"Blackened" bone buttons?

[Mutt]

Hello all,

Did a search of the forums and came up naught regarding the subject of blackened bone buttons on Federal issue shelter halfs. They are noted several times Geade's book as being present on halves but I do not recall, and cannot sight (no book infront of me as I write this), if it is mentioned what they are "blackened" with.

Thoughts? Resources?

Thanks and Regards,

[GreencoatCross]

Re: "Blackened" bone buttons?

The original shelter tents I've studied, at least the ones with solid or possible provenance to the Cincinnati "tent loft", have had a mix of what I feel are black horn buttons and "blackened" bone buttons.

From what I can tell without sending samples to my brother's lab, the black finish of the bone buttons is some kind of paint or enamel. The shelter tent half that was featured in the John Henry Kurtz auction last November was purchased by a customer of ours; this tent of unknown make has what appears to be bone buttons that are worn smooth from use, and still retain a layer of enamel in the recesses. Hopefully, soon, I'll be able to look at his new tent a bit closer.

In making my reproduction Cincinnati shelter tents (both hand-sewn and local contract made, neither of which aren't hot sellers!) I've used original blackened bone button, horn buttons, and reproduction bone buttons that I have enameled.

Hope this helps,

[Matt_E_Wright]

Re: "Blackened" bone buttons?

I did some research on this for a run of Cincinatti Depot tents that I recently made & offered through Joe Blunt (some of which will be offered for sale on this forum shortly). There are numerous period recipes out there for blackening bone, and almost all of them involve logwood (some called for india ink). I have not yet run across an account of these buttons being painted. Suprisingly, the buttons that I dyed were left with more of an "enamelled" texture than I would have imagined. I expected the dye to leave them feeling smooth, but they felt rough. Whether the roughness was caused by the initial preperation steps, the dye, the mordant, or the hot water (or a combination) is anyone's guess.

Matt Wright

[roundshot]

Re: "Blackened" bone buttons?

I made a Day's poncho/tent from descriptions according to Gaede's book which included "blackened bone buttons." I tried dyeing regular bone buttons to achieve the desired effect and initially they looked pretty good. After some usage however, they only retain a residual of the darkened finish (as the attached photo will attest). C'est la vie. I still love the thing, however.

[fahnenschmied]

Re: "Blackened" bone buttons?

I did a little scratching into this, as I am currently making a Cincinnati type shelter tent. There is a chemical - I believe it is Potassium Perchlorate - which will darken bone. Some knife makers I know use it to darken bone or imitate the finish on the factory "jigged" fake antler handles made of bone.
I have seen bone buttons that were black - but I also see many that are stained a dirty yellowish tan. Don't know if they were darker originally or not..
Over the weekend I'll make a trial out of the chemical - I find it somewhere in a pool supply place..

David stone

[Mutt]

Re: "Blackened" bone buttons?

Thanks for the info everyone! I might play around with some modern bone buttons I have for making shelter halves and see what happens. I have a few different kinds of ink and plan on picking up lamp black to make my own mix of paint. I'm supposing they blackened them to stand out off the drill or duck white or the tent? Or to protect the porous bone?

Let us know what you find on that tent half Brian!

Best Regards,

[fahnenschmied]

Re: "Blackened" bone buttons?

So far as I know, these buttons were darkened to make them look less conspicuous on dark colored textiles, as the majority of such buttons were intended to be used on mens trousers and such things. Most likely they ended up on shelter tents because they were a standard article of commerce, and were available in large numbers. I don't think they were intentionally chosen so they'd "stand out".