Welcome to
Roy Najecki's
American Revolutionary War
Reproductions Home Page
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Welcome to
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Good day and welcome to my reproductions home page.
On the following pages
are many items of use to Revolutionary War period reenactors. For those who
don't know me, I have been active in Rev War reenacting/living history since 1976. I met my late wife Debra at an event in 1988 and married her a year later. Debra was active in this hobby from 1982 to 2017 when she died from cancer.
I am a member of the 40th Regiment of Foot, Brigade of the American Revolution
British Brigade and Company of Military Historians. When I started in this hobby I was one of the founding members of the 2nd Rhode
Island Reg't. Like most other units, much of what they used they bought from
sutlers. As the unit began to grow and conduct research they realized that a
lot of sutler merchandise wasn't as authentic as it could be, and we could do
better on our own and for a lot less money. So I took up leatherworking and hat
making. It didn't take
long for friends in other regiments to begin asking me to make something
for them, and that's how his reproduction business got started. Some of you
may remember me when I simply had a blanket spread out with merchandise.
Over the years Debra and I examined many original accouterments and other
period items in private collections and public museums. This knowledge was combined
with experience in traditional leatherwork, hat blocking, sewing, and finding
correct materials so we could make accurate reproductions.
Some of the items we offer are pictured in Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution by George C. Neumann and Frank Kravic, Soldiers in America by Don Troiani, and other well-known reference books. Where applicable we have noted the book, page and figure number in the item description.
To further document some items herein I have liberally quoted from Bennett Cuthbertson's A System for the Compleat Interior Management and Economy of Battalion of Infantry, 1768 edition. Mr. Cuthbertson was a Captain in the 5th Foot and his recommendations appear to have been followed by many of the British regiments as exemplified by the frequent appearance of his suggestions written verbatim in several other books and regimental orders. It is not known if Cuthbertson was describing the current practice in the 5th Foot or what he wished they did but nonetheless his book was widely read and to some extant his recommendations were followed.
It's April 2022 and I'm finally updating this website for the first time in about four years. Debra created this website using Adobe Dreamweaver software and I think a lot of it was coded the old-fashioned way and over the years she did nearly all the updates. I didn't know much about how the site was written, so when Debra died in 2017 I was in over my head. Compounding this problem was that when the software was updated in 2018 I couldn't get into the program because only Debra knew the passwords and the website host didn't accept that I was the legimate website owner. They put up several bureaucratic hurdles for me which took months to get sorted out. So I'm now diving in trying to figure out how to update the website pages. I know there are broken links and I will eventually get to them all.
What is new? The price of pewter buttons has increased due to the price of tin, the major ingredient of pewter, doubling in price in two years. The cost of woolen cloth has risen due to the cost of air freight from England doubling in two years. And when I do order cloth it is taking at least twice as long for it to be shipped because the mills in England are working shorter weeks, supply chain problems as some of the fleece comes from Australia and New Zealand, and the dyeing chemicals come from China. I don't have any shoes from Robert Land, primarily because due to Covid he can't travel across the Canadian/US border to Pennsylvania for sole leather, and the tannery won't ship it. Ray Ward, the man in England who made my Black Brandon English musket flints, has retired. He is in his early 80's and his health is on the decline. I don't have any Russia Drilling because the mill in China won't produce more untl the US market recovers. Most of this fabric was used by boutique clothing manufactures, not Rev War reenactors like us.