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The personal billy

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Carteret Kid

45 Cal.
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How far back can the frontier hunter use of personal billys or tin corn boilers be documented? When did they become common use?
 
Copper then Tin "pot's" where some of the very early trade items.
I think the toughest part about your question is when did a pot become defined as a "corn boiler"?
Ya know,, size, shape, lid,,(?)
Beyond that,, individuals using pot's can be defined by the earliest Hudson bay records
 
So there is no anachromism in a colonial hunter with a personal cook kit.
Not really, a short search turned up this thread, pay attention to post #5 of the topic;
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/soldiers-cup-or-can.116312/Maybe if you dig further into the archives of "Historically Accurate Equipment" section will help you find what your looking for
Other wise for longhunter/trekking small is better than big, see "cooking/kitchen" here;
https://www.backwoodstin.com/
 
The problem is treking vs real long hunters. We want to stay hc to the time, and small one pint and one quart pots were known from the time.
Real long hunters operated in groups and would have a camp pot.
I suspect a tin or copper one pint drinking cup would have served general purpose for coffee, chocolate or tea.
I further suspect that typical cooking was in a paunch. They were after deer skin. And every dead deer gave a pot to cook a stew in
 
How far back can the frontier hunter use of personal billys or tin corn boilers be documented? When did they become common use
These are not documented, but are called "corn boilers"

CORN BOILER DOMED LID.jpg


This is a ACW mucket.... stay away from the hinged lid...,

TRADE KETTLE HINGED LID MUCKETT.jpg


This is an early 20th century lunch box or a berry bucket. Now it's only documented back about 120 years, but I own two and wouldn't balk at using it on a trek...
TRADE KETTLE TIN Lunchbox or berry bucket.jpg


Now a brass kettle with "ears" tinned or not, is correct for a trade kettle for trade to Indians, so why not ?

TRADE KETTLE TINNED.jpg


Now you can always carry a couple soldier's drinking cans to boil water in the fire. This one holds 16 ounces

DRINKING CAN pint.jpg


NOW..., take one of the above (mine is brushed steel not fancy tin as pictured) and what I did was to take a nail and punched a hole next to the handle, and one exactly opposite. Then I took steel wire and made a bale to hang it over the fire. NOTE..., the bale must be next to the handle, so that when there is no stick to hold it over the fire, it will rest against the top of the handle and stay upright so you can take it from the fire AND when the bale is down it does not get in the way of your lips if you're trying to drink a hot beverage... them silly muckets put the bale ears right where your mouth should go. My phone broke so I drew in the bale on this photo for ya, as I couldn't get a photo of my actual one, ....

DRINKING CAN with bale.jpg


The above is NOT set-in-stone.... it could change tomorrow when some enterprising archaeologist unearths what we thought were 19th century kettles and they get dated to the longhunter period....

LD
 
Look at Westminister forge web site, they have a nice selection of tinned copper, I use there items and the nesting trekkers set is a very good item, As to the corn boiler name I would think it is a reenactor term mostly from the civil war group.
 
I think the HBC sold plain copper pots, no inside tinning but I may be wrong.
Correct! That or brass...
I have a couple untinned small brass kettles.
They are fine for food so long as I keep them clean of the green tarnish known as Verdigris, which is what is toxic and forms from acidic foods left for long periods in copper or brass.
Copper apple butter kettles cook very acidic applesauce into apple butter, and they are not tinned, BUT if you see the stuff being made in a copper kettle at craft fair, the inside of the kettle is shiny bright when they add the apples for cooking.

LD
 
These are not documented, but are called "corn boilers"

View attachment 152445

This is a ACW mucket.... stay away from the hinged lid...,

View attachment 152449

This is an early 20th century lunch box or a berry bucket. Now it's only documented back about 120 years, but I own two and wouldn't balk at using it on a trek...
View attachment 152450

Now a brass kettle with "ears" tinned or not, is correct for a trade kettle for trade to Indians, so why not ?

View attachment 152454

Now you can always carry a couple soldier's drinking cans to boil water in the fire. This one holds 16 ounces

View attachment 152455

NOW..., take one of the above (mine is brushed steel not fancy tin as pictured) and what I did was to take a nail and punched a hole next to the handle, and one exactly opposite. Then I took steel wire and made a bale to hang it over the fire. NOTE..., the bale must be next to the handle, so that when there is no stick to hold it over the fire, it will rest against the top of the handle and stay upright so you can take it from the fire AND when the bale is down it does not get in the way of your lips if you're trying to drink a hot beverage... them silly muckets put the bale ears right where your mouth should go. My phone broke so I drew in the bale on this photo for ya, as I couldn't get a photo of my actual one, ....

View attachment 152456

The above is NOT set-in-stone.... it could change tomorrow when some enterprising archaeologist unearths what we thought were 19th century kettles and they get dated to the longhunter period....

LD

Are these pics from Goose Bay? I have one of their Corn Boilers from 15-20 years ago. I love it. It's well made and just a very neat object. It's one of my very favorite pieces of kit.
 

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    Boiler.jpg
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Are these pics from Goose Bay? I have one of their Corn Boilers from 15-20 years ago. I love it. It's well made and just a very neat object. It's one of my very favorite pieces of kit.

Yep
here's what is on the description from Goose Bay Workshops
"Historically inspired.
Although this pot is not documented, it was created using only 18th century techniques and design elements."


LD
 
If you look under kettles you will find alot more info. This is a question of nailing down your personna and time period.. what was available to a soldier in 1780 is not what a hunter in 1760 would have. Also think about being just a hunter. A long hunter would have horses and other hunters to carry back the hides they harvested because like the later mountain men they were in it for the money they could get for the deer hides.
 
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