Found this in the woods a couple of days ago.
Wonder what happened to its owner?
It has the cap and chain but no cork so it leaks a bit. Any idea if they had a cork originally or what I can use now?
Vollrath
Yep that used to be one of my customers many years ago
Cork gasket in the cap. Pretty much like old beer caps:
You could get a sheet of cork gasket material from an auto supply house if you want to be retro or just use neoprene or some other modern material.
Now you just have to find the canteen cup and the cover...
Yes, plastic caps had cork. You might try a good auto parts store. They usta carry cork mat to make DIY gaskets. You buy the mat and cut out a gasket, yerself. I've also seen stainless steel canteens with both plastic and metal caps.
Except to a collector, those old WW2 GI canteens aren't worth much. I sold two SS canteens w/ cups & belts for < $10 ea. That style of canteen is no longer popular. Better to get a plastic one. They may not last as long, but they give when you fall on 'em. Broken bones cost more than canteens.
nb
The stainless steel canteen cups were also a joy. You could cook in them with no problem but drinking very hot coffee was interesting. I was mostly equipped with WWII surplus items during my Boy Scout years and all I can say is they were real men in WWII. The ALICE system was the first time the military even came close to decent gear.
Likewise. In fact, I spent a blizzardy two nights, in my car, in a pre-Nam surplus mummy bags not too long after I did a hitch in the Nam-era USAF. Old, but useable. But yeah, I had all that stuff from WWII, in the Scouts. I've also rolled down a High Sierra granite slab w/ one of those web-belt GI canteens. Felt like it broke every bone in my body! I'll take plastic. ;)
I was quite fortunate to not have served in Nam.
The dumbest thing I ever did was to toss my all-wool calf-length dress coat.
nb
I think French wine would be more appropriate.
rbowman wrote, on Fri, 06 Feb 2015 23:01:18 -0700:
Thanks for the advice about the cork lining.
I will go back to the spot I found it, and look for the canteen cup. The lining was in total tatters, and almost non existent when I found it.
Here's a side view of the canteen, cleaned up.
It seems to be in too good a shape to have been there for 70 years though.
rbowman wrote, on Sat, 07 Feb 2015 10:56:09 -0700:
The ALICE system?
Oren wrote, on Sat, 07 Feb 2015 15:16:35 -0800:
It was in the woods, at least a mile from any roads. The cap seems pitted? Or is that teeth marks?
It's hard to tell but it's still serviceable.
The cover was in total tatters, almost nothing left at all. The metal looks pristine almost though.
And the cap has these pits.
What do you make of the pits?
The pack is a fairly decent external frame pack with modern features like a waist belt and sternum strap. Prior to that the packs were mostly tweaks of a 1910 design. There was a WWII packboard that was a fairly heavy plywood contraption. They weren't the most comfortable thing but they could be handy. I used one for walking the fenceline with a spool of barbed wire, fencing pliers, wire stretcher, and so forth lashed on. The board was a more or less solid piece so you didn't have to worry about irregular shapes digging into your back.
Obviously some parts of the gear are military specific but for the last 40 or 50 years the military has tended to reach out to manufacturers who know what they're doing for field gear and in some cases are using COTS products.
Of course the modern army doesn't learn arcane skills like the proper way to roll up you blanket, shelter half, and stakes, bend the roll into a horshoe shape, and lash it to your M1938 musette bag. Real packs, real tents, and real sleeping bags are spoiling them.
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