A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Hard Kit is all other accoutrements that are not clothing, weapons or armour. This includes pots and tents, and flint & steel, and other things like that.

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Ruinar Hrafnakveðja
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Ruinar Hrafnakveðja »

Looks fantastic Greg! I was wondering how the skin would take to being dyed
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Greg »

Follow-up: it dried beautifully, lightened a little, but took on a beautiful dark sandy color. Added bonus, it has a similar broken-in feel that keeps up with the rest of my gear. Not artificially weathered, but not brand new.

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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Manveruon »

Sorry to necro-post, but I’ve been thinking a lot about waterskins lately, and kind of considering a bota-mod like others have done in the past on here. I’m curious - Elleth: do you think the fellow on Etsy would still turn a mouthpiece like the one you posted at the top here if asked? And if so, do you have any idea how much he would charge for just one?
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Elleth »

I'm fairly certain he would: Etsy sellers tend to be pretty good about custom orders, and he seemed an awesome dude. I'm afraid I can't recall what the cost was, but it was certainly quite reasonable.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HolmgardTrading

( Also, I'm very happy with the bota concept, and quite prefer it to hard leather water bottles. )
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Elleth »

Oh- two more things:

- I've taken to storing mine with a couple cups of brandy in it. When I'm off on a jaunt I dump the brandy into a mason jar and fill the skin with water... then dump any water left and pour back in the brandy when I get back. It hangs on a hook by the basement door, and every day or two as I pass by I just give it a slosh and turn it around to make certain all the inside is treated. No foulness yet- I'm curious what you others are doing.

- I have splashed myself by heaving on a heavy pack and popping out the spout, so... fair warning. :)
The strap is a little narrow for comfort, but I've not done anything about that yet.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Greg »

I keep water in mine, and hang it in my room where I see it often. As I pass by, I randomly squeeze/slosh it around to keep higher parts of the interior from drying out. When I'm getting ready to go somewhere with it, I dump the water and fill it with fresh.

The strap width hasn't actually bothered me any...it's worn over the shoulder-section of a hood or over a cloak pretty much all the time, so it's not really noticed.

The spout, when hanging for long periods, can get a little loose because it's dry, but I've never had that problem while on the go...water's sloshing, gets the stopper wet, it swells, and then it's quite firmly sealed in there. On a few occasions, it's been almost hard to open, but you get used to it and get a system going, and it works out fine.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Manveruon »

Just wanted to pop in and say that I did in fact order a mouthpiece from Holmgard Trading! I’m excited! I don’t technically *need* another water skin at this point, but I’m excited to try modding a bota! I’ll be aiming for a modern plastic-lined one though, because what I can’t see won’t hurt me, and I’m terrible at the kind of maintenance you guys are describing, haha.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Manveruon »

My mouthpiece and stopper from Holmgard Trading came in today! I’m excited to get started on the conversion project! (Now I just have to get my hands on a bota bag).
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Elleth »

Very nice!

... welcome to the club. :mrgreen:
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Eofor »

It's super nice Manv. I love little well made unique things like that.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Manveruon »

Eofor wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 1:31 pm It's super nice Manv. I love little well made unique things like that.
Right? Definitely me as well.

Now I just need to decide whether I want to use a 1 or 2 liter bota bag for the conversion. I feel like the 2 liter may just be HONKIN’ ENORMOUS, but the 1 liter seems just a little small. Hmmmmm…
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Elleth »

I really really like 1 1/2.

If forced to choose between 1 and 2, I'd pick 2 - there's no reason you have to fill it all the way. Unlike hard canteens, they don't slosh when they're half full. At least the traditional ones don't. It's been literally decades since I had one of the polymer ones, but I assume they're the same, provided you have a good seal.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by ForgeCorvus »

Go with the two litre, you can never have too much capacity.

I've got a couple of British army canvas 'waterskins', sometime soon I'm going to have to try using one of them.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Manveruon »

Good thinking! Thanks folks!
Honestly I may end up getting one of each and whichever one I don’t use I’ll probably convert and sell in my Etsy shop.
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Re: A proper Dúnedain waterskin..

Post by Manveruon »

Okay, follow-up here:

I’m dying to dive into this project, but the one thing that’s holding me up is concern about getting a good seal between the wooden mouthpiece and the plastic liner (polyester, I am told by the listing). I had initially intended to tie it tightly with some kind of string or cord (which is all that was done on the original, unaltered bota), and then, just in case, to seal around the very edge with some kind of adhesive. But the more I look into adhesives I could use for that, the less I am convinced that ANY of them are really safe to come into continuous contact with drinking water. It technically would only be there as a failsafe, in order to make sure the water didn’t start to seep out from between the liner and the mouthpiece and end up soaking the leather covering, but still… don’t really relish the idea of using something that could end up being even mildly toxic.

So now I’m thinking… maybe brewer’s pitch? What do you folks think? Would it be too much of a risk that the heated pitch might melt the plastic liner when it comes into contact? Would it be better to just opt for some kind of silicone, since it will never be seen and probably won’t REALLY come into contact with much if any of the actual water I’m drinking?

Hmmmmmm….
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