Hard Kit is all other accoutrements that are not clothing, weapons or armour. This includes pots and tents, and flint & steel, and other things like that.
In the quest for a cheap, easily available water carrier for my ranger kit, I have long used a bota bottle that I bought at Wal-Mart. It works really well, and is super cheap. But it just doesn't look right, and it doesn't come with a good strap. I fixed the strap problem first, but it still doesn't look right.
So I set out to make it more ranger appropriate. I made a new cover out of canvas for it, and sewed leather tabs to it for the shoulder strap to run through. I then added a leather lace section at the top, and presto, there it is!
I really like carrying a bota in the woods because it is so quiet and comfortable. It's also easy to drink from at any angle, and I don't even have to raise it over my head like you do with a canteen or hard bottle. I'll get some pictures of it in the woods when I get a chance, but I just wanted to throw these out there while I had the time.
Brian
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
I've done some of these in leather, but I prefer Botas of Boulder's bota bags. They are tougher and last a lot longer.
This is one type, they also sell ones with a nylon cover and in two different sizes. They can be purchased directly from Bota of Boulder, online or in many camp supply stores.
Keeping with the cheap theme: I tried darkening the leather with shoe polish. Unstiched the shell to remove the red plastic lining. Found the plastic sides annoying, so replaced with a strip of light leather.
Lessoned Learned:
Use a stain or dye as the polish smells and that's all you taste when drinking.
Buy for the the inner bladder and start from scratch with the leather and strapping. It was a waste of time ripping apart the shell and re-assembling.
Others have used wine box liners or Camel-bak bladders.
Also, I read Botas of Boulder was out-of-business.
Near is the hour when the Lost should come forth, And the Grey Company ride from the North.
Another good thing amount the Boulder bota, dump out a half cup of fluids after filling and you can freeze them. They'll keep your beverage cold for several hours at an event.
The thin ones become too brittle when frozen and a slight rap on any hard surface will burst the bladder.
I really liked what you did with the walmart one Brian!
I have one of those that I was going to try something with and have not gotten to it yet.
You have given me some ideas though, once things calm down from the holidays perhaps I will try a tooled leather sleave for the one I have.
I am Ringulf the Dwarven Woodsman, I craft leather, wood, metal, and clay,
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks, And I fire my bow through the day.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead! We'll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!
I started to go with leather for the cover, but I had the canvas sitting around from another project I'd just finished so it got used!
I would like to build one from scratch some time, but I since I had two of these sitting around I figured...what the heck. I also toyed with the idea of putting a cork in the end instead of the nozzle, but I decided against it for now. If I do one from scratch I might stick with the canvas shell, but line it with wool for insulation. Then I could soak it in hot weather to let evaporation cool my water down.
Brian
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
In years past- we made our own bota liners out of the super-heavy "Vacuum-seal" bag stuff.
We'd draw our shape on it in sharpie, and use the sealing machine to seal it in small steps, following the shape. FOr the neck, you do end up with a sort of straight line on the inside of the curve, but it gets hidden in the cover.
For the necks/nozzle, we did a couple of different things. One was turned wood or horn- but you need a lathe for that. Those are "Cadillac" pieces, of course- a turned tube for the bottle, and a wonderful piece turned to close them as well... The one I felt was a cool discovery was that the tube joiners for the 1/2" drip irrigation hose fits a wine cork perfectly, once you cut the ends off- and as it's a stiff black plastic- looks kinda like horn! And, well- you can get 2 from a single .50 cent investment. Be sure to round all the cut edges very, very well- or it'll cut the plastic. After the liner was made, you used artificial sinew to wrap it onto the tube. Then, you push the liner into your outer cover, and again- use sinew or thread to wrap it into the whole thing. I left only about 1/4" of the plastic showing, and the wrap was plenty strong.
The covers we made from everything from cotton to leather, fur to naugahide. The overall "best" ones were made in a straight "teardrop" shape, in goat skin. These, we'd soak in water, and they would cool with evaporation over the course of a few hours. The goat skin was gotten from Tandy, and it didn't stiffen like cow will, or resist water like a chrome-tanned suede will. You need to either add loops all around it, or one on the back to hang it from the belt or shoulder strap.
I'll try to take a picture of one I made about 15 years ago... I just ran across it again in my box-emptying flurry, and it still hold water! It even has a quick-release, to get it on and off my belt!
Last edited by sgainbrachta on Thu Jan 03, 2013 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
As it was an excuse to NOT return to the freezing depths of the workshop for a few minutes- here are the pics of my bota. This very bota was in the NFL Films "The Spanish-American War, America's First Intervention", a few years ago. The Spanish army used a similar piece, all the way into the 1930's, believe it or not! Theirs was goat, with the fur trimmed short- but left on, on the INSIDE (YETCH!!!), coated with pitch, internally. The water ration was cut 1/4 with nasty red wine. Probably to combat the goaty-ness... (actually for germs, but meh...)
The top was the original plastic, which I them cast some greyish plastic over (rather badly trying to imitate horn, I might add...). You can also see how the original strap broke off in the past- and so I added another of much newer leather to it. The button so placed lets me take it off and hang it from my belt easily. please ignore the dust and dog hair all over the bota... The bag is about 10" from the bottom to the "rim" of the plastic, and right about 7" wide. Seam allowances were only about 1/4", all around, and there is a double-thick portio on the back, where the strap is mounted, on the inside. The little "puff" of fabric is the ends of the artificial sinew~
This specific bota was made with a liner of extra-heavy "ziploc" bag, as we had none of the fancy vacuum bag stuff- and it is a blue-ish color. It is rather "crinkly" sounding when it's either empty or nearly so- which is really the only "bad" ting I have to say about it! It's served me well for many years of Spanish-American War reenacting, hiking and RenFaires- almost 10, now that I actually think about it!
Attachments
The whole shebang. leather is 11x7"
bota full resize.jpg (177.04 KiB) Viewed 18858 times
Side, whereyou can see the old leather and new strap.
bota top side resize.jpg (176.44 KiB) Viewed 18858 times
Top view~
bota top resize.jpg (165.86 KiB) Viewed 18858 times
hmm, I seem to have no luck with making a cover for mine. I've probably tried six times already and each one never turned out big enough. How did you make yours?
An archer practices until he gets it right. A ranger practices until he never gets it wrong
~Halt, Ranger's Apprentice
You need to make it from the right stuff- use a soft leather, and NOT a suede. Deer, elk, for the best, if not calf or goat- theat one in the pics above id very thin goat- probably the best leather for ease of manufacture.
Make the shape the same as your liner- but about 3/4" larger, all around. I machine stitched (it was production work~), leaving about 2.5" open at the top. I also added loops around the edge, each loop was more goat- aboout 3/4" wide, and @ 2" long. Put at least 5 of these around the edge, with the last 2 near the top, where the cords will go around you body~ The only place to make it nearly the same size as your liner is near the mouthpiece, as it will need to be tight to the plastic or wood bit~ Don't try to do an extra piece, just do it with a top and bottom- with carry loop attachments in that same seam.
This has to be made inside out- like clothes and cloth sewing, so put the nice smooth sides together- put the little loops facing INTO the middle of the bottle, as remember- you will be turning this inside out. I use white glue- NOT rubber cement to just glue the very edges together. This makes punching and assembling so much easier. Elmers is the stuff!. Punch you holes close top the edge, and only punch as you stitch- or it WILL shift on you! Punch with a 4-prong, in the smalles size Tandy has. Yeah, it's a $10 tool- but they last forever! Now- that last 2.5"? don't glue or sew it yet. Punch it, but no glue. Also make sure you have enough thread to sew it- plus about 10' more on each side. Final note on sewing- don't use sinew, unless you have no choice- it cuts wet leather like a knife, even when it sewn dry. Use linen~
O.K. so now you turn it right-side out! If you use any of the good leather- deer, elk, calf or goat (even soft pig work- and it's CHEAP!), get it wet. If you didn't, it probably won't work.... SO you have a wet, wrong-side out mess in-hand. Turn it inside out, so now you have the smooth sides on the outsides, and the little loops are visible. This is why you leave that 2.5" of seam open! Put your liner in, and align the mouthpiece- check it for fit, and finish the sewing up. It's a pain, as you need to work from the inside, but just do it a stitch or 2 at a time- it'll go fast.
Now, tie a simple knot to keep the stitch from coming loose- and take the extra thread, and wrap it tightly around the mounthpiece in the groove made for just that purpose- and you'll be mostly done. Thread a thong through the loops, and life will be well! This is one place where I will use the artificial sinew, to keep the mouthpiece in...
If you wet the leather, it will cool the liquid inside. All you'll need to do is hit the leather with a leather grease- NOT oil, mink or neatsfoot will rot! Use Doc Johnson's, in the can from Tandy, or Mother Hubbard's boot grease from a shoe place. It will work better than oil, if a bit slower to soak in~
If you need more help, or that was unclear- let me know, I'll check back tomorrow. Maybe I can draw a picture to make it a bit more clear~ it's harder to describe than to actually DO!
As I was dying of thirst at our recent outing, I think this had better be a 'SOON' project - for both Turnip and myself. Thanks for the great ideas/ pics/ insights!
May your days of peace be long, and your enemies few.
