...So we have silk in Elvish (Rivendell), Gondorian, and post-2942 Shire contexts. Where it's coming from, it's hard to say. Excellent sleuthing! This is very interesting indeed. My money is that it's actually sea silk...only supported by that i think the idea of normal silk feels too alien to a &q...

How lovely...if a bit intimidating! The forest brings The Old Forest very strongly to mind.

I wonder if a piece of oiled leather around the rings that's stitched and riveted through the silk would work as well. Rivets would exist in situ, as they're used in the making of armor, and for making other metal goods as well, so it's a plausible design...hmmm...*goes to make plans* Like, to prot...

FWIW, your Gondorian conclusion IS book-supportable; silk is mentioned twice in Gondor, and we can extrapolate from the clues that it would be an 'upperclass' textile...makes sense that the 'special forces' Rangers might get issued some. Not sure if it's being produced in Gondor or somewhere furthe...

I'm afraid my last ditch bag contains a ridiculous level of elvish wizardry :| Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. I'm right there with you: https://i.imgur.com/pqYCq9x.jpg?1 Items: a couple of granola bars--basically candy, but it's what I had on hand last time I ...

A while back I looked into oiled silk as an option for lightweight, water-resistant material for something like a sheltercloth or cloak. Silk is attested in the literature, though a tarpaulin made of that fabric may admittedly be a bit like a solid-gold frying pan, for all we know. Deciding that tha...

After messing with this a bit, you're 100% right. I think part of why the twisted wick was working relatively well for me at first is that I was using a pretty thick candle--so the wick's length relative to the top of the candle didn't change very quickly. Eventually, though, it stopped burning 'rig...

YESSSSSSSS THIS IS LIKE THE ONLY THING GIVING ME ANYTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN THIS WRETCHED YEAR Burning antidisestablishmentarians in effigy actually seems relatively safe as far as COVID goes, and surströmming can only really be eaten outdoors, so maybe Iodo and DarnokTheMage can enjoy Bonfire...

One of the most useful firebuilding tools in my modern camping kit is a mouth bellows—a small, telescoping metal tube I can use to blow a lot of oxygen very accurately into a fire without getting my face too close. I wondered, several times, whether there’s a historical equivalent of this device...

Dang. Iodo lives in the land that inspired Tolkien, and it shows. https://preview.redd.it/h1ltk7qss0p51.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=996106361047d0e0c0aa391fd94795d08cc99f09 Coconut accompanied my brother and I to the most idyllic glacial cirque meadow this week. He carried his p...

Can I ask what was causing your die offs? they seem reasonably common in USA beekeeping (From my small sample of friends) compared to here in Australia. Hard to say. "Failure to thrive" might be as good an explanation as any other, though there could be any number of causes. Wax moths wer...

I've done beekeeping for years, though hive dieoffs followed by too much work mean I don't have any currently. I've done Langstroth and top-bar styles, and I'm thinking about doing a hybrid system if I restart my apiary--a long, flat hive that takes Langstrogh frames. Top bar frames are just too del...

This isn't a question that's likely to have huge applications in wilderness trekking, but it's something I've been messing with recently and which has had me rather puzzled. I've run into some historical examples of wick trimmers over the years--special scissors used to cut wicks while the candle wa...

I don’t have a lot of experience with organic ropes, so this has been an interesting experience for me. I really like the way it turned out though, completely changes the look of everything. Looks great, and should be very serviceable--especially if it's genuine manila, and not just fraudulently ...

I saw this on r/tolkienfans on reddit by u/Gandalf117. It's pretty amazing. There is also an extensive companion text.