 |
| Figure 186, p. 54, Bushcraft, Scoutcraft & Woodlore, Vol. II, by Dr. R. W. Oelslager |
There you are, out in the
woods, by a fire, boiling a pot of water.
Your pot turns black with a layer of soot and when the fire is out and
you want to pack the pot away, the soot rubs off onto everything, your hands,
your pack, and your clothes and yet you can’t seem to scrub it all the way off
the pot.
During the late 18th
and early 19th centuries, camp kettles were carried in linen bags
with slings or “cases”, in order to
keep soot and grease off your clothes and to make the camp kettle easier to
carry1. However by the early
1960s, a new wrinkle or camp hack had appeared, soaping your pots to prevent
the soot from sticking to them. I did a
quick bit of research and the earliest record of this particular wrinkle that I
could find, was first published in Bill Riviere’s The Campers Bible, in
1961.
 |
The Campers Bible, Revised Edition,
by Bill Riviere, Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, NY, 1970
|
“Rubbing
soap on the outside of a utensil will make the soot much easier to remove when
washing… Rub the paste on the pot or kettle on the pot or kettle before using
over an open fire and when you wash the
utensil, the soot will almost float away”
The
Campers Bible, by Bill Riviere, 1961
This camp trick was one
of the first things I learned when I joined Boy Scout Troop 131, out of
Lakewood, NY, in 1976 and it was also taught by Doc Oelslager, who recorded it
on page 54 of his book Bushcraft, Scoutcraft & Woodlore, Vol. II. I still use this bit of campcraft today.
Oh and this is very
important, when you teach someone else this, be very clear that the soap ONLY
goes on the outside of the pan.
Apparently, I wasn’t very clear when I was teaching this to someone in
1976, and, well, the SPAM® was well spiced with Dawn®
dish soap. It is amazing what you will
eat when you are really hungry!
I hope that you have
enjoyed this installment of the Oelslager Files, highlighting the writings and
research of Robert William “Doc” Oelslager.
For more Oelslager Files, see “The Oelslager Files”, HERE and “Estimating
The Time Till Sunset”, HERE.
Notes
1 Rees, John U., "Properly fixed upon the
Men..." Linen Bags for Camp Kettles
Sources
Oelslager, Dr. R. W., Bushcraft, Scoutcraft &
Woodlore, Vol. II, Figure 186, [privately published] p. 54
Rees, John U., "Properly fixed upon the
Men..." Linen Bags for Camp Kettles, The Brigade Dispatch (Journal of
the Brigade of the American Revolution), Vol. XXVII, no. 3 [Autumn 1997], p.
2-5, http://revwar75.com/library/rees/kettlebags.htm,
accessed June 22, 2019
Riviere, Bill, The Campers Bible, Revised Edition,
[Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, NY, 1961] p. 97
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