarian faction groupsunited and were absorbed into theFenian organization in the latterhalf of the 19th century.
Eventually, Irish FactionFighting was outlawed. The last of the classic Faction Fights is oftensaid to have taken place in 1887.But real stick-fighting faction
feuds are known to have contin-ued, even into the 20th century, inparts of Cork, Kerry, andTipperary. Today there is an unfor-tunate reemergence of a kind of faction fighting in the almost dailybattles in the streets of Ulster.
Perhaps more remarkably, theIrish art of stick-fighting(Bataireacht in Irish) continues to
this day in a style passed throughgenerations of a branch of theDoyle family of Newfoundland,Canada. Called Uisce Beatha BataRince, the style is now beingtaught publicly for the first timeby Glen Doyle, a well-knownCanadian Kung Fu stylist, throughhis Cead Bua stick fighting club inToronto.
Part 2: The Origins of Faction Fighting
Faction Fighting's origins, likethose of most martial arts, areobscured by myth. One theoryhas it that shillelagh fightingoriginated as a means of trainingfor European-style swordplay.Under the early Penal Laws,
Roman Catholics were prohibitefrom owning swords and othweapons; as a result Irishmecould only train for sword fightinwith sticks. And they would nee
this training, as thousands of theprepared for service abroad, espcially in the Irish Brigade, a semautonomous unit of the Frenarmy, originally under the authoty of the Jacobite King James Trained by their recruiters, theIrish soldiers (the famous "WiGeese") would at least have sommartial arts training before theentry into the Continent's armies
While certain styles of Iristick-fighting are indeed meant training for swordplay (the BaPionsa style, for example), theare problems with this theory. Fexample, Ireland has one of toldest unbroken warrior traditioin Western Europe, and it thseems unlikely that the Irish wouhave imported foreign fencin
styles in the 17th century.
Yet this theory seems to suggethat. This seems unlikely givboth the ancient history of sticfighting in Ireland and the tradtions of aboriginal Irish orders knighthood, such as the Knights The Red Branch of Ulster. Theorders predate the Norman ordeof chivalry by over 1,000 year
perhaps more, and many of tmen fighting in the Irish Brigadwere, in fact, hereditary Irish wariors descendant from this Gaelwarrior tradition. It seems unlikly, therefore, that such an ancieand conservative society, ondominated by a warrior aristocrcy, would import and practiContinental fencing styles
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exclusion to all pre-existing, nativeIrish traditions. And certainly, if thousands of Irish soldiers a yearcould be smuggled in and out of Ireland, then obtaining illegal
weaponry such as swords wouldhave presented even fewer difficul-ties.
The Irish god Dagda had a mag-ical wooden "shillelagh" whosestrike could either kill or restore tolife, depending on the end of thestick used. Some contemporarywriters attributed the origins of Faction Fighting to disputes over
"Mayballs." These were hurlingballs (or "sliotars") awarded to vil-lage youth groups by a village"Queen of The May" during IrishMay Day (Beltaine) ceremonies.In some cases, competing youthgroups may have fought for theprestige or honor of being awardedthe Mayballs as recognition of their control or domination of aregion.
The combined practices of fight-ing at times of specific seasonalchange (like May 1st), with wood-en sticks, over symbols of fertilityand fecundity (Mayballs), are allaspects of a once coherent, archaicIrish, cultural folk system. And itwas from within this complexnative Irish cultural matrix - partpagan folk belief, part sport, part
politics and part paramilitarism --that I feel the Irish art of stick-fighting was originally born.
For generations, Irishmen havebeen raised on stories of warriorsusing sticks, swords, axes, andspears as their primary weapons,and there are numerous examplesin Irish mythology and history, of the use of the stick as a weapon,
which reflect the ancient origins of Irish stick-fighting.
Faction Fighting was an ancientIrish tradition of the old Gaelic
Tuaths, which survived into themodern age. It was a system of group dueling used to settle dis-putes over territory, family, eco-nomic, political and or religiousrights.
In Irish mythology, hurling asstick fighting is used as swordtraining for young warriors, suchas in the tale of the Boyhood
Deeds of CuChullian. The daybefore The First Battle of Moytura,the Fir Bolg "Rua The Bloody"and his allies "the Twenty OneSons of Mil", challenge the youthof the Tuatha De Dannan to a fatalhurling match on the field of MaghNia -- in a way not unlike that of a19th century Irish Faction Fight.
Irish faction fighters use their
"shillelaghs" on each other in anillustration from Carleton's book.The Irish god Dagda had a magicalwooden "shillelagh" whose strikecould either kill or restore to life,depending on the end of the stick used. The qualifications of awould-be warrior of the F'anna,included a test where the warriorstood in a pit and had to fend off cast spears using a shield and a
stick. It is hard to imagine that sto-ries such as these -- which were theancient Irish equivalent of film andtelevision today -- had no effect onthe traditions and mindset of Irishwarriors.
An example of this impact canbe found in the novel "West InDonegal" (written by Seamus
MacGrianna), the charactTarlach Og O'Donnell imaginesfaction fight he is witnessing askind of heroic re-enactment of thbattle of Corr Sleive, which w
fought between the O'Donnell cland the English. And there is somevidence which suggest that thFenians took their name from nationalist faction called thFianna.
There are a number of aspects Ireland's rich cultural heritage thhave unfortunately been forgottor ignored, left on the periphery
Irish popular culture. Centuries deliberate and repressive warfarfamine, and forced migration haleft many Irish people, even Ireland, alienated from some their own most fascinating anempowering cultural traditionOne of these seemingly forgotttraditions is the Irish art Bataireacht or Stick-Fighting.
John W. Hurley is the author “Irish Gangs And Stick-FightinIn The Works Of WilliaCarleton”, and the soon to bpublished “Shillelagh: The Stoof The Irish Stick” He is researher and practitioner Irish stick-fighting. For moinformation on the history Irishstick-fighting,visit:
www.JohnWHurley.com.
The Irish god Dagda had a maical wooden "shillelagh" whostrike could either kill or restoto life, depending on the end of tstick used.
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Women in Ancient Ireland
by Jessie Mae Brock
Over the course of history there
has been much debate over theequality of women and our rightsas human beings. History showsthat many cultures hold womenbelow men. Even in our ownculture there is still inequalitybetween men and women. Manywomen have had to fight desper-ately to overcome the stereo-typeplaced on us by our ancestors.However, not all cultures have
always been this way. Ancient Irishhistory and legend portray womenmuch differently than most cul-tures. This can be seen in manyways, from literature, to historyand from mythology to religion.Ancient Irish society held womenas equals, and many times theywere considered deities in mythol-ogy and religion. However, this allchanged with the introduction of
Christianity to lreland.
In ancient Ireland, men andwomen had their places, and it wasaccepted. For the most part womenstayed at home; however, a womancould steer away from the home-maker path if she so chose. Thosewho chose the home life had noless importance in the family. Notonly did a house-wife do the cook-
ing, cleaning, making, and mend-ing, it was also the responsibilityof the wife to teach her childrenthe way of war and how to f~ght. Itwas no less respectable or honor-able to be a house-wife than it wasfor a woman to be a queen or war-rior.
There were many recorded
accounts of heroic women warriorsand honorable queens. One suchwoman was Boudicca; she livedduring the 1st century AD. Shegoverned lands that were located
in what is now East Anglia.She received this land whenPrasutagus, her husband, died. Heleft half the lands to Boudicca andher daughters. The other half wentto the Emperor Nero so that theRomans would no longer take landby force. Yet still the Romans stolethe remaining lands, beat QueenBoudicca, and raped her daugh-ters. Because of this, Boudicca was
infuriated. She gathered peopleand weapons and within a shorttime they fought the Romans --and defeated them. Boudicca’sarmy burned and pillaged Romanlands from Colchester to London.“The fury of a Celtic people, ledby an enraged queen, outmatchedeven the well-trained, organizedRoman military.” (Dew Internet)
Men and women received thesame education and, for the mostpart, had equal rights to land andproperty and were held as equalsin the eyes of the law. “The Brehonlaws of ancient Ireland are quitespecific regarding the relationshipbetween husband and wife, dictat-ing ‘to his wife belongs the rightto be consulted on every subject’.The law goes on to safeguard the
rights of the wife, stating quiteclearly that the husband did notown his wife. ‘It is only a contractthat is between them.’ is how thelaw describes marriage.” (TreasaInternet)
Men and women had equal rightsin all property and the consent of both parties was needed to dispose
of the property. Women also hathe right to persue legal action needed. The rights of women Irish society included:
• Inherit property from familiand spouses
• Retain the wealth that sbrought into the marriage
• Take part in the military anpolitical activities of the clan
• Divorce her husband under cetain circumstances
• Engage in polygamy for almo
any reason
• Seek recourse for rape or assau
• Face the same punishment asman for the crime of homicide
(Kirkley lnternet)
In ancient Pagan mythology anlegend, the female representbirth, death, creation, and fertili
Ancient Irish myths and religiobeliefs suggest a matrifocusesociety, which is a society focuson women. Women were highhonored, female symbolisformed the most sacred images the religious cosmos, and the reltionship with motherhood was thcentral elements of the socifabric...the society was hetogether by common allegiance
the customs of the tribe looseorganized around thc traditions the goddess”
(Condren 28).
There are many tales of thmother goddess in many differecultures. Here’s just one of thlegends. Called Brighde by th
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Irish, themother goddess was saidto have created the oceans andrivers that flow all over the world.“As one legend goes, Brighide wasthe daughter of Dagda and Danu,
and when she was born, there wasa tower of fire over her head thatreached to the sky. This is one rea-son why Brighid’s element is fire”(O’Neil Internet). Brighid, themother goddess, was worshiped asa creator life, thought not solelythe creator as they believed in god.Brighid was known to be responsi-ble for such things as a goodharvest, birth, creativity, and pros-
perity.
The goddess was often attributedin threes, the maiden, the motherand the crone. The three parts rep-resents youth, aging, and death.This is directly related to the sea-sons as well; spring, autumn, andwinter. This is just one of the waysthat the female aspect is recog-nized in nature. This is also where
the term “Mother Earth” comesfrom. “She was seen in everythingaround the people - in the air, theearth, and the water. She was morethan just a deity to them. She wasthe woman that the Celtic peopledepended on the most.” (KirkleyInternet)
“What appears to have disman-tled this society was the warrior
culture of Christianity and itsspread into Ireland.” (KirkleyInternet) In 1171 Henry theSecond invaded Ireland. It wasthought among the northernEuropeans at that time, that theIrish were barbarians, un-civilizedand irreligious. “Morals in Irelandhad become corrupt, and religionalmost extinct and his purpose was
to bring the barbarous nation with-in the fold of the faith and underchurch discipline.” (Web FeaturesInternational Internet) This is onereason why the English felt the
need to invade Ireland with theircultures and religion, Christianity.However, the invaders did notcompletely over rule the Irish cul-ture and beliefs, which would havebeen impossible. Instead, to gainsome Irish approval, they adoptedsome of their beliefs, such as thatof the Mother goddess.
When the English invaded,
Ireland came under the reign of Henry VIII, and the entire way of English life. “All the laws (were)against Irish civilization, againstmarriage, fosterage and gossip,against the use of native literatureand its language, against everyphase and aspect of National lifewas re-enacted.” (Web FeaturesInternational Internet) So of course, the role and rights of
women changed to the views of England as well.
Women could no longer fightbravely next to their men, theywere forced to be purely the care-takers. Not only did the Englishtake from Ireland its culture andheritage, but during its invasion,Irelands sons and daughters weresubject to torture and sometimes
death.
One such torture the Irish had toaccept was directly connected tothe disrespect of women. PrimaNocti was the right given to eachfirst night of any land, to bed anyIrish woman on the night of herwedding.
Today women are legally antechnically considered equaamong the men in our worlUnfortunately, considering the hitory of women, our rights and wh
we have had to do to get here, thehas been a vast improvemenHowever our fight is never oveand if women could live in succonditions as they did in ancieIreland and still be strong, if nstronger, then women today hano excuse not to.
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Personal Perspective
by Dan (Wic) Kanagie
I would like to start this article by
saying Hello and welcome to this
first issue of Live Steel Magazine.I hope we both will learn and grow
together in the rich history and cul-
ture of the Western Martial Arts.
Next I would like to tell you
about this article. This will be a
recurring artide focused on the
basic elements and philosophies of
the fighting found in WMA.
Although we will discuss some
technique, it will only be those
basic techniques that will help
develop a new fighter or keep an
experienced fighter going strong.
While advanced techniques are fun
and expand our arsenal and oppor-
tunities, it is the basics that hone
our skills and in a very true sense,
keep us alive. Statistically speak-
ing, you win more fights with the
basics then with any advancedtechnique. And those fighters who
constantly practice the basics on a
daily basis, are those who win on a
regular basis.
Now, with all that said, I would
like to start with, arguably, the
most basic element of fighting:
control. Control covers a wide
area, so I will break it down into
three elements; (I ) self-control:Being in control of your body,
mind, and spirit. ([ am not refer-
ring to any form of spirituality, but
am referring to courage) (2)
Weapon-control: Being in control
of whatever weapon you are fight-
ing with. If it be a sword, utilizing
weight, balance edge vs. flat, and
quillons to achieve the desired
result. (3) control of the fight /
opponent: Making your opponent
do or act in the manner you want
for the desired outcome.
For now I will discuss the first
and most important element, self-control. This is, in my belief, the
most important thing to learn in
martial arts. Think about it, if you
can't control yourself, how do you
expect to control anything else.
Self-control, as I said earlier, is
broken down into being control of
you body, mind, and spirit. You
must be in full control over all
your muscles, your breathing, and
strength. By practicing a certain
move through repetitions you build
muscle memory. And by using it in
a chain drill of moves and coun-
ters, you learn the best application
and time to use in that move. Be
aware of and control you breath-
ing. Proper breathing has two
effects, stowing and exertion of
power. When you breath in youtake in oxygen which converts into
energy. when you exhale forceful-
ly with a strike you exert more
power making the strike more
damaging. Use muscle-specific
exercises for targeting the specific
muscle group that you use the
most. If you are training sword and
shield, you want to work the mus-
cles in your shield arm, more so
then if you were training rapier anddagger. A shield weights consider-
ably more then a dagger. And the
last thing you want to happen is
your shield arm getting tired. On
the flip side, is the ability to con-
trol how you hit when sparring.
While I do believe that you
should train in a realistic manner,
not every sparring session is abo
that. Especially when beginnin
you must learn to do things slow
without power. It is by slow repe
tions that your body will learn an
remember the techniques. ThEnglish Master of Defens
George Silver, in his book "Bri
Instructions" talks about the fo
grounds. These are the first fo
components of the fight he cho
to write abut, in their order
importance. They are Judgmen
Distance, Time, Place. The fir
and most important in Judgmen
By this Silver means: "To kno
when your opponent can reach yo
or not, and when you can rea
him or not. To know, by this guar
what attacks he can do and wh
and how he can attack." . Also h
says "when you first come into th
field, take notice of everythin
Take notice of the evenness of th
ground, get into guard before yo
opponent comes within distanc
stand so the sun is in his face, analways remember your governors
Most of what he tells you to d
first is mental. Mental self-contr
is very important. Being aware
several things at once and havin
to be able to correctly guess wh
your opponent will do, can be ve
diff~cult at first. But like wi
most things, with practice you w
get better. Another aspect is instinctively act to somethin
rather then react. When you reac
your sub-conscience takes ove
and puts you into a protectiv
mode, sometimes a sort of paral
sis. Your body, a lot so times, cur
in to protect itself . But if yo
instinctively act, you calmly b
quickly assess the danger and pe
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form a counter. By sharpening
both mind and body, through
practice and exercise, you will
instinctively know what to do.
Courage is not the absence of fear.
But the presence of fear, yet thewillingness to continue. Fear can
either drive us, or destroy us. I
firmly believe in practicing in a
realistic fashion, so when the real
fight occurs, I'm fully prepared.
Yes, sometimes injury does hap-
pen. But have you ever heard about
a black belt going to a bar, get into
a fight and get the crap kicked out
of him? That's because he didn't
train in a realistic fashion. The first
punch that landed on him would
have put him in a panic mode. He
froze and couldn't remember what
to do. Now, if you train realistical-
ly but safely, minor injuries occur,
yes. But you now know how to
fight through the pain. While it
may hurt, you wont panic and
freeze. By controlling the fear, you
remain in control of your mind andbody.
Fear can do a number of other
things to the body, that can aid in
you loosing a fight. Your heart rate
increases, which means you are
pumping more oxygen-rich blood
through yoursel£ This uses up your
supply of oxygen, and oxygen is
energy. Also you start to hyper-
ventilate. By hyper-ventilating,you are taking short quick breaths.
When you breath in this manner,
you are not supplying enough
energy producing oxygen into your
system. You will get fatigued and
tired that much faster. So by prac-
ticing slow repetitions in a realistic
way, you will learn the proper self-
control needed. All of the best
fighters always know what is going
on, not just around them, but with-
in them also. By loosing control of
just one part of yourself in a fight,
can literally mean the difference
between a win or a lose.
Philadephia, PA
LIVE STEEL FIGHTACADEMY
Western Martial Arts Training
TRAINING INCLUDES:LONGSWORD, SHORTSWORD,
SHIELD, BUCKLER, RAPIER, STAFF,
DAGGER, GRAPPLING, FOOTWORK, TIMING, KICKING, AND MUCH
MORE....
Main School - Pottstown, PA610-705-8705
www.theoldcelt.com/fightschoolmain.html4 GREAT LOCATIONS FOR TRAINING
Ephrata, PA
Salisbury, MD
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The Pugilism of Daniel Mendoza
by Ken Pfrenger
If Jack Broughton is often credit-
ed as being the father of modern
boxing then it is only fair that thegreat Daniel Mendoza be consid-
ered the father of scientific boxing.
Daniel was not a large man, only 5'
7" tall and weighing in at a mere
160 lbs, yet in his prime he domi-
nated the world of pugilism which
at that time knew no rules concern-
ing weight classes or matchmak-
ing. Lets take a look at the man
behind the legend......
Daniel Mendoza was born in
1763 in Whitechapel , London. Yes
that is the same Whitechapel that
would later become famous or
infamous due to the Jack the
Ripper murders over a century
later. Without a doubt this rough
area of London helped shape the
young Daniel in his formative
years. Although he was aLondoner through and through he
was of Portugese descent as well
as Jewish which made him unpop-
ular with some members of the
fancy [The fancy is the name given
to the followers of boxing at this
time. The word later became fan
which most people tend to think of
as coming from fanatic]. He also
had a habit of hanging with whom
some would consider the wrongcrowd including the many gypsys
that lived in the area.
According to his memoirs his
first fight in the public eye was in
the street in front of his employers
shop against an un-named porter in
1870 when Daniel was only 16
years of age. He wrote that after
three quarters of an hour that his
opponent declared that he could no
longer stand with the young
Mendoza. A young Richard
Humphries was his second in this
first fight. Mr Humphries was a
constant throughout Mendoza's
career, sometimes good and some-
times bad. Just one week later
Mendoza found himself squaredoff against an opponent yet
again...this time for money.
Humphries was in his corner giv-
ing instruction in this one as well.
Daniel had many other great
fights including three memorable
battles against his one time mentor,
Richard Humphries in which he
lost the first encounter but pre-
vailed in the next two meetings.Upon the retirement of Big Ben
Brain in 1794 Mendoza claimed
the championship and solidified
this claim by beating Bill
Warr(Ward in some accounts).
One of his more famous encoun-
ters was against a Squire
Fitzgerald during a pugilistic tour
stop in Ireland. Squire Fitzgera
had made some remarks about th
skill and ethnicity of Daniel whi
he soon regretted much to the sa
isfaction of the local Irish who g
to watch a member of gentsoundly thrashed by a lowly je
from Whitechapel. It has been sa
that upon seeing this the loc
fighters started to adopt a mo
Mendoza like attitude(stance) an
technique.
Mendoza lost his title
Gentleman John Jackson wh
seems to have been poorly name
at least as far as his ring conduct
concerned. Jackson was 6' an
weighed over 200 lbs. and demo
strated a mean streak even thoug
he was relatively new to the sc
ence of boxing. Mendoza unlik
the earlier fighters who had ke
their hair shorn close to the head
shaved off completely, kept h
hair long, infact he was know f
his flowing locks. Jackson tooadvantage of this and wrapped h
hand in Mendozas hair holdin
and punching him repeatedly for
10 minute victory over the fall
hero of the lower classes.
Oddly Jackson retired right aft
this fight to open a gym of his ow
Mendoza retired as well but cam
back to the ring in 1806 for finaci
reasons beating Harry Lee at thage of 41. Some 16 years later
the age of 57 he returned on
again and was soundly thrashed b
an innkeeper 5 years his juni
named Tom Owen. Clearly th
idea of a comeback in boxing we
after your prime was not a Geor
Foreman original! After this defe
he settled down for the rest of h
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years as the landlord of the
"Admiral Nelson" in Whitechapel.
He died on Sept. 3, 1836 at the ripe
old age of 73. So what was it that
made Mendoza such a force in the
world of pugilism?Surely he had physical
attributes that were
superior in many
respects to those
around him but would
these attributes such as
impeccable timing and
measure be enough
against the bruisers of
the day? Without a
doubt they helped but
I am more inclined to
think that his method
of boxing had a great to do with it
as well. Fortunately for us Daniel
Mendoza wrote his method down
before the turn of the 19th century.
His method was also recorded by a
number of other authors as well,
not to mention his own writings
plagerised repeatedly before theyears of copyright infringement.
So where did he learn to box?
Clearly there is a case to be made
for an amount of mentoring by
RIchard Humphries who later
became his greatest opponent
yet in Mendozas second fight
when the spectators yelled
out advice to the young Daniel it
was Humphries who calledback...."There is no need of it, the
lad knows more than all of us."
Surely there must have been some
early instruction in the basics or at
least an understanding of the basic
premise behind the science just as
every young boy here in the USA
knows the basics of football or
baseball even if he has received no
coaching. So while he may have
had some training from Humphries
and others I do believe most of his
ability and style were natural. This
makes it a bit hard for us to emu-
late how he fought sincethe style was natural for
him it does not mean
that it will be natural for
us. I have been research-
ing the Mendoza method
for several years now
and have taught it to sev-
eral people...some don't
do well with it but others
find that it clicks right
away and go from no
boxing skill to speak of
to being downright hard
to land a clean punch on all from
the skills recorded by Mendoza
and his chroniclers.
So lets take a look at
Mendozas style starting with his
attitude or stance. Like many of
the early recordedattitudes Mendozas
was an inclining
rather than a reclining
stance....meaning he
leaned forward rather
than back or bolt
upright that we see
in some of the later
classic styles of
pugilism that were
recorded in manuals.The reasoning behind
the inclining stance
is well explained by Captain
Godfrey writing in 1740....to
paraphrase...When a man wants to
move something, he leans into it
not away from it. Therefore if we
are to punch with force in a for-
ward direction we must assume
this attitude. So in assuming th
attitude of Mendoza we must le
well forward. Our hands must b
kept high, not high in a fixed po
tion but held infront of the face
as to block the line directly froour opponents fist to our face.
our opponent is tall then our gua
must be higher, if short, the opp
site. Our arms three quarters of th
way extended with the back of o
knuckles pointing at our opponen
palms pointing to the sky at a 4
degree angle. Keep the hands f
enough apart so that you can s
between them yet close enoug
together to keep any offending fi
from seeking it's target betwe
them. You will find in this incli
ing attitude that your upper body
over your knees and you midse
tion is well back and that you hea
is slightly tucked between yo
shoulders.
So why assume this attitud
A good questiowhich I will t
to answer....o
inclining stan
lends forwa
strength to o
stance and le
us lean backwa
to a comfortab
just
straight postio
in order to get oof the way
punches. No ne
to bend over backward to avoid
blow, just stand upright. O
midsection is well back forcin
our opponent to have to lean f
forward and under our threatenin
arms in order to successfully land
blow there. Our extended han
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are halfway to the target and ready
to attack at a moments notice. Our
extended arms also close most
lines of attack for the head, leaving
us in a very fine defensive posi-
tion.
Like most of the boxers before
the Marquees of Queensbury
[MoQ] rules, Mendoza used a ver-
tical fist when throwing punches
[Vertical vs horizontal is a debate
for another article]. So while his
offensive technique may have
resembled his fellow pugilist his
aggressive defensive action are
what he was to become known for.
He used a block that very much
resembles the bong sao block from
wing chun kung fu which throws
the elbow skyward deflecting a
blow to the inside. He would often
follow this deflection with a
wicked backhanded blow to the
eyes or bridge of the nose. This
blow was known as the chopper.
Other fighters had used this but
none to the degree of effectiveness
that Mendoza was known to have
done. The aforementioned guard is
now known as Mendoza's guard,
named after it's most famous pro-ponent.
While he describes various ways
to defend against the
different punches
most include throw-
ing the head and body
back while barring
the mark [the pit of
the stomach] with one
of your arms and
blocking the punch
with the opposite, he
writes that the best
way to deal with a
blow is to simply not
be there when it is
to arrive. Actively moving to avoid
a blow is a very important and
often overlooked aspect of
Mendozas style. It only makessense seeing that he was alot
smaller than most of the fighters he
faced.
Another important point in his
style and indeed in all of the early
styles of pugilism is to not cross
parry....meaning...if I throw a
straight punch to your face with
my left hand, you parry or block
with your right hand. If you wereto parry with your left hand you
leave yourself open for a clean
shot with my right or possibly even
a throw to the floor which was a
legal pugilistic technique up until
the MoQ rules.
Clearly we cannot go into full
detail in this article but hopefully
this has sparked your intere
enough to do a little research o
your own concerning the topi
You will soon come to discov
that yes, Daniel Mendoza shou
be considered the Father Scientific boxing and deserves a
of the accolades that have bee
given to him all of these years.
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Humor & Whiskey
by Joe McLaughlin
How do I know there is a God?
Humor and Whisky. Oh, there are
other good things in life to be sure,but the title of the column is
‘Humor & Whisky’, so that’s what
I’m going to talk about. An astute
reader might ask “well, if this is a
humor & whisky column, why are
you talking about God?” Well,
smarta ... err, astute reader, it’s
because God is pretty darn funny.
Which God you might ask? I’m
not about to advocate any one God
over another one, group of,
Goddess, Tree Spirit , Greater
Force, Blessed 4:20 Greenery or
anything like that. Feel free to sub-
stitute the Object of Worship of
Your Faith of Choice wherever
I say God. I wouldn’t want to catch
a stray lightning bolt, be tossed to
the lions, have pixies let the air out
of my tires or a bunch of women
that really need to shave picket myhouse, so you’ll never catch me
advocating one Object of Worship
over another.
Getting back to the point, God is
a pretty funny fellow. Why do I say
so ? Because he always makes sure
a good punch line gets executed in
my life. If I run to practice strait
from work and don’t change my
clothes, nothing will ever happenuntil someone points it out, and
says “dude, you want to change?”
That’s when my pants will split.
You ever notice that you *never*
split your pants in the privacy of
your own home? It’s always in
front of a crowd. The quality of
pants is directly proportional to
how likely they are to split. Will
my 10 year old pants with the hole
in the knee and the frayed cuffs
split ? Of course not. I could fight
all day in those, no worries. How
about my 2 month old Slates ?
Hmm, 10 rolls or 2 minutes with ashinai, and everyone gets to see if
Joe is a boxer or briefs man.
If I am practicing a move with
someone, and they have learned it
really well, as soon as the head
instructor walks over and I have
my student demonstrate, that’s
when either a) the student does
something completly different than
we practiced, often involving a
hasty block to prevent bodilly
harm. Sometimes it’s the head
instructor that needs to toss the
block. b) the student does it per-
fectly, timing it exactly so that I am
either in mid blink or still telling
the head instructor what we’ve
been doing, the end result being
that I get a new lump or bruise.
Sometimes, I really want to whis-per “what the f@#% was that?!”,
but I don’t waste my breath,
because I know what the answer
will be. “I dunno man, my
hand just moved” or “hey, you’re
the one showing me, you explain
it” or maybe even “God told me to,
you got a problem, take it up with
her!”
You know how people tend toknock on wood if they just said
something and they don’t want it
jinxed? We don’t do that because it
works, we do that because God
wants a reminder to screw with us
every now and then. It hears that
knock, does the cosmic rewind on
your conversation to see what it
missed, and then gently nudges the
universe to point maximum cha
at the knocker. Is that a note
doubt I detect? Get in a crowd
people, and comment that “he
nobody has gotten hit in the bal
lately” and knock on some wooGod, thus alerted, sends down o
nutcracker special, and within t
next half hour, some poor guy w
be trying to walk it off while h
kidneys and his testes are having
disagreement on fluid dynamic
courtesy of a shot by a hicko
waster. And yes, guys gettin
wacked in the nuts is almo
always funny, unless it happens
you, in which case it is nev
funny. Never ever. Not even if
clown beans you with a footba
square on the stones.
Now then, enough with theolog
and divine ball breaking, let’s tal
whisky. As this is the first issu
here is my background. I am stric
ly an amateur. I enjoy whisky (an
whiskey), and have spent about years trying different ones that
run across. I put a lot more thoug
into whisky than the casual drink
might, but I am nowhere near
refined as the ones who can te
you exactly what whisky is in
glass just by licking the outside
it. I also strongly recomend tho
little “airplane” sized bottles if yo
don’t have access to a friend wi
something I review. They’re reltivly inexpensive and give a tru
taste. All that out of the way...
This month I’m focusing on Th
Macallan 12 years old. The curre
bottle I am drinking was a gift,
I do not know the exact price. I’v
seen it as low as $28 and as high
$53 per bottle.
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Making a shield boss:
An introduction to armoring.
by Scott Oisol
This will be an on-going series
in each issue.
Armoring is a craft that can be
very rewarding but also time con-
suming and frustrating. You must
be patient and only go as fast as
your skills allow. People too often
give up on something to quickly
when they try to do more than they
can handle. For armoring, you
must first develop simple skills
such as hammer control, dishing,
and planishing before you can
attempt more difficult projects.
This is why I have decided to
demonstrate how to make a shield
boss. It is a very simple project
and usually most peoples’ first. In
order to make a shield boss you are
forced to practice the basic skills
of hammer control, dishing, and
planishing.
Before you start
any armoring at all,
you must first have
all of the needed
tools and supplies.
I try to use a mini-
mal of tools and
make or compen-
sate for the ones I
don’t have. The only two powertools I suggest you use: are a drill
and something to cut sheet metal, I
use a jigsaw. You will need a ham-
mer for dishing and planishing. I
use a three pound cross peen ham-
mer with a rounded head for dish-
ing, and a small ball peen hammer
with a polished head for planish-
ing. For starters, a heavy ball peen
hammer can be substituted as a
dishing hammer. You will also
need a wooden or rubber hammer
for making slight bends and dishes
that don’t require a marring ham-
mer. To planish, you will also need
something to planish over, like a
railroad spike or a small dumbbell,
and a vice to hold it. Files and
sandpaper will also be needed to
finish the pieces. Next, you’ll need
to make a bowl in order to dish in.
The bowl can be made by bowling
out the top of a tree stump, or cut-
ting off the bottom of an air tank,
approximately 6” in diameter, and
mounting it to something. I useand recommend
bowling out a tree
stump because it
is easiest. This
can be done a
number of ways:
drilling, hacking
or shaving with a
hatchet, burning,
or any way that
works for you. I have used arounded hatchet and a drill for
mine. For a dishing bowl, the bowl
should be about 6” in diameter and
2” deep. Other miscellaneous tools
needed are: a marker, ruler, cutting
oil, compass or circular objects for
tracing, metal cutting blades for
metal cutting power tool, safety
glasses, clamps, work gloves, and
drill bits. If you want to make
shield boss that will be used f
sparr in
you w
need
least 1g a u g
m i l
steel.
like u
14-gauge mild steel. And, for tho
of you who don’t know, the low
the steel gauge, the thicker t
steel. I purchase my steel in bu
from Koons Steel but you can bu
smaller portions from Home Dep
or Lowes.
Once these tools and suppli
have been acquired you are read
to make a shield boss. Using
compass or an 8” diameter circul
object, trace a circle 8” in diamet
on your steel. Next cut out th
steel circle with your cuttin
power
tool orh a c k -
saw if
y o u
n e e d
t h e
exercise. I clamp steel to a wor
bench to keep it steady when cu
ting. Pouring a little light oil on th
steel where you are cutting m
help cut go smoother. Don’t forg
safety glasses. I had to take seveal steel splinters to the eye before
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learned this. If you do get a steel
splinter in your eye, swab it out
with a Q-tip and don’t rub it!
When the circle is cut out, bevel
t h e
edges
w i t h
a file
a n d
sand-
paper
so to
eliminate any jagged edges. Next
trace a 6” circle with a marker in
the middle of the steel circle. You
will be dishing this area. Wear aglove on the hand that will be
holding the steel for this part.
Placing the steel over the bowl,
begin dishing the
boss by hammering
along the inside
edge of the 6” circle
with your dishing
hammer. As you
hammer the edges
of the steel willbegin to fold and wrinkle. Using a
wooden or rubber mallet, hammer
the wrinkles out of the edge of the
steel as they appear. Continuing to
dish inside the 6”
circle, slowly work-
ing your way
towards the middle.
Once this is done,slightly hammer any
areas that need it
until the dished boss
is roughly spherical and symmetri-
cal.
Now the boss is ready to be plan-
ished. Planishing is the pounding
of the steel between two hard steel
surfaces, in my case the railroad
spike and
the hammer,
in order to
hammer flat
the dents
caused by
d i s h i n g
while also
work hardening the steel. First I
recommend polishing the hammer-
head and the object you will beplanishing the steel on. Any spher-
ical, raised device can be used to
planish on. I use railroad spikes
and dumbbells. Now
place the device in the
vice and hammer over
the entire boss with
hammer to flatten out
the dents. Be sure that
when you are hammer-
ing, the planishingdevice head is directly beneath
wherever you hit with the hammer.
You will notice that any uneven
areas in the steel will be corrected
this way and the boss will become
much smoother.
Once the boss has been plan-
ished to its desired smoothness, I
recommend going back and ham
mering flat the edges of th
steel boss on a flat surfa
with the wooden mall
again. This is to ensure th
boss will sit perfectly flwhen placed on a shiel
Now, depending on ho
many rivets or nuts yo
want to use to hold the boss on
your shield, mark where you wa
to drill your holes on rim of th
boss. You will need at least tw
holes and they must be at exa
opposite ends of the boss. This
because the shield handle wbe riveted through these hole
I usually drill four holes and u
bolts to hold the boss to the shiel
Now drill your holes and don
worry about buying any speci
metal cutting drill bits, all drill bi
are hardened so they will g
16
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through the mild steel. Once the
holes are dilled, file any jagged
edges and make sure that your
bolts or rivets fit through them.
When you are done this you have
successfully constructed a shield
boss. Now you have the option of sanding and polishing the steel. I
usually don’t because my steel is
hot rolled and has a nice dark coat-
ing already on it. And unless you
are making a decorative shield,
don’t worry about how pretty your
shield looks in battle, but spatter
some dirt and blood on there and
make your opponents tremble!
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ALL PRICES ARE PER ISSUE
Full Color or Black and White Ads
Ad Size 1 issue 2 issues 3 issues 4 issues
Back Cover $200 $100 $70 $50
Full Page $150 $75 $60 $50
Half Page $75 $50 $40 $25
Quarter Page $55 $40 $30 $20
Bleeds on cover are no extra charge
Full Page no bleed 7 3/4" wide by 10 1/4" tall
Full Page with bleed 8 3/4" wide by 11 1/4" tall (live copy area - 8 1/4" wide by 10 3/4" tall)
Half Page 10 1/4" wide by 4 7/8" tall or 4 7/8" wide by 10 1/4" tall
Quarter Page 3 11/16" wide by 4 7/8" tall
To place an ad or to get your school or business listedcall the main school at:
610-705-8705or
email: [email protected]
18
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In future issuesthis page will contain
advertising from variousschools and vendors
8/3/2019 Vol 1 No 1 Feb 2005
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Custom Kilts with your choice of:pleating of various styles and widths,
pockets, buckle, belt, buttons, ties, velcro(any closure you choose)
Any fabric from traditional wool to lighterpoly/cotton blends
Celtic embroidery designs as well asmonograms
Prices vary depending on optionsContact me to discusspersonalizing your kilt.
Jessie Mae Brock Hand Crafted Jewelry and Custom KiltsPhiladelphia PA, 19128
HandCraftedKilts
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Philadephia, PA
215-508-2097
LIVE STEEL FIGHT ACADEMY
Western Martial Arts Training
TRAINING INCLUDES:LONGSWORD, SHORTSWORD,
SHIELD, BUCKLER, RAPIER, STAFF,
DAGGER, GRAPPLING, FOOTWORK,
TIMING, KICKING, AND MUCH
MORE....
Main School - Pottstown, PA610-705-8705
www.theoldcelt.com/fightschoolmain.html4 GREAT LOCATIONS FOR TRAINING
Ephrata, PA
717-721-1936Salisbury, MD
410-546-9483