Hand forged copy of an 18th century eyeless fishing hook.
18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY, HISTORICAL TREKKING, AND PERIOD WILDERNESS LIVING.
Quotes on the editor of this blog
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Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Shooting and Fire Season.
It is fire season here in Australia, and the worst one we have ever had so far. Global warming is pushing the temperature up. Using patch material or inflammable wadding can easily start a bushfire. I use leather wads.
In the bottom left hand corner of this image you will see the 18th century wad punch that I use, which used to be my Father's.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Saturday, 26 October 2013
Thoughts on 18th Century Shirts, and Woodland Indian Interpretation.
Thoughts on 18th
Century Shirts, and Woodland Indian Interpretation.
The 18th
century men’s shirt was classed as underwear, and it was made long enough to be
tucked between the legs. This means that the average shirt should at least
reach the knees when hanging loose, or longer. It was also used as a
nightshirt. Now I am not aware that the trade shirt was any shorter than the
ordinary shirt, and yet woodland Indian interpreters are often seen with short
shirts and displaying their breechclout hanging below the length of the shirt.
The breechclout was traditionally short, the material being as long as the
height of the wearer.
Now I realise that there were tall and short people, and, it is possible that a tall person could end up wearing a short person’s shirt, but it does not seem feasible that everyone would have a short shirt.
Now I realise that there were tall and short people, and, it is possible that a tall person could end up wearing a short person’s shirt, but it does not seem feasible that everyone would have a short shirt.
Here we see some
woodland Indian interpreters. Only one of which is wearing his shirt short.
Anyone else have
thoughts on the length of trade shirts?
Keith.
More Info on Indian shirts here: http://woodlandindianclothing.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.nativetech.org/seminole/plainshirt/plainshirtinstr.php
Keith.
More Info on Indian shirts here: http://woodlandindianclothing.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.nativetech.org/seminole/plainshirt/plainshirtinstr.php
Friday, 25 October 2013
COLONIAL AMERICAN DIGRESSIONS: MILITIA TRAINING DAY
COLONIAL AMERICAN DIGRESSIONS: MILITIA TRAINING DAY: A Colonial Militiaman supplied his own uniform Courtesy of Woodsrunner’s Diary Dear Reader, Militia companies made u...
Monday, 21 October 2013
A Gerry Embleton Image.
Sunday, 20 October 2013
MY NEIGHBOR WELLINGTON: ROQUE GAMEIRO
MY NEIGHBOR WELLINGTON: ROQUE GAMEIRO: Here's a link to a page which post illustrates an author who's pictures I have used in the past. Roque Gameiro was a teacher, lith...
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Monday, 14 October 2013
French and Indian War - Ptenský Dvorek 2013
My thanks to the Flintlock and Tomahawk blog for this video.
Sunday, 13 October 2013
MY NEIGHBOR WELLINGTON: Palhares, a link
MY NEIGHBOR WELLINGTON: Palhares, a link: It seems that this month I'll be posting some links to interesting data. This time it's about an author who's drawing I have p...
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Metals and Trades.
Metals and Trades in
the 18th Century.
1640-1760
There can be
little doubt that the demand for arms caused by the Civil War benefited
Birmingham. The tradition is that one Robert Porter (who certainly had a
blademill) supplied the parliamentary forces with 15,000 swords and was
punished by Prince Rupert, when he sacked the town in 1643, by having his mill
pulled down. (fn. 50) But there
were numerous other mills of this kind in the area and the trade flourished.
Holford Mill was certainly producing blades in 1654. (fn. 51) It is
noticeable how many of the Birmingham blade mills figure in leases for the
first time in the period round 1650, suggesting some competition for their
tenure. (fn. 52)
Some idea of
the distribution of trades after the Restoration may be gained from the
analysis of the hearth tax returns. (fn. 53) There were
still eleven identifiable tanners and a few textile workers. The largest clue
to trades consists of the 178 smiths' hearths returned in 1683, (fn. 54) although
these may have served many different occupations. There was only one sword
cutler so termed but there were 11 other cutlers, 2 grinders, a hiltmaker, 3
bladesmiths, a long cutler, a short cutler, and a sheathmaker, and any of these
might have produced swords or, by 1663, ploughshares. In 1710 there was a
razor-grinder in Edgbaston Street. (fn. 55)
There were also
2 bucklemakers, a scalemaker, a pewterer, 2 bellowsmakers, 8 ironmongers, 2
nailers, 5 locksmiths, a wiredrawer, (fn. 56) an
ironfounder, and a man occupied in soldering and leadwork. But since most
inhabitants are not, in fact, positively identifiable, we have to treat this
list as a sample of trends rather than a census. There is other evidence for
some of these occupations at this time. Pewterware of undoubted 17th-century
origin bears a Birmingham mark. (fn. 57) At least one
Birmingham locksmith of the period achieved a national reputation (fn. 58) and there
were several others. (fn. 59) The
principal new trade of the late 17th century, however, was gunmaking. We have
little direct evidence concerning the Hadley family, who are said to have been
the first important makers. (fn. 60) Documentary
proof begins only with the intercession by Sir Richard Newdigate, of Arbury, on
behalf of the Birmingham musketmakers, which secured them important government
contracts. (fn. 61) By 1692, as
the Company of Gunmakers of Birmingham, they had clearly a reputation and a
corporate organization, (fn. 62) which
suggests that they had been practising their craft for some time. They could
undertake to make 200 muskets a month and to have them proved at Birmingham
according to the Tower proof. By 1707 they were feeling important enough to
complain of the competition of the London gunmakers and to threaten national
well-being with the removal of 400 men to 'some other nation' if nothing was
done for them. (fn. 63) Here again,
we have a case of capital being provided by a landowner, for Newdigate, when
the gunmakers were short of ready cash in 1696, advanced them £700 on the
security of their output. (fn. 64) Apart from
the original makers listed in the 1693 contract (William Bourne, Thomas Moore,
John West, Richard Weston and Jacob Austin), we find repeated mention of Samuel
Vaughton from 1707. (fn. 65) Some
specialization was introduced at an early stage. There was, for example, a
gunbarrel maker in 1708. (fn. 66) The 1693
contract specified engraved locks and brass components, and no doubt these
would be the products of specialists. We know little about the fate of the
trade after the end of the war period in 1713 but the skill continued. The
leading maker in 1730 is reported to have been one Jordan. (fn. 67) One of John
Wyatt's backers in his experiments with a file-cutting machine (fn. 68) was a
gunmaker called Richard Heeley (c. 1732).
The
diversification of metal products can be traced more exactly early in the 18th
century. The existence of braziers testifies to the manufacture of seamed or
jointed goods. (fn. 69) A
candlestickmaker is mentioned in 1729, (fn. 70) and the
number of founders or casters, including bell-founders, was on the increase. (fn. 71) By 1733
there was a gearmaker, (fn. 72) and,
although he probably made only wooden gear for mills, he would use quantities
of iron nails, pins, and sheathing. A smoothing-iron maker emerges in 1721 (fn. 73) and a
tiresmith in 1725. (fn. 74) The mention
of the tiremaker is significant as coinciding with a well-attested increase in
interest in road transport. (fn. 75) Richard
Baddeley of Old Square, who was the first Birmingham man to hold a patent for
an invention, was concerned in 1722 with the making of 'streaks' for binding
cart and wagon wheels and for smoothing irons made of pig iron. (fn. 76) Baddeley is
variously described as an ironmonger and a gunsmith and had a furnace at
Rushall (Staffs.). Local supplies did not meet the needs of all these trades
and we know that the ironmongers had to look further afield to augment the
supplies coming from north Warwickshire, south Staffordshire, and the lower
Stour valley. Even Sweden and the American colonies were beginning to supply
the Midlands with iron (fn. 77) and by 1757
petitions testify to the importance of this source of supply. (fn. 78) Whereas the
makers of bits and stirrups and of relatively expensive steel toys required
only small quantities of metal, any shortage of raw material would place the
nailers and the founders of grates, patten rings, and other mass-produced goods
in much greater difficulties. In 1726 the heavy traffic in iron and coal in
Digbeth was causing comment (fn. 79) - but the
1,000 tons of pig iron and 500 tons of bar iron produced in Warwickshire in
1717 would scarcely have been enough to cause this or provide working materials
for all Birmingham. Thus we find Swedish iron as raw material for Kettle's
steelhouses (fn. 80) and, when
Swedish supplies temporarily failed, we read of the first attempts to increase
American production. Joseph Farmer, the Lloyds' predecessor as tenant of the
old Digbeth corn mill which his family converted into a slitting mill for
nailers' iron, went to Virginia in 1718 to try to increase the supply. (fn. 81) In Sweden,
as in America, timber for charcoal was plentiful and, although by this time
Abraham Darby knew how to smelt iron with coke, the secret was clearly not
communicated to the ironmasters round Birmingham, for the evidence points to
stagnating or even declining production at a time when demand was clearly
increasing. (fn. 82) On the other
hand, the rationalization of raw material supplies, with the opening of trade
routes and improvement of transport, was in itself an incentive to production
on a larger scale.
One good example
of this increase in the scale of production was the nailing industry, then
still located in Birmingham proper, though by the end of the century being
driven further westwards. We have noticed nailers in various parts of the
present city area in the 16th and 17th centuries. Nails were invariably hand
made, one at a time, at least until 1780 and increased production was only
achieved by specialization and the extensive use of female and juvenile labour.
The iron was prepared by rolling the heavy bars into sheets and then slitting
the thin sheet into rods which, in turn, were rolled into rods of the gauge
required for the particular nail. The rods were cut and headed and pointed by
the nailer at his domestic forge. Technically the most complex operation was slitting,
and in the 18th century there was an increase in slitting mills compared with
blade mills. Thus Nechells Park Mill which, produced blades in the time of
Thomas Banks and during the 17th century, was a slitting mill by 1746-7. (fn. 83) Farmer's
slitting mill had been Porter's blade mill and was then used for corn grinding.
(fn. 84) There are
many similar examples of this change of use. (fn. 85) The rolling
process was also used to produce sections other than nailers' rods and, apart
from those associated with slitting mills, we have evidence of other rolling
mills (fn. 86) multiplying
in the earlier part of the 18th century. We have already notices of wiredrawers
in the previous century: these were probably the first to use rollers for
sections, whereas the slitting mills used broad rollers for sheets, either for
fabrication or for the cutting of blanks by stamping and pressing. When these
trades became more important later, both water and then steam-driven rolling
mills were erected in all parts of the Midlands.
Of the nail
trade itself, we have few records. The individual establishment was, and
remained, very small indeed, practically all the production being on a family
scale. The nailers were, in the 17th century as in the 19th, the poorest and
most despised of all workers. In the teeth of uninterrupted poverty generations
clung to the trade which offered mere survival in good times and starvation in
bad. In 1655, John Sanders of Harborne, who was himself an ironmonger and knew
his local nailers well, appealed to them to co-operate in a strike against the
'Egyptian Taskmasters' (the ironmongers) who exploited the helpless small men.
(fn. 87) Richard
Baxter, thirty years later, also characterized the iron-workers as living in
poverty but included not only nailers but different sorts of smiths and thought
their poverty was to be preferred to the insecurity of the small husbandman - a
view which would hardly have commended itself to most observers, especially in
later ages. (fn. 88) The nailers
were frequently in debt to the ironmonger for their raw materials and entirely
dependent on them for their sales. Fortunately for the well-being of the
population of the town of Birmingham, nail-making practically disappeared from
the inner area by the end of the 18th century. The reasons for this change are
not entirely clear but probably W. H. B. Court is correct in thinking that the
existence of alternative, more lucrative skilled occupations in Birmingham
itself left nailing to poorer areas on the fringes. (fn. 89)
These
alternative occupations, as we have seen, were multiplying in Birmingham.
Already, early in the century, a traveller in Northern Italy commented on the
'fine wares of rock crystal, swords, heads for canes, snuff boxes, and other
fine works of steel' which he had seen in Milan, by remarking, in the margin,
that these things were to be had better and cheaper at Birmingham and London.
The order is significant. (fn. 90) In 1754 a
dictionary of the arts and sciences, under the heading 'Birmingham Hardware
Men', defined Birmingham wares as 'all sorts of tools, smaller utensils, toys,
buckles, buttons, in iron, steel, brass, etc.' (fn. 91) The author
mentioned that such things were made in London and Sheffield as well, but
clearly their home was in Birmingham, with its thousands of artisans, mostly in
the smiths' and cutlers' trades. The remark that those who would be apprenticed
to such trades should be skilled in writing, arithmetic, and book-keeping is
worth noting. The typical Birmingham artisan was a very different creature from
the poor nailer at his forge.
One of the
characteristics of this new trade was the need for other raw materials besides
iron. Steel was required for all ornamental work which could not be allowed to
rust and was often required to sparkle. By the end of the 17th century some
steel was made in south Staffordshire (fn. 92) but, early
in the 18th, at least two steel houses were set up in Birmingham, both shown in
Westley's plan of 1731: (fn. 93) Kettle's in
Steelhouse Lane and Carless's in Coleshill Street, opposite Stafford Street.
Similarly, brass was being used increasingly both for ornaments and for
domestic utensils and we find it locally produced on a large scale for the
first time in Turner's brasshouse, c. 1740, (fn. 94) replacing
the uncertain and expensive supplies previously brought from Bristol (fn. 95) and Cheadle.
The first brass foundry as such comes to our notice in 1715 (fn. 96) using, no
doubt, imported brass. One of the partners in this venture was Walter Tippin,
whose products included both candlesticks and Jews' harps of which, it is said,
he sent away a waggon-load a day. (fn. 97) His partner,
Henry Carver, purchased a blade mill in Northfield in 1727 from Alice Lloyd,
presumably for the rolling of brass for wrought rather than cast articles. (fn. 98)
John Laight is
mentioned in an indenture of 1740 (fn. 99) as a
silversmith but it is most likely that the material was extensively used in the
manufacture of trinkets by the toymakers, like Boulton's father. Its chief use,
in plating, did not begin seriously until Matthew Boulton's own Soho days. The
goldsmiths are less and less in evidence: the trade concentrated on London,
leaving Birmingham the doubtful honour of trying to make a grain or two cover a
large article. The Pembertons, still mentioned as goldsmiths in 1634, (fn. 1) made more out
of iron than they had done out of gold and Richard Grene of the Old Crown
House, Deritend, was apprenticed to a London goldsmith, becoming a freeman in
1666. (fn. 2)
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22964#s3
British Colonial Trade Regulations, 1651-1764
British Colonial Trade Regulations, 1651-1764 Boston Harbor in the 18th century Act/Regulation Date Significance/Features Navigation Act 1651 Required all crews to be at least 1/2 English in nationality Most goods must be carried on English or colonial ships Goal: eliminate Dutch competition from colonial trading routes Navigation Act 1660 Required all colonial trade to be on English ships Master and 3/4 of crew must be English Long list of "enumerated goods" developed, including tobacco, sugar, rice, that could only be shipped to England or an English colony Staple Act 1663 Required goods bound for the colonies shipped from Africa, Asia, or Europe to first be landed in England before shipping to America. Plantation Duty Act 1673 Required colonial ship captains to guarantee that they would deliver enumerated goods to England or suffer financial penalties. Colonial arm of English customs offices established Navigation Act 1696 Further tightened earlier Navigation Acts Created system of admiralty courts to enforce trade regulations and punish smugglers Customs officials given power to issue writs of assistance to board ships and search for smuggled goods Woolens Act 1699 To prevent competition with English producers, prohibited colonial export of woolen cloth. Hat Act 1732 Prohibited export of colonial-produced hats. Molasses Act 1733 All non-English imported molasses taxed heavily to encourage importation of British West Indian molasses. American Revenue Act (Sugar Act) 1764 Lord Grenville institutes new policies to generate revenue by combining new duties on imported goods with strict collectiion provisions. Tax on French West Indies molasses was actually lowered, but enforcement attempted to end bribes and smuggling. Based on American Journey by Goldfied, et al., in addition to other sources. Please cite this source when appropriate: Feldmeth, Greg D. "Early British Colonial Trade Regulations," U.S. History Resources http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html (Revised 24 June 2004).
Friday, 11 October 2013
18th Century Wilderness Living. Experimental Archaeology.
18th
Century Wilderness Living. Experimental Archaeology.
The question that is
always on people’s minds is “what do I carry”. To answer this question you must
first ask yourself what is my persona, and what do I do in daily life. Rarely
will you find a period list showing the equipment, tools and supplies carried
by a woodsman. There are some diaries of travelers and settlers but these
still leave a lot of grey areas, a lot of questions unanswered.
Boone was a hunter first and a farmer second. He did leave home for up to a year at a time, but we don’t know for sure where he was in that time or whether or not he had contact with other people in that time. His long hunts suggest that he did not go far, as his brother was able to return to the settlements for more supplies and horses to carry back the deer skins from that hunt.
What I am more interested in is how did people back then survive in the wilderness long term. What did they need to carry with them knowing that there were no trading posts or settlements where they were going, and they were going too far from the settlements to be able to return on any regular basis?
Boone was a hunter first and a farmer second. He did leave home for up to a year at a time, but we don’t know for sure where he was in that time or whether or not he had contact with other people in that time. His long hunts suggest that he did not go far, as his brother was able to return to the settlements for more supplies and horses to carry back the deer skins from that hunt.
What I am more interested in is how did people back then survive in the wilderness long term. What did they need to carry with them knowing that there were no trading posts or settlements where they were going, and they were going too far from the settlements to be able to return on any regular basis?
The only way I can
find the information I want is to actually go into the woods and see what it
takes to live comfortably, not comfort as we know at home, but relative comfort
under primitive conditions. Most, if not all of the gear we carry is for
comfort of living, that and the fact that much of it is traditionally what our
persona would have owned and carried, we are after all Living Historians first,
and survivalists second. We will not compromise authenticity in any way, unless
our life should depend on it.
So let’s look at the
life of a woodsman who is searching for somewhere in the wilderness to settle,
possibly with others, maybe with family, but maybe alone. What do we need to
survive in the wilderness with relative comfort? First let us make a list of
the things we will need to do whilst in the wilderness, and against this list
mark down what tools we will need to accomplish this chore:
·
Travel: The correct clothing and footwear. Spare moccasins and perhaps
some leather to repair worn out moccasins.
·
Shelter: We do not want to have to construct a brush shelter every
night, indeed we may not need a shelter at all, but when it is raining or
snowing, then a wise traveller will carry a piece of oilcloth to keep him/her
dry.
·
Fire: Fire may not always be needed, but being able to make fire is of
the utmost importance in the wilderness. So we need flint, steel and tinderbox,
and perhaps a fire-bag to keep these in along with some spare tinder and
kindling.
·
Drinking: We will need to keep drinking along the way or we will get
sick. We can follow a river or other water course as much as we are able, but
we can not be sure of having this water source at all times. So it is a good
idea to carry a water bottle or canteen.
·
Eating: We will need food. Some of this will be supplied by dry goods
that we will carry with us, but there will also be a need to hunt and or trap
along the way. We can carry dried meat for hard times, but we need to replace
this supply at every possible opportunity. To do this we will need a good
flintlock gun, a shot pouch and the normal contents, plus spare lead, spare
gunpowder, a powder horn and tools to keep this gun in working order. We may
need to consider carrying spare lock parts or a spare lock. We will need a lead
ladle and ball moulds so we can remould spent lead that we retrieve from shot
game. We will need a hunting knife, a clasp knife, possibly a third spare knife
and a tomahawk.
We will need to carry some snares for small game and possibly some light rope for larger game and for hanging that game.
·
Sleeping: We will need a good wool blanket and the oilcloth we spoke of
earlier.
·
Washing: Having soap to use is a luxury, but one we can afford, at least
for a while. So we will carry a piece of soap and a hair comb to stop our hair
from becoming unmanageable.
·
Cooking: We can quite easily manage to cook meat without a kettle, but a
kettle once again makes life just a little bit easier and it gives us more food
options. So we will carry a small trade kettle. You may also wish to carry a
tin cup for hot drinks.
·
Semi permanent to permanent shelter construction: Much work can be done
with the tomahawk/trade axe, but for heavier cutting jobs a light half-axe
would be very useful. Shelters can be secured with cordage made from plant
fibres, but a more permanent solution is to use wooden pegs. To secure a shelter
with wooden pegs we need to make holes, and using an auger is the best way of
accomplishing that task.
Small auger and gimlet.
Larger auger.
Half-axe.
·
Repairing and replacing clothing: With all clothing repairs and
manufacture we will need needles and thread. These too can be made, but it is
much easier and simpler to carry a housewife sewing kit. This will contain
spare bone buttons, linen thread, some beeswax, needles and possibly some pins.
I also carry some sinew and strips of rawhide. Aside from the housewife we will
also need an awl.
Housewife.
Two awls with a wooden sheath wrapped in light linen waxed thread.
·
Fishing: Fishing is another source of food, and something we should do
at every opportunity. Fish too can be dried to eat later or along the trail. So
we will need some fishing tackle. This should consist of lines and hooks in its
basic form, and a container to secure these items. Weights and floats are
easily made but you may wish to carry these also.
·
Sharpening blades: Your knives and your tomahawk will need sharpening
from time to time, so you will need to carry a whetstone and a metal file.
Now as you can see from this list above, these are all common needs and chores that need to be carried out. The list of items needed to accomplish these tasks may seem long, but really there is no way around this. You could certainly save some weight here and there, but not without compromising a certain amount of comfort. Wilderness living is hard at best, we do not want to make it any harder than it already is.
Our needs for wilderness living obviously go even further that this basic list. There will be ground to prepare for growing crops, perhaps a need to spin and weave. Splitting rails for fencing will require a felling axe and so the list goes on. What you have to decide, is how much of this do you carry? How much do you make on site and what will you need to enable you to make it? If there are other people travelling with you, what do they need to carry? Do they too need to be self-reliant as well as carrying other tools and supplies?
I hope
this has given you something to think about, and I welcome any ideas, questions or thoughts
you may have on 18th century wilderness living and travel.
Take care out there.
Regards, Keith.
Take care out there.
Regards, Keith.
Cotton, linen and leather food bags with a rum bottle and a small bottle for containing iodine.
Shot pouch and contents.
One of four leather gunpowder bags that the author uses to carry spare gunpowder.
The author's flintlock fusil.
Tools and spare lock parts.
Turn screw and screw.
Thursday, 10 October 2013
History of Canada - Episode 4: Battle for a Continent (Documentary)
History of Canada - Episode 4: Battle for a Continent (Documentary)
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Monday, 7 October 2013
Sunday, 6 October 2013
MY NEIGHBOR WELLINGTON: Wellington's dispatches online
MY NEIGHBOR WELLINGTON: Wellington's dispatches online: http://www.wtj.com/archives/wellington/ Here you can find Wellington's dispatches online from 1808 to 1815, all sorted out by dtaes, e...