Tarred cloth

[Charles Kaiser]

Hallo Kameraden,
ein frohes neues Jahr !

I have a Question about tarred cloth, does it mean Oilcloth, or if it is an other thing, where can I find a recipe of this ?

[orngblsm]

Re: Tarred cloth

As I understand it, tarred cloth is painted on top of seized cloth(cloth that has been locked by a guesso) and not meant to saturate the material. while oilcloth fully saturates the material. Check out the olathe union guard page at http://www.geocities.com/union_guard/ their recipe for oilcloth works pretty well.

MHO,

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Tarred cloth

Hallo!

Frohes Neues Jahr!

Just an aside...

"Tarred" and "oiled cloth" can be confusing as the usage of the terms can be pretty losoe in Period writings and descriptions.
Meaning, there are "tarred" items and then one can see oiled cloth done black called "tarred" when it was not actually tarred by painting/treating with linseed oil and black pigment "paint" such as lampblack.

In brief and to over-simplify...

Linseed oil, a powdered pigment, turpentine, and varying "drying agents" often make up what treats "oil cloth" or "oiled cloth."
And tarred items are "tarred."

However, a knapsack flap can simply be "painted" with oil-based paint, and someone may refer to it has being "oil cloth" covered.

And yes, fabrics will often experience random seepage and splotchy "bleed through" to the underside of the material is not "pre-sealed" by sizing it.

Curt

[J_Gillett]

Re: Tarred cloth

Hello
I just wanted to confirm that there is no hitherto documented period recipe for tarred cloth that actually uses naturally occuring liquid asphalt or tar. I work at the La Brea Tar Pits and certainly have enough of the stuff...

Best regards
Jonathan Gillett

[ferraius]

Re: Tarred cloth

I purchased a big piece of real oilcloth material from a seller on eBay. It wasn't the smelly stuff they use on Australian overcoats either. I cut it in half and made two oilcloths. I think the feller was a general sutler type from Tennessee. Maybe I can dig up his name.

Jon O'Harra
Heartless Bastards Mess

[Brian Baird]

Re: Tarred cloth

Hamilton Dry Goods, Sparta, TN sells it,

http://www.periodfabric.com/OilCloth.htm

Brian Baird

[Charles Kaiser]

Re: Tarred cloth

Hallo Kameraden,
I understand this: Oilcloth and tarred Cloth are two different things. They where mixed in historical documents, because the writers often did not know the difference between the two things. I still produce oil cloth for some guys in Europe, based on the olathe union- recipe.
Tarred cloth means, that I had to heat tar, or to thin it with mineral spirits, or turpetine and than paint the cloth. Does anyone know how to handle this? Oroginal recipe?

[AZReenactor]

Re: Tarred cloth

To confuse things still further beyond oil cloth and painted cloth there is also comercially available Enameled cloth. The topic came up while looking at the USSC ration bags.

[Mark Choate]

Re: Tarred cloth

I have acquired some oil cloth and would like to "revive" this discussion. Would like to make some ground cloths for campaigning purposes and covering my bed roll when on the back of my saddle.

Does anyone know if these "ground cloths" were cut to a standard dimension or did anything go? Also, were the edges sewed or rough?

Any info would be appreciated.

thanks,
Mark

[Clsinclair]

Re: Tarred cloth

One Federal requisition listed the specs as 46" X 71" with a two inch hem on one side and end and with a 1" hem on the other side and end. The one listed in Echo's of Glory appeared to have machine sewn hems but I can't swear to it. A painted oil cloth haversack that I examined at the Museum of the Confederacy had a lot of machine sewing and it was a haversack made in quantity since the museum had three of them. Since the Federal Painted Oil Cloth would require long seams it would only make some sense to use a machine to sew thousands of them instead of long hours of hand stitching. I would like to say that both methods were used but can't prove it one way or another.

Claude Sinclair

[Devildog0311]

Re: Tarred cloth

I have a question about Confederate ground cloths. I made one with a period paint recipe from the Olathe Union Guard website. I don't think I put enough cornstarch on the material and the paint soaked completely through. Has anyone ever seen or heard of a groundcloth with both sides painted? Could that have been a mistake in some painted groundcloths? Should I try to make another one or would this be authentic enough to use?

[Silas]

Re: Tarred cloth

Put more paint on the painted side. Key feature for ground cloths is that they don't leak.

[robert-m]

Re: Tarred cloth

Justin, regardless of what you do your going to have some seep through. I myself have made many for my pards. And no matter how much starch you use, there will still be some seep through. I thought the same thing as you. and mess with a few different methods. But they all seeped through some.

[Devildog0311]

Re: Tarred cloth

There is no white on the other side of it. There was so much that seeped through that it looks like both sides are painted.

[Clsinclair]

Re: Tarred cloth

Sure about that? I have made around 500 Federal Painted Oil Blankets and it can be done without too much seepage. After making them for about 10 years you learn the right ratio mixture and how to apply it and when. Even now I will screw up a batch by not paying attention.