How should I remove Canteen Rust?

[Morgan's raider]

In an effort to upgrade my impression, i have recently sold my stainless steel canteen and purchased a tin canteen that is about 20 years old....It has a very nice patina on the brackets and spout and the wool covering is faded and worn.

There is no rust in the canteen after visual inspection and after letting it sit with water in it, the water is not rust colored. My question is how can I get rid of the tin taste... I have cleaned it with baking soda and water and have also put vinegar and water in it.. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Amtmann]

Re: Help with a old canteen

My question is how can I get rid of the tin taste

You're not... it's made of tin.

[Travelin Cornfed]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Add bourbon.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Help with a old canteen

I would advise against putting anything other than water/bleach/iodine inside a canteen. If you put vinegar in your canteen, this will only encourage corrosion by increasing the rate at which your metal oxidizes; and I've known several friends who put spirits in their canteens only to have it haunt them for as long as they have used it.

I would tend to agree that tin canteens will always have a tin/semi-metallic taste, and there is nothing you can do about this. If you don't want that taste invest in a wood canteen.

Paul B. Boulden Jr.

RAH VA MIL '04

[toptimlrd]

Re: Help with a old canteen

I don't get a tin taste in my canteen. Is yours lined with beeswax? (mine is) Perhaps a beeswax lining would do the trick.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Help with a old canteen

I don't get a tin taste in my canteen. Is yours lined with beeswax? (mine is) Perhaps a beeswax lining would do the trick.

Robert, in a tin canteen is this a CW era practice, or a modern reenactorism?

The world awaits your answer. :)

[Morgan's raider]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Gentlemen, thank you for the information. I think what I was trying to say is that there was a "stale' taste to the water, and that was probably from the canteen sitting so long without use. He said it had been several years without having water in ti.

I did put some vinegar in the water and let it sit over night, and gladly it seems that the stlaeness is no longer there.

Now I will store it with the stoppper out, and I believe that will prevent corrosion.

[Marc]

Re: Help with a old canteen

To help prevent corosion at the end of an event and when I get home, I wash the canteen out with hot water and roll a paper towel and stick it in the spout. Hang upside down overnight and the paper towel acts a water wick and draws the moisture out. Pull the paper towel out and store with the spout open. I have had two canteens for years and no problems using this method.

[Morgan's raider]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Thanks Marc, great piece of advice.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Help with a old canteen

I don't get a tin taste in my canteen. Is yours lined with beeswax? (mine is) Perhaps a beeswax lining would do the trick.

Well, since we're talking about an issue that applies to me, does the beeswax approach stop already pre-existant corrosion? I recently noticed after dumping some excess water down the white sink that there was rust mixed in.

We've discussed what to do WITHOUT rust coloured water but what to do about rust water?? Mr. Riddell, do you think your method will help me now?

Thanks friends,

[NC1862]

Re: Help with a old canteen

To help prevent corosion at the end of an event and when I get home, I wash the canteen out with hot water and roll a paper towel and stick it in the spout. Hang upside down overnight and the paper towel acts a water wick and draws the moisture out. Pull the paper towel out and store with the spout open. I have had two canteens for years and no problems using this method.

This is what I do after an event and have had no problems using this method. You might want to line the canteen with beeswax. It helps keep the canteen from corroding.

[H. L. Hanger]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Water in a canteen??? Water!!!! Why, I believe it was General Fields who once said that, "Fish fornicate in water!" Buttermilk is a much better choice to carry in your canteen. You can find it at any dwelling you may pass whilst on the march!

[toptimlrd]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Robert, in a tin canteen is this a CW era practice, or a modern reenactorism?

The world awaits your answer. :)

Charles,

I truly have not done that research for myself :o , but the canteen did come from an approved vendor here on the AC and most of the people who I do deem as having more expertise on the subject than I have assured me that this is still period correct. If this is incorrect I apologize for my ignorance on this particular piece of equippage. At least I didn't tell him to go back to stainless and that nobody can tell the difference

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Take care of your canteen before and after each event to prevent rust. Keep in mind, no matter how good you take care of your canteen, you'll see rusty water now and then. If your canteen is too rusty and you're having major trouble, buy a new canteen. (Without beezwax) Trust me.

A couple years ago, I was using a canteen from 1985, and I had major rust problems. I did the best I could before and after each event to keep it from rusting too much. During a certain event, one of the rust areas of the canteen sprung a leak, and all my water ran out. Thank God I was able to borrow a canteen from a friend who brought two. The event was Pickett's Mill 2004, and those of you who were there, knows it would have been very hard to participate without your own canteen. The point is, take care of your stuff..... You never know when something will fail out in the field, and it could be something important like a canteen. We all have to be able to go back to work and school Monday morning, so take care of yourself.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Help with a old canteen

Okay, we've had enough complaints about this thread that is has been relocated to The Sinks from Camp of Instruction, and locked down. Unfortunately, the forum software does not provide for a button whereby such threads can be instantly moved to the mainstream forum, but let me dispense a couple of nuggets as a gesture of kindness and goodwill:

1. Vinegar in a tin clad vessel. Acid removes tin. Vinegar is acid. Mr. Wizard and Jimmy can demonstrate this safety with zinc at home. Take a galvanized (hot dip or electroplated) bolt, nut, or washer, and place it in a few ounces of household vinegar for about ten days. Notice the zinc is gone? As a parallel, think about who this applies to tin inside your canteen.

2. Canteen maintenance. Not all canteens are built alike. The original bullseye canteen I use from time to time still holds water. A famous maker tin drum canteen sprang a leak within 5 years of purchase. These things happen. What to do? See part 3.

3. Part 3 - Reading is fundamental. Bill Christen, Bartleby the Scrivener, and the folks at The Watchdawg are cranking out copies of the Columbia Rifles Research Compendium #2 (CRRC-2) as we speak. Bartleby is wearing out new old stock Jos. Gillott #4o4 nibs by the case lot. In the first version of the CRRC, the "how to maintain your canteen" section was included in Article III.3 "Cleaning and Maintenance of Uniforms & Equipment" by Perfesser Tobey. In the CRRC-2 it is Article III.16, and I strongly suggest folks who are in groups where it is painfully obvious every corporal and sergeant have been struck dead or otherwise rendered mute and deaf to buy a copy.

Wonderful link here:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...ead.php?t=7250

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm also a member of the CRs, and dang thankful this world has people in it who would put their time and energies into such a publication.

Now, get out there and read, or you won't be getting any pie.

Me, book pimp, and annoying Internet pundit,