We like to go to a rather large forest where we stayed for 2 days and did not hear or see a soul, however this is a good 40 minute drive so not often but usually just in our local woodlands.
18th Century Long Hunter Woodsman kit
- Thread starter TheNative
- Start date
We like to go to a rather large forest where we stayed for 2 days and did not hear or see a soul, however this is a good 40 minute drive so not often but usually just in our local woodlands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_nm46cLWVg
This is one of my 18th century videos on youtube. This one is me showing the traditional plant tinder charring method if anyone wants to watch
This is one of my 18th century videos on youtube. This one is me showing the traditional plant tinder charring method if anyone wants to watch
Nice looking kit that is, dude!
Here's as far as my mountainman gear got..
Modded trail hawk, modded Opinel no.9, ceramic/antler sharpening rod and a clay ocarina to sing the night away!
Here's as far as my mountainman gear got..
Modded trail hawk, modded Opinel no.9, ceramic/antler sharpening rod and a clay ocarina to sing the night away!
Can't wait to get set up round the campfire with our canvas tarps! going to look very picturesque! Will be interesting what particular things are going to be more difficult with the old style kit. splitting wood is defiantly not going to be as easy!
Looking forward to it, should be a very interesting experience aha! Hopefully we get it like before when no-one bothers us for days that would be perfection!
Brian.
Looking forward to it, should be a very interesting experience aha! Hopefully we get it like before when no-one bothers us for days that would be perfection!
Brian.
The internet is a great research tool mate, and after that its just practising what you see/read.
most of the kit here can be purchased pretty cheap and just slightly tweeked to give it a more traditional feel.
Ok Here it is, excuse the crap pics!
Irish linen shirts (the second ones quite good even if I say so myself) and a heavy coarse linen smock, what developed into the hunting shirt but really was the common mans workware for farming, driving wagons, I gave it a cape to make iot a bit more water resistant. All buttons are bone, all hand sewn in linen thread. hooks and eyes copied from examples dug up in the US.
Wool and linen waistcoat in a style about right for the 1730s-1750s, wooden buttons covered in cloth. Top breeches also 1730s style Russian Drill hemp with linen lining. they are very heavy and too warm to work in (well potter around the garden) so I made a single layer pair from just linen and gave them a higher waist band so they stay up without braces. Again bone buttons.
heavy wool hunting shirt, far too hot to exert yourself in if you run hot like me, also makes me look like a pixie on steroids. made from the same pattern as the linen smock.
Whitney Blanket Capote by Smoke and Fire, I've used this a lot and love it to bits. Technically the style is later than the 1750s but what the heck, makes a great blanket.
various hats, a neckerchief from stripey cotton/linen made at the Queens Street Mill Museum over in Burnley. The Benny hats are styled on the Monmouth Cap in the Nelson Museum, made by herself. The brown one is made from super Chunky coloured ryeland wool, and is too warm to wear if its above freezing, the paler from chunky Jacob wool. the Balmoral is made from woolen cloth scrounged from Swandri as is the top 6 panel skull cap. The green 4 pannel one is lined with linen. We use up any off cuts making these things, the eldest son (14) is pretty adept at it now. Dark green Voyageurs hand knitted extra big by someones granny At Smoke and Fire.
Calico drawers (need to make at least one more pair) the cotton also from Queen Street , made during demonstrations of the machinery. Also a large hankerchief.
Footwares been a big problem, authentic 18th C shoes are more expensive than I can afford and beyond my ability to make. Clogs were in use during this period but Ive been unable to find any illustrations. Ive picked up several pairs for under a fiver a pop and two with steels are shown here. The ammunition boots are what I have used most (and then not much) picked up new on ebay for a casual minimum bid years ago (cost more for the postage!) To hide the uppers I made some civilian style gaiters with horn buttons and heavily waterproofed them with tallow and beeswax. The Leggings on the left are based on some in a US museum but made from some homespun wool I aquired. Although associated with backwoodsmen and indians they were common place farming wear in the colonies. As A kid I remember seeing old labourers with sacking tied around their leggs doing the same job. The mens wool stockings I had to get from the US, need to get some more.
Pure wool Witney blanket that has been washed and so is slightly felted, a thermorest sized pelisse from a linen / cotten coarse material to stuff with straw, bracken and allike (going to treat it with some stuff sold for proofing mosquito nets to discourage the bugs) and a linen sail cloth tarpaulin with sewn eyelets that Ive treated with TX10
Fire lighting kit, tin pocket tinder box by Carl Giodarno, various steels by the late, great, Mike Ameling. Tinder horn by me, the brass tube pocket tinder box is more early 19th C. large flint based on one in the Museum at Banbury and made for be by Mr Lord. No solder charcloth making tin also by Carl.
English trade knife By River Traders, tomahawk by Cold Steel, leather bits by me, buckles copies of excavated 18th C examples. Okampi lock knife from a friend in SA. File in waxed leather case cut down to fit in the bottom of the belt pouch by Martingale. sharpening stone from Ragweed Forge.
Cooking gear. copper tin lined frying pan from a carboot, brass kettle from Crazy Crow (there's more accurate trade kettles but they are beyond my pocket!. Need to make a wooden lid, Tin canteen and other tins by carl based on excavated example. Salt hoirn by me. Tin Tube Oil bottle full of pepper corns.
Various bits of treen from charity shops, usuually for a quid or so a go. Tin cups by Carl, the larger based on one excavated at Fort Ligonier.
top left is a oil bottle based on one dug at Fort Ligioner, I use it for cooking oil. Top snapsack is a prototype the lower im quite proud of, lined with linen with internal pocket, sewn eyelets.. 1750s style haversack from Ornsnaberg linen. various draw string bags, still need to make one that a modern flour bag will slip inside, will canibilise some supperfine linen hankerchiefs I have that will keep the flour from leaking through the weave.
OK you'd only ever carry some of that and I've left out the things you wouldnt carry unless you had a cart like the rushlight nips. Next on the list is sorting the wool felt hat blankls and finally scoring some correct shoes! And using it of course!
My apologies to thise who have seen this stuff before.
ATB
Tom
Irish linen shirts (the second ones quite good even if I say so myself) and a heavy coarse linen smock, what developed into the hunting shirt but really was the common mans workware for farming, driving wagons, I gave it a cape to make iot a bit more water resistant. All buttons are bone, all hand sewn in linen thread. hooks and eyes copied from examples dug up in the US.
Wool and linen waistcoat in a style about right for the 1730s-1750s, wooden buttons covered in cloth. Top breeches also 1730s style Russian Drill hemp with linen lining. they are very heavy and too warm to work in (well potter around the garden) so I made a single layer pair from just linen and gave them a higher waist band so they stay up without braces. Again bone buttons.
heavy wool hunting shirt, far too hot to exert yourself in if you run hot like me, also makes me look like a pixie on steroids. made from the same pattern as the linen smock.
Whitney Blanket Capote by Smoke and Fire, I've used this a lot and love it to bits. Technically the style is later than the 1750s but what the heck, makes a great blanket.
various hats, a neckerchief from stripey cotton/linen made at the Queens Street Mill Museum over in Burnley. The Benny hats are styled on the Monmouth Cap in the Nelson Museum, made by herself. The brown one is made from super Chunky coloured ryeland wool, and is too warm to wear if its above freezing, the paler from chunky Jacob wool. the Balmoral is made from woolen cloth scrounged from Swandri as is the top 6 panel skull cap. The green 4 pannel one is lined with linen. We use up any off cuts making these things, the eldest son (14) is pretty adept at it now. Dark green Voyageurs hand knitted extra big by someones granny At Smoke and Fire.
Calico drawers (need to make at least one more pair) the cotton also from Queen Street , made during demonstrations of the machinery. Also a large hankerchief.
Footwares been a big problem, authentic 18th C shoes are more expensive than I can afford and beyond my ability to make. Clogs were in use during this period but Ive been unable to find any illustrations. Ive picked up several pairs for under a fiver a pop and two with steels are shown here. The ammunition boots are what I have used most (and then not much) picked up new on ebay for a casual minimum bid years ago (cost more for the postage!) To hide the uppers I made some civilian style gaiters with horn buttons and heavily waterproofed them with tallow and beeswax. The Leggings on the left are based on some in a US museum but made from some homespun wool I aquired. Although associated with backwoodsmen and indians they were common place farming wear in the colonies. As A kid I remember seeing old labourers with sacking tied around their leggs doing the same job. The mens wool stockings I had to get from the US, need to get some more.
Pure wool Witney blanket that has been washed and so is slightly felted, a thermorest sized pelisse from a linen / cotten coarse material to stuff with straw, bracken and allike (going to treat it with some stuff sold for proofing mosquito nets to discourage the bugs) and a linen sail cloth tarpaulin with sewn eyelets that Ive treated with TX10
Fire lighting kit, tin pocket tinder box by Carl Giodarno, various steels by the late, great, Mike Ameling. Tinder horn by me, the brass tube pocket tinder box is more early 19th C. large flint based on one in the Museum at Banbury and made for be by Mr Lord. No solder charcloth making tin also by Carl.
English trade knife By River Traders, tomahawk by Cold Steel, leather bits by me, buckles copies of excavated 18th C examples. Okampi lock knife from a friend in SA. File in waxed leather case cut down to fit in the bottom of the belt pouch by Martingale. sharpening stone from Ragweed Forge.
Cooking gear. copper tin lined frying pan from a carboot, brass kettle from Crazy Crow (there's more accurate trade kettles but they are beyond my pocket!. Need to make a wooden lid, Tin canteen and other tins by carl based on excavated example. Salt hoirn by me. Tin Tube Oil bottle full of pepper corns.
Various bits of treen from charity shops, usuually for a quid or so a go. Tin cups by Carl, the larger based on one excavated at Fort Ligonier.
top left is a oil bottle based on one dug at Fort Ligioner, I use it for cooking oil. Top snapsack is a prototype the lower im quite proud of, lined with linen with internal pocket, sewn eyelets.. 1750s style haversack from Ornsnaberg linen. various draw string bags, still need to make one that a modern flour bag will slip inside, will canibilise some supperfine linen hankerchiefs I have that will keep the flour from leaking through the weave.
OK you'd only ever carry some of that and I've left out the things you wouldnt carry unless you had a cart like the rushlight nips. Next on the list is sorting the wool felt hat blankls and finally scoring some correct shoes! And using it of course!
My apologies to thise who have seen this stuff before.
ATB
Tom
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Tombear you've obviously put a lot of work into that, nicely done !
I'd love to see some pics of it all in action.
! I'd love to see some pics of it all in action.
Tombear.
Few questions.
Where did you aquire the candle holder?
How difficult was the salt horn to make?
Do you find the clothes a practical clothing set up? I reckon with all that wool you could practically slep without any other insulation and maybe without a fire in some temps.
Few questions.
Where did you aquire the candle holder?
How difficult was the salt horn to make?
Do you find the clothes a practical clothing set up? I reckon with all that wool you could practically slep without any other insulation and maybe without a fire in some temps.
Cheers folks!
the candle holder I made from a old knackered small pliers, bent the arms with a blow torch and hammer, filed them to shape including a spike to stick it into the ground/logs etc and a spike to stick a candle on. I then drilled a hol in a worn pre decimal 1/2 pence that was laying about as it was the right size and crudely soldeded it on. +I shioulkd finish it with some wet and dry but it works as is.
The salt horn was very easy to make from a tacky tourist gift off of a carboot for 50p or some such. I think I did a tutorial at the time. The only tricks was to drill out the cap using a spare piece of the pouring tube held in a drill and with crude teeth filed in the end. That way i got a perfect fit. the other thing is to drill the pilot holes for the copper tacks quite large so you dont split the horn when they are hammered in.
The breeches are just like baggy shorts tied at the bottom, they go higher up the back so are better than modern trousers if you are bending over a lot. If I had the money and patiance I would have a load of the linen shirts as they are the most comfortable i have worn. The gaping necks take some getting used to but once you start wearing a neckerchief are no more drafty than modern designs.
I've never slept out in the kit but contempory texts refer to taking clothes off and sleeping under them rather than wearing them. I have used the capote to nap under and with your legs drawn up its perfectly adequate on a Auturm night as the fire dies down.
Being such a lard **** I'm rather unphotogenic but I will try and get some pics done when i actually use it all for real. At the moment theres no where nearby I can have a potter that wont have crowds turning up to watch! What it was originally started for was a plan to walk some of the salt and packhorse ways in the contemporay kit. Ive let life get on top of me since then.
ATb
Tom
the candle holder I made from a old knackered small pliers, bent the arms with a blow torch and hammer, filed them to shape including a spike to stick it into the ground/logs etc and a spike to stick a candle on. I then drilled a hol in a worn pre decimal 1/2 pence that was laying about as it was the right size and crudely soldeded it on. +I shioulkd finish it with some wet and dry but it works as is.
The salt horn was very easy to make from a tacky tourist gift off of a carboot for 50p or some such. I think I did a tutorial at the time. The only tricks was to drill out the cap using a spare piece of the pouring tube held in a drill and with crude teeth filed in the end. That way i got a perfect fit. the other thing is to drill the pilot holes for the copper tacks quite large so you dont split the horn when they are hammered in.
The breeches are just like baggy shorts tied at the bottom, they go higher up the back so are better than modern trousers if you are bending over a lot. If I had the money and patiance I would have a load of the linen shirts as they are the most comfortable i have worn. The gaping necks take some getting used to but once you start wearing a neckerchief are no more drafty than modern designs.
I've never slept out in the kit but contempory texts refer to taking clothes off and sleeping under them rather than wearing them. I have used the capote to nap under and with your legs drawn up its perfectly adequate on a Auturm night as the fire dies down.
Being such a lard **** I'm rather unphotogenic but I will try and get some pics done when i actually use it all for real. At the moment theres no where nearby I can have a potter that wont have crowds turning up to watch! What it was originally started for was a plan to walk some of the salt and packhorse ways in the contemporay kit. Ive let life get on top of me since then.
ATb
Tom
Thanks for sharing that bro! Shame that you have not been able to test it all. Some really nice items you got there! Do you know any historical documents on the internet about kit and such of the 18th century woodsman?
Cheers! I've mainly piggybacked on US reenactors websites especially those related to "Historical Trekking" their links pages normally have some interesting leads. Also, although they are packed until the plastering and paintings touched up, I've quite a few books on the subject. I also go to a shed load of museums which often have bits and pieces relating torural life. Some like the Pitt Rivers in Oxford have whole cabinets relating to say Firelighting or cooking utensils. Carboots are a great source of old fashioned cooking gear, I've seen a lot of supposed Jam pans that look a awful lot like 18th C trade kettles.
because I am so fat I favour patterns by Reconstructing History but there's plans on the net for things like 18 th C shirts
atb
Tom
because I am so fat I favour patterns by Reconstructing History but there's plans on the net for things like 18 th C shirts
atb
Tom
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I know what I'm doing this evening now...
Mentally listing what I've got to press into service for my own set up.
Tomorrow I'll crack on with a bed roll strap set up ive got cut but nowt else done to.
Tombear and native thanks for the metaphorical nudge t get on with it.
Native I still feel you need a mug but that could be my caffine addiction speaking......
Mentally listing what I've got to press into service for my own set up.
Tomorrow I'll crack on with a bed roll strap set up ive got cut but nowt else done to.
Tombear and native thanks for the metaphorical nudge t get on with it.
Native I still feel you need a mug but that could be my caffine addiction speaking......
"Pure wool Witney blanket that has been washed and so is slightly felted, a thermorest sized pelisse from a linen / cotten coarse material to stuff with straw, bracken and allike (going to treat it with some stuff sold for proofing mosquito nets to discourage the bugs) and a linen sail cloth tarpaulin with sewn eyelets that Ive treated with TX10"
Is that a “palliasse” you mean and not “pelisse”?
Is that a “palliasse” you mean and not “pelisse”?
