Historical Tarp Colors

[rp77469]

Just a couple comments. Tried and True makes a true boiled linseed oil. It is a more modern process than the old time boiling, but it works the same. No chemical driers added.

Years ago I made a ground cloth using Thompsons Water Seal. I hung the canvas up and proceeded to apply half of a gallon to it. I did one side, let it dry, next coat from the other side, let it dry, etc. It smelled to high heaven for about a year in hot weather, was stiff the same time. I finally laid it out in the grass and walked all over it in street shoes and it softened up. The odor went away by itself. I have slept in some rainy weather in that thing, and proved it did not leak. Kept me dry as long as I kept the edges of the cloth above the standing water.

I do know that Thomson's has changed their formula from what I used. No idea what difference the change was to the formula or how well the new one works.

 

[David Veale]

All the HC/PC stuff mentioned for waterproofing is highly flammable. It just doesn't make any sense to take that kind of risk. BLO mixed with turpentine is like asking for a fire. Would be much safer & smarter to use a modern fire resistant waterproofer. Risking your life for HC/PC seems a little extreme to me. Nobody will know or care what waterproofer you use anyway. Just my two cents.

any turpentine should be long since evaporated and would pose no hazard. Beeswax... yeah, some hazard if you apply flame, but fully cured BLO should be relatively safe. Of course, if you're applying direct flame, you're gonna mess up anything. IMHO... learning to be safe around fire is part of the historical learning experience, if that's your goal anyway.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Take this link and see how some make water proof tin cloth pants.
https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=tin+cloth+pants+
As for horde it can mean army or camp,, probably because Mongol armies camped.. Horde does derive from ord, and the ordos region of modern China takes its name from ord due to the fact Mongols often camped there because in the past it had good grazing. Ord has nothing to do with yellow tents.

 

[KezarWoodsman]

I used the campdry on the bags the bedsheets came in (of the same material), and it worked great. It holds water with the exception of one corner on the bags because of how they got sewed together, but the outside of the bags remain bone dry. I just hit the inside of the waxed pillowcase for extra waterproofness.

I tested them for fireproofness by holding a burning match right next to the material for about second, which resulted in a black burn mark, but the material didnt catch. As well, i hit the material with sparks from a firesteel as that burns even hotter than sparks off a campfire, and while it made burn marks where it contacted the bags, they went right out.

Only downside i see is that unlike the sno seal treatment the campdry didnt add any strength to the material, so that could be a downside given the fact i am using a bedsheet, but i just gave the test bag a second coat so ill see if that adds any strength.

 

[KezarWoodsman]

any turpentine should be long since evaporated and would pose no hazard. Beeswax... yeah, some hazard if you apply flame, but fully cured BLO should be relatively safe. Of course, if you're applying direct flame, you're gonna mess up anything. IMHO... learning to be safe around fire is part of the historical learning experience, if that's your goal anyway.

this is what i have seen elsewhere, that while drying it is really flammable, but once it is fully bone dry it it isnt much different than untreated cotton (and ive seen some claiming that because it smooths out the fibers, it might actually raise the fireproofness). Of course, if you mess up and drop a corner into a fire its going to go up, but anything would if you did that.

 

[George]

WOW thanks Spence, I've been looking for an 18th century oil cloth shelter ref for many years now. !!

Maybe another one:

The Calendar and Quartermaster Books of General George Rogers Clark's Fort Jefferson, Kentucky, 1780
Stores issued by order of Captain Robert George: to Mr. Miles, quartermaster Sergeant, one musket or smoothed gun; to Captain Rogers going to the Falls of Ohio, two muskets or smoothed guns and five tents or oil cloths

Spence

 

[George]

Because one of my 'things" is learning what the old boys did and how they did it, I made an oilcloth of their type. I used a medium weight canvas, painted it with linseed oil from the hardware store and mixed iron oxide powder into it. That gave it the color, but also filled the openings in the cloth and sealed it up. I nailed it up to a 2x4 fastened to a couple of trees, painted it twice. It took only a few days to dry.

It is 8'x8' as I recall, weighs about 6 pounds. It's now 30 years old, still strong as ever, no sign of rot or acid damage, and only slightly tacky. I don't know know about combustibility, I keep it out of the fire.

Spence

 

[1950DAVE]

I bought this recently any a hardware store going out of business. You may can find it.
Dave

 

[beardedhorse]

Grommets would not be period correct. You can sew on loops of cotton webbing or poke a hole and reinforce it with abutton hole stitch. For the 100 mph chinook winds we get in the Rockies I sandwich in leather squares with stake size hole under canvas. Hand stitch with cotton or linen thread. Canvac (sp?) is last ditch attempt to salvage UV light damaged cotton canvas tenting. " Latex " acrylic paint, even diluted has a really plastic look and feel to it. Sunforger (formerly Vivatex) was a commercial treatment for canvas used on many of my six tipis.

 

[appalichian hunter]

For corner loops you also could go to your local craft store buy wooden balls about the size of .610 dia. get some hemp cordage about 1/4 in. in dia. tuck the ball into the corners and loop the cordage around the tarp covered ball with a loop on the running end with which to stake it down. Lighter than a musket ball or small river rock and correct as no one will see what's under the corners.

 

[oldwood]

Back in the 1980's a friend of mine got a terracotta colored canvas type fabric , and made himself a one pole 8 ft. square looking tent . it would close up and was weather tight and he had a ground cloth out of the same material. It looked authentic , was easy to setup , take down ,etc. , and push to shove , two could stay in it. It was not expensive and good enough. ........oldwood

 

[KezarWoodsman]

Grommets would not be period correct. You can sew on loops of cotton webbing or poke a hole and reinforce it with abutton hole stitch. For the 100 mph chinook winds we get in the Rockies I sandwich in leather squares with stake size hole under canvas. Hand stitch with cotton or linen thread. Canvac (sp?) is last ditch attempt to salvage UV light damaged cotton canvas tenting. " Latex " acrylic paint, even diluted has a really plastic look and feel to it. Sunforger (formerly Vivatex) was a commercial treatment for canvas used on many of my six tipis.

i always assumed grommets wouldnt be historically correct, but i figured some people must have tied loop tieouts to their tarps, even if they were not manufactured in that manner, so thats what i did.

In more detail what i ended up doing for the corners was the reinforce it with some extra canvas triangles i cut out of a pair of old workpants, then sewed on tieouts made out of the same cotton material the bedsheet is made of, but i folded those in on themselfs 5 times before sewing it together so they are good and strong.

i tied one end of it to a tree and gave the other end a quick sharp tug and nothing ripped, so im guessing it will be good enough. Extra tieouts ill make as needed using rocks, but i always have the four corners pegged down when ive done tarp camping before.

 

[KezarWoodsman]

update: ignore none period correct items in picture, was just testing the sheets.

I had a few hours of moderate rain this morning (1/4”-1/2” over about four hours so i decided to test it in an open patch in the woods for about an hour as i have things that need to he done. Overall it works great, but some mist does come through the sheet when short bursts of heavyish rain came through i dont know how it would work in a torrential downpour, but for light and moderate rainstorms it will work fine under a canopy.

only question now is how long it will hold up with its waterproofing.

 

[flntlokr]

For the drop cloth what OZ weight did you use, and how waterproof/resistant is it (if pitched at a angle)? I dont know where you are but here in Maine it can be pretty wet during a good portion of the year.

I know nothing about the rain in Maine (does it stay mainly on the plain? LOL), but I guarantee it's not as wet as the West Coast of Vancouver Island. I just bought the heaviest drops they had; no idea of weight. Did no waterproofing; so long as you don't touch them and they have a good pitch, they keep the rain off fairly well. Keep them tight; if you get a taro-belly full of water they suddenly become non waterproof, and stsay that way until they dry again. Some day I might break down and hit them with some kind of commercial waterproofing, but so far haven't seen much need to.

 

[bud in pa]

some years ago I followed the instructions in Mark Bakers book on making a PC oil cloth. I never weighed it but it was a heck of a lot more then I was willing to carry. It was so stiff that it probably would have made a bullet proof shelter.

 

[MC One Shot]

All the HC/PC stuff mentioned for waterproofing is highly flammable. It just doesn't make any sense to take that kind of risk. BLO mixed with turpentine is like asking for a fire. Would be much safer & smarter to use a modern fire resistant waterproofer. Risking your life for HC/PC seems a little extreme to me. Nobody will know or care what waterproofer you use anyway. Just my two cents.

Sure, At some primitive event there will some dog soldier who has read this and will be at the gate smelling and tasting oil cloth for authenticity.....

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Would be much safer & smarter to use a modern fire resistant waterproofer. Risking your life for HC/PC seems a little extreme to me. Nobody will know or care what waterproofer you use anyway. Just my two cents.

Just don't assume that if it's "modern" it's fire resistant, folks. As the man wrote, "modern fire resistant waterproofer", and DON'T take a clerk's word that the stuff is fire resistant. Thompson's Water Seal for example is modern, but not fire resistant in it's basic form.

LD