Videos on Identifying Punk Wood Tinder.

More on Punk Wood.

I am getting a lot of requests of late to explain in detail what punk wood is and what it looks like and feels like.
Punk Wood from all species of trees should work fine as a tinder once charred. Punk Wood is usually of a whitish colouring but it can also be other colours. Punk Wood in trees is Dry Rot and is caused by Serpula lacrymans, which is a wood-destroying fungus. Punk Wood that is completely formed, is light in weight, soft to the touch, and spongy. That is it can be squeezed a little between your fingers.

My wife found this large piece of Punk Wood in the base of a fallen willow tree.

You can spot the white Punk Wood from a distance, this Punk Wood is in the base of a Mountain Gum.

Here is a closer look at the Mountain Gum Punk Wood.

At the back of this tinderbox you can see charred Bracket Fungus. At the front is charred pieces of Punk Wood.

This shows the other side of some Punk Wood pieces that are not charred all over. You only need to char one side in the fire, then smother it in your tinderbox.

 

Gorges' Grouse: “Mud Veins” In Fish

Gorges' Grouse: “Mud Veins” In Fish
Gorges' Grouse: “Mud Veins” In Fish

The Knapsack and Knife of TwoTongues.

Two Tongues is a member of our group, and he has kindly given me permission to show the knapsack and knife that he has made recently.

Showing three deer antler buttons securing the flap closure. Some neat work, and it looks just like I would expect a self-made knapsack to look like.

A great looking knife, good blade shape for skinning and butchering. TwoTongues tells me that this is an Abanaki design knife.

These images and the short posting are also available at:

http://eighteenthcenturylivinghistory.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=828

Thank you Two Tongues.

Keith.

More on Spectacles.

http://thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/period-spectacles-the-better-to-see-those-cookery-books/

Early looms and weaving in Colonial North America.

From the time of his arrival in "ye Back Country" of Pennsylvania, Irishman James McCullough earned a living as a weaver, throwing the shuttle to provide his neighbors on Conococheague Creek with all types of linen, woolen, and cotton cloth. His journal shows that, between 1750 to 1758, he turned out "chaker," "hickrey," and white "shirtin;" "stript" linsey for breeches; "bagin" and "tow clouth" to make sacks; and "girthin" for horse blankets. When he concealed his loom shafts, "wolling reed," "puley Stocks," and "other youtencels" in hollow trees during Indian alarms, he was protecting not only the means of his livelihood but a community resource.
http://people.virginia.edu/~mgf2j/clothes.html

In 1640, the General Assembly of Connecticut also tried to persuade its colonists to sow hemp "that we might in time have supply of linen cloth among ourselves.
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/first12000/4.htm

Weaving in America

When the first European settlers came to America, they

brought with them a type of loom that had been used in

Europe since before the 1300s. It was a horizontal frame

loom, one that hand-weavers still use today.

In the South, plantation owners built weaving shops

where slaves and servants produced cloth for bed ticking

and garments. A few estates even began turning out

elegant silks 

and fine linens. 

Because textiles 

were of little

value compared 

to tobacco, most 

planters preferred 

to import cloth

from England.

http://www.wvu.edu/~exten/infores/pubs/fypubs/19.wl.pdf

At page 33, "Society of Colonial Wars" it is recorded that Squire Boone I, 1696-1765, served against the Catawba and Cherokee Indians on several occasions. He was justice for Rowen County, NC. This record establishes membership for Squire Boone's descendants to the Colonial Dames of America. 

Squire Boone enlarged his farm by thrift. He continued his trade of weaving and kept 5 or 6 looms going making homespun cloth for the market and neighbors. 

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/boone2.htm

A few metal parts from spinning wheels and looms have been excavated—reminders that the pioneer housewife who spun the thread and yarn, and wove the cloth for her large family, was seldom idle.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16277/16277-h/16277-h.htm#spinning_and_weaving

Weavers were a universally popular element of the community. The travelling weaver was, like all other itinerant tradesmen of the day, a welcome newsmonger; and the weaver who took in weaving was often a stationary gossip, and gathered inquiring groups in his loom-room; even children loved to go to his door to beg for bits of colored yarn—thrums—which they used in their play, and also tightly braided to wear as shoestrings, hair-laces, etc.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22675/22675-h/22675-h.htm#CHAPTER_X

Loom types and countries used in.

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/handloom/en/handloom.htm

Weaving and dyeing process in early New York.
http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/pvd_ny.pdf

Weavers made cloth from yarn in Albany for most of its formative years. Cloth was used locally and also as a barter item in the fur trade. Weavers provided a basic and essential part of the pre-industrial city's production economy.
https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/trades/weaver.html

http://jilldbarker.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/jack-of-newbury-chapter-2-the-story-continues/

Settlers. Tools, weapons, and carrying.

Settlers. Tools, weapons, and carrying.

Some people I know choose the actual settlement scenario for historical trekking events. But I wonder just how much thought goes into such an event beforehand. Settlers traveled by various means, by foot, by horse, and by water. If you are going by water, then carrying all your belongings is relatively easy. If by horse, or if you have stock, then these animals will probably be carrying belongings and possibly young children. But if by foot, then you have to think about who carries what among your group of travelers.

Think about your purpose. This is in the 18^th century, you are not trekking for fun, you are trekking to a place to settle. This involves building some form of shelter, possibly some form of defences, toilet, and gardens. Gardens are extremely important. You can survive on just wild game, but sooner or later you are going to need some form of crops. In order to cultivate this garden you are going to need tools. Some tools can be made out of timber, but they are not nearly as efficient as metal tools. So let us look at some of these necessary tools and think about how we can carry them.

Tomahawks are a given, along with the knife and the gun, but what about felling axes and half-axes. Tools such as rakes can be made on site, but you will need at least two sizes of augers to make one, and these augers will be needed for constructing a more permanent shelter in time. Hoes will come in handy, as will a mattock and possibly a pick axe. You may also need some form of saw, either the larger cross-cut saw, or a blade for a buck-saw.

Handles or stails can be made for hoes on site, as can handles for mattocks and pick-axes, as they are similar in construction to the tomahawk helve. Axes though you may wish to use early on and not wish to have to wait until you can make a helve. Then there is the consideration of whether or not some of these lighter tools may not be of some use as weapons along the trail? A hoe for instance is not a heavy item, and a woman may be able to carry this tool over her shoulder as well as carrying a pack.

"I noticed particularly, one family of about 12 in number. The man
carried an axe and a gun on his shoulders. The Wife, the rim of a spinning wheel in one hand, and a loaf of bread in the other. Several little boys and girls, each with a bundle, according to their size Two poor horses, each heavily loaded with some poor necessities. On the top of the baggage of one, was an infant rocked to sleep in a kind of wicker cage, lashed securely to the horse. A cow formed one of the company ,and she was destined to bear her proportion of service - a bed cord was wound around her horns and a bag of meal on her back. They were not only patient, but cheerful and pleased with themselves with the expectation of seeing happy days beyond the mountains"
Diary of Presbyterian Rev. David McClure.
18th century.

We know that ordinary tools such as felling axes and hoes were also considered as weapons. There must have been many people using these tools for self-defence in situations where they are caught off guard in the barn or whilst working in the fields, but this following quote also shows that these tools were also considered for offence should the need arise:

“I gave orders to them to go home and fetch their arms whether guns, swords, pitchforks, axes or whatsoever might be of use against the enemy and for three days provision in their knapsacks”

Letter to Gov. Morris, from Conrad Weiser, Esq. 10/27/1755

Don’t forget the seeds. Even if you do not wish to carry the necessary tools for cultivation or the important supply of crop seed you can at least count them into your calculations when packing for the trail. Your packs may well seem too heavy, but maybe that was just the way it was. Certainly it was not just a walk in the park; everyone including the children had a duty to perform and a load to carry.

The Project Gutenberg EBook of New Discoveries at Jamestown

The Project Gutenberg EBook of New Discoveries at Jamestown

The Project Gutenberg EBook of New Discoveries at Jamestown

Diderot.

Diderot.

Diderot.