Archaeology. Tin Cups & A Wire Bail.

Some time ago I wrote an article about some tin cup fragments that had been found without handles, and that also a wire bail was found with these same fragments (http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/early-to-mid-18th-century-tin-cups.html). Based on this information I made myself a tin cup with a wire handle, but I was never sure whether the wire bail was like a bail on a kettle, or whether it meant a wire handle. Anyway I have since then used my cup in the field, and as I was trying to lighten my pack, I decided to try and use the tin cup with the leather wrapped wire handle for cooking as well as drinking. This did not work. Firstly it was difficult to heat water in the cup without burning the leather on the handle, secondly I found it inconvenient to only have the one vessel. I could not drink and eat at the same time.

Having given this problem further thought I decided to make a second cup with a wire bail, but this time I would make a wire bail such as found on kettles, so I could hang my tin cup over the fire. Given the primary evidence of the two cups found and the presence of the wire bail, this seems to me to be a reasonable thing to do. I used an old spare ball mould as a pair of pliers and constructed the bail without punching holes in the tin.

Original tin cups shown as found. Taken from the PDF.

1 ¼ pounds of iron and brass wire, both thick and thin.
Ft Pontchartrain 1747.
http://www.timothyjkent.com/pontchartrainexcerpts.htm

http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?keywords=fur+trade&startat=61&irn=10295819

Examples of gold and silver jewellery dating back to early Egyptian times exist which incorporated hand woven wire meshes, but the earliest evidence of the development of wire weaving on looms for industrial purposes appears to be in the early part of the 18th Century. Wire drawing had existed prior to this for many hundreds of years on a simple scale. Iron ingots were beaten to a flat sheet which was then cut into strips, hammered round, and pulled through a stone die and many products were made from hand wrought wire.

http://www.lockergroup.com/history-of-wire-weaving.asp

Twisted wire forks have been unearthed at several 18th-century military camp sites.1 These may have been available through the army sutlers, but more than likely were fashioned out of scraps of wire by the soldiers themselves. 

http://www.nwta.com/courier/11-96/forks.html

The east well at Bloomsbury yielded two moderately well preserved tin cups and some flattened tin. A wire bail handle (Figure 94, page 239) appeared to belong with the tinware. As the pieces of tin were sorted, it became apparent that the flattened tin included a damaged bottom and part of a side of a tapered vessel. The cups and fragments were taken to Richard Haddick, a historical tinsmith in Wyoming, Delaware, for interpretation and replication. Haddick concluded that there were three fully reproduceable vessels: two cups and a basin. As nearly as possible, the construction methods of the eighteenth-century originals were duplicated, using hot-dipped tinplate of the type that was available to the original maker.

http://nativeamericansofdelawarestate.com/Bloomsbury/19__0013.pdf

Cooking Utensils For Wilderness Living.

Cooking Utensils For Wilderness Living.

Now there is no doubt that a variety of cooking utensils are useful, but are they really necessary? When you are carrying everything on your back, weight and bulk is a concern, because you need to priorities. The items of major importance for me are: water, gunpowder, lead, and food. So let’s take a look at what is available to you for cooking that will satisfy all your needs.

I carry food in bags inside my kettle which site sideways into my knapsack and sits squarely in the middle of my back, which is a comfortable feeling!!! 

I chose to carry a trade kettle because to me it is the most versatile piece of equipment. I can use it as a bucket for carrying water or berries; I can boil water for purification or for a hot drink. It will cook stews nicely and boil dry foods. If I want to cook bread I can do it on a hot rock or in the ashes. If I want to roast meat I can put it on a stick in front of the fire. I do not need to fry my foods so I do not need a skillet or a frying pan. This saves me a lot of weight and bulk.

I also carry a tin cup, so if I am cooking a meal in my kettle, I can still get myself a hot drink by boiling the water in my tin cup. There is evidence of this being done in the 18th century, as the remains of tin cups have been found with replacement wire handles, the original handles being soldered on having fallen off in the heat of the fire. 

The pot hook I make from a piece of wood easily enough with my clasp knife, so there is nothing else I need to carry. My wooden spoon and my hunting knife serve as eating utensils.
Take care on the trail.
Keith.