Tools Of The Trade UPDATE.

I have updated my equipment of late, I removed the pewter bolster from my hunting knife & fitted a new handle. This one as you can see is antler. Also shown is my fairly new clasp knife.

Keith.

1733 Hudson Bay Trade Goods.

In 1733 at the Albany Post, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold goods at the following rates:  

Item	#MB		Item	#MB
¾ pound coloured beads	1		1 file	1
1 brass kettle	1		20 gunflints	1
1 pound lead	1		1 gun [probably a musket]	10-12
1 ½ pounds gunpowder	1		1 pistol	4
2 pounds sugar	1		1 gun-worm	1
2 pounds “Brazil” tobacco	1		1 pair yarn gloves	1
1 ½ pounds leaf tobacco	1		2 goggles	1
1 ½ pounds roll tobacco	1		1 handkerchief	1
1 pound thread	1		1 hat	1
1 ½ ounce vermillion	1		2 hatchets	1
1 gallon brandy	1		8 hawk bells	1
2 yards broad cloth	1		2 ice chisels	1
1 blanket	1		8 knives	1
12 awls	1		2 looking glasses	1
12 dozen buttons	1		12 needles	1
1 pair breeches	1		2 net lines	1
2 combs	1		2 powderhorns	1
2 red feathers	1		6 plain rings	1
20 fish hooks	1		3 stone rings	1
4 fire steels	1		2 scrapers	1
2 sword blades	1		1 pair stockings	1 ¼
4 spoons	1		2 sashes	1
2 shirts	1		6 thimbles	1
1 pair shoes	1		2 tobacco boxes	1

The Hudson's Bay Company eventually introduced coins to facilitate the fur trade. The coins were minted of brass or copper and were issued in units of Made Beaver. The coins were paid to the Indian hunter for the furs he brought in.  The coins could then be spent like cash inside the Hudson's Bay Company store.

In 1821 Nicholas Garry of the Hudson’s Bay Company writes about his trade in the Hudson Bay drainage basin and stated:      

1 hatchet = 2 beaver

 1 trade gun=11 beaver

 1 3-gallon kettle=6 beaver

Beaver at this time were worth about $6 and a small axe could be purchased in Montreal for 50 cents or less. 

http://www.mman.us/tradegoods.htm 

Historical Trekking. The Advantages of using a Copper Water Bottle. Purification.

Copper water bottle on the far left.

https://vasantihealth.com/blogs/news/the-truth-about-storing-water-in-copper-vessels-debunking-the-myths

https://www.copperh2o.com/blogs/blog/copper-water-bottles-and-scientific-research

Some Of My Equipment. Crusoe's Plunder.

I called this image "Crusoe's Plunder". I have always loved the thought of being able to collect anything & everything I wanted from a wrecked ship.

Tumplines.

Northeastern Woodland Indian Tumpline.

http://collections.historymuseum.ca/public/pages/cmccpublic/alt-emupublic/Display.php?irn=35435&QueryPage=Query.php&lang=0;

Warrior tie or burden strap, tumpline made of hemp.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=1310769001&objectid=537933;

Woven burden strap, carrying-strap made of hemp, hair (moose), beads.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=1062839001&objectid=518437;

Tumpline Article on our Group Forum By Swampfox: http://eighteenthcenturylivinghistory.freeforums.org/tumpline-build-along-t1520.html

The Well Equipped Woodsrunner.

This post is just to encourage people to improve on their equipment when ever they have the opportunity. In our busy lives we can sometimes lose track of the things that are truly important to us, things that give us pleasure, and in some cases security. These things are worth spending time and money on when they are available.
Collecting things is fun, but be careful to distinguish between what you like to have in your possession and what you need to carry in your pack and on your person. There must be some compromise between minimum weight & maximum self-reliance.

The compass is probably not a necessity, but it can make life easier when moving in unknown territory. The angling tackle and flint and steel to me are a priority.

Knapsack equipped for a long stay in the woods, with the added market wallet, oilcloth secured under the flap closure, blanket roll containing extra clothing for winter use and spare moccasins. 

I very much doubt that woodsrunners carried much in the way of a medical kit, possibly some herbs. But I think that anyone who spends time away from home in the woods should carry a medical kit regardless. This kit of mine is very basic, but if I were travelling far long term, I would be packing a modern medical kit.

Shot pouch and contents. Make sure you have a ball mould & lead ladle for re moulding spent ball retrieved from shot game.

Patched ball was not commonly used in smoothbores, and at the rages in which I hunt I have no need for great accuracy, but I do carry two patched ball in a loading block for faster reloading if I should need it.

These tools, grease, spare flint leather and flints are carried in my shot pouch.

These spare lock parts and tools are carried in my knapsack.

Carrying a quality powder horn is essential, it does not have to be flash looking, but it does have to be serviceable. No leaks at spout plug or base plug, and the base plug should NEVER be glued. It should be sealed with beeswax only, and secured with metal pins.

One of three gunpowder bags that I can use to carry extra gunpowder should I need to. A lighter option than carrying extra powder horns. When empty I use this one to carry spare tinder for fire lighting.

Good blades are essential to wilderness living and survival. Choose wisely, only use them for their intended purpose and look after them.

Rifle or smoothbore long gun is your choice. Consider what type of game you are likely to be hunting, and the type of area you are likely to be hunting in. Also consider your capabilities regarding weight of the arm and your eyesight.

A good pistol for a back-up can be useful, and sometimes necessary. Choose a pistol that matches your longarm if you can, especially if it is a rifle. Other options are smoothbore pistols and you can carry shot. I carry a .62 caliber fusil, but my pistol is .70 caliber. However I can still use shot, and I can use a leather patched . 60 caliber ball in this pistol.
This is a left hand lock pistol, so I can carry it under my equipment belt on the right hand side. I am not left handed.

These two leather covered glass water flasks have proved to work very well. Not too heavy, and easy to accommodate in my pack and haversack.

I tend to alternate between carrying my kettle or my tin cup. The cup is obviously lighter, but the kettle holds more. I think that when travelling alone the tin cup suits my purpose better, & if I am in company, then someone else can carry the kettle!

I do carry other items such as soap, comb, whetstone, metal file, wooden spoon, awl, housewife sewing kit etc, but these are personal choices that some may not bother carrying.

The housewife sewing kit how ever does have other uses besides repairing clothing, shelter & packs. The needles are good for removing splinters and if necessary used to sew up a wound that can not be closed with a bandage. 

A SAILOR’S POSSESSIONS. A Blog Link.

COLONIES, SHIPS, AND PIRATES

Concerning History in the Atlantic World,

http://csphistorical.com/2015/07/07/a-sailors-possessions/

Equipment, Comfort and Weight. Historical Trekking and Survival.

Equipment, Comfort and Weight.

Historical Trekking and Survival.

Choosing the equipment you need to match your persona takes time and research. It has to be within your period, or earlier. Any items out of character need a good story to back up its use. Then on top of all this, you have the need to keep it as light as you can. But within these factors is the function of survival. So the items you choose for Historical Trekking, must be practicle, useful.

How much did an 18^th century woodsrunner carry in the woods? Well if he was just hunting close to home, very little except possibly a belt pouch and a shot pouch. But longer journeys taking them further from home would require more equipment and probably some trail foods. Some I have no doubt carried very little, perhaps a blanket and some food in a haversack. These woodsrunners chanced to luck that nothing would befall them, and that they would be able to find plenty of game to keep them alive. Bread could be made from flour and water, mixed right in the flour bag. Meat could be skewered on a pointed stick and cooked in front of the fire.

For the woodsrunner who chose to travel light, survival was a gamble. If they should get sick, or wounded in some way, with no simple medical supplies their lives were at risk. With no kettle to boil water, no cloth strips to cover a wound. No water canteen and perhaps no water nearby. In wet and cold weather they had only their blanket to keep them reasonably dry. Making a fire would be important, and I doubt any would travel anywhere without flint, steel and tinderbox. Would they have carried fishing tackle in their belt pouch? Some would, some would not.

Whilst researching we may come across period accounts mentioning various items a particular person may have carried, Daniel Boone for instance once stated in his journal “leaving me by myself, without bread, salt or sugar”. So from this comment we can assume that Boone carried bread and or flour, and also salt and sugar. Salt I carry, sugar never. I don’t take sugar with anything, and from experience, I know that sugar carried in a wilderness pack is likely to attract ants when in camp. But obviously Boone thought sugar to be an important item, which brings us to the subject of “comfort”.

Most of what I carry in my pack can be said to be comfort items. Those of you that like me live in the woods, will have much the same skills that I have. We know that should we lose all our equipment whilst away from home, that we can survive, it just won’t be comfortable. Experience is our guide, and it may direct us to carry some items that others would not carry. Having had my gun fail me many years ago, I now carry tools and spare lock parts just in case it should ever happen again. But as I get older, I am aware of more physical limitations, old wounds come to plague me and the weight of my pack slows me down. I can use my Flintlock Fusil even if the lock should break, so I am considering removing these tools and spare parts from my pack to lighten my load.

The transition from English born country boy to New World woodsrunner has been a long one. As I gained experience, my pack became lighter in some areas, and heavier in others. Eventually I got to the stage in my elder years where I considered I had achieved the right choice of equipment, a compromise between minimum weight, and maximum self-reliance. Now though with more skills under my belt, and a body that can no longer take the punishment it used to, I am having to lighten my load even further. I will have to abandon the method of “what if” in lightening my load, or I will end up putting it all back in my pack again. I must now gamble that I will never need those items that made me feel more secure in my travels.
But comfort in my latter years is something that I will not completely abandon. I will still carry my oilcloth for use as a shelter, tea I will brew in my tin cup instead of carrying a kettle. With the brass kettle gone, plus the gun tools and spare lock parts; that may be enough. I must wait and see. But if ever I should have to move from this place with my family, then survival and security must take precedent over the perceived ability to carry a heavier load again, and I must do the best I can and carry my share.

Take care out there.

Keith.

Gear On A Budget. Videos.

My Equipment In Close-Up, By Request. Video.

Equipment Carry Video.

What To Carry and Reasons Not To.

What to Carry and Reasons Not To.

Time and time again throughout history we read about a common person who neglected to carry one piece of equipment or another and how they managed to survive without it. In most cases this survival was touch and go. The ones that did not survive were not able to tell their tale. All the reading and research I have done over the years has lead me to several conclusions, one of those is that the average common woodsrunner was not a very smart person. So maybe we should not be trying to emulate the average woodsrunner, perhaps we would be better off learning from our own experiences and just be ourselves.

Now I know I have mentioned this incident before, but the reason I use it is because it is so typical and yet surprising at the same time. I am referring to the time when Gist and Washington were travelling together in winter with only one blunt hatchet between them. With this blunt hatchet they cut enough timber to make a raft so they could cross the Allegheny River. By all accounts they got the job done, but can you imagine how hard the work would have been? This incident poses several questions for me, one, why was this hatchet blunt? The easy answer to this question is surely that gist was not carrying a whet stone. So then I ask myself why he was not carrying a whet stone. The answer to this one has to be because he did not want to carry the extra weight. Can we assume that he intended to use a creek stone for sharpening? Maybe so, but he didn't did he! So his work was made all that much more difficult.

Washington's Crossing (Allegheny River)

Frankly it does not really matter what the reasons are for not carrying a particular item, it is up to us to review each item and make up our own minds as to what is needed and what is not. If not carrying something means that you intend to make it when you need it, then consider this; making an item will cost you time, and once you have gone to the time and trouble to make this item, be it a bone needle or a bone awl, or a whet stone etc, are you likely to discard this item after making it? If your answer is no, then you may just as well equip yourself with this item in the first place and save yourself the time and trouble of making one.

Some packs are going to be heavier than you would have liked, but you have to compromise between maximum self-reliance, and minimum weight. Think about your trekking scenario, you may only be trekking to the bottom of your back yard, but how far would you really be travelling if this trek were real? How long are you likely to be away? Have you taken into consideration that things may not go as planned and you could be away for a lot longer?

To me, my equipment is very basic. I have lived an 18^th century lifestyle for over 20 years, & used this same type of equipment for over 30 years. Yes I have questioned the 20 LBS of weight in and tied onto my knapsack many times, but each time I have reviewed my knapsack contents critically, I end up putting it all back in again. Probably the heaviest piece of equipment in my knapsack is my brass trade kettle. Now obviously I know that I can make do without this item, I can roast meat, and I could use my tin cup to boil water, but making stews would not amount to much, I could not boil much water to replenish my canteen, I could not catch as much rain water in my cup as I can in the kettle. So the kettle stays in my pack.

The heaviest item on my knapsack is probably my blanket roll, but there is only one blanket, and in winter I consider this a necessity. Think realistically. There will be nights when it is not safe to make a fire, how will this affect you? You will have to rely on what you carry to keep you warm, if not warm then at least alive! You will have to be content with eating foods that do not require cooking; you will be drinking water and not tea. If you have to leave camp quickly in the night, will your gear allow you to do that without leaving items behind? Leaving items behind is a sure way to let people know you have been there. This is the problem with carrying your gear in a blanket roll instead of a bag. In order to use the blanket, you have to take out all your gear. For a similar reason I no longer roll my blanket up in my oilcloth, because if it rains on the trail, I would have to untie my blanket roll from my pack and all the time getting wet. As it is, I simply grab the oilcloth & throw it over me and my equipment and sit it out. Or I can make a quick shelter.

I hope this short article will give you something to think about, we are all individuals, and therefore have our own needs and ideas of what should be carried and what should not. Experience is a great teacher, so get out there and test yourself and your equipment and set yourself a realistic scenario whether you are in your back yard or out in the woods for an overnighter. Think about how it would really be like.

Keith.

18th Century Wilderness Living; Pack Items.

18^th Century Wilderness Living; Pack Items.

When living in the wilderness you need to be able to look after yourself, your tools & your equipment. Even if your wife/husband is with you, you still need to be self-reliant. In this way, should you become separated for any reason, then you are both able to survive.

  The awl is used for repairing and making leather and tree bark items, such as moccasins, pouches, belts knife sheaths, containers, and pack straps. It can also function as a tool to remove large splinters. In the image above you can see a wooden sheath bound in waxed linen thread. This wooden sheath is made to fit over the metal shaft of the awl. The top example is one that I made myself, which I now use at home. The lower one is an original awl which once belonged to my Father. It is this lower awl with the wooden sheath that I carry in my pack at all times.

Damage to clothing and equipment is bound to happen sooner or later when travelling in the wilderness; tears in clothing lets in the cold air in winter and the mossies during summer. A tear in your oilcloth will let in the rain. If such damage is left unrepaired, then it is inevitable that these tears will increase in size over time, so it is important to repair them as soon as possible. To this end most woodsrunners carry some for of sewing equipment.

This is my “Housewife”, it contains; needles, two sizes of linen thread, spare buttons, rolls of sinew, and beeswax for waxing the thread and sealing any tears in my oilcloth.

I was once operated on without any rum to dull my brain and only a piece of rolled rag to place between my teeth. I was younger then and yet was so disabled at this time that I fear in my now later years I might not fare so well. So it is then that I determined to carry with me some form of medical equipment and a bottle of rum.

  The rum bottle I have secured in an old leather drawstring pouch. My medical provisions though very little do hopefully serve my needs in the case of injury or snake bite.

A blade is only as good as it is kept, and a blunt blade is of little use at all. So I carry a small metal file and a whet stone. Creek stones can be used, I used one for some time myself, but as soon as I was able I secured a proper whet stone.

These two items are well worth the extra weight, though in truth they both weigh little, but every small item combined with other small items does add weight to your pack.

Keeping reasonably clean is important to me, even though I may go for long periods of time without washing anything but my hands and face. Nothing is more refreshing to me than washing in a cold forest stream first thing in the morning, & after a long walk dipping my feet in cool water and then drying by the fire.

 I have at times washed using wood ashes from my fire, and at other times sand, but nothing compares to using soap. I carry a piece of soap and a broken piece of an ivory comb in a cloth bag.

Trader for Ausie Living Historians & Historical Trekkers.

Just a reminder regarding my friend Mick's "Mopoke's Stock and Trade in Victoria Australia. If Mick does not have what you want in stock, just ask him if he can get it in for you.
http://www.mopokesstockandtrade.com/

It is that time of year.

In the New World, winter seems to be the time for making & reparing, same in England & Europe. But here in Australia summer is the time for looking over ones gear and making any needed repairs or changes. So right now, it-is that time of year.
How did you go on your last historical trek? Too much weight? Did anything break? Does anything need adding to your pack to make life easier in the woods?

I added a market wallet to my pack for carrying extra trail foods. It is secured under the flap on my knapsack. I am much better ballanced this way & more comfortable than carrying extra food in my haversack.