Uniform care and storage

[nmilbury]

Uniform care and storage

Hello, gentlemen,
I never really thought this was a problem. I purchased a shelf just so I could keep my uniforms out of a damp closet and out in the open, and keep them in cardboard boxes (along with other repro uniforms I own). My uniform pieces are dusted off and occasionally washed outside in a bucket, and let out to dry before bringing in, and my accoutrements and Booties are just dusted off and cleaned with a cotton towel. I find that keeping your uniform in a box and not in a closet prevents any threat of moth damage and add to that no worry of hanger creases. As for canteens, I just let them dry out in the sun with stopper off after each use, and havn't had a problem with rust yet.
My two cents in this topic ,
Nathan Milbury

[BorderReb]

Re: Uniform care and storage

Here is something I do that isn't period correct but cheap and it works. I buy cedar bedding at the pet store and stuff an old sock full of it. The sock allows the cedar to breath but keeps your stuff neat. This keeps away the critters and goes great with the campfire smoke smell we all love.

[BCIDick]

Re: Uniform care and storage

Soldiers are always expected to present a neat, clean, military appearance. This is despite the fact that Federal Soldiers were only encouraged to change underwear "...once per week", whether they needed to or not. Keeping arms and accoutrements clean, free of rust and serviceable was obviously priority #1, whether in garrison or on campaign.

The fine, white ash at the bottom of your camp fire makes an outstanding mild abrasive which when rubbed onto your musket or bayonet will remove light rust. I always wipe my metals clean and applt a light coat of oil before storing them.

Mink oil worked into your boots will soften and preserve them. I use a stiff brush to remove dirt and mud and then black them with plain old boor black. Danner's or Kiwi works well. Boots were required to be kept blacked, but not necessarily shined. This works well on your other leathers too.

Pvt Bob Firth
25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
"Why, they couldn't hit an elephant at th..."
- Maj Gen Sedgwick's last words before being shot by rebel sharpshooter"

[Parault]

Re: Uniform care and storage

I have a 10 X 12 storage shed that I purchased just for my CW clothing, leathers and everything else that I have. On one side I have a closet hanger pole with cedar particle board (closet linner) that I placed, for the purpose of keeping those critters out of my clothing. I have pegs and period boxes for all the rest of my things. I store my weapons in the house at the back of my closet for climate control. I clean my things after every event. I too have spent lots of money on items that I wouldn't want to replace. I hear some of my guys say " man you need for that to have a weathered look" My things get that look after being used for several years,not by just throwing them in the closet after an event. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't take care of these things.

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Uniform care and storage

I hang my uniforms in a closet in our cellar. (Yes, my wife loves me!) My leathers and gear I hang in our garage. At the beginning of each season, I clean and polish all of my leather, and polish all of my brass. Then I let it age again during the season. The only parts of my uniforms I launder regularly are my shirts, socks and drawers. I have handwashed my trousers, but I can't remember the last time. Keeping my musket clean is very important. Anyone who owns a 61 Springfield knows you don't even talk of rain within earshot of it. I have always found it convenient to hang canteens upside down with the stoppers out, that way they dry out and stay dry.
I see no reason to beat up your equipment to "make it look authentic." It will acquire that appearance in time as you use it, more quickly if you use it in nasty weather conditions. This stuff is expensive, though, and there is no reason, unless you won the lottery, to make it wear out before its time. Take care of it. I still have the first set of leathers that I purchased when I started doing Civil War, and just sold them. They're in great condition.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Uniform care and storage

I see no reason to beat up your equipment to "make it look authentic."

That one line is good enough for a POTM nomination.

[aetius123]

Re: Uniform care and storage

In addition to folding my uniforms I now use a hat block between events so my hat will retain its shape and size. I have a Clearwater slouch hat that I used on a rainy event and it shrunk considerably.


John Winkler
Co K 6th TX

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Uniform care and storage

Thank you! I thought I was losing my mind several years ago when after a rainy season, my forage cap no longer fit me and would only fit my then five-year-old child!

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Uniform care and storage

I have always found it convenient to hang canteens upside down with the stoppers out, that way they dry out and stay dry.

Another approach to the canteen storage issue:
A few years ago, someone on these boards had the brilliant idea of putting paper towell "twists" into a canteen so that they touch the bottom of the canteen while it is hanging upright and sticks out the spout.

Moisture is wicked up by the paper towell. I change the paper towell every day our so until it comes out dry (usually only one or two changes). I have had great luck with this technique and found it minimizes rust in my tin canteens and I have had no "funk" in my wooden canteen.

Enjoy!

[Bill]

Re: Uniform care and storage

Another approach to the canteen storage issue:

Moisture is wicked up by the paper towell. I change the paper towell every day our so until it comes out dry (usually only one or two changes). I have had great luck with this technique and found it minimizes rust in my tin canteens and I have had no "funk" in my wooden canteen.

Enjoy!

John,

If I read your post correctly, you treat your wood canteen the same as your tin canteens. IMHO, if you dry out a wood canteen on a regular basis, eventually you will have a canteen that won't hold water anymore. Every time a wood canteen dries out, the wood shrinks. For some reason I can't explain, eventually the wood loses it's ability to swell up again, when you refill the canteen with water. I am most familiar with cherry and cedar. Other woods may react differently.

It's been my experience that a wood canteen which is kept filled with water between events should normally last between five and eight years. I think that's longer service than most people get from their tin cantens.

[KarinTimour]

Wool, Care and Moths

Gentlemen:

What a terrific topic, it's fascinating to read all the ways that people have come up with for taking care of their uniforms and gear.

In reading through them, I found that some of you are a little unclear about the actual mechanics of shrinkage and moths and how to avoid both.

As a knitter, I"ve got quite a stash of wool yarn at my house, and have done a lot of reading about moths and shrinkage so as to be able to keep my stash safe.

Why does wool shrink?
Wool is a natural fiber, and each strand of wool is covered all over with microscopic "scales" which are hinged on one side. When dirt gets into wool, it will snag on the edges of the "scales." When wool gets wet, the scales start to swing open on their little hinges. The wetter the wool gets, the more the little "scales" open up. If the wool is being soaked in water (like to clean it), the dirt which was caught on the edge of a scale will float or sink into the water. While the wool is wet, if it is then pounded, or twisted, the open "scales" will catch on each other and tangle permanently. If the wetness and the pounding continue, the wool will start to mat and break down, forming felt. When a hatter wanted to make wool felt, they took unspun wool from the sheep, and intentionally wetted it, tangled and pounded it until the felting occurred. This is also what happens when wool shrinks. You've unintentionally started the process of forming felt. "Felling" was the commercial process of intentionally doing this, because wool that has been tangled and partially shrunken will be much warmer and airtight. There were "felling mills" in our time period which were commercial establishments which would take blankets or other woolen goods, get them wet and pound them to achieve the felted airtight fabric.

When you march in wool socks, your feet sweat, getting the wool wet, the pressure of each step acts to start the felling process. If you look closely at the bottom of a pair of wool socks, you'll notice the spots where your foot's pressure has started them felting. Over time this will happen with all socks, but the time it takes will be affected by a) whether you twist or wring your socks when you wash them; b) whether you put them in the dryer (NOOOOOOOOOO!); c) what breed of sheep the wool came from (some breeds produce wool that felts very easily); d) how tightly the wool was spun -- sock yarn, for instance was tightly spun so that it would resist felling and wear well; e) whether you "shock" the wool item by moving it quickly from hot to cold water, or vice versa.

If you wash your wool items, whether knitted drawers, undershirts, socks, uniform pants, it's much better to dry them flat, rather than to hang them up. If you must hang them, first get as much water as possible out of the item -- water is heavy and wet wool is vulnerable to being pulled out of shape. If you hang it up dripping, the water will pull it out of shape permanently, and then it will dry in that shape.

When you must, what should you use to wash the item?
I prefer the following cleaning agents in order of preference: a) Orvus b) Euculan Wool Wash; c) Woolite.

Orvus is designed to wash live show animals -- cattle, horses, etc. and as such it will not strip the lanolin out of the wool. Lanolin is the natural oil from the sheep that gives well made wool it's water repellant properties (ever seen a little bit of water just roll off wool? that's lanolin in action). Just as you want to keep your leathers oiled to keep them supple, the more you strip out the lanolin, the faster your wool will become stiff and cardboardy. Ever had an old coat that got dry cleaned too many times? The surface can feel like sandpaper.

You can purchase a 15-20 lb. tub of Orvus at a stockman's store (anywhere they sell cattle feed, sheep shears or horse halters) for about $15-25. I'm sure you can also purchase it over the internet. I got a tub for $25, but I suspect the guys in the feed store had me sized up for a non-farmer -- you can probably do better. Museums don't like to wash artifacts, but I've heard that if the Smithsonian HAS to spot clean something wool, this is the stuff they use. I use it on all my woolens and handwashables and they feel great.

Euculan wool wash can be purchased through the internet or at just about any yarn store, but it's pretty expensive.

Woolite you can get in the grocery -- but it's a detergent and over time it will strip out the lanolin and shorten the life of your woollens.

I don't use lye soap on my woolens. If you are using lye soap, because it was a period cleaner, keep in mind how they used it. My understanding is that they didn't get something wet and then rub the bar of soap on the item. Instead, they shaved soap flakes into the water, got it to dissolve in the water and only then ADDED the item to be washed. Sometimes this involved getting the water hot, dissolving the soap into it, then letting the water cool. Will go dig up some of my old laundry manuals and see what they say about using lye soap on wool.

How do I wash?
1. I fill the sink/bucket/whatever with cold water and dissolve the Orvus into it. Then I put the socks in the water and let them soak, undisturbed, for 20-30 minutes.

2. If there is considerable dirt in the water, I carefully scoop the socks against the side of the sink, drain the water, and refill with the same temperature, not letting the water that is filling the sink fall on the wet socks (remember, pressure starts felting). When the sink is full, I release the socks into the water and let them soak some more. I may swish them gently around, but I don't scrub or wring them.

3. Scoop them to one side of the sink, drain the water, refill with cold water and rinse. Swish the socks around in the rinse water. Repeat the process 2-3 times, until the water is clear when the socks have been swished and all the soap is out of them.

4. Drain the sink one last time. Lay a sock flat in the sink. Carefully roll it from the toe up, pressing the growing roll against the side of the sink as you go. This will get much of the water out, without twisting or wringing. Repeat with the other sock.

5. Lay a dry towel flat. Unroll each sock and lay it flat on the towel. Roll the towel up from the end, rolling the wet socks into the towel. Leave it like that for 30 minutes. The dry towel will wick much of the water out of the socks.

6. Lay a second towel flat somewhere where it can be undisturbed for a day or so. Unroll the first towel, and transfer the socks to the second towel. Leave them flat on the towel until they are dry.

7. Some folks recommend sock stretchers -- personally I dislike them, because the life of my socks is in the ribbing. Sock stretchers stretch wet wool, and my experience is that the more you stretch wet wool, the higher the likelihood for distortion. The largest thing that your sock ribbing should ever go around is your leg. If your sock stretcher is larger or pulls your ribbing to be larger than that, sooner rather than later the life is gone out of your ribbing, and you have to blouse your socks, or tie them up with your drawer legs to keep them up.


Why worry about cleaning wool?
Answer: A 5-letter word starting with "M": Moths

Moths eat both wool and silk, so if you have a flag, a sash or a cravat that is silk, you need to protect them as well as your woollens.

Moths are attracted to clothing that has been stored, whether in a closet, a box, or on a shelf. Moths don't care about your container -- if it's not airtight, they can get into it. They are especially attracted to clothing which still has odors or body oils on it. Smell of horse? Smell of smoke? Smell of pork fat? Smell of pine tar? Smell of unwashed guy? Moth heaven.

Lots of you have correctly stated that a good brushing to remove dust and mud (let the mud dry first, then brush it off) and an airing is all that uniforms need under most conditions. Period clothes certainly were washed much less than modern ones are, and if you are wearing completely period clothing from the skin out, it's a system that is designed to limit the number of places that your skin touches your uniform. Period underclothing (and I include shirts as underclothing) was meant to be washed much more often and will cover your body almost completely, thus protecting your pants and coat from the oils in your skin.

Hang your uniform up, preferably outside on a clothesline for a day or two, brush it, and then store it with moth repellant. Whether that is moth balls or cedar chips. Cedar oils, lavender and rosemary are all fragrant and will REPELL moths, not kill them. Moth balls will both repell them and kill them. Ever looked at an original coat and found an ancient cigar in a pocket (or two or three in different pockets)? It wasn't forgotten there, the housewife who stored it was using the tobacco as a moth repellant. I can't remember at the moment if tobacco (unsmoked) is effective or was just believed to repell moths. However, be forewarned, cedar oils dry out over time. So if you've got cedar chips in socks stuffed in your coat sleeves, remember to replace them every year or so. Cedar closets will likely need to be resprayed with cedar oil (you can get bottles of this stuff in places like "Bed, Bath and Beyond"). You can also get cedar blocks with little hangers on them, just hang a few in the closet, or they can be laid in the drawer with folded wools. The cedar blocks need to be sanded every year or so, to bring the cedar oil to the surface and keep the moth repellant properties available.

If you already have moths living in your closet, drawer, house, first you need to empty that area, wash it down, and repeatedly vaccum it to get up the moth eggs. I'm told that they look like sand or grit, and can be dark or light in color. They can adhere to dust bunnies in the bottom of the closet, or to any flat surface. Moth balls can help, but repeated cleaning is a necessary part of nipping this in the bud.

The moth larvae break out of the eggs and eat your wool to survive. They then form a little cocoon and reemerge as the adult moth, to lay eggs and continue the cycle.

Anything that has moth holes in it needs to be frozen. Don't see any moth holes? Hold it between you and a light source and look again. Especially if the moth damage is just starting or the item is dark colored it can be hard to see them at first.

If you've got something with moth damage, it's likely got live moth larvae living in it. Stick it in the freezer for a week, then pull it out and leave it at room temperature for a day, then stick it back in the freezer. The break is to encourage any larvae that may be dormant in the eggs to come out now that it's warmer, and then zap you stick it back in the freezer and kill them. A recurrent myth that I keep hearing is that microwaving something for 10 seconds kills the moths. No it doesn't -- freezing is the answer.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Warm. Durable. Documented.
Come see me at McDowell in May -- I'm bringing the famous "sock line."
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Bill]

Re: Wool, Care and Moths

Karin,

My wife is a pretty good sport. I've got a crock of salt pork taking up space in the refrigerator right now, but I know where to draw the line. Sticking the old frock coat in the freezer is way over that line, especially to kill bugs!

[tsgalloway]

Re: Uniform care and storage

Karin,
Thanks for the great insight. It will be a great cleaning manual for me.

-Tristan

[KarinTimour]

Re: Uniform care and storage

Dear Tristan:

I'm glad it's useful.

Bill: There's another option if freezing is out of the question -- take your frock to the cleaners -- dry cleaning will also kill moths and moth larvae. On the other hand, if you think she'd be upset by having the frock in the freezer, think about how she's going to feel when the moths move from your uniforms to her fine woollens, silk scarves, blouses and other expensive clothing.

Again, someone doesn't have to freeze or dry clean their coats unless they are seeing damage -- if you ignore it and just shove it back in the closet, you'd be amazed how much damage can be done in just 4 or 5 months. One of my clients brought a coat in to show me -- in one winter, the moths had eaten almost perfect 7 inch circles out of both armpits.

Sincerely,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Warm. Durable. Documented.
Come see me at McDowell -- I'll have the sockline with me.
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Uniform care and storage

If I read your post correctly, you treat your wood canteen the same as your tin canteens. IMHO, if you dry out a wood canteen on a regular basis, eventually you will have a canteen that won't hold water anymore. Every time a wood canteen dries out, the wood shrinks. For some reason I can't explain, eventually the wood loses it's ability to swell up again, when you refill the canteen with water. I am most familiar with cherry and cedar. Other woods may react differently.

Bill,

You are reading my post correctly. I had heard that about wood shrinkage, as well. However, it is still water-tight... so far. Any recommendations on keeping them filled without "funk" or bleach? I hate the idea of bringing bleach into the equation because I enjoy the taste of the water from a wooden canteen.