Dog Tent

[Hoss 4th AL]

I once heard someone say that you could get a 5'9 x 8'9 painters cloth a make a dog tent? Is there any truth to this, what size would the poles be, what do you think about this?

[Silas]

Even Pauline Cushman wouldn't to that - unless she was armed with a Kentucky rifle.

[flattop32355]

Polish a turd, it's still a turd.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Long story short - no. Federal shelter tent halves were made from cotton drill, linen, or light cotton duck, depending upon the type, manufacturer, and period of the war. A quick search on this forum will turn up the proper dimensions ( I want to say 66 and 1/2 by 63 inches off the top of my head), but find a copy of "The Federal Shelter Tent" by Fred Gaede. It is the bible when it comes to the lowly shelter half and its use in the Civil War. Earlier versions were completely handsewn (including buttonholes and grommets) while the middle and later versions were machine sewn but with all handsewn buttonholes and grommets. It would be much cheaper and more correct to get a some yardage of cotton drill from JoAnn Fabric or some blue-line duck from someone who has some oldschool Family Heirloom Weavers material laying around.

[Ofcalipka]

Even Pauline Cushman wouldn't to that - unless she was armed with a Kentucky rifle.

Thanks, I needed that laugh.

Hoss, seriously dog tents are so cheap please just buy a correct one. If it's worth doing it's worth doing well.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Thanks, I needed that laugh.

Hoss, seriously dog tents are so cheap please just buy a correct one. If it's worth doing it's worth doing well.
Let me know where you're seeing cheap correct ones so I can buy a truckload and stop sewing them. Each one has 23 handsewn buttonholes and either 8 or 10 handsewn grommets in each half, and I've yet to see a correct go for much less than $95 or $100 per half new. You may be talking about those heavy sutler row models with brass grommets and pewter buttons. Those can definitely be had cheaply. They make great cooler covers or tent floors though...

[Spinster]

Thank you Ross. I was trying to figure out what to do with the one that had somehow come to rest in my pile of reenacting debris that somebody gave me cause they were getting out.. Heretofore, I was using it to cover the fish cooker.

Now I know:

Cut pewter buttons off. Melt, and pour into spoon mold. Throw results into cook box.

Cut edges off shelter half. Use them to mop up grease until they become good as fire starter. Place said rags in Pretty #2's fire bucket.

Trim remaining canvas, mark in grid pattern and apply sizing. Find some oil paint odds and ends around here and make a floor cloth. Coat with linseed oil. Send with Pretty Girl #1 to her job assignment in Roswell, NM next week , so it will actually have a chance of drying in this lifetime.

This is gonna be like the time Mrs. Clark suggested that a certain dress in my possession would make excellent sofa cushions.....:p

[bob 125th nysvi]

you can get a perfectly serviceable tent of Ebay for a very reasonable price.

And don't worry if it isn't as authentic as the top end would like, nothing against them, they are entitled to what they want and I've got a good authentic $100 a half one myself but nobody sent me home from an event when I first showed up with the cheap $75 full tent because that was all I could afford at a time.

However if you are going to go through the trouble of making one yourself, do what Ross does, and make it the right way. It will be worth the time and investment with the satisfaction you get. Much better than putting all that effort it something that isn't done right.

[50th VA Corporal]

Let me know where you're seeing cheap correct ones so I can buy a truckload and stop sewing them. Each one has 23 handsewn buttonholes and either 8 or 10 handsewn grommets in each half, and I've yet to see a correct go for much less than $95 or $100 per half new. You may be talking about those heavy sutler row models with brass grommets and pewter buttons. Those can definitely be had cheaply. They make great cooler covers or tent floors though...

I can sure agree on having a historicaly correct shelter half. The hand work involved is not to be understated. Even at $100 per half they are a bargain in regards to labor involved.

I was never satisfied until I purchased my authentic halves. Just setting it up shows others that you know the difference.

Ninety-nine percent of my purchases now days is of authenticly correct items in construction and materials. Since I made the consience decision 18 months back to improve my gear I have not looked back excepting on regrets for buying "junque" when I first came into the hobby.

Jas. T. Lemon
50th VA Corporal

[Hoss 4th AL]

bump...bump...

[Spinster]

With a deep curtsy to Jack Cox, for his work in following the specs in Fred Gaede's research, and writing up his results for both early and late war dog tent construction.

http://www.geocities.com/union_guard/

And click on 'articles'. You'll find complete instructions and dimensions there. As this is an older article, some fabrics are no longer available from the sources shown, but the industrial weights specified still hold true.

I have no idea whether a painters canvas is this industrial weight, but I do know there's a new JoAnn's store opening up in Hoover, Alabama in about another month, and cut rate coupons for bolt purchases will abound, so obtaining the fabric specified should not be a problem.

[Ofcalipka]

Let me know where you're seeing cheap correct ones so I can buy a truckload and stop sewing them. Each one has 23 handsewn buttonholes and either 8 or 10 handsewn grommets in each half, and I've yet to see a correct go for much less than $95 or $100 per half new. You may be talking about those heavy sutler row models with brass grommets and pewter buttons. Those can definitely be had cheaply. They make great cooler covers or tent floors though...

Blockade Runner Dog Tent (http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg32.htm)

Mr. Lamoreaux,
While $60 + shipping may not be entirely cheap, you would spend close to that in materials and time to make it completely wrong from the hardware store. It seemed to me that while this one may not be perfectly authentic like your fine tents, which I would very much like to buy one from you one day as I have only heard good things about your product, it is certainly a far sight better than a painter’s tarp on the campground. I know this view may be thought of as bit farby by some but while some gear is less than perfect for period materials or mill of fabric. Only those of us who truly study the authenticity of these items can tell the difference. As long as we make a true effort to look reasonably authentic and not be completely wrong in shape, color, and size of gear/uniforms/whatever, are we not still honoring this notable event in history and the people who were there making it notable? This equipment is no longer issued to us and therefore we must spend our own money to obtain the equipment. We buy what we can afford which may not always mean the best most exact replica of period gear as the cost gets higher the more realistic it is due to it no longer being mass produced. I for one would rather wear the more authentic gear at a living history event where people are closer to me and the risks of damage to my gear is minimal and something more cheaper and disposable for a reenactment or tactical events as it is more likely to get damaged and I will have to bear the cost of replacement. Now I know there are some authentic's out there that will be quite disturbed by what I have said here. Please don't think I am saying it's okay to be inauthentic I am not. There are different levels within this hobby but no matter what level we are at we can easily be more authentic than a painter’s tarp for a tent.

This is simply my humble opinion and I believe we have al heard the expression regarding opinions enough times that I need not repeat it here.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Adam, you are right in saying that there are many that just don't have the money to get the high-end authentic stuff, and that is completely understandable. Nobody here or in the field will ostracize someone totally for just not being able to get something due to finances. The only problem I have with the $60 mainstream shelter tents is that with the wealth of research out there in the last few years, they still insist on making them to incorrect pattern and material. They would still make the same money by using the correct materials and it would still take the same amount of time. Granted, the proper tent halves had handsewn grommets and buttonholes, but I'd look the other way if the mainstream folks sold the proper, lighter halves with machine sewn fixtures - that would be a compromise I could live with easily. They still insist on metal grommets, heavy canvas, and pewter buttons - all things that just didn't exist. For the record, someone can make their very own shelter tent half for around $18 by purchasing 4 yards of cotton drill at JoAnn's and getting the bone or tin buttons from a vendor. The dimensions are on here, the AC, or just buy the Gaede book and it'll have everything and then some.

[huntdaw]

Ross,

My insignia?

[Bill_Cross]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say "tents blow chunks."

I have an authentic shelter half.

I have used it a ONE EVENT in the past five years: The Rowdy Pards built a sheebang at the Antitiem Preservation March. It rained like a sonovabeech and we got wet anyway. But had a ball and George got a nickname.

The old rule of thumb is your tent will be a "dew cloth" unless it rains, and if it rains, your tent will leak like a sieve, as theirs did.

I have slept in tents since then, usually common tents (with the regulation 4 and not me and my cooler & cot), and the occasional Sibley (at the last McDowell).

Definitely buy one of Ross's dog tents-- an authentic shelter half is one of the real bargains in this hobby, since you can't price 'em at their true cost in labor, so vendors end up selling them as "loss leaders" hoping you'll buy something else from them they can price more fairly (a sack coat, for example).

But if money is tight, put it into a good gum blanket or two, a good hat, a good pair of bootees. The tent half can come later.

Others may disagree.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Ross,

My insignia?

Posted a message on that a few days ago - I'll see you at Atlanta this weekend with those and more. Thanks.

[Ofcalipka]

Ross,
Just out of curiosity since I know you have studied the tents more than I. What are the errors on the blockade runner dog tent I posted a link for? It had no brass grommets and it appeared to have repro bone buttons. As far as I can tell it is the proper size as well.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Ross,
Just out of curiosity since I know you have studied the tents more than I. What are the errors on the blockade runner dog tent I posted a link for? It had no brass grommets and it appeared to have repro bone buttons. As far as I can tell it is the proper size as well.

Adam, I admit that I hadn't gone to that link until just now, as I'd only seen the one they call the "1864 version" in their establishment in the past. The first one in the link appears to be a quite superior version to that, with what looks like the lighter cotton drill as opposed to duck, handsewn grommets, bone buttons, and correct rope tent loops. The only issues that I found with it via photos were miniscule and really nit-picky, and it appears to be a very good deal for the money. My apologies for talking disperagingly of Blockade Runner. It isn't truly the Type II (from Gaede's terminology, not the military) that they claim it to be, as they were completely handsewn and had either a horizontal or vertical third panel to make it the regulation length, and as I mentioned a couple of very small points about the corner backing material, but it appears to be quite a value for the money and a vast improvement on the old heavy brass grommeted ones. I don't believe anyone would be asked to leave a progressive event if they brought one...

[Army30th]

I made a tent using 8 oz cotton duck and a light misting rain is repelled very nicely, but suddenly a downpour from Hades hit, and everything was soaked completely through, including me.

Mine was entirely hand sewn, except for the two long seams down the middle of the tent, which I did with a machine.

I am going to get some drill and try again.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

It'll still leak in a deluge! It doesn't matter if its hemp, linen, cotton drill, duck cloth, or plain ol' canvas, if you've got a dog tent and a decent rain coming down, it'll come through somehow. With just a little work like closing up the open end with a blanket, ground cloth, or gum blanket, you'll keep parts of you dry. You get to pick which parts get wet and which ones stay dry (sometimes).

[Army30th]

Ok

I bought some drill (at 40 % off) and cut my pieces to the specified length. However when I got ready to sew them together, the fabric had shrunk 1 1/2 to 2 inches smaller than the specified size. I did not realize this until the fabric panels were sewn together and I began to measure it for buttons and holes.

I think next time, I shall let the fabric acclimate to itself after removing from the bolt before cutting and sewing.

[Yellowhammer Rebel]

Just wash it and dry it and you do not have to wait for it to acclimate. I do that with all of my material that way the shrinkage has already happened.

[Bill_Cross]

Ok

I bought some drill (at 40 % off) and cut my pieces to the specified length. However when I got ready to sew them together, the fabric had shrunk 1 1/2 to 2 inches smaller than the specified size. I did not realize this until the fabric panels were sewn together and I began to measure it for buttons and holes.

I think next time, I shall let the fabric acclimate to itself after removing from the bolt before cutting and sewing.
You should always wash fabric to remove the sizing and to allow it to shrink if it's going to.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Ok

I bought some drill (at 40 % off) and cut my pieces to the specified length. However when I got ready to sew them together, the fabric had shrunk 1 1/2 to 2 inches smaller than the specified size. I did not realize this until the fabric panels were sewn together and I began to measure it for buttons and holes.

I think next time, I shall let the fabric acclimate to itself after removing from the bolt before cutting and sewing.

Actually you just experienced something the originals had issues with. In Gaede's book, he lists details about over thirty original halves used in the study, and they all have different dimensions. There was also a letter from a Federal officer to the QM complaining that none of the halves isued to his troops conformed to standard or shrinking dramatically after issue. By not being "perfect" you're closer to the originals!