camp chairs

[tenngun]

So is a two piece chair less authentic then a fresh argintine onion in march?

Unfortunately (or conveniently), people often use the, "We can't be 100 percent authentic, so why try" argument.

To say that because one thing isn't authentic, we should not strive to be authentic in other areas is unfortunate.

It's as if some are saying, "Since my shoes aren't authentic, I don't care if the rest of my gear isn't either."

Is that how low some set the bar?

No our bar should be high, but at the same time realize cost, time, medical conditions, family comfort, avalibility, interfers with our hopes. When I see some one with a genraly good looking camp but two piece chairs I say "good looking camp" not "they didn't have two piece chairs back then".

 

[tenngun]

So is a two piece chair less authentic then a fresh argintine onion in march?

I'd say yes.
Regardless of its original source and season, they DID have onions...

But you've argued on other post that just because something was avalible at a time you should only use it if it was commonly avalible in your place. You at one time argued things used on ships and sea coast at a particular time it would not be seen inland. Are you saying if you use it because of your needs its ok if some one else uses something you don't need its inapproiate?

 

[Black Hand]

Onions were available in any number of locations such as forts, towns, villages, etc. where they were grown. They do not fit into the same category as manufactured goods which needed to be moved from producer to the market. Onions grow when planted in the ground while oil-cloths do not...

The existence of recipes suggests their ready availability: http://recipes.history.org/2011/09/to-make-an-onion-pie/
http://recipes.history.org/2013/11/beef-steaks/
http://recipes.history.org/category/vegetables/

Other info: http://www.ehow.com/list_7598045_plants-17th-18th-century-garden.html

 

[Black Hand]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_the_Thirteen_Colonies#Fruits_and_vegetables
https://www.google.com/search?q=on...r:1,cd_min:1/1/1700,cd_max:12/31/1850&tbm=bks

 

[tenngun]

But were only fresh for a small part of the year. I try to cook foods that were cooked back then, and don't cook chille, hamburgers, spaggitti ect at camp. While I use foods known in America in 1810-30 I cook with fresh foods and use things that people would not have carrired in to camp back then. I have a hand sewn wedge tent but its made from cotton canvass because I cant afford linen, and most of my clothing is machine sewn. I don't have a chair at this time. I plan to make a folding stool. I know that it is unlikely that a Ozark deer skin hunter would have carriered one. I have noted however over the last few years the ground is getting harder. (I think its Obamas fault) So if I want to keep doing this over the next few years I will have to add some unlikely equipment to my camps. Age comes on us all.

 

[Black Hand]

But were only fresh for a small part of the year. I try to cook foods that were cooked back then, and don't cook chille, hamburgers, spaggitti ect at camp. While I use foods known in America in 1810-30 I cook with fresh foods and use things that people would not have carrired in to camp back then.

Yes, I understand - I do the same.
All that said, many vegetables over-winter well in cool conditions or can be dried/preserved.

 

[tenngun]

A little dried can go a long way. Most fresh were too bulky to carry far, yet most of our camp cooking is done with fresh. Even the period correct dishes. J townsends cooking blog did a good piece on military foods in the AWI.
To my point we bend HC a lot to make are camps today. We should be willing to look at the whole of a persons impression and not at every little non hc. Unless of corse our own outfits are above reproach.

 

[Black Hand]

Unless of corse our own outfits are above reproach.

It is a sliding scale - some are more PC/HC, some are less PC/HC. One cannot learn or improve unless willing to make the effort, and oftentimes, being made aware (actively or passively) is the beginning of learning.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

No our bar should be high, but at the same time realize cost, time, medical conditions

yes that's the truth. Sometimes the site has a restriction or two..., park rangers can get all persnickity if you use a fire tripod make from saplings (that you brought with you) as cutting saplings is a usual "no no", and because of the Emerald Ash Borer beetle, they frown :nono: on bringing your own stumps to sit on...

(I'm going to have to mount my anvil on something else than a stump for a stand for that same reason.)

Sometimes it's interesting to discover what you thought was OK might be improved. Most of the table apple varieties that I get here in Maryland didn't exist in the 18th century for example.

Learning to dry apples, and to then use them instead of imported fresh apples is part of the learning too.

Home made 'kraut beats anything in a can or in a bag or jar by a long shot. So does home made bacon, and home made cheese, etc.

I'd rather (going back to the thread) see a fellow seated on a proper copy of a correct chair, than on a square bale of straw..., which for some reason seems to be one of the default devices for sitting arrangements.

LD

 

[tenngun]

Here here. Although I would rather see a two pice chair then an empty camp because 70% hc wasn't good enough.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I'd have to qualify that... if it's something they didn't allow at the "gate" for the first time this year and the decision was made on opening day of the event... but wasn't part of the rules on the website or the rules delivered in the mail when one registered to attend..., I'd agree.

When the rules have been established for years, and they are specific for an item or items, sorry to torque folks, but I ditched perfectly good, wooden and metal items that were disallowed and replaced them with stuff that was allowd (or did without)... I don't think it's not too much to ask that others do the same.

Every year at a couple of events that I attend there are at least two cars with people who show up not having gone to the website nor having pre-registered who get all huffy when they are told something has to be left in the car or the tent, out of sight. As though they were being picked on. :shake:

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

I would rather see a two pice chair then an empty camp

Wise words which should end the discussion. :v

 

[Rifleman1776]

LD, a quarter century ago I might have agree with you. How do you equate permitted medical devices with old backs needing a back rest now and then?

 

[Black Hand]

How do you equate permitted medical devices with old backs needing a back rest now and then?

Not the same thing. Health and safety items (medication, eyeglasses, oxygen tanks, CPAP, etc) should be allowed without question. An improperly styled chair, if specified in the regulations, should not. A 2-piece slat chair costs about the same or more than a PC/HC chair...

 

[tenngun]

But the stright back chair can be pretty hard on old backs.I know ladder backs kill me in about 10 min. Although right now I can use a peroid stool ok and the ground although harder then it used to be is ok. I am starting to fear a cot for sleeping may be in my future.

 

[Coot]

Mrs Coot likes her ladderback chair. I prefer my Windsor. We have folding stools for guests & hauling around camp for visits. With her bad back, we went to a rope bed some years ago. Our story is that we are moving west to join our son and open a shop, & have put all our supplies & what furnishings we can into our wagon for the move west. This way we have enough PC furniture to accommodate bodies that refuse to get younger. I made all the furnishings (except the Windsor) & it was just as easy to make a PC piece s one that is not PC. A while ago, I "defarbed" one commercially made stool & figured out that it was actually easier to make a PC one from scratch than to try to "fix" one that wasn't.