How to Stop a Canvas Water Bag from Leaking / Historical Water Storage
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
- In this video I give some history about the canvas water bag and how it was a traditional method of water storage and transportation during the 1800s and 1900s.
I also go through some advice and tips on how to stop your canvas water bag from leaking it's water.
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Absolute legend! There is so little content on water bags, particularly in Australia which is surprising given how commonplace they were.
Great video, really enjoyed it.
Cheers mate. It's definantly a learning process for myself, and I'm learning more and more as I do my research. And you are right, it is pretty hard to find information about them.
@@TheBeardedBushranger Keep up the great content👍
I remember when we had one tied to front of our car .the water was always lovely and cool
Yeah they are a great piece of kit.
Thinking back to the one my father had on the front of his vehicle i seem to recall the hessian was a secondary cover that protected it somewhat.
Yeah interesting .. I've seen bush fridges made with hessian before with a similar concept of wet hession having wind blown against it cools everything down.
@@TheBeardedBushranger and my grandparents a hessian covered wooden frame with fly wire attached hanging in the willow trees as their cooler in the 1960s.
Nothing like the water from a canvas bag on the front of a vehicle. Beautiful
I worked in mustering camps and I used these types of bags on my vehicle but it had a leather back to stop rubbing through on the bull bar. These weren't used as saddle bags though because you had two different types on horses. One that had a curve and it fitted under the neck of your horse. The other was better and had two teardrop types that sat on the shoulders of the horse and had a leather back so horse sweat didnt contaminate the water. These ones were both drovers water bags. The latter was set up like a breastplate and you drank by standing next to your horse and undoing each side at the top by a buckle. I used that on in a pack camp and it was the best and held the most water. I also had a WW11 set that was similar to the drovers double set but set up for walking. Maybe these were used in New Guinea? Then not that long ago I found one in the Q store at Army. It had the broad arrow on it so I gave it to my mate who has several 110 landrovers. It didn't have the leather backing though.
Hey thanks heaps for that bit of history info. I like the fact you had different types to fit the horses, and the leather backing so the sweat didn't contaminate the water. They really were a beaut piece of gear back in the day.
It would be interesting to deconstruct an old bag and a new bag to see if there is a difference in how they are made.
Seams could make s big difference. Thread tension and stitch spacing, not to mention thread type!.
I'd be worried that they make them as ornaments now, so cut corners or have forgotten construction techniques.
I feel that way as well mate. I'm actually pretty keen to take a part one of the new ones and see how it's been made, and see if my wife and I can replicate it. But like you said, would be interesting to see how the old ones were made (though I don't think I'd have the heart to pull a part a vintage one)
Thanks Mate, This Trick Might Seal Mine Up Now.
Top Video.
Thanks Mike
Give it a go and let me know!
Good tips mate. Definitely a great bit of old school gear. Cheers.
Haha ya got me hooked on them ever since last years trip.
@@TheBeardedBushranger 👍
I used water bags as a boy scout in the 80s and 90s. In the Netherlands. Looked like a canvas shopping tote, open top, canvas handles. I don't remember any special treatments. It dripped the first day, until the fibers swelled.
Great memories mate. Looks like they were pretty widely used accross different countries.
That was actually fascinating to learn something I did not know there Luke. Keep them coming. Would be interesting to learn something about the manufacturing process of these bags also so a full start to finish story if you are able to find out more about how they are made, from
What sources material what denier cotton? Etc 👍👍
Yeah that would be really interesting to find out. That is the kind of informaton that requires some deep digging, and not just looking on the net. Doing some visits to local heritage musems I'd say!
@@TheBeardedBushranger sounds like another great video in the making there Luke 👍
Such a good ol bit of gear, cheers for keepin this info out there. Thered be more than a few old swaggies that owe their hide to a canvas waterbag i reckon
Yeah I reckon a lot of old drovers, miners and people working in the outback, could thank their lives to them.
Mint. Ive old stock WAG bags. Cheers bloke
Interesting video, i feel that the new water bags would be manufactured different to the old ones as it thread used on the seems and even the material itself. I agree with you on the plastic cap, cork would be so much more authentic.
I have a feeling as well. I'd love to pick on a part and have a look at the difference. Although I wouldn't have the heart to pull a part a vintage one
Keep it up mate, fast becoming a regular watch on TH-cam now, from VHC myself but do regular trips with horses over several days and I reckon a canvas bag is going to go on the pack horse very soon 🤌
Gday mate. That honestly sounds bloody brilliant. Bit of a dream of mine actually. One of my goals I want to complete over the next 5 years is to learn how to ride a horse. Doing a trip on horseback through the high country would connect ya to the old ways and old fellas in a pretty significant way.
@@TheBeardedBushranger it’s a pretty special way of getting about in the bush that’s for sure, certainly a passion of mine and many other much better horseman then myself. Last trip was 3 days at bogong and about 100ml of rain 😅. If you’re interested your local ATHRA might be able to get you started
@@Grub96 Cheers mate. Bogong area sounds fantastic .. but that's a fair bit of rain. I will have to look into. It's a bit of a dream of mine to ride through the high country on horse back.
Had one decades ago in central Australia on the front of a hilux for a good while - just soaked it and used it. Never heard the flour thing, and I’d never add it because it just sounds grubby to me. Used to get plastered with dust on the outside, so maybe that helped seal it a bit.
haha a good coating of dust seems to do the trick then.
Works like the Kimberly cooler for meat
Thankyou
cheers, thanks for watching.
If anyone wants to learn about waterproofing fabrics, nighthawkinlight's 2nd latest video would be a great watch after this one.
Paraffin wax can also be used and mixing it with mineral oil greatly improves flexibility of the material. With his video you could make material for your own water bag, tarp or clothes.
Interesting video mate. Although the canvas water bags need to not be 100% water proof so they can weep.The tarps he makes are really interesting. I do love the traditional materials like wax and linseed oil, as opposed to sythentics and plastics.
I've made my own oil skin tarps like this before and most of my clothing these days is waxed canvas or oil skin.
Thanks again.
Great stuff.
Love it.
Cheer mr kelly
Great video. Gave me flashbacks to older relatives in the later 1970s and 1980s driving back and forth from Adelaide to north of SA. My (flawed) memory is that their water bags were hessian, not canvas. The fibres were looser and pricklier, and swelled more after soaking. Definitely a soak needed as part of travel prep, but no wax or flour. The bags were hung on the front bumper of the car to keep the water cool. Thanks for keeping history alive. 👍
Great video Luke thanks for sharing. I haven't seen one of those for years. When I was a kid growing up in South Africa in the 60s and 70s they were very popular. Putting flour or maize meal in them was a trick that people used here. Looking forward to the next adventure.
Yeah I've seen the old hessian bags as well ... same concept as the canvas! I've seen bush fridges made of hessian as well.
Yeah interesting mate to hear the flour trick was used in South Africa as well.
@@TheBeardedBushranger yes! Many family stories of wet hession over the food safe.
Yeah my father used to but a hessian water bag on the front of the Holden on long trips. I hated the flavor but really was just a kid being picky as I still remember it being just an "earthy" taste
Great video mate, we used them in the Pilbara in 70s
They are bloody great, especially on the front of a 4wd while traveling in the outback!
Great video
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for sharing, interesting history lesson 😎✌️
Cheers, thanks for watching.
We used them in the 70s out west.
Interesting how much they were actually used in our history, but how little info you can find on them online. I reckon heritage musuems / old books in librarys and talking to folks who used them is the way to go.
@@TheBeardedBushranger I'd love to find an old one in decent condition somewhere. TBH, I didn't know you could buy them new still.
@@BradGryphonn There are a few vintage ones around on ebay or market place every now and then! They are hard to snag up though.
Waxed thread is commonly available for hand stitching by cobblers, saddlers, etc. So if you need to do repairs, try use that.
If youre trying to seal stitch holes, you need to rub the wax in. You need the friction to heat up the canvas enough to take in the wax, you want it to plug the hole's, not just cover the top
Cheers mate, yup that makes total sense about the wax to plug the holes (and where the stitching would be) I would love to take this a part to get a design and then recreate it with my wife who is a tailor, but use the waxed threading.
@TheBeardedBushranger make sure to tell her to hand sew it. If that wax gets all over her fancy machines, you won't have a wife anymore 😆
Maybe use a sailmakers awl
that's actually a piece of old tech that we haven't replaced yet... [the cooling part]
Costs less then a car fridge 😂
I was taught to use corn starch not flour , but I guess either one will do , eh ?
Interesting, I've heard from others that they were told to use maize meal. I guess it all did the same thing.
A canvas water bag is supposed to leak water that's how it keeps the water cool
Yeah for sure mate, I talk about that at the very start of the vid, how the bag would weep and that would cool it down. I'm talking about a new bag that is leaking out all it's water over 24 hours or so. Lots of new bags do this .. a water bag should hold your water for a couple of days when working right (while slowly weeping)
Thanks for watching.
You need to turn your horse shoe up the other way or all your luck will run out...😉
Haha point noted!
I,m surprised there still so hard to get.🤔 canvas is canvas yeah? Hmmm.
Yeah talking to local historical clothing makers it is still very hard to find canvas that is no lined with some kind of synthentic material .. even canvas that says 100% cotton canvas will often have some kind of layer on it .. so they have to be real careful where they source their material.