Tungo: Hard Kit

In general, most of my kit is the same as what I carry in my Anduin Woodman impression.

‘FIRST-LINE’ GEAR or, ‘What have I got in my pockets?’ (when wearing breeches, at least)

• Knife! An antique pocketknife (early 19th century?).
• String! A small bundle of natural cordage.
• And a linen pocket handkerchief! (That Bilbo was nearly traumatized by being caught without one says a lot about its importance!)

(I really ought to keep a nibble of some sort of food on me, too. (both Aragorn (TTT 96) and Prof. Corey Olson [1] consider it distinctly hobbit-ish of Merry and Pippin to not only carry lembas in their pockets, but also to sit down and eat it in the middle of a battle!)

Fire

My fire kit is kept in my pack in a goatskin leather bag closed with a bone button. This kit consists of: · a steel striker (from my blacksmithing days) · flint (from the source) · charred cloth and/or wood in a tin ($3) · some once-dipped candle wicks · a linen bag of tinder supplies: ( a bird’s nest, cedar bark, flax tow, several small rolls of birch bark (burns like crazy!), pieces of pine ‘fatwood’ (ditto!)) · a ‘burning glass’ ($3) in a flannel-lined wool pouch · and matches (which we know were somehow known to Hobbits--TH 69, 111). ·Just for emergencies, I have a modern ferro/magnesium firesteel in wooden handle (totally cheating! (I haven’t come up with a good explanation for this in hobbit-context yet). Elsewhere in my pack I have a loose beeswax candle.

Gear repair

Even in the Shire (especially in the absence of sewing-machines), a Bounder should be able to repair his gear and clothes while out and about. I carry this sewing kit in a wool bag tied with a buckskin braid. It contains: linen thread (1-ply natural ($5), 2-ply brown , 3-ply natural); a cane needle case + needles; a ball of beeswax for waxing thread; an antique leather awl (gift from Master) with cane cover; a cane case of fine brass pins; and scraps of linen, wool, buckskin and thongs for laces. The only item I cannot document in Tolkien is a pair of ‘chinese’ scissors ($3), but I imagine that simple, functional tools like these could be of dwarvish make.

In my pack I also carry a tin of rendered deer tallow and a cut-down modern oilstone in a repurposed gun-cleaning-kit pouch.

Hygiene

To keep myself (relatively) clean, I carry basic hygiene items packed in a linen bag: A bundle of Equisetum (‘horsetail’) for scouring dishes or brushing teeth; a bar of plain, locally-produced lye soap ($1)—we know hobbits were familiar with soap (FotR 113)—a hand-woven towel (ibid) and two washcloths (Spencer Mercantile); a coarse wooden comb; fresh Mullein leaves when I find them; and digging tool (a calf’s scapula)—because while Tolkien’s heroes never have to poo in the woods, I do.

Smoking

I carry my smoking kit in a thin goatskin pouch. When I head out on an adventure, I first cut a slice of apple and loosely wrap it in waxed paper. I put this at the bottom of my tobacco pouch, and then add as much pipe-weed (“not near enough, I'll warrant” (FotR 315) as I think I’ll need on the trip. (The apple slice works like a short-term humidor!) On top of the leaf, I put in my apple-wood pipe bowl and an extremely shortened 18th c. white clay pipe – ceramic and wooden pipes were both used by hobbits (FotR 9). Also, Pippin traveled with his main pipe and a spare (TTT 183). Once I wrap the drawstring around the neck of the pouch, I slip a pair of cane pipestems (curved for hobbitry) underneath the string. (protip: pipestems can be also used as ‘bellows’ to direct air when building a campfire!) Based on my interpretation of Pippin’s revelation of his smoking kit, I carry my pouch inside my shirt “close to my skin” (ibid).

Cordage

Knowing the hobbits’ ropemaking industry (especially associated with the Gamgee clan (FotR 417; TTT 241), my kit must include cordage! In a small linen bag I have crammed raw materials—basswood/linden and nettle (which grew in the Old Forest's Bonfire Glade (FotR 126).—and some small rolls of finished cordage; elsewhere in my pack I have a big hank of pinkie-size nettle rope several yards long. When out and about, I usually gather more raw materials as I go.