New Additions To My Equipment.

17th-century Jamestown settlers unwind silk fiber from cocoons

detail of a painting by NPS artist Sydney King

I know, usually I am looking to remove things from my knapsack, but I had a reason to add some things recently. A long time ago a close friend sent me some spools of silk thread, & I had never got round to winding this silk thread onto a thread winder. I didn't want to make the common thread winder, because I didn't think this would fit my persona to have more than one of these period winders, so I made two winders out of some rawhide. I am not likely to use this silk thread for sewing, as I have plenty of linen thread for that purpose, but I had thought to try using it as fishing line & for tying flies.
Sewing thread was sold in skeins, & then wound onto thread winders.

Skein of silk thread.

http://bebetaian.blogspot.com/2012/10/for-sale-nishijin-silk-thread-orange.html;

The two crudely made rawhide silk thread winders that I made.

I am unlikely to use this silk thread for sewing, as I have plenty of linen thread for that purpose, but I thought to try this silk thread for fishing line & for tying flies.

The second item is a small parts pouch. I have no documentation for this, just my own personal need to have some sort of container to put the parts of my fusil into when I am stripping it down in the forest. This pouch is made of leather, & I intend to tie it to the trigger guard of my fusil.

My gun parts pouch.

The Crooked Knife, or Mocotaugan.

"Captain John Gyles, writing of his captivity about 1696 by the Maliseet Indians in Maine, observed that the crooked knife was part of every man’s equipment".

 http://www.mocotauganthebook.com/nature.html.

The crooked knife is a one handed drawknife, and the term "crooked" referes as far as I understand it to the handle, not the blade. Because I have images of crooked knives with straight blades. The crooked knife is used to make many objects, from canoes and canoe paddles to wooden spoons. The unique shape of the handle enables the user to assert a lot of power safely but just flexing the wrist.
I just made a crooked knife this morning out of the blade from a hoof scraper which I had to heat and reshape and then harden again, and a piece of wood cut from some dead pussy willow. I carved out the recess for the blade after final reshaping of the handle. The blade I secured to the handle with two brass screws. Then I bound the whole with wet rawhide and let it dry. Wet rawhide is flexible and stretches a little. When it dries it shrinks and hardens.

Crooked Knife 1720-1800.