Daniel Boone challenge

[Clouston98]

Yeah cold boonies are boss!

 

[crosslandkelly]

To be fair, most long hunters stayed home or in a base camp during the worst of the winter.

 

[santaman2000]

To be fair, most long hunters stayed home or in a base camp during the worst of the winter.

Are you sure? The coldest weather brings the prime furs. That's when we ran trap lines.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Are you sure? The coldest weather brings the prime furs. That's when we ran trap lines.

Cheers, I didn't know that.

 

[cranmere]

I have a book called "On the trail, an outdoor book for girls" which was printed in 1915 in New York and which contains several recipes for insect repellents. The common ingredients are pine tar and oil or fat, but recipes also include pennyroyal, citronella, camphor and bay.

 

[bushcraftkid2001]

Why?
More skills to do it in the cold

I guess...

 

[Kiwi Tim]

If you want an authentic pack use a jute sack .A stone in each corner . A rope tied to th corners and choked around the neck of the sack. The Maori name is Pikau. These are what the early settlers used in New Zealand. The Maori used them for hundreds of years.
Here is a NZ blog about them

http://bushcraft.org.nz/m/blogpost?id=5745113:BlogPost:1291

 

[Laurentius]

I think sometimes there is a tendency to imagine some of our ancestors as being more primitive than they really were. Oh, I'm not descended from Daniel Boone (Pat Boone is, supposedly) but of course, we all had ancestors living then. A good example is canned food. Someone here suggested that you couldn't have canned (tinned) food and be correct. But canning, using both glass and metal cans, was invented in the early 1800s. That was during Boone's lifetime, although that's not to say he ever used any and I seriously doubt he ever did. It took decades before it occurred to someone that a can opener would be handy to have along. In fact, a version of the classic American "P-38" can opener was in use in WWI.

It is tricky to attempt to be historically correct. It's not necessarily difficult, though it can be. For another instance, I suppose modern dehydrated foods would clearly be historically incorrect but dehydrated foods certainly existed then, whether or not you could stand to eat them. I believe they were all of Indian origin, creators of the first trail foods as well as strange haircuts.

Not to change the subject, however, but I think there are other historical periods of equal interest, even if they didn't happen to happen in places I lived. Boone lived during a period of a great western movement, which in a sense, is still going on. At least my son moved to California, anyway. But the period of the mid-1800s when settlers were crossing the prairies, the mountains and the deserts on their way to Oregon and California was interesting. I find the gold rush period of the tail end of the 19th century to be more interesting, though. Technically, it was little different in most ways from Boone's lifetime. Firearms were different, some of the packaging was different and a few other details had evolved but Boone would probably have fitted right in, even if he liked his elbow room.

I like the idea of an overlap of history, it is very true. My grandfather grew up and was therefore apprenticed during the late Victorian era, he was a shoemaker by trade, and I still have his last, my great grandfather on my mothers side was his exact contemporary and I have his tool chest and some of his tools, some tools do not change much over time and an old one just goes on and on and on.

In my youth I did not use old things because it was retro and fashionable, but because they were easily had and cheap as they had been discarded by people who could afford newer.

I wonder if they had such a thing as army surplus in Boones time? I expect they did have a lot of ex military gear left over from old wars that found it's way onto the market.

 

[santaman2000]

.....I wonder if they had such a thing as army surplus in Boones time? I expect they did have a lot of ex military gear left over from old wars that found it's way onto the market.

I'm sure some military gear found it's way into civilian hands. But more commonly it would be the other way. There was very little id any "military" gear in existence. Instead the militia was expected to turn out bringing their own clothing, equipment, horses (for those who had horses) and arms with them when called. Even as late as the Civil War, many Union troops bought their own weapons and both sides bought their own saddles and clothing.

The concept of militaries even having a "surplus" is relatively new.

 

[tombear]

Depending on the exact area and time period there was always some form of military surplus available. Thre was various methods of marking kit being released, sold on etc. a second broad arrow pointing towards the point of the original marking some thing like --><-- was the usual one for British kit.

Of course there was a vast amount of straight theft, hence all the effort to mark kit. Anything left laying about was fair game and no amount of punishment deterred them. Also in North America large amounts of government marked kit was gifted to the various tribes to keep them sweet.

The individual soldier, up until pretty late in the 19th century had the cost of their personal kit ( less weapons ) deducted from his enlistment bounty and pay and had to pay for replacements most of the time so owned it and on leaving the army had the option of selling it on ( or back to the army ) or keeping it for use. There's lots of illustrtions showing beggars waring their old regimental s or workers using their uniforms until they wore out. Compared to now clothes were extremely expensive so were used until wrecked.

At various times certain items didn't belong to the soldier and were on loan from the regiment such as campaign kit like waterbottles. They were issued free but had to be handed back on demand and if you lost them you had to pay for replacements. Even after WW2 the List Of Changes ( the official announcements of new kit or old kit being changed or made obsolete ) still included the cost of each item or part there of so they knew what to charge you for if you lost something without good reason!

Dehydrated food was available, common even from the mid 18th century, Portable Soup is first mentioned in 1690. It was used by the military, explorers and for invalids.

I feel a little project coming on, see if I can make some

ATB

Tom

 

[boatman]

My Dad came home with his battledress and wore it for years, having the khaki died dark blue it probably lasted into the early sixties.

 

[santaman2000]

....There's lots of illustrtions showing beggars waring their old regimental s or workers using their uniforms until they wore out. Compared to now clothes were extremely expensive so were used until wrecked.....

My Dad came home with his battledress and wore it for years, having the khaki died dark blue it probably lasted into the early sixties.

These statements make it sound as if your military members are supposed to turn in their uniforms when they separate? Is it unusual for somebody to keep them?

 

[tombear]

I can't say what current procedure is but from the amount of kit my ex service mates have it would seam very little is handed back. I assume high end kit that can be reissued like body armour and protective clothing are returned graded and if not fit for reuse passed on to a contractor for release onto the surplus market. Once upon at time it also went to certain 3rd world countries who's military we were helping train but I don't know if they still do that.

Back in the 60s when my dad demobbed from regular service he had to hand back certain items in certain numbers but could keep the excess so naturally you handed in the worn out stuff if you wanted to keep the good stuff to use as work clothes or for nostalgic reasons. From talking to him and his peers very few wanted to be reminded of their service, especially the national service men. Clothing had by then become much cheaper anyway. Post WW2 clothing was rationed until 1949 so anyone leaving the army would want to take as much with them a they could, depending on what they did for a living. Certain items were highly valued, I can just remember labourers still wearing leather jerkins in the 1970s and, sadly, the odd tramp still in a greatcoat.

atb

Tom

 

[Man of Tanith]

In the journals of Robert Rangers which admittedly were irregular/milita troops not standard troops they were given a budget to procure their own clothing as long as it fitted certain specifications

 

[santaman2000]

In the journals of Robert Rangers which admittedly were irregular/milita troops not standard troops they were given a budget to procure their own clothing as long as it fitted certain specifications

A modified version of that is the way our active duty regulars operate today. We're issued our first set of uniforms and clothing but after that we get an annual allowance to maintain it by buying replacements from the Military Clothing Sales Store on base. At said store we have the option of buying the "issue" items produced by the official contractors (often the Federal Prison Industries) or choosing better quality items produced by commercial makers.

That's one reason I wondered about the military asking for you to return you uniforms at separation; I always had more than the required minimums. I still buy some clothing there even now that I've retired (normal underwear, socks, long-john type underwear, boots, etc.) I also still try to maintain at least one full uniform se as retirees here are considered inactive reservists (we don't drill or train) and are subject to recall for the rest of our lives (a pipe dream at my age)

 

[Laurentius]

I can't say what current procedure is but from the amount of kit my ex service mates have it would seam very little is handed back. I assume high end kit that can be reissued like body armour and protective clothing are returned graded and if not fit for reuse passed on to a contractor for release onto the surplus market. Once upon at time it also went to certain 3rd world countries who's military we were helping train but I don't know if they still do that.

Back in the 60s when my dad demobbed from regular service he had to hand back certain items in certain numbers but could keep the excess so naturally you handed in the worn out stuff if you wanted to keep the good stuff to use as work clothes or for nostalgic reasons. From talking to him and his peers very few wanted to be reminded of their service, especially the national service men. Clothing had by then become much cheaper anyway. Post WW2 clothing was rationed until 1949 so anyone leaving the army would want to take as much with them a they could, depending on what they did for a living. Certain items were highly valued, I can just remember labourers still wearing leather jerkins in the 1970s and, sadly, the odd tramp still in a greatcoat.

atb

Tom

My dad told me that he was issued with a demob suit at the end of his national service. He was called up during the war, and apart from training saw all of his service overseas, so I don't think he would have had any civvy clothes left that were suitable for an English winter.

 

[Big Stu 12]

I have just posted up the 2015 Boonie challenge

heres the link

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130299

 

[tombear]

Having had a few distractions which I've allowed to screw over my plans this last two years I'm going to get out a lot more this camping season. I'll ease in with some family stuff with all the mod cons then bite the bullet and do some period stuff when the weather improves and I can find somewhere secluded to minimise the pointing and laughing.

To this end I've made myself a better 1750s style sleavleess waistcoat. I was kindly gifted a couple of yards of excellent Melton wool in a dark (ranger?) green and had some natural coloured flax linen spare.. I had linen thread to match the lining and a certain member of this parish supplied me with some heavy cotton that was a good match to the outer fabric. From a earlier aborted project I had 18 x 7/8th diameter buttons cast in old school lead pewter from a early 18th C original.

All hand sawn and if it hangs funny at the front, well so do I.... I'm quite chuffed with the fit. It was a bit loose at the back of the collar but the more I wear it ( all the time I'm not out or cooking/ doing something splattery ) the better its fitting. The button holes ain't the best I've ever done but I've seen much worse on originals There's functional if small pockets. The buttons there are sewn to the flaps as was often the case back in the day. By the end of sewing it my stitching had improved no end. If the stitching starts to wear on the arm holes i may tape them, we'll see.

Being too fat to look anything but ridiculous in uniform I've avoided military kit although it is probably as well suited to period trekking as any civilian styled stuff, if not more. I have allowed myself some pieces that would be possibly available as surplus such as a waterbottle and haversack. I've added to that with a forage cap done in a mid to late 18th century night/Santa cap style. I had been given some big scraps of excellent redcoat style wool cloth and there was some coarse linen in the scraps bag I hadn't chopped up to make char cloth yet. Originals were usually made from worn out redcoats. Later on they became standardised but for most of th 18th they were done to the whim of the Commanding officers. Extant examples are often white with piping and numbers in the facing colour of the regiment but in illustrations from the period they are often red. Some have leather peaks others don't, most have tassels. Any road I made one and its very comfortable and warm. I do look a complete douche in it.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Found some linen sailcloth stuff in the scraps bag and made up a end of the 18th start 19th C haversack/ bread bag based on the one in the National Army Museum. The only major difference is i used a couple of pewter buttons as opposed to cloth covered wooden jobs which to be honest I find fiddly and less secure to use.

Should hold a couple of days snap.

considering waterproofing it in some way.

atb

Tom

 

[crosslandkelly]

I like that a lot, nice work.