Hello all, I am looking for period references to the use of river cane as measures, spouts, knife handles (?) and etc. I would like to find some mention of them in original history’s or surviving examples from the 1700’s or early 1800’s. Thanks-Rocklocks
Where have you looked, and what have you found so far? I'm sure all of us would appreciate hearing about what you have discovered.
I have read a lot in the period literature, but I dang sure haven't read it all. One fortunate aspect of "The Information Age" is that so much of the material folks like us enjoy reading has been digitized and put online, often in a searchable format. As you read, take notes. Also read authors' reference lists, and look up their references. Sometimes you find some real gems.
With that said, I don't remember seeing anything written in
primary references about cane powder measures. As brother
@oldwood stated so nicely in post #4, references to the mundane articles are sometimes just not there. It doesn't hurt to look, though.
One thing I did find in William Drummond Stewart's
Edward Warren is this: “
…an over-coat of white blanket with a hood, a leather belt, a broad-brimmed un-napped white hat, my ammunition, and a rifle; a tooth-brush and a mane-comb which I thought least likely to break, were in my pocket, a butcher-knife was in my belt, and an awl was attached to my pouch, which, with a large transparent horn of powder and a wooden measure hanging to it, completed my equipment.” (page 51)
If you think about it, how would a backwoodsman hollow out a little wooden tube, if in his tool kit he had a butcher knife, an awl, and maybe a gimlet? It would be a lot easier to use something that is already tubular, and I suppose a small piece of cane might be mistaken for wood. Just speculation on my part, though.
There are some research publications (secondary sources) that mention cane powder chargers. This photo is from John Rice Irwin's
Guns and Gunmaking Tools of Southern Appalachia (p. 86):
The second charger from the left is made of cane.
There was a nice, short article in
The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly for Winter 1990 (Vol. 26, #4) entitled "Collector's Corner - Southern Rifle Accessories" which showed several powder measures of southern origin. One was made of cane, and while it isn't pertinent to this discussion, there was also a charger made from a big alligator tooth.
It may be more productive to look for actual artifacts, although it may be tricky to date them. Some sellers like to make artifacts seem older than they really are. Anyway, I found a few. This really cool old powder horn from
Barlow Antiques has a cane measure attached in a unique way:
If you click that link, it will take you to the website with a description and several more pictures. That little lobe on the base of the horn, specifically for retaining the powder measure, is something I had never seen. Incidentally, I would consider the proprietor of Barlow Antiques a reliable source. He indicates this horn is 18th century, and I would be inclined to believe him.
This horn was featured on the
Contemporary Makers Blogspot :
There was no written description or documentation of provenance. They just called it an "Antique Powder Horn With Cane Powder Measure." However, they show a bunch of pictures. Click the link to see them.
This measure was shown on the American Longrifles (ALR) forum:
Forum rules here prohibit posting a direct link to another forum, but you can hunt up the ALR forum and look in the Antique Accoutrements sub-forum. This topic was posted August 25, 2020. It will be worth looking up if you are sincerely interested, because there are more pictures to accompany a good discussion.
This cane measure is different. Most that you see, including all of the others shown here, use a natural node as the plug in the bottom end, with a small projection off the bottom for the lanyard. This one has a fitted wooden base plug (sort of like the chargers shown by
@TDM , but not nearly as nice) that is held in with a tack through the side. The tack is left projecting, and the lanyard string is tied around it. Also, I had always considered cane powder measures sort of a southern thing, but this one was found in Pennsylvania. That doesn't mean it was necessarily made there, but that's where it was when discovered.
I'm sure there are more out there. I hope you'll share what you find.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
