By 1st Sgt. Koepp

     As the company wood wright, I spend a lot of time researching camp artifacts to reproduce.  The best part of that research is recreating a piece from the Civil War that is either entirely unrepresented or nearly so.  So, when I saw some photos from the Maple Leaf, my gears began turning. The wreck of the Maple Leaf left behind many intact artifacts from the Civil War.  While you can visit museums back east and see them, photos online are scarce.  This photo, which links directly to a museum, had the well known yet under-represented peanut or dog-bone tent slip.  Yet next to it, are three tent stakes I had not seen reproduced.  My second thought, was "oh, I've seen those before!"  They reminded me of French WWI tent stakes.
     Having a few French WWI tent stakes in my collection the two eras are nearly identical with only the rope hole missing on the head of the Civil War stakes.  If you figure a Civil War dog bone slip is around four inches long, that would also put these at roughly the same length.  Tent slips are sometimes made from wood an inch thick but this image seems to indicate a smaller thickness.  I would guess somewhere around 3/4".  These also appear to be smaller versions of tent stakes sometimes associated with Sibley tents, but those could be nearly twice as long.
     I'm not only putting my research out there but I've also included what I think may be the only template online for these style of stakes.  This template is taken directly from an original French stake and like the photo above, all of them varied to some degree.  Two areas that stand out consistently to me include the degree of hook on the rope notch and the thickness of the "belly" of the stake.  The French stakes have some unique construction features in that they appear to ripped to thickness with a rough circular saw blade and then cut with some sort of bandsaw or turning saw.  Given the mechanization of the Great War, I'd bet on a band saw.  While circular saws did technically exist during the Civil War they would not be common or in great use until after the war.  Water or steam powered bandsaws were still commonly used to mill lumber.  The French ones also have chamfered edges for longevity.  Given where the chamfer ends near the hook, I'd say it was done with a spoke shave.
     Below you will find the .pdf of our pattern for you to examine and experiment with.  The wood appears to be oak on the French examples.  If not oak, then another common European ring-porous wood like beech or ash.  The grain pattern in the Maple Leaf examples appear to be of oak.  That and oak turns gray when exposed to weather.
    With a few last notes, the measurements for the French stake, I made in imperial measurements.  I'm sure they're actually in metric.  Lastly, don't take anything you make into the field with tool burn marks on the wood.  I see too many sutlers or Civil War woodworkers selling goods with obvious modern tool burn marks.  This may come as a surprise but electric, high-speed shop tools didn't exist 150 years ago.  Short-cutting with modern tools is fine, but take a minute with some sandpaper to disguise it.

​DOWNLOAD OUR FREE TENT STAKE PATTERN BELOW!
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By 1st Sgt. Koepp     
      What the heck is a spurtle?  In short, it's a stirring stick.  Spurtles have been used for centuries by Scots and Irish to stir their oatmeal and porridge.  In Hammler's Civil War Woodworking Vol. 2, he shows how to make one using a modern, electric lathe.  Being a fan of traditional woodworking, I use a spring pole lathe that I made.  My 1850's, German style lathe was made popular by the great Roy Underhill.  I might make a video on how to turn a spurtle since it's much cheaper to build a spring pole lathe than it is to buy a $600-1,500 power lathe.  Plus, what's more hardcore than not using electricity for Civil War items?
     The wood is big leaf maple that I cut down in the last week or so.  The log was about 14 1/2" long.  Spring pole lathes are usually meant for turning green wood, though they work okay turning seasoned wood.  Using my froe, I split the log in half, then in quarters.  With my blank, I laid out an 1 1/8" by 1 1/8" square that I split out and cleaned up with my draw knife.  I found my centers and set them with an awl.  To help it turn easier, I used my curved spoke shave to round the corners.  You could also just use the draw knife to do the same thing.
     Once on the lathe, I used my timber framing gouge to rough in a one inch dowel that tapered on one side to 1/2.  I added a little flourish for a handle and cleaned it up with my timber slick that I used as a skew chisel.  Like many English bodgers, I use large chisels rather than modern gouges and skew tools.  I hit it with a bit of sandpaper before finishing it by burnishing it with it's own shavings.
     While I turned mine, I don't see why you couldn't just make one with a draw knife or a spoke shave.  For a real field made look, you could even use a pocket knife.  How ever you decide to make yours, be sure to use green, straight grained, hardwood.  Avoid ring porous woods like oak or ash.  Spurtles would have been common to the many immigrants who served in the Civil War and have seen a bit of come back in modern kitchens.  Whether making oatmeal or soups, this handy, hardcore cooking tool will be a handy addition to your kit.

By 1st Sgt. Koepp

     As you all know, in Company D, we love to share "hardcore" reenacting secrets to make a progressive impression more accessible to more reenactors.  In living history, the devil is in the details.  It's those details that often leave us paying top dollar to makers who have spent a life time of research perfecting their historical reproductions.  Most of the time it's absolutely worth it when exceptional skill and flawless research yield unmatched results.  But there are times when I think "campaigners" are less than helpful in order to horde their research for their chosen few and not the vast "unwashed" of aspiring living historians.  How many times have we seen legitimate questions posted on forums only to be responded to with citations without explanation or lessons from experience?
      Well, in Company D, when we stumble on something, we want to get it out there and tell you how you can do things yourself.  Much like sharing where to find and how to have made quality, affordable Civil War stencils, we also know that one of the most important details in reenacting are labels.  Previously, since I found a wonderful store on Etsy to make stencils, I thought I'd see who could make stamps.  After a lot of research and following my gut, I came across the store, "The Stamp Press."
     The customer service is incredible and quick.  If you can find a historical mark, label, or image you need created, they can make it into a stamp.  My first stamp I had them make was the Sharps ammunition label which cost about $75.  Now, in Company D, we can recreate every known variety of Sharps Arsenal Pack from the white paper wrapped, brown paper wrapped with pasted label, and now brown paper with stamped label.  We can now use that stamp to make paper labels in more period correct way.
     My most recent stamps included a shelter half contractor label that I found in Frederick Gaede's book which now allows me to recreate even higher quality shelter halves.  The other stamp is for .44 Remington rounds.  Captain Whitehall did the heavy lifting on the research to help me bring this product back to life.  
     The Stamp Press also did a wonderful job educating me about what they need and how to choose the best size stamp for the best price.  Another important feature that sets them apart is the wide variety of images they can accept.  During my research, some stamp makers had very strict parameters on the quality of images they would accept to make into a stamp.  As you know, images from history books as well as scans of originals can be of relatively low quality or at least grainy.  The Stamp Press was able to work with my images without a problem each time.  If you are looking to bring a label or maker's mark back to life, I highly recommend looking in to see what the Stamp Press can do for you.