Buckets!!

[10nycav]

No doubt this has been covered a long time ago before the old forum went down, but were metal buckets readily available during the Civil War? If so are there any suppliers of correctly made ones? Or it is best to go with wood for camp "bucketry"?

Thanks!
Ken Morris
10th Regt of Cavalry NYSV

[Spinster]

Re: Buckets!!

I'm not qualified to speak to the accuracy of current metal bucket reproductions.

I do own a number of wooden ones though--once well fitted and tightly bound cedar buckets held by wood and pegs alone, without any metal fittings or the wax linings which are a 'make do' for sorry cooperage. I also have a couple of metal bound oak barrels.

Realize when you add one of these items to your baggage, you are taking on the equivalent of the care and feeding of a small child. During times out of the field, your wooden containers must be kept filled with water, with regular attendance to keep various ooze, wigglers, and creepy crawlies from settleing in. Pretty easy to do with a bucket, but keeping a barrel wet and still clean enough to drink from is a challenge.

And, if you just let them lay without water and care, even for a few days in the back of the truck post event, pretty soon you've got loose wood that won't fit back together just so, and your significant other will eventually complain when you've got all the bathubs in the house full of soaking woodware.

For your useage, especially if your primary impression is Federal, Wendy Osman makes a set of nested mess kettles that for us have begun to serve as all-purpose cooking vessles, water conveyances, horse waterers, dye pots, and various other uses. While I've never been able to justify exactly why a po'white southerner would own a set of Federal issue mess kettles ;) , you won't have that difficulty.

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Buckets!!

No doubt this has been covered a long time ago before the old forum went down, but were metal buckets readily available during the Civil War? If so are there any suppliers of correctly made ones? Or it is best to go with wood for camp "bucketry"?

Thanks!
Ken Morris
10th Regt of Cavalry NYSV

I looked through my pictures of the Arabia and found that they had tin buckets in their cargo.

The Village Tinsmith makes very good tin buckets. The website is http://www.csa-dixie.com/villagetinsmith.htm