Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I'm finally getting around to previewing my new snap sack made for me by Elleth.
Also there's a sneak peak of my Viggo inspired bedroll cover and quiver rehab.

Lets get to it! First up, last spring Elleth contacted me about making a seax for her kit. After some discussion we decided to work in trade. I asked if she would make me a snap sack similar to the one she made for Manveroun during the 2015 Christmas gift exchange. After some finalization on dimensions and detail we both dashed off to complete our respective works.

Late last year I received my bag with much anticipation and excitement. To start I love how modular this bag is. Since receiving it I've tinkered several ways to wear it. I've tied it to my bedroll, attached a carrying strap, and tried Greg's wonderful method but in the end wanted something I could call my own.

What I settled on was to wear it tied(for now)to the back of my belt. Forgive the dark lighting of some the pics, it was cloudy much of yesterday and my kit is already quite dark. I'm very pleased with the weight distribution, in fact even fully loaded I hardly realize Im wearing it. I snapped a few quick pics at my normal jump off point before hitting the woods.


The rest are of the bags beautiful construction. The body is goatskin dyed in walnut dye, lined with linen also dyed walnut.
The buckles were hand cast by Elleth in bronze and are the main points used for attachment
The bag has a spine of heavy leather sewn down the back the tie points at regular intervals used for attaching or for cord to pass through to help compress the load.
The bag is currently fully loaded in the last shot and contains a
Small tin cup, venison jerky, parched corn, walnuts, dried veggies, my fishing kit, salt bag, and a few rounds of maple sugar and dark chocolate. Going forward it will hold only my ready to eat foods with the cookable items being roll up in my bed roll.

Not sure why but the first few seem to be rotated but weren't when I uploaded them

Oh cool! I'd wondered if it would work across the back like that - neat!
(I actually liked yours so much I ditched my original leather snapsack project and started making one like yours instead. Those dimensions are nice and handy!)

For those wanting to experiment w/walnut dye on thin leather like goatskin - one of the cool things you can do is scrunch it up a bit when you lay it out in the sun. The areas that get more sun dry darker, so you can get a mottled "camouflage" effect:

Very cool! That setup reminds me of the shepherd's budgets I've seen in medieval art:

Elleth wrote:Oh cool! I'd wondered if it would work across the back like that - neat!
(I actually liked yours so much I ditched my original leather snapsack project and started making one like yours instead. Those dimensions are nice and handy!)

For those wanting to experiment w/walnut dye on thin leather like goatskin - one of the cool things you can do is scrunch it up a bit when you lay it out in the sun. The areas that get more sun dry darker, so you can get a mottled "camouflage" effect:

merf-snapsack-dyepattern.jpg

Gah I knew I forgot to touch on something! Its actually almost the exaxct same shade as the linen tunic I'm wearing, which is awesome.

Taurinor wrote:Very cool! That setup reminds me of the shepherd's budgets I've seen in medieval art:

shepherds budgets.png

Cool find Taurinor! Its also similar to several of the folks on here that carry a portmanteau thus, but with added benefit of being flexible so it wraps around the body. I remember back in the mid ninetys and early 2000s my dad having a much smaller similar rig that he kept parched corn in while on the trail.

Ursus wrote:I remember back in the mid ninetys and early 2000s my dad having a much smaller similar rig that he kept parched corn in while on the trail.

Ahh, the olde "corn quiver"...stolen from the Vietcong in misinterpretation of 16th c. native gear. Premium reenactorism!
The leather snapsack looks !awesome!, Ursus & Elleth.

So good to have you back active, sir. Lovely work on all fronts.

I know you're carrying your smaller bow, but I'm seeing shorter arrows and a smaller/newer quiver as well. You've been busy!

Very cool! That setup reminds me of the shepherd's budgets I've seen in medieval art:

Oh that's fascinating - have you done more research on them? Do you know if they tend to be open at the side, like a snapsack worn sideways? Or on the top? Are there any extant examples you know of?

So good to have you back active, sir. Lovely work on all fronts.

Absolutely! Your experience has been missed!

Ahh, the olde "corn quiver"...stolen from the Vietcong in misinterpretation of 16th c. native gear. Premium reenactorism!

Ha! Those are fun! Even knowing at the time it was pure farberism, I still got the bee in my bonnet to give one a try after seeing that old Mark Baker video:
... in terms of usefulness, I think our need wallets with reserve waybread and raw goods in the pack are far and away a better solution - but it's still a fun little bit of '90's lore.
(edit.. wow... my pot looks so new and clean in that old picture!)

Elleth wrote:Oh that's fascinating - have you done more research on them? Do you know if they tend to be open at the side, like a snapsack worn sideways? Or on the top? Are there any extant examples you know of?

I don't know a whole lot about them, unfortunately. There is a linkspage dedicated to them over on Larsdatter.com where they are described thusly:

Karen Larsdatter wrote:Shepherds are frequently depicted with a sort of waist-pouch or satchel which are sometimes referred to as a "budget" (from the French word bougette, meaning a sack); sometimes these are called “scrips” or “wallets.”

The budget seems to have been used to carry newly-shorn wool (newly-shorn locks can be seen poking out of a shepherd’s budget in Bronzino’s Adoration of the Shepherds) or other goods; sometimes a flute appears tucked between a shepherd's hip and the budget.

In some cases, it appears that the budget appears to be a sort of net bag; in others, leather.

I also found a very detailed examination of medieval shepherds' purses, which includes attempts at reconstruction. Some of the images are broken, but considering the page on the subject was last updated in 2005, the information is surprisingly intact!

re: shepherd's budgets - thank you Taurinor! Gosh that's a lot of work.

I have a hard time believing this though from larsdatter -

The budget seems to have been used to carry newly-shorn wool (newly-shorn locks can be seen poking out of a shepherd’s budget in Bronzino’s Adoration of the Shepherds) or other goods; sometimes a flute appears tucked between a shepherd's hip and the budget.

A fleece is waaaay too big and bulky to fit in those little bags. Granted our (heritage breed) Icelandics are unusually shaggy, but each fleece will completely fill a standard size garbage bag - I could believe in that Adoration of the Shepherds painting that the large sack the shepherd on the right is leaning on contains a fleece, but certainly not the bags they're wearing. And it makes no sense to shear out in the pasture or way out at a campsite when you can do it in the barnyard, right next to where you're going to be processing the wool.

I think carrying tools, food, and assorted impedimentia for an overnight out with the sheep makes much more sense. If memory serves*, there were in a number of places by the high middle ages effectively vagrancy laws that kept folk from loafing about the countryside - but the shepherds minding sheep on an overnight were of course exempt. That would seem to imply the shepherd's budget is a far better historical exemplar for a "sleep out in the wilds" bag than a pilgrim's scrip.

That it's vaguely ranger-snapsacky is just a nice bonus.



Oh! meant to say - Ursus, that bedroll cover looks cool! Can you give us more information?
Is it fastened to the strap as a "carrier" or does it simply tie around a normally carried blanket to protect it? If the former, does it change your balance or fatigue noticeably?



* source: The Medieval Traveller by Caroline Hillier and Norbert Ohler

Elleth wrote:Oh! meant to say - Ursus, that bedroll cover looks cool! Can you give us more information?
Is it fastened to the strap as a "carrier" or does it simply tie around a normally carried blanket to protect it? If the former, does it change your balance or fatigue noticeably?

All in due time....

Taurinor - I just had a bit of an "a-ha" moment related to the shepherd's budget, especially the net-looking thing.

We were moving sheep today, and without really thinking I bent down and picked up a piece of shed fleece. I can't imagine the shepherds would do any different if they came across a bit of of fluff. After all, it seems the culture was so materials-poor that the women were carrying their spinning with them everywhere they went. Surely the cast-off wool from a fair-sized herd might add up, especially coming into spring shearing season.

Also, you wouldn't want to stuff it down somewhere tight, as it could felt up too easily. Thus it seems a loose bag (or net) for picking up bits and pieces of wool around shearing time might indeed be a good idea.

I can't prove that was the intent, but it seems logical.

That certainly make sense, and definitely come from a place of both practical and historical knowledge! Thanks for the experimental archeology update!

Ursus wrote:Not sure why but the first few seem to be rotated but weren't when I uploaded them

Same thing has happened to me. Gremlins, no doubt.