Right off the bat, I can't stand the term "bushcraft". It's so pretentious, snobbish, upper class silver spoon crowd term....... That aside, I wanted to make a classic early 40's / African safari big game hunting / classic British or German uniform style leather belt with leather pouches belt rig. I've had these old surplus (I do believe they are French Mosin Nagant ammo pouches?) ammo belt pouches kicking around for a few years. They arrived smelling of old dusty leather, that classic mil-surplus and mildew smell. Leather as hard as rock but no cracks at all. Ballistol in bulk (but god that price.....welcome to Canada) to the rescue. Soaked the leather pouches LIBERALLY with hand applied Ballistol and worked it in. I wanted to fit the rectangular pipe tobacco tins in (charcloth tin, flint and steel tin, etc. ) Everything in easy to access tins. But they don't fit - too tall and too shallow. So I'll have to find some other tins to fit. One thing I like about the pouches is the twin holes on the rear of the pouch, I plan to thread paracord thru so I have a gear tether for each pocket of the pouches. (The holes are from the old D ring that used to be on the rear of the pouch) Still need a heavy duty 2" leather belt, got lots of leather sheathed knives to add to the belt kit, plus my old school eastern German canteen cup and mess kit . work in progress , will update this thread as I progress on the build.
This resonates deep, I don’t even know why but the term has always irked me too. Outdoorsmanship, woodsmanship were both terms I grew up hearing in scouts and reading in classic skills books as a kid. Anxiously watching this project, I always like seeing old gear repurposed.
trying to find a few tins that fit. Been hitting up the thrift stores and candy aisles at the grocery , hoping to spot just the right tin
Bushcraft was co-opted by the social media crowd and soon everyone with khakis and a pocket knife were "bushcrafters". It's the same with "overland" in the vehicle community.
They're the craft beer drinking exclusively, leather biker jacket wearing don't own a bike city hipsters of the woods around here.
Got a belt donated by @Twoody88 , he's gifting me his old heavy leather Klein tool belt. might not use the French ammo pouches.... they are pretty Damn bulky for their size.
Those ammo pouches came in a LOT of similar forms but slightly different sizes. The Russians had the Mosin Nagent ( about the same size as 30-o6 cartridge size) , Germany thru WW2 had the K98, There was a French type, Turkish version…I could be mistaken but I think most were designed around cartridges on stripper clips vs actual box magazines. The research to determine who used what size rifle would probably give me an aneurysm but it might help you unwind what size they are. I had both some Swiss and swastika marked German ones at one time that looked exactly alike except height. There was a prewar US garand belt for the en bloc clips as well.