“Soaping Your Pot”: The Oelslager Files, Part Three ©

 

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 18^th and early 19^th 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.

Don’t forget to follow me on The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.

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