Tents, Tent Poles and Pins
(Page 8 of 13)

CLOTH FOR TENTS.

For convenience we have supposed all of the tents to be made of heavy drilling. Many tent-makers consider this material sufficiently strong, and some even use it to make tents larger than the United States army wall-tent. My own experience leads me to recommend for a wall-tent a heavier cloth, known to the trade as "eight-ounce Raven's" duck,[20] because drilling becomes so thin after it has been used two or three seasons that a high wind is apt to tear it.

The cost of the cloth is about the same as the value of the labor of making the tent; but the difference between the cost of drilling and eight-ounce duck for a wall-tent of four breadths with a fly is only three to four dollars, and the duck tent will last nearly twice as long as the one of drilling. For these reasons it seems best not to put your labor into the inferior cloth.

Before you use the tent, or expose to the weather any thing made of cotton cloth, you should wash it thoroughly in strong soap-suds, and then soak it in strong brine; this takes the sizing and oil out of the cloth, and if repeated from year to year will prevent mildew, which soon spoils the cloth. There are mixtures that are said to be better still, but a tent-maker assures me that the yearly washing is better than any thing applied only once. Some fishermen preserve their sails by soaking them in a solution of lime and water considerably thinner than whitewash. Others soak them in a tanner's vat; but the leather-like color imparted is not pleasing to the eye. Weak lime-water they say does not injure cotton; but it ruins rope and leather, and some complain that it rots the thread.

 

[20] Seven-ounce duck is made, but it is not much heavier than drilling, and since it is little used it is not easily found for sale. United States army wall-tents are made from a superior quality of ten-ounce duck, but they are much stouter than is necessary for summer camping. There are also "sail-ducks," known as "No. 8," "No. 9," &c., which are very much too heavy for tents.