made more Hard Tack for this weekends adventures.....Greek Table Pitas, popped into the oven for several hours on low heat with the door cracked open . Hard and crunchy
More i made and less of a Quick sew job today! I recently added a Nalgene brand canteen to my HC cook set. This made the whole setup in pouch about 1 inch taller.So I stripped off all the extra little pouches on the outside of the pouch and the used the scraps to sew “wings” onto the cover flap and now the whole setup now fits and is completely covered and protected All spread out with new “wings” visible and small outside pouches removed. “Wings” tucked around bottle Completely closed and protected.
Another pouch modification today I’m a sucker for older cool gear so i wanted to make sure this last another good 30 or 40 years. By the time I’m done the canvas will rot away before it falls apart otherwise. Started with a M14 Magazine pouch I snagged in the pass around box (Borrowed photos as I forgot to take some before photos..) Started by cutting the back off and removing the metal snaps. Next I reinforced the belt loop portion by adding a good strip of webbing/ strap material. Pulled it mostly apart and reinforced or re sewed all the seems. Saved as much as I could of the lower part that had the holes I removed. Rolled the edges up and made the bottom smoother. You can see in this photo where I used a jumper foot to reenforce the fraying areas around the removed straps. ( this is a almost finished photo. This is before the final bottom seem was sewn and then strings clean up) The left side of the photo is the top and if you look it will now easily fit up to a 2 inch belt.( the back acted a the loop before plus I added the webbing) Almost finished condition view of the front. I the end what for? Well I don’t really know mostly to practice sewing I am Sure I can find some use 4 it.
Really really nice! I have 2 canteens with SS cups I got from a "Boy Scouts" box. I like them but it's heck getting the cups out. I've considered stripping out the insulation to get a looser fit....
Rough sketched a concept for mounting pouches at any angle, any position, on a load bearing vest or tactical vest/pack/belt, which would also have the matching pattern laser cut or precision stamped out. Very well ventilated like mesh, but way more durable than mesh. The concept cuts the weight of the fabric by 50% as well Also cut out the first pattern for my load bearing webbing platform development, on paper. No pics. Gonna be like that for a while.
Jump sheath that came with my Grohmann #3 wasn't up to my standard (5oz long hairy grain leather, soft and flimsy). So having just received a double shoulder of 10oz Craftsman Oak, I decided to make a new one. Wet formed, fully dried, dyed with three applications of British Tan Fiebings, thoroughly oiled inside and out with Obenauf's Leather Oil (which leaves the leather stiff and strong, but also supple enough for the flap to move, etc). Saddle stitched with waxed braided nylon thread, recessed stitching for the belt loop on the inside to prevent wear, #12 brass harness rivet at the top, Pull The Dot snap also recessed on the inside. Finally finished off by sanding the edge flush up to 400 grit, dyed, oiled and burnished. All in, about 12 hours of work over two days.
innertube waterproof tinder pouch. got this idea from my old neighbor in the Kootenays, I remember he used to have several waterproof rubber pouches he carried on him, one with a bag of pipe tobacco, one with a candle and matches and SAK. I think he used an old motor bike inner tube. for this i used a bicycle inner tube 26" x 1.75, cut about 12" long) stuff with a good amount of PJCB, push towards the center. fold (or roll) over each end about 1", twice and fold each folded end towards each other tightly. Any residual vaseline will help seal the tube. rolled secure with a broccoli rubber band or 5COL's large Ranger Bands both the contents, the ranger band and the innertube are flammable. Entire thing is waterproof, floats, and can used for fire starting. you could just rubber cement the ends, but i feel this much more waterproof and reliable than rubber cement. Allows for easy access with cold hands too.
Finally got around to starting the bar. Got everything except I haven't decided what to wrap the base with. I'm torn between T1-11 and lattice. Both look nice.
5160 blade triple normalized then quenched in peanut oil, white oak handle sealed with beeswax, mild steel guard and pommel that were heated and quenched in rotella. 36"-ish OAL, 3.5 pounds, balance point 4" down from the guard. right after taking the pic, I "field tested" is by cutting down the elm sapling in the background on the right
It was a Making / Modifying day #1 Good belt sander/ disk sander combo burned up Yesterday. Today I bought a new Belt sander/ disk sander combo. It’s a Older style requiring a special mounting bracket And had a stick on no velcro Disk . So I Stole the old style mounting brackets from old disk sander and reused for the new sander. Then I Carefully removed sanding disk from old sander and placed on new one so it’s now accepts velcro backed sandpaper disks. #2 I had 2 old and not great condition 5 inch bench grinders... Also I needed a new cloth wheel buffer machine. So I took the first grinder and cut, Drilled, hand Grinded and removed the Guard from one side of grinder. Then I converted it to a 6 inch buffer wheel I then took the best parts from both grinders and consolidated so I have a new to me nicer 5 inch grinder 6 inch buffer combo. #3 I am finally 95% done with a knife for bushcraft class. BUT it required me to complete the first 2 before I could even think about working on the the knife.
Finally with Pictures for previous post plus today modifications. Previously I had converted one side of the first grinder below to a buffing wheel and stole parts from another grinder to make the grinding stone side work. The second photo is from Today I took the parted out grinder ( sorry no before picture) I removed all the wheel guards and sharp edges so I can convert it to a buffing wheel and a paper wheel (Idea from bushcraft class) For reference todays grinder had the same style guards as the first photo. A Hacksaw, Grinder and belt sander were all needed for the job I still need to wire brush and derust a little on the shafts from the previously wire wheels BUT good progress IMO.
What did you use to glue the leather on? I used contact cement on mines, it was holding- until curiosity got the better of me and I start pulling on it. To my surprise, it wasn't being held on that well.