Jack Sparrow sail needle/marlinspike/fid

Patattack

Patattack

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Well, I'm trying to perfect my Sparrow costume for the renaissance festival at the end of August, and I've got plenty to work on, but one in particular is nagging at me right now.

d44b_1.JPG


I had a marlinspike made out of wood that came with the set of beads that I bought, and that wasn't too bad. However, I sadly lost that during the midnight showing of At World's End (fell out of my hair sometime during the evening..), so I need a new one anyway. I thought I'd upgrade to a real bone one!

There are a few finished marlinspikes for sale on eBay, ranging from $30-$40, but I wanted to continue my budgeting by making one for myself! All the sources I've seen list it as being carved from a "reindeer shin bone". There are a few eBay listings for deer legbones as well, but I have no idea what I would do to finish it. The needle appears to be flattish, but one side is definitely concave. I would assume that that is the marrow side, and I'm simply seeing where the marrow normally would be.

Anyone know how I could turn a bone into something like this? How do I cut? How do I polish smooth? Oh, and precisely how long should it be?

Thanks!
 
Working bone is easy with wood working tools, a dremel with a rasp some sanding wheels and you are there. BE SURE TO WEAR BREATHING PROTECTION when you work with bone though. It can cause bad problems if you don't.
 
All right, I've got a Dremel around here somewhere..

By breathing protection, do you mean just like one of those simple dust masks, or something more intense like a ventilator?
 
I've read in an authorized and respectable source that this was actually supposed to be (in the fiction of the POTC/Sparrow world) a shin bone from a deer...

Odd, but true...
 
PHArchivist said:
I've read in an authorized and respectable source that this was actually supposed to be (in the fiction of the POTC/Sparrow world) a shin bone from a deer...

Odd, but true...
Click to expand...

Wait, so it's not just carved from the shin bone of a deer, that's what it's supposed to be? How strange...I thought there was some nautical significance to it, after hearing all the talk about marlinspikes and net needles...
 
Patattack said:
Wait, so it's not just carved from the shin bone of a deer, that's what it's supposed to be? How strange...I thought there was some nautical significance to it, after hearing all the talk about marlinspikes and net needles...
Click to expand...


That could be... The bit I read was in a published book on the making of the films, and I believe it represented Depp's own thoughts on the character's past. But I don't think it specified the ntended use...
 
Yes, bone is very easy to work with, like someone said, very much like wood. I'm sure if you ask around, someone probably has a bone they can give you - no need to buy something that most people just throw away. ;)
 
Just as a completely friendly warning, from a regular Ren-Fair goer to you, they're going to talk **** about you behind your back for wearing a Sparrow costume to the fair.
 
Last edited:
PHArchivist said:
That could be... The bit I read was in a published book on the making of the films, and I believe it represented Depp's own thoughts on the character's past. But I don't think it specified the ntended use...
Click to expand...

There was a piece on the making of disc for Dead Man's chest where he talks about it. If I remember right, he mention that he wanted people to wonder about the various trinkets he carried and where he got them. So, its not that he has it that matters, its where he got it. Or, something like that. :lol
 
gnrlotto said:
Just as a completely friendly warning, from a regular Ren-Fair goer to you, they're going to talk **** about you behind your back for wearing a Sparrow costume to the fair.
Click to expand...

Patattack, I'll go to the renfest in the shire of holly with you. Not far from home. They do have a pirate weekend. I'll be wearing my sparrow inspired costume. And being alongside a 6 foot, 250 lb, semi in shape, ex bodybuilder should ward off all the ninnies! :lol
 
Mxlplx said:
Patattack, I'll go to the renfest in the shire of holly with you. Not far from home. They do have a pirate weekend. I'll be wearing my sparrow inspired costume. And being alongside a 6 foot, 250 lb, semi in shape, ex bodybuilder should ward off all the ninnies! :lol
Click to expand...

Has nothing to do with how big/little a person is. Ren Fairs (not pirate fairs of which there are plenty for just such a costume: http://piratefestivals.com/) , but actual Ren Fairs, despite not being full of plague and feces, try to evoke an era, and regulars laugh at those who think it's basically "Old Fashioned Halloween Time." They also laugh at people who dress as fairies (unless they look like a young pop-star in a bikini and wings) or who wear big rubber feet and and rings around their necks--not to their faces, but they are snide and behind their backs, ooh lordy. It'd be the same as having a great Zorro or Lone Ranger costume and wearing it to a group that reenacts Old West/Civil War era costumes.
 
So how would they react if somone showed up in an Evil Dead Ash costume and started throwing around insults like, "All right you primative screw-heards listen up, see this? This...is my BOOM STICK!".:lol
 
dropshipbob said:
So how would they react if somone showed up in an Evil Dead Ash costume and started throwing around insults like, "All right you primative screw-heards listen up, see this? This...is my BOOM STICK!".:lol
Click to expand...

Probably the same way they treated this ******* who dressed like a member of Kiss, except Gene Simmons isn't so fat that his shirt rises above his hairy beer gut. Then you'd have the people who'd point out that he was also in the wrong era for his own damn movie.
 
gnrlotto said:
Has nothing to do with how big/little a person is. Ren Fairs (not pirate fairs of which there are plenty for just such a costume: http://piratefestivals.com/) , but actual Ren Fairs, despite not being full of plague and feces, try to evoke an era, and regulars laugh at those who think it's basically "Old Fashioned Halloween Time." They also laugh at people who dress as fairies (unless they look like a young pop-star in a bikini and wings) or who wear big rubber feet and and rings around their necks--not to their faces, but they are snide and behind their backs, ooh lordy. It'd be the same as having a great Zorro or Lone Ranger costume and wearing it to a group that reenacts Old West/Civil War era costumes.
Click to expand...

Hmm...I can see why they'd do that, although it does make me sad, considering they usually seem such a friendly bunch.

Is it better or worse than going in no costume at all (which is what I've done in the past)?
 
O.k., wearing a KISS costume to a Ren Fair isn't a connection I'd make either.
And too bad about my aformentioned scenario, I thought it sounded dam funny. Oh well, a time and place for everything.

gnrlotto said:
Probably the same way they treated this ******* who dressed like a member of Kiss, except Gene Simmons isn't so fat that his shirt rises above his hairy beer gut. Then you'd have the people who'd point out that he was also in the wrong era for his own damn movie.
Click to expand...
 
You must go to a Ren Faire full of jerks or something. I've been going as a Pirate and with a Jack Sparrow to the Ren Faire in SoCal for a few years and no one cares. They thinks it's great. Even the Queen says, "Hello Jack." whenever she sees him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

heavior
Interactive Jack Sparrow Compass: show off and questions
Replies
9
Views
1,660
CalMusquez
CalMusquez
JoshuaV
Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Head Cast project
Replies
4
Views
763
davidnagel
davidnagel
DrMcoy
Elope Jack Sparrow Compass Toy 2023
Replies
1
Views
1,210
ReplicaZero
ReplicaZero
Cbstudios
Captain Jack Sparrow's Flintlock Pistol replica
Replies
10
Views
3,779
TheBlackPearl
TheBlackPearl
Sundowner
Heels: Jack Spade
Replies
0
Views
565
Sundowner
Sundowner
Back
Top