Canteen Lining??

[Vtsmoker]

Been looking at wooden canteens and have found the same items except one is lined with brewers pitch and the other is paraffin lined. Is there an advantage of one over the other as far as sealing? Which is better?

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

Just been working on a gourd canteen for a friend, all I ever use is pure bees wax, works just fine. A APPALICHIAN HUNTER

 

[Rifleman1776]

Mine is wax. I have never used it except for demos.

 

[bangfxr]

I use wax in mine and have had no issues with it.

 

[flattail]

Just ran across your post. The advantage should go to the brewers pitch. If your beeswax lined canteen should be in the sun while empty, or partially empty, the wax may melt off the wood. The brewers pitch won't melt in the sun. If your canteen remains full however, either will do the job.
Just my two cents.
Ed

 

[Vtsmoker]

Thanks guys, I thought the wax may melt if it got out in the sun thats why I asked. The canteen will be used alot and I want the best one I can get. Lookin at wood canteens but also considering the metal ones. Goin for mid 1700s Hunter/militia

 

[EarlScott]

Please don't flame but has anyone tried using food safe epoxy for lining canteens-- I know people who have used it in making drinking horns in another reenactemnt group that I play in. I know it is not PC but no melting issues.

 

[hawkeye2]

Tell us more about food safe epoxy, please. :hmm:

 

[longbow-hunter]

I'm working on a gourd bottle and may want to try this new method.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I would love to find a source of food-safe epoxy to line kid's canteens with. If dad isn't on them, they won't necessarily take what I consider good care of their canteens.

 

[EarlScott]

The most common one that I here people use is is envirotex it is a 2 part epoxy available at many craft store chains such as Micheals. One word of warning is that it will soften with prolonged exposure to high proof alcohol. As for canteens I application may be difficult my experience with it is with drinking horns and wood mugs

 

[tg]

The brewers pitch was intended as an improvement over plain wax I believe so it should work better.It is a sort of crude epoxy with wax and pitch together forming a better bond with better resitance to environmental issues the NA's used a form of epoxy using pitch, charcoal and something else which I cannot recall for aure now, probably hide glue and it was quite strong and more waterproof than the hide glue alone,I made some and used it for making arrows years ago.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

TG, what effect would water have on hide glue?

 

[tg]

It can soak and dilute and weaken it, it is made from cooking hides in water so it is a water soluble/reactive product to some extent,the same loosening effect would be found on anything lashed with sinew or raw hide it was later that things were added to make hide/hoove glues more water proof but I do not know if they were ever made 100% before all the modern stuff came to be.

 

[jbwilliams3]

Thanks guys, I thought the wax may melt if it got out in the sun thats why I asked. The canteen will be used alot and I want the best one I can get. Lookin at wood canteens but also considering the metal ones. Goin for mid 1700s Hunter/militia

Militia/non-military, wooden canteen would indeed be far more common. I have found the “cheesebox” style to be vastly superior to the stave canteens, as well as being well documented to the 18th century. Bill Payson makes a great cheesebox canteen at a very good price- in fact cheaper than just about all of the crappy stave canteens that I have seen Canteen. One thing though, he’s pretty busy and his wait time may be a few months. He lines his in beeswax and mine has worked great with no melting or leaking. I’m sure you could reline it in brewers pitch if it suited your fancy.

James

 

[Black Hand]

It can soak and dilute and weaken it, it is made from cooking hides in water so it is a water soluble/reactive product to some extent,the same loosening effect would be found on anything lashed with sinew or raw hide it was later that things were added to make hide/hoove glues more water proof but I do not know if they were ever made 100% before all the modern stuff came to be.

100% Hide glue can be purchased today, and is easily found. The stuff sold in hardware stores today as "hide glue" in many cases is a poor approximation of the original.

 

[tg]

If you have some rawhide it is not hard to make yourself, but probably not worth the time if available commercialy.

 

[fiddler]

I use a 50/50 paraffin/bees wax mix in my gourds. The bees wax keeps the water tasting sweet instead of "gourdy". Eventually the wax starts to crack. When it does, just fill the gourd with hot water and after the wax softens swish it around a bit.