Middle Earth Ranger Forum

For all the great simple and effective clothing of the distant past and fantasy, we have made several discoveries and improvements in the last 1000 years or so.

What if you could go back in time 1000 years and take nothing with you but your knowledge. How would you apply that knowledge to improve or re-invent a softkit in the past? I'm curious to see what many of you makers dream up (not that you actually have to make anything, but maybe you will).

Hmmm... well, with only past technology available and not being a scientific genius, it wouldn't be possible to create the modern materials that makes modern clothing work. And I like cloaks/tunics etc... better than modern clothing for the most part anyway

I would make a backpack, those are useful, but I am struggling to think of what else could be done

After getting clothing and such, devise a printing press with movable typeset. Even carved blocks of wood would work to start. Gunpowder would be next, then a cannon and so forth. Charcoal water purification systems and grown penicillin next. Electrical batteries and a water wheel generator would be possible but electrical powered items (light bulbs, radio ) would be much harder, except the telegraph. Steam powered boats would be the next logical application. Once the benefits and applications of the printing press and gunpowder are accepted, it should be easy to get sponsors/backers for the bigger items. Things we take for granted, like sanitation in a town/military area, would save thousands of lives and keep troops fighting that would normally be incapacitated with dysentery.

I'm sure there is a lot more but, this will keep me busy for a few years between the doing and the politicking it would take to get acceptance. Now all I have to worry about is the church burning me at the stake.

I'd have to change the written language to something similar to what we have today, probably make it phonetic so it's easier to read and cut down on the number of letters. This would allow for fewer typeset letters and the added benefit of being a sort of code that only the trained could read.

Are we strictly going back in time only or are we going back in time and to a different location?

Jack wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:14 pm Are we strictly going back in time only or are we going back in time and to a different location?

Good Question, I'd assumed it would be Europe as Iodo was the first to reply. If North America, I'd be captured/killed due to my race and age (not much good as an agrarian slave).

Jack wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:14 pm Are we strictly going back in time only or are we going back in time and to a different location?

Either or/ It's about how you would adapt your current knowledge to that time/location, I'm also mostly talking Soft Kit here. I mean the Kilt was a great multi-function kit, but it took time to put on and wrap and so forth. Today, I often use an old shirt cut in a triangle as a head wrap to keep bugs off when I'm out in the woods, but in the past I wouldn't just want a triangular cloth as it has limited function so I would probably make a longer one into a sash and find a way to fold it to make a head wrap, or backpack or number of other things.

I also would keep cordage loops around my wrist as I can quickly use them to attach anything to my kit. Various knots may be a big surprise to those in the past also; like a Trucker's Hitch. And shoes, I think ways to solidify a sole other than wood or simple leather; like make something with traction.

If we're talking about soft goods people 1000 yrs ago had the means to make but just hadnt thought of yet, id have to second the introduction of the backpack like Iodo already said. Things like waxed tarps, gathered end hammocks, and more modern patterned pants also come to mind. Probably gonna want some pants ASAP anyways if time travel is done terminator style.
If i was in North America i think i'd try and get the wheel/axle to catch on and make life easier on those travois draggin doggies the native americans used, but thats not soft kit lol

If I were in Medieval Europe and had no other choice, I would probably bring back backpacks and such, like Iodo and Jack have said. I might also introduce soft, durable insoles, if I could manage it. My feet are oddly shaped, and I like my insoles. If I were to stay in Arkansas, I would probably see if I could introduce ironmongery to the native Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw tribes (if they were actually here a thousand years ago, which they may not have been). They might take to it; they might not. The Osage at least would probably take to it well, considering how much better it would make their spearheads, arrowheads, and other hunting paraphernalia.

That said, I think I would be more apt to just try to blend in and observe. I might take notes and bring back what I learn for the benefit of modern historians. Keep a low profile, observe, learn the languages, ask careful questions, and generally just be a history nerd.

To be honest (with no snark intended) I daresay this entire forum's existence has been dedicated to answering this question without answering this question.

I, for one, took the barest components of the historical "snapsack" nearly eight years ago, and basically invented a new means for carrying kit based on a tube of fabric. I still haven't seen any examples of historical snapsacks without their own dedicated carrying straps, and all that I've found are stitched shut at one end, but here we are with (if I may say so) a supremely functional and useful 'pack' that rides happily on a quiver strap yet doesn't diverge at all from the technology available in period. There are a myriad of awesome examples of taking our modern knowledge and applying it to historical technology...and this place RIGHT HERE is by far, the best place to find it all.

Soft kit improvements need to start with production. Spinning Wheel, Loom, and sewing machine. Pre-industrial hand powered versions would be a massive leap forward with the ability to produce simple garments in a matter of hours, rather than days. Wheels are more efficient and consistent than hand spindles, looms with flying shuttles allow for wider fabric to be made, and a sewing machine is so much faster than hand stitching.

Greg wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 2:12 am I, for one, took the barest components of the historical "snapsack" nearly eight years ago, and basically invented a new means for carrying kit based on a tube of fabric. I still haven't seen any examples of historical snapsacks without their own dedicated carrying straps, and all that I've found are stitched shut at one end, but here we are with (if I may say so) a supremely functional and useful 'pack' that rides happily on a quiver strap yet doesn't diverge at all from the technology available in period. There are a myriad of awesome examples of taking our modern knowledge and applying it to historical technology...and this place RIGHT HERE is by far, the best place to find it all.

That is something I would like to see. Do you have pictures of it someplace? Or photos of one somebody else did?

redhandfilms wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:28 pm Soft kit improvements need to start with production. Spinning Wheel, Loom, and sewing machine. Pre-industrial hand powered versions would be a massive leap forward with the ability to produce simple garments in a matter of hours, rather than days. Wheels are more efficient and consistent than hand spindles, looms with flying shuttles allow for wider fabric to be made, and a sewing machine is so much faster than hand stitching.

Good point. So you would take your knowledge of more modern manufacturing process to the mix.

Sunglasses, pockets and hats......

That's it.

Peter Remling wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 2:04 pm After getting clothing and such, devise a printing press with movable typeset. Even carved blocks of wood would work to start. Gunpowder would be next, then a cannon and so forth. Charcoal water purification systems and grown penicillin next. Electrical batteries and a water wheel generator would be possible but electrical powered items (light bulbs, radio ) would be much harder, except the telegraph. Steam powered boats would be the next logical application. Once the benefits and applications of the printing press and gunpowder are accepted, it should be easy to get sponsors/backers for the bigger items. Things we take for granted, like sanitation in a town/military area, would save thousands of lives and keep troops fighting that would normally be incapacitated with dysentery.

An excellent answer, the OP specified soft kit so I didn't think about all that, but I would say it would be much higher a priority over a better coat/shoes etc...

Peter Remling wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 2:04 pm Now all I have to worry about is the church burning me at the stake

You just reminded me of a series of daft short stories I wrote years ago about a child who happened upon a time machine, in one such story she was nearly burnt at the stake because the zipper on her jacket was seen as evil magic LOL

Eofor wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:20 am Sunglasses, pockets and hats......

That's it.

I second this

Tom_Ranger wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 10:45 pm

Greg wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 2:12 am I, for one, took the barest components of the historical "snapsack" nearly eight years ago, and basically invented a new means for carrying kit based on a tube of fabric. I still haven't seen any examples of historical snapsacks without their own dedicated carrying straps, and all that I've found are stitched shut at one end, but here we are with (if I may say so) a supremely functional and useful 'pack' that rides happily on a quiver strap yet doesn't diverge at all from the technology available in period. There are a myriad of awesome examples of taking our modern knowledge and applying it to historical technology...and this place RIGHT HERE is by far, the best place to find it all.

That is something I would like to see. Do you have pictures of it someplace? Or photos of one somebody else did?

Oh, it's all over the place now, but here's mine, under my right arm. Mine's waxed linen, but there are some leather iterations out there too.