Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Plug Bayonet

My buddy, Michael W., recently presented me with a belated birthday present. It was well worth the wait.


Doesn’t every girl want her very own plug bayonet? What? You say you can count the number of women you know who own matchlocks on one hand? Pity.

You may remember this knife that he made forJayG. Isn't that beautiful? He also made my bandolier (and the bottles, and the horn).
21" of pointy goodness!
Pictures do not do this scabbard and bayonet justice. The scabbard was dyed is what is becoming my "trademark" dark chocolate brown. The blade has been browned as well. If I had included pictures of the matchlock as well (must remedy that), you'd see that the gun is nothing fancy. It's a pipe on at stick. It's ugly. It's beat up. This bayonet, while not flashy, shows an elegance of form and function.

It is truly like casting pearls before swine.

10 comments:

  1. Wow.
    That is one nice piece 'o work.
    I'd not heard of a "plug" bayo before; I assume it works just like it sounds, as in the ferrule at the butt end fits the rifle bore?

    Oh, & HBD, belated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DT: The matchlock is smoothbore. I used it for reenacting the English Civil War back when I was younger. You just jam the bayonet into the end of the tube of the musket. Mike laughs at me because I won't try it out and wreck the finish.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooo... Now you can beat up a bayonet too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very nice present :-) And yes, we need pics with it "installed" :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pretty! I like the wood turning on that - it's lovely!

    How does it stay in the musket though? Is it actually a close enough fit it will fit inside and stay there with friction, or does it need to be fastened down somehow?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooh! Neat!

    If I had a plug bayonet, then I'd have an excuse to go get a matchlock! :)

    (Jenny, it is indeed friction-fit. Heck of a way to fight a war, but I suppose it beat being ridden down by cavalry before you could reload... :) )

    ReplyDelete
  7. The sick bastard in me would want to know how it would fly if a charge was touched off behind it.

    That is a beautiful blade. And I too wouldn't use it to keep it pretty...but be sad at how functional it is.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Keep this in mind: Bayonet Charge at next years Northeast Shoot up in N.H.

    Just Sayin' ; )

    ReplyDelete
  9. It wasn't invented to fight a war, but to use when hunting wild boars in the region near Bayonne. When one shot one of those and just wounded him, he would jam his hunting knife into the muzzle and use the piece as a spear, so as to avoid the boar tusks and maybe come home with some boar meat.

    Later, some ingenious sojer decided that if all the troops were issued with such, they could do without all of those pikemen.

    ReplyDelete
  10. P.s. This is why civilians should be allowed to have bayonet lugs on their pieces, the Brady Bunch to the contrary notwithstanding. The bayonet was originally invented for a "sporting purpose."

    ReplyDelete