I think they were just made to last a week or a fortnight at most according to the social history books, I'll look it up when I have time.
Anyroad the weight of the biskits didn't drop at all over night in a warm dry kitchen so I'm assuming they are as dry as they are going to get, I vacuum packed two rations.
6 more are in a calico bag ( correction I had said linen ) hanging from a beam in the shed and I've brought down two to eat today. One I'll fry in best beef dripping, since that's what I've got, and the other I'll crumble up and add to some soup to see if it's worth doing.
Currently I have six Staffs oatcakes in the dehydrator on 40 degrees for two hours. After the first hour I swapped the trays about, flipped and rotated the oatcakes to even out the process some. At that point they were crispy in some places and still softish in others. They have shrunk about a quarter of a inch all round so far.
ATB
Tom
PS
Oh on further reading I don't need to make biscuit cutter, back in the day one of the men's jobs on the production line was to break off two 1/4 lb lumps of dough and roll one with each hand into firm balls and flatten them so the next guy could use a biscuit press to put the ventilation holes into them ( that aided drying ) and in the case of arsenal made ones the government ownership Mark ( broad arrow usually) and the initial of the place it was made so it could be more easily traced back to source if stolen or found to be substandard. When the process became more automated under the Victorians cutters were used as you can see the distinctive marks, there was also a more towards square biscuits rather than round. If cut out with a knife, like you do on a tray of flapjack you are left with easily broken off sharp corners. In my experience rounded corners are easier to use anyway as you get less sticking.