Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Craftsmanship => Clothing and Other Crafts => Topic started by: Blackbruin on August 21, 2013, 07:50:27 PM

Title: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Blackbruin on August 21, 2013, 07:50:27 PM
I made a good waterproofing, a cream, blo, turpentine, beeswax. Besides flammability around a fire, what are pros and cons on doing it? Putting on a 76 style caped fringed wrap around, well possibly and a pair of fall fronts, tired of getting soaked. Thanks
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Capt. Jas. on August 21, 2013, 08:19:46 PM
A con would be that I dont believe it was done historically.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on August 21, 2013, 09:42:55 PM
high-tec?

I have a bottle, i haven't used yet

http://www.alwaysdry.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=THQjIuKgIRk
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Blackbruin on August 21, 2013, 09:53:06 PM
Wow, that seems to be a heck of a lot better than camp dry! Kinda pricey but worth it if it's that good!
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on August 21, 2013, 10:11:32 PM
Quote from: "Blackbruin"
Wow, that seems to be a heck of a lot better than camp dry! Kinda pricey but worth it if it's that good!
I hope the bottle I bought works as good as it as it shows
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on August 22, 2013, 12:31:54 AM
Cons:
Not done historically.
Will be heavy.
Will be hot.
Since the fabric will no longer breathe, you'll get just as wet from sweat as you will from rain.
Will likely make the fabric stiff and prone to tears/rips.
Will be plain uncomfortable.
Hard to dry after it gets wet.
May stay sticky and make all of your other clothes, accoutrements sticky.

Pros:
I can't think of any.

Wearing a linen coat and wool weskit, unless I am in a pouring rain, my shirt gets barely damp. And if it IS pouring rain, I stay under cover.

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Captchee on August 22, 2013, 07:44:32 AM
I would agree with mario .
 i dont water proof any of my frocks . frankly i find it real hard for the water to get you wet  if your  under clothing is proper .
 i been in some pretty darn serious rain and never had an issue

 now that being said . if i was to  try water proofing , i would only apply it to the cape . not the whole coat
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Blackbruin on August 22, 2013, 06:49:53 PM
Thank you for all your responses, I'll just forgo waterproofing the pants and frock, and maybe waterproof one of my haversacks. Again thanks!
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on August 22, 2013, 08:44:24 PM
Quote from: "Blackbruin"
, and maybe waterproof one of my haversacks.

FYI, my comments above apply to the haversack as well.

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Capt. Jas. on August 23, 2013, 07:05:34 AM
Quote from: "mario"
Quote from: "Blackbruin"
, and maybe waterproof one of my haversacks.

FYI, my comments above apply to the haversack as well.

Mario

Ditto unless reenacting the 1990's
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Captchee on August 23, 2013, 07:47:43 AM
Quote from: "Capt. Jas."
Quote from: "mario"
Quote from: "Blackbruin"
, and maybe waterproof one of my haversacks.

FYI, my comments above apply to the haversack as well.

Mario

Ditto unless reenacting the 1990's

In other words shooting for being historicaly correct . if thats not a 100% must , then frankly  do what you  you think is best for you .
 but if you do chose to go the PC route , realize that doesnt mean you have to live with you or your items being soak and wet  :hairy
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on August 23, 2013, 06:23:45 PM
Yup. What he ^ said.

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: huntinguy on August 27, 2013, 01:16:04 PM
Quote from: "mario"

Wearing a linen coat and wool weskit, unless I am in a pouring rain, my shirt gets barely damp. And if it IS pouring rain, I stay under cover.

Mario

Then you wouldn't be hunting in Washington, on the wet side. Rain starts around the middle of September and ends in June.Other months we only get drizzle.

November is usually a 6 inch month, and it only fall Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The stuff that falls the other days isn't counted  :lol:  

I too have often wondered about water proofing PC gear. forty degrees and raining sideways makes modern materials look good.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on August 27, 2013, 06:44:06 PM
Quote from: "huntinguy"
Then you wouldn't be hunting in Washington, on the wet side. Rain starts around the middle of September and ends in June.Other months we only get drizzle.

I too have often wondered about water proofing PC gear. forty degrees and raining sideways makes modern materials look good.

If I was hunting in WA (I assume the west side as the east side where my wife grew up resembles southern Iraq with a few trees...), I guess I would either get wet, go modern or stay home. :)  People hunted in WA long before Gore-Tex.

We do have some mighty rains here in the People's Republic of NY, but waterproofing PC gear is a modern solution to a modern problem.

The adage, "When it's hot we sweat, when it rains we get wet" applies.

Wearing your clothing as they did minimizes the issue. Layers, wool, etc all work together and most importantly, they BREATHE.


It all depends on what YOU are doing. Are you doing things the way they did or are you just hunting with old guns wearing funny clothes?

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on February 07, 2014, 12:06:44 AM
[/quote]

  People hunted in WA long before Gore-Tex.
 
It all depends on what YOU are doing. Are you doing things the way they did or are you just hunting with old guns wearing funny clothes?

Mario[/quote]


they also died young.

when you do the things the way they did, you ARE just hunting with old guns and wearing funny clothes.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Captchee on February 07, 2014, 07:24:58 AM
Quote
they also died young.

when you do the things the way they did, you ARE just hunting with old guns and wearing funny clothes.

 not all died young .
 not to also mention what we consider young today , was considered old back then .
no you not just hunting in  funny cloths and with old guns . Hopefully your experiencing  what it actually took  to do what we today often take for granted.
An understanding can in  be gained in o so many ways .
 The old saying of looks are only skin deep . Well that applies  as there is a lot more going on .
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Sir Michael on February 08, 2014, 04:14:00 PM
At the risk of being too long winded here is some waterproofing information from 1830.

WATER-PROOF DRESSING FOR SHOES, &c.

TAKE a piece of Indian rubber, about the size of a walnut.: cut it in sman pieces, and put it into a phial with four ounces of highly rectified spirits of turpentine. Cork it up for about a fortnight (more or less, according to cold or hot weather), and shake it every day. When this mixture has come to a consistence about the thickness of treacle, it is fit for use. You may then work it, with a paint brush, into leather, rope, or what you please. But, when used for the soles of shoes, leather trunks, or any thing that does not require flexibility, you should add, to this composition, three times the quantity of copal varnish. The most effectual mode of application is to anoint, not only the outside seams, but also the whole inside or the soles.

If you want this dressing in a hurry, and an extra expense is no object, you will find that ether, or reaptha, will dissolve Indian rubber, and dry, much quicker than spirits of turpentine. The powder colours, for painting, either with or without oil, will mix perfectly well with this composition.

The foregoing recipe was given me (just in time to publish it, but too late to make a proper trial of it), by Mr. Cornelius Varley, who tells me that he sent it, many years ago, to the Philosophical Magazine. Not wishing, however, to enter it without some kind of investigation, I applied to Mr. Fisher, the celebrated chemist in Conduit-street, who was good enough to make for me as many experiments as the limited time would admit of. The preparation which he found to mix the best, was three oz. of Indian rubber, boiled for about three hours, in a pint of linseed oil*, which thus became immediately of a good. consistence; but it required such a time to dry, that he afterwards found it necessary to add spirits of turpentine. In short, it has long been known that the solution of Indian rubber is a valuable recipe for making things waterproof. But there are so many ways of doing it; and, perhaps, among them all, the best not yet discovered, that we must, for the present, dismiss the subject by merely giving the hint, with the hope of putting our speculators on the scent, to bring to perfection what would be to their own advantage, and worthy the notice of the public.

* This comes very near to the recipe given in our former editions, and now very much in use, for dressing Russia duck.

Personally, I'd just use a can of Scotch Guard on the cape and lower parts of the trouser legs and call it close enough.  It won't be obvious that you did and it will give you some extra water protection.  As said earlier, dressing in layers underneath goes a long way toward mitigating rain and cold.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on February 08, 2014, 06:28:05 PM
Quote from: "greggholmes"
they also died young.

Yup. The infant mortality rate was really high, but I doubt waterproofing their little hunting frocks would have helped...

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on February 08, 2014, 06:33:38 PM
if it keeps me from lowering my immune system so I don't get sick so I go to work on monday it's worth it
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on February 08, 2014, 11:44:57 PM
Quote from: "greggholmes"
if it keeps me from lowering my immune system so I don't get sick so I go to work on monday it's worth it


If you get sick that easily from getting wet, perhaps a drier climate would be better.

As Cap said, just because you go PC doesn't mean you have to be uncomfortable and miserable.

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on February 09, 2014, 01:12:43 AM
In 2389 days I can retire.  Yuma here I come.!!!!
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Sir Michael on February 09, 2014, 05:06:02 AM
:rotf  :toast  :toast  And then you can become a Southwest Trader.  Ahhhh living the good life. :hairy
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: LRB on March 10, 2014, 01:29:15 PM
Nikwax | Waterproofing, Cleaning and Insect Protection products (http://www.nikwax.com/en-us/index.php)
You won't even notice it is there.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: Kermit on March 29, 2014, 07:48:37 PM
Quote from: "huntinguy"
November is usually a 6 inch month, and it only fall Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

I served time in old Camp Grisdale (Olympic Penninsuls, north of Montesano, Wynoochee River drainage) in the early 80s. First November there it rained 40 inches; just over 200 inches that year. Absolutely NOTHING keeps you dry. Gortex helps some. There's a reason for layering up in wool. I preferred Filson.

Wear wool, get wet, stay warm. Stay home, stay dry, stay warm. Your choice.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on March 29, 2014, 11:38:24 PM
Or you could water proof and go out.
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: mario on March 30, 2014, 12:16:26 AM
Quote from: "greggholmes"
Or you could water proof and go out.

As the man said:


Quote from: "Kermit"
First November there it rained 40 inches; just over 200 inches that year. Absolutely NOTHING keeps you dry. Gortex helps some. There's a reason for layering up in wool.

Mario
Title: Re: Waterproofing hunting frock.
Post by: greggholmes on March 30, 2014, 12:32:29 AM
Ya, I'm in the same general area. Just up north. I'm approx. 50 miles down river from the Oso mud slide. We get a lot of rain to.
This is all for FUN. If you are not having fun what is it?
Being soaked to the skin isn't fun.