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Picked up a very interesting pair of Otis Baker braces from Carter & Jasper/Rambling Irishman. Patrick Landrum (Jacks and Tens) had them artfully displayed at the bottom of a Rubbermaid box at the STRI combined Artillery Battery/living history this past weekend in Murfreesboro. Like finding gold in a box of straw, the braces practically jumped right out of the box and into my hands, and I could not put them on my trowsers fast enough. There will be a more complete review in "The Campaigner" section of the next Gazette or where ever they put it. The history is pretty well known on the Otis Bakers, they are copied from a pair in the Jackson Mississippi museum, etc, but it is the quality of the reproductions that stuns. Tim Koehn is the maker, and his mark is nicely placed on the back. These are also the type that have one tab slightly longer than the other on each side for a better fit. Personal preference, but I like to add an overlapping piece of material on the back of one of the braces to act as a "slide" where they cross in back. This purchase results in the necessity of throwing out most of the braces I've made myself or gotten elsewhere as they look like garbage next to this kind of material and workmanship. I am contracting with my personal Draper (tailor), Mr Lamoreaux to make me up some better custom braces like these. I now know better than to try to make my own.
By the way, there were a few other nice Rambling Irishman articles in the back of his wife's Trailblazer, which Mrs Landrum generously allowed Patrick to use for the day, so long as he had it washed, vacuumed and back home by supper. Nice multi-stage hot dipped tin items. The skillet was well made, but seemed a little on the heavy side to lug around for a weekend...they found one like this at a winter camp excavation around here a few years back. It's a good size, though. Iron handle the culprit?
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By the way, there were a few other nice Rambling Irishman articles in the back of his wife's Trailblazer, which Mrs Landrum generously allowed Patrick to use for the day, so long as he had it washed, vacuumed and back home by supper. Nice multi-stage hot dipped tin items. The skillet was well made, but seemed a little on the heavy side to lug around for a weekend...they found one like this at a winter camp excavation around here a few years back. It's a good size, though. Iron handle the culprit?
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