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Thread: Hardtack supplier

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Lake City, FL
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    Default Hardtack supplier

    I have been looking on the net for a couple of weeks and cannot find a supplier of hardtack other than Bent's. Who else is manufacturing it these days? We were issued some at Olustee that looked like the old Mechanical Bakery hardtack, but I cannot find a contact for them anymore. I would rather not have to bake some myself, as it never looks quite right and I was pleased with what we were issued there. Any help? Thanks.
    Thomas N. Rachal
    SCAR / Salt River Rifles

  2. #2
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    Jun 2008
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    Hoboken, NJ
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    Default

    You could always make it yourself, it's pretty simple, flour, water, salt...hardtack.
    Brandon English
    Farb

  3. #3
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    Default

    I've done that before, and like I said in the original post, I wasn't happy with the looks of it. I do a lot of school presentations and I would prefer to have some that looks more like the real thing. I could buy it a piece at a time from the sutlers, but that seems to be a waste of money compared to buying it by the box. Thanks anyway.
    Thomas N. Rachal
    SCAR / Salt River Rifles

  4. #4
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    Tifton, Georgia
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    Default

    Try G.H. Bent. I think they have been in business since before the war.

    www.bentscookiefactory.com
    Ben Fowler


    [QUOTE][Originally Posted by Pvt. Sweetey
    Don't say they didn't have Kentucky Long Rifles in the Civil War, I saw one Confederate have one in Gods and Generals./
    QUOTE]

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Port Wentworth, GA
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    The Gentleman was looking for someone other than Bents....
    Bobby Hughes
    Co A, 2nd Battalion Ga Sharpshooters/64th Illinois Vol Infantry "Yates' Sharpshooters"
    Savannah Republican Blues
    Co C, 3rd US Infantry
    Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum & William Scarbrough House, Savannah, GA


    "I hope to live long enough to see my surviving comrades march side by side with the Union veterans along Pennsylvania Avenue, and then I will die happy." - James Longstreet at a Memorial Day Parade in 1902.

  6. #6
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    Feb 2006
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    Lake City, FL
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    Thanks, Bobby. While I like Bent's product, it doesn't hold up as well as the other style. I can't remember eating an intact piece of Bent's that has been in my haversack for more than a couple of hours. Far too fragile. Looks great, but way to fragile.
    Thomas N. Rachal
    SCAR / Salt River Rifles

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Esperance, NY
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    1,992

    Default Other Than Sutlers and Reenactors

    home baking their own I think Brents is it as far as commercial is concerned.

    A suggestion for you though. I also do school presentations and when dealing with 80 students I really don't want to finance a piece of hardtack for each so what I do is prepare (or use a sutler version) of a full size one as a visual aid. I then make a batch with each cracker pre-scored into 9 sections before baking so the students can have a taste.

    That way I have my visual yet a home made batch (@ 24 crackers each) will cover a couple of hundred students.
    Bob Sandusky
    Co C 125th NYSVI
    Esperance, NY

    "Out beyond the ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there." -
    Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi

    "If you find yourself in a fair fight, someone screwed up." - A new variation of Murphy's Law based on current Military experience in Iraq:

    “In war the first principle is to disobey orders. Any fool can obey orders!” - First Sea Lord Admiral Sir “Jackie” Fisher

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
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    Philadelphia, PA
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    The Mechanical Baking Company used to make hardtack. I goggled them and appears they do not exist anymore ar least from a supplier standpoint.
    Marc Riddell
    1st Minnesota Co D
    2nd USSS
    Potomac Legion

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    King of Prussia, PA
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    Default Bent's Hardtack

    Quote Originally Posted by 47thNYReb
    Thanks, Bobby. While I like Bent's product, it doesn't hold up as well as the other style. I can't remember eating an intact piece of Bent's that has been in my haversack for more than a couple of hours. Far too fragile. Looks great, but way to fragile.

    Thomas,

    If you think the Bent's crackers are too soft, just put them away for six months or a year, in the plastic bags, they come in. Trust me, they'll be hard enough to suit you!

    Off subject, but it's my guess, the Army wanted to supply the troops with fresh Bent's hardtack; (Or other brands.) but often issued old, moldy and/or wormy hardtack instead. The Army still hasn't figured out "First in-First out" inventory control.
    Bill Rodman, If you need a really bad example.
    King of Prussia, PA
    wrodman1@aol.com

  10. #10
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    Nov 2008
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    Maggie Valley,NC. Current: New Port richey,fl.
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    Default

    i dont know but where do you do reenactments? my sister bakes a ton of hardtack and she was thinking of doing commercial. but course we are in florida.sorry
    "God must of loved plain people for He sure made alot of them." -Abraham Lincoln

    "I laugh to keep from crying." -Abraham Lincoln


    Joshua 1:9

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    "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and then all these other things shall be added unto you"- Matthew 6:33

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