US Civil War Inspiration

[British Red]

I picked up a couple of items of kit today from a re-enactors place. Both of these items date from the American civil war and are items I have seen before but never purchased - but having had a hard week I succumbed to a little retail therapy.

Firstly a "hobo" pocket knife - basically a knife / fork / spoon pocket knife.

Here it is closed - a little bulky perhaps

Here it is open - a knife, two tine fork and spoon

And the clever bit

The knife splits in two to allow you to have a knife and fork separately

This is a clever and nice little pocket item. Would I reccomend it? Well, to be honest, for all practical purposes, I'd use a plastic light my fire "spork" and a swiss army knife. This has a nice retro feel though

Now this I like

Its a "mucket" - a 30 oz steel mug with handle, hinged lid and integral bail arm. I suspect its been knocked up by someone with a spot welder and a good supply of stainless bisuit tins. BUT, its the best design for a drinking / cooking mug I have ever seen as an "all in one". Certainly one to copy for the talented fabricator.

Nice to see that people 200 years ago were playng with lightweight flexible gear

Red

 

[joejoe]

love the hobo, where is the shop if you do not mind me asking

 

[sapper1]

Brilliant stuff red.It just goes to show that there's very little new in the world.Just things we have forgotten.

 

[British Red]

love the hobo, where is the shop if you do not mind me asking

Here you go

http://www.sutlers.co.uk/

The hobo is pretty crude to be honest. Case do a really fancy one at about $80 if you want one a little more refined. I just wanted to have a mess about one

Red

 

[Hoodoo]

I'z a big fan of muckets.

 

[markheolddu]

Red why do you have to show me stuff like that. i had never even heard of a mucket before now I need one, and I have only just bought a crusader cup/cooker

 

[Mike Ameling]

The evolution of the" mucket" is pretty obvious. Take a pretty standard large tin cup of the time period, add a wire bale to hang it, then add an attached "lid" to help speed up cooking and protect what you are cooking. One caution in making your own conversion of a tin cup: adjust the location of the bale attachment points slightly to compensate for the extra weight of the handle when hanging it.

Yes, there were many little ingenious things created years ago. And some are starting to be ... rediscovered.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. I don't know about costs for overseas shipping, but you might check out the "mucket" offered by Crazy Crow Trading Company out of Texas. Their web site is www.crazycrow.com They call their version a "corn boiler" - item # 5562-003-075. Their version is made from Hot-Dipped tin (much thicker and better than electroplated tin as most modern tin cups are made), and probably runs around $20 (but I did not go check their retail price).

 

[Mike Ameling]

If my so-so memory serves me correctly, the original "mucket" that all the current copies are made from actually was brought over from Australia or New Zealand in the 1960's during the 100 year anniversary of all the Civil War stuff over here. There just aren't originals from the Civil War in any reputable museum or collection.

They are nice and handy, just hard to document for time periods before the 1960's.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[jamie18thmo]

I used to be an ACW re-enactor and can vouch for both bits of kit being very handy indeed.
If anyones going to get a mucket, I'd advise getting the stainless steel version rather than the more authentic looking soldered tin version as these go rusty really quick and fall apart rapidly if you let them boil dry (which you probably won't do anyway, because you're not lilkely to get called out for drill or suddenly be attacked by marauding Rebels! Adding a piece of rope (non-melty kind) wound around the wire handle can save burnt hands too, if you don't use gloves.
When I sold my ACW kit before coming to NZ, these are to only two bits of kit I hung onto, because of their bushcrafty/outdoorsy usefulness.
Cheers,
J

 

[sam_acw]

Muckets are great. I used to love using them but I never personally owned one.

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

I didnt realise i had a Mucket !

Made from a tim mug from the 99p store about a year of more ago. It came with a lid, just misplaced it for the photo

 

[British Red]

Nice!

Not sleeping again mate?

Red

 

[MartinK9]

Nice!

Not sleeping again mate?

Red

Seems to be catching lol

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Nice!

Not sleeping again mate?

Red

Yup,quality sleep seems to be a thing of the past again

Still, gives me time to catch up on the forums

 

[Bigox]

Here is a muckett with space saver handles that I have been wanting for a bit.

http://www.backwoodstin.com/index.htm?cat7.htm

 

[Mooseman1]

Are you kidding me, take a spork over that lovely little piece of kit never. A real nice item i love the spoon its the type of item i would expect my grandfather to have owned. Awesome.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

I have a modern version of the spoon/knife combo, might dig it out and see if I could fit wooden furnisher??

I normaly use a light my fire Spork as Is doesn't scratch my pot's.

Thanks for the link..

 

[alpha_centaur]

Red why do you have to show me stuff like that. i had never even heard of a mucket before now I need one, and I have only just bought a crusader cup/cooker

He's a bad influence on us all

Red you can stand with your head held high knowing that you have lead many of us further astray

 

[swanseajack]

Sorry to raise the dead here, but, I'm a train Driver. Many of us still use what you call a mucket. We call them cans though.
M

 

[tombear]

Way back when when we were clearing out the wifes child hood bedroom at her parents I found a folding fork and spoon in a shoe box which I cadged off her (we were only just married so I could get away with such things ;-{D)

anyroad, this thread set me off so while one of the kids went ferreting for them for me to clean up and use I did a bit of poking about in the interweb.

The only ones with the same marks I could find were from American Civil War collections. I think the second mark from the left is a worn down Britannia rather than a & sign.

Whenever they are made I am rather chuffed with them, its a shame the knife with corkscrew is missing but I'd use neither so it makes no differance.

ATB

Tom

PS, had a tin mucket from Sutlers about 7 years back and despite all due care it rusted at a allarming rate, so much so that I binned it when we moved.

Theres some minimal rust on the spring/liners and I will have to ask how best to clean the Ivory of the scales, The silver should be easy enough to do