Oil cloth.

[Kirby the great]

What are good ways to reproduce oil cloth or painted cloth for haversacks, ground clothes etc… Im considering making a confederate oil cloth haversack, and I'm looking for ways to reproduce the oil cloth

 

[captaindrew]

What are good ways to reproduce oil cloth or painted cloth for haversacks, ground clothes etc… Im considering making a confederate oil cloth haversack, and I'm looking for ways to reproduce the oil cloth

There's plenty of how to videos and recipes online, just do a quick search. Be cautious though, some of them contain some evil stuff, especially period correct recipes. Some of the vendors, I know Missouri Boot and Shoe has, gone to a friendlier mixture. They explain the difference on their site but I forget off the top of my head what it is.

 

[The Ninth Ohio]

Could be a bit hazardous, as lampblack can cause lung damage.

 

[HatEnjoyer]

What are good ways to reproduce oil cloth or painted cloth for haversacks, ground clothes etc… Im considering making a confederate oil cloth haversack, and I'm looking for ways to reproduce the oil cloth

Here's a video from Company D 2nd USSS on YouTube:

 

[HatEnjoyer]

Could be a bit hazardous, as lampblack can cause lung damage.

I think as long as you don't huff it or create a big cloud of it, you should be fine

My biggest issue with real lampblack is that it's pretty expensive, at least the stuff I found. When I was considering making some oilcloth, I was thinking about substituting lampblack for some black paint pigment used for plastic-modeling, though I'm not sure if that would negatively affect the final product.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I made a number of painted canvas items a few years ago and, honestly, rustoleum worked just fine, gave a good appearance and lasted for years. A piece of advice: if your instructions say to paint the fabric then stitch, I would disregard. Assemble and the paint. Painted canvas is worse to work than leather and in the end the product is indistinguishable from one that was painted afterwards.

 

[Kirby the great]

I made a number of painted canvas items a few years ago and, honestly, rustoleum worked just fine, gave a good appearance and lasted for years. A piece of advice: if your instructions say to paint the fabric then stitch, I would disregard. Assemble and the paint. Painted canvas is worse to work than leather and in the end the product is indistinguishable from one that was painted afterwards.

What fabric works best?

 

[7thWisconsin]

LOL! All I did was say to my wife "I want to make x..." and she came back with fabric and said "use this." I don't sew enough to talk fabric weight credibly!

 

[RetiredCanuck]

I remember doing this as well. The hard part is making sure the item stays flexible and the coating does not bleed through.
The first couple things I tried were failures. The paint soaked through and the resulting haversack I made could have been used for body armour afterward.
But one of our members worked at Sterling Varnish, a local paint company. He scored some kind of latex based product that did the trick. But whatever the solvent was, made it so foul that using it outdoors was the only option. No idea what it was called now-sorry.

 

[Kirby the great]

I remember doing this as well. The hard part is making sure the item stays flexible and the coating does not bleed through.
The first couple things I tried were failures. The paint soaked through and the resulting haversack I made could have been used for body armour afterward.
But one of our members worked at Sterling Varnish, a local paint company. He scored some kind of latex based product that did the trick. But whatever the solvent was, made it so foul that using it outdoors was the only option. No idea what it was called now-sorry.

I think I'll use what @7thWisconsin suggested with rustoleum. I'm probably gonna make civilian ground clothes due to their simplicity as a start