Projects Projects Projects

It got nasty cold in November & didn’t improve much in December, so I decided it was time to tackle various projects related to my rendezvous hobby.

Here’s the almost completed 1812 Virginia Militia canteen. Almost because I need to add a leather strap & buckle. Currently I’ve got a woven jute strap on it so I can hang it up & use it while I’m hunting down the proper leather strap & buckle.

These cotton haversacks & wood “canteens” are Christmas Tree ornaments I sent various folks as presents. The haversacks are 3x3.5 inches & the canteens are just under 2 inches. The paint is acrylic Santa Red & Holly Green & the haversacks are cotton. The haversacks open but the canteens are a solid circle of wood.

This is my shooting supply box from my 2ndRIV Co. F days. Its been cleaned, re-stained Colonial Maple & given a coat of mineral oil. The first time I stained it many years ago I used walnut stain, so the maple over walnut gave me a lovely warm final color. It still needs a Kings Broad Arrow & “GR” painted on the top.

These is my pine folding table & stools for my camp. I took them apart, sanded them, stained them Colonial Maple & then treated them with several coats of mineral oil. I’ll give them one more mineral oil treatment once its warm enough outside to have the oil soak in really well.

This box is just like my old Civil War box. I bought it off a blanket at the last fall OVPR. Its been sanded (to remove the deer stencil), stained Colonial Maple & treated with mineral oil. Its going to hold all my small personal items – toilet items, belt, sash, leg ties & the like.

I had one extra Civil War Shelter Half that I used as a ground cloth during my time with the 2nd RIV Co. F.  Bridget has chewed 2 holes in it so I couldn’t really sell it – so I unstitched it, cut off the brass grommets, squared up the 2 pieces of canvas, patched Bridget’s handiwork & made them up as covers for firewood.  They’ve been dyed Rit Tan & sprayed with water repellant.  The cover on the right was dyed first so it came out a bit darker.

This is the back of my Canyon, which is not exactly a hobby related project but still it’s a project. The last ice storm was no fun at all in my 2 wheel rear wheel drive pickup. So I cut some 2x6s to fit into the bed of my truck – GMC has molded in places to hold the wood. The pine wood is compliments of my friends Nick & Katherine. Poof ! Traction.

I had a whole lot of fun doing this stuff, although sanding wood in the house with an electric sander was rather messy.