Help on 10oz Canvas for Tarpaulin

[Emdiesse]

Hi,

Having received a Singer 66k for christmas from my girlfriends parents AND being able to now successfully sew in a relatively straight line as well as learning the essential seams and so on from Johns books I fancy a go at making myself a small tarp for around the campfire.

I was thinking a 10oz canvas would suit my purpose just fine, and finding canvas was a breeze - however I just have a couple of questions

1. I have found 12oz and 15oz with water/rot resistance treatments... but not 10oz - is it essential for tarps? can I apply these myself (and how)?
2. I found some seemingly VERY CHEAP 10oz canvas here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130646538705 - would this be suitable, or is it cheap for a reason unbeknown to me yet!?
3. What can you tell me when it comes to canvas weaves?

For others looking for canvas... the four sources of canvas I have found are:
http://www.protectivetextile.co.uk/products/material.html
http://www.whaleys-bradford.ltd.uk/fabrics
http://www.attwoollsmanufacturing.co.uk/fabrics/
and erm... ebay.co.uk

As for the tarp, I figured i'll try 3-4m x 2.5m or something so it can be set up like a leanto with a bit of a 'roof' with a flat felled seam down the center and a 1inch or so rolled hem with reinforced points for loops for hanging/guyropes.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[John Fenna]

I used this for my canvas and leather rucksack - light, strong and in good colours... - but not cheap...
I have been thinking of using it for a tarp myself
http://www.profabrics.co.uk/products/outdoor-/8oz-cotton-tent-canvas/0001036.html

 

[Harvestman]

You may want to talk to BilmoP5 - he makes canvas tarps.

 

[Emdiesse]

Thanks for the link John! Blimey, at that price maybe I should just bite the bullet for the £4pm fabric and just take the opportunity to practice and make mistakes. I'm sure even if it's not so great for a tarp I can harvest the tarp for other projects.

Cheers harvestman, I'll have a look back at bilmos posts on here and see if he's posted any info on tarps.

 

[John Fenna]

Thanks for the link John! Blimey, at that price maybe I should just bite the bullet for the £4pm fabric and just take the opportunity to practice and make mistakes. I'm sure even if it's not so great for a tarp I can harvest the tarp for other projects.

Cheers harvestman, I'll have a look back at bilmos posts on here and see if he's posted any info on tarps.

Yeah £200 ish for the tarp I was planning ... so I dream on...
Let us know how you get on

 

[bilmo-p5]

Have a look at ESVO. Their cotton tent canvas is very good indeed and I use quite a lot of it. Prices are generally reasonable. Postage is a flat rate of EUR12.50 (about a tenner) but free if you spend over EUR100
I'd say that the 280gsm stuff is ideal tarp fabric.

 

[John Fenna]

Have a look at ESVO. Their cotton tent canvas is very good indeed and I use quite a lot of it. Prices are generally reasonable. Postage is a flat rate of EUR12.50 (about a tenner) but free if you spend over EUR100
I'd say that the 280gsm stuff is ideal tarp fabric.

That looks very good!
I still cannot afford the tarp I was thinking of though.....

 

[Emdiesse]

Have a look at ESVO. Their cotton tent canvas is very good indeed and I use quite a lot of it. Prices are generally reasonable. Postage is a flat rate of EUR12.50 (about a tenner) but free if you spend over EUR100
I'd say that the 280gsm stuff is ideal tarp fabric.

That looks a great site, their tents look very nice too!

Cheers for the link.

 

[the_hanging_dog]

That looks a great site, their tents look very nice too!

Cheers for the link.

Hi, new here, just curious why canvas?

i do a lot of Hammock camping and everything is very lightweight. canvas would be a big nono purely because of it.

 

[Emdiesse]

For me, more for when I have my car and something to sit under with the fire - my other tarp has holes in it from embers...
Also, there is something strangely appealing about cotton, wool, silk brass, copper and leather over polyester, nylon, aluminium, titanium and plastic

On a side note, Having a quick look around at the price of canvas tarps it seems it'd be almost half the price to buy one, pre-made, in 12oz canvas at the size I'd like (I have heard of zelte-max tarps on here before http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10ft-x-16...-for-Living-history-Reenactment-/221330585617)! I'm all for DIY, but I also have a mortgage to consider, lol. Oh that's actually disappointing!

I notice there are even cheaper tarps still, but this is exactly my confusion, it seems not all canvas is the same

Still, I have bookmarked that ESVO link as it seems a great source of all the varying weights of canvas I could ever want or need!

I do have some 15oz canvas I bought from protective textiles a while back, but that's the only weight they seem to do.

I'll put the tarp idea down for the moment and focus on all the other smaller projects I've got racing about in my head, I look forward to sharing my creations on here soon...ish

 

[Emdiesse]

I've just seen your tarps on here Bilmo, they look fantastic... I feel inspired again - although I can't get my head around all these varying grades and prices of canvas.

I have no doubt that the 280gsm KD-38 fabric from ESVO is top notch since that's what you're using.

 

[bilmo-p5]

Thank you.

Keep an eye out for the postman tomorrow.