Gear to avoid or "The dutchman might cheat at cards but he wouldn't sell ya a penny knife"

 

Talk on Long hunter gear at Martin's station

Yes I’ve been quiet on here but I’ve been anything but laying low. Over the past few months I ventured from my secret lair and did a few events and met some great people. I was able to finally meet Simeon England at the School of the longhunter this year. Its funny we had both done a lot of the same events and never met and we bonded over the John Redd interview and now he’s stuck having to talk to me forever. Also fun fact I learned is that Blacksmith’s only strike with their right arm when forging so if you decided to arm wrestle Simeon go for the left arm it’s a sure win.

Simeon and Alec at school of the longhunter

                A conversation we had that weekend was the fact that more needs to be done by the hobby as a whole to encourage new folks to get into this weirdness. It was something that we both have been active in for awhile now (why do you think I keep writing this thing, ok a big part is purely Duane related cyber bullying)  This came up during longhunter when Alec from Frontier Trade company on youtube approached me about doing a video going thru his gear and helping him fine tune it. I’ve been talking to Alec for over a year now helping him out and pointing him towards sources to help him out but I was a little apprehensive about doing this. There is a fine line between helping and criticism and I really did not want people thinking I was sitting there being a bully to a new guy. So after we talked it over I decided to give it a try and as of him posting the video it looks like he’ll have over 1,000 views in the 1^st 24 hours.  Frontier trade company

The Dutchman Teaching the basics of whist at School of the longhunter

The dutchman marking cards to cheat me out of money at Martin's station

   So to keep that going I decided to post a few things today on gear for new folks to avoid so they can steer clear of mistakes a lot of us made right out of the gate. I’ll also be nudging the old hornets nest a little because some stuff needs to be said loud and repeatedly.

 

1.       Penny Knives

Ok so a lot of the pieces of gear I’m going to point out suffer the same problem of the turned handle Penny Knife. It’s the complete lack of evidence of their existence during the 18^th century in North America. Looking at archaeological reports from homes, battlefields, native/European settlements you can see a wide variety of cutlery. When you start parsing that down into folding knives you see some killer examples of French folders and Cutteau knives. A variety in sizes on both and blade shapes. What you don’t see is any examples of the “penny knife”.

                Some French folders have a similar shape but they also have that little “stub” on the back to keep the blade from pushing into the handle. Also the handle is more in line with the Siamese knives you see. What few knives you see in “collections” have no other provenance then “old knife” and where more then likely married to a shot bag or collection by a 20^th century collector. From talking with Knife collectors this style of knife pops up in the late 19^th early 20^th century in North America with the migration of folks from Italy. Much like the “Chinese razors”  that you see floating around collections. Its an antique but not the type we are looking for.

 

2 “Penanular Brooches”

                So these became popular in the 1990’s as a way to hold a matchcoat on. They had been in the hobby for awhile creeping in from the SCA/Scottish-esque side of the world. Once again while they are functional for holding on a blanket there is simply NO evidence, they existed here during the 18^th century. Not on “Scottish sites” not on “scotch irish” sites not even on sites you see on ancient aliens once occupied by the Knights Templar.

                The best way to hold on a “matchcoat” is to simply wear one and get used to it. Tucking an end in a button hole, held on with your bag straps, using a gun worm as a pin, buffalo tug tied around your waist. All of these are things that you can find in journals or by trying them in the field. If you want to reenact Elves hanging out with hobbits Penannular brooches are probably great but I think it’s time for us to just say no to them in the hobbie.

               

3 The bizarre haversack hybrid things.

                Ok this is a pretty straight forward one. Hide/coverlet/waxed linen giant possible bags are nothing more then a weird fever dream came up by folks into bushcraft and the 18^th century. There is 0 as in NO basis for these things in the actual 18^th century. No amount of squinting while looking at an image is going to make these correct. Paint whatever slogan you want on a bag with an always crooked piece of scrap leather it doesn’t make it correct.

                I think over 20 years of sharing information I have shown that wallets are the go-to for common folks. That along with sacks (as in just a big linen bag) are the go to for carrying your gear. If you have more gear then will fit into your knapsack or wallet maybe its time to rethink what gear you are carrying? No need to invent something out of thin air. Solve the problem with a period solution.

 

4 Stop using the “frontier” as an excuse

                This is more of a mindset then it is piece of gear. However, it has led to some odd concoctions of linen and leather. The information is out there and we live in the best time Ive seen for finding narratives, journals, ledgers etc.  for free online. You can pick a part of colonial America and find resources for your region with just a little looking. You do not need to reinvent the wheel every time you need a piece of gear.

                The 18^th century backcountry did not exist in a bubble, it was not a place that was walled off from the rest of the world and turned into some kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland. The narratives and journals show folks moved back and forth with surprising regularity. For example, Felix walker’s guys might not have had spare moccasin awls on their journey but they had busted  shoes and fishhooks to switch up into items for making new moccasins. They didn’t just invent some kind of new furry barbarian boot. They made do with what they had on hand to make a known piece of gear to solve the problem. 18^th century problem, 18^th century solution

 

Quick camp set up this spring

I know this is a little bit of a downer as far as tone. No worries I’m not falling back into some anger filled hate post. However sometimes its important to replant your flag to let folks know what you are standing behind.  I’m super excited to see the new folks putting out 18^th century content but with new folks comes the rehashing of the same problems with gear and I’d rather see a guy save his money to buy a good tomahawk then spend it on a top-of-the-line Damascus penannular broach. If you’re looking for a good tomahawk I know a guy…

                Speaking of tomahawks I was recently turned onto a narrative that was new to me by Gerry Neilands. Its Tiger Dunlop's Upper Canada : comprising Recollections of the American war 1812-1814, and Statistical sketches of Upper Canada for the use of emigrants by a Backwoodsman  Now not only did this reignite my drive to finish my 1812 gear( Buffalo Trace 1795?  Too much? ) but his account of tomahawk throwing was pretty insane

They also when there opponents were 15 to 20 yards in advance of them threw their tomahawks with unerring aim and great force bury the hatchet up to the eye in the body of their opponents.

 I afterwards requested the Chief to show me how he threw the tomahawk. He accordingly cut a small chip out of the bark of a tree, and standing some fourteen yards off, and taking his tomahawk with its pole to the front, he threw it, and it was buried some inches into the oak, with the handle upmost, it having turned round in its flight.

 

                Ok 15 yards…that’s crazy.  So being curious I looked up the NMLRA rules on throwing hawks since it’s really the basis most of us use for throwing tomahawks “A minimum of 1 full revolution of tomahawk or knife is required (12 feet minimum)”  From the shoots I’ve gone to and most throws at events seem to stick within this distance.  Throwing a tomahawk at this distance is how the majority of folks I know learned how to throw hawks.

                This brought up a few questions in my mind. Is this another case of our hobbie teaching us the wrong technique for achieving a period goal? To throw a hawk 15 yards you need to put some serious English behind that sucker. 

                And Two to be honest most of us learned how to throw tomahawks using the same type of hand forged “tomahawks”. You know that hawk that most vendors sell for like $20-30 with the replacement handles. The ones that are ¼ inch thicker then the “original” its possibly based on. My first hawk had the weeping heart cut out in it, it was awesome I bought it with money I made for cutting the grass and I regret nothing!

                Anyhow you look at the size of original Poll axes(or simple tomahawks) and they weigh significantly less then our go to throwing hawks. Just something to think about when the next “did they throw tomahawks” debate pops up around the campfire. I’ve already marked off 15 yards from my throwing block and my wife has taken out a new life insurance policy on me so we’ll see how this goes.