Post by spence on Jun 4, 2020 20:23:50 GMT -7
I’ve enjoyed making many small projects for use in my reenacting, especially those involving natural materials which would have been available to the old boys. Gourds are an excellent resource, as is cane, and I’ve used both fairly extensively. I’m no craftsman, so my projects are simple, generally crude and made with nothing but simple hand tools.
Cane was described as growing in great perfusion on the frontier, and I’ve had fun using it. Original Kentucky cane is rare in the state, these days, but I was fortunate to have a very similar species growing in my yard for several years, and I took advantage of it. Most of these projects are what some call coulda-shoulda-woulda, with no solid primary documentation.
I’ve made most use of cane for powder measures or chargers. Cut through the node, cleaned out inside, a hole burned for a lanyard, and bob’s your uncle. A few from my collection, holding from 15 to 110 grains.
One of the first I made was a housewife or hussif, a simple section with a node on one end for a bottom, wrapped in rawhide against splitting, sewn with whitetail sinew.
Nothing could be simpler than a pipe stem made of cane, but it functions very well and is most durable.
Tinder tubes seemed a natural, just a short open section with a node.
A couple of my ball bags use a short section of an appropriate diameter as a spout, and they stand up well to serious abuse.
The one item I have good documentation for is a neat cane fork, from Women in the Texas Revolution, Mary Sheer. In 1831, on the San Bernard river in Texas, Noah Smithwick dined with the family of Thomas B. Bell. Bell lived “in a little pole-cabin in the midst of a small clearing upon which was a crop of corn.” Smithwick described how Bell, his wife, and his children showed “in their every manner the effects of gentle training,” but “the whole family were dressed in buckskin, and when supper was announced, we sat on stools around a clapboard table, upon which were arranged wooden platters. Beside each platter lay a fork made of a joint of cane. The knives were of various patterns, ranging from butcher knives to pocketknives. And for cups, we had little wild cymlings, scraped and scoured until they looked as white and clean as earthenware…”
There is something very satisfying about working with natural materials, both in the making and in the use. All these items have served me well for their intended purpose, show no wear...some after several years…,and are lightweight and pleasant in the hand.
Spence
Cane was described as growing in great perfusion on the frontier, and I’ve had fun using it. Original Kentucky cane is rare in the state, these days, but I was fortunate to have a very similar species growing in my yard for several years, and I took advantage of it. Most of these projects are what some call coulda-shoulda-woulda, with no solid primary documentation.
I’ve made most use of cane for powder measures or chargers. Cut through the node, cleaned out inside, a hole burned for a lanyard, and bob’s your uncle. A few from my collection, holding from 15 to 110 grains.
One of the first I made was a housewife or hussif, a simple section with a node on one end for a bottom, wrapped in rawhide against splitting, sewn with whitetail sinew.
Nothing could be simpler than a pipe stem made of cane, but it functions very well and is most durable.
Tinder tubes seemed a natural, just a short open section with a node.
A couple of my ball bags use a short section of an appropriate diameter as a spout, and they stand up well to serious abuse.
The one item I have good documentation for is a neat cane fork, from Women in the Texas Revolution, Mary Sheer. In 1831, on the San Bernard river in Texas, Noah Smithwick dined with the family of Thomas B. Bell. Bell lived “in a little pole-cabin in the midst of a small clearing upon which was a crop of corn.” Smithwick described how Bell, his wife, and his children showed “in their every manner the effects of gentle training,” but “the whole family were dressed in buckskin, and when supper was announced, we sat on stools around a clapboard table, upon which were arranged wooden platters. Beside each platter lay a fork made of a joint of cane. The knives were of various patterns, ranging from butcher knives to pocketknives. And for cups, we had little wild cymlings, scraped and scoured until they looked as white and clean as earthenware…”
There is something very satisfying about working with natural materials, both in the making and in the use. All these items have served me well for their intended purpose, show no wear...some after several years…,and are lightweight and pleasant in the hand.
Spence