Snapsack

While I have a golf case for my gear, I never really use it unless I'm flying. Seeing them all lined up at events is one of my personal pet peeves. The easy answer is to cover them with a blanket, but they also take up a fair amount of space to transport. When I was at Jamestown, Don mentioned to me that a snapsack is a good, period appropriate way to carry gear.

I used the instructions at http://www.southernrangers.org/snapsack.htm, however I did change the dimensions to 36" wide by 30" tall, so that my fencing mask could fit into it. The canvas I used is the 10oz untreated cotton duck from Panther Primitives.

While the strap can be made out of the leftover canvas from the bag, I decided to go with a leather strap and buckle. The strap I used is 1.5" wide, with an iron buckle from Fort Vause Outfitters.

With the exception of the buttonholes for the closing strap this is all hand sewn. A couple of the buttonholes are machine done, but while my machine could handle the canvas, I could not get the tension right to do them reliably, so I cheated and used some fabric glue to prevent fraying. The hardest part of the assembly was attaching the leather strap. The holes in the strap were pre-drilled, but there are eight layers of canvas behind the bag, so I broke several needles before I gave up and drilled a hole in the canvas to sew through.

Here is a picture of the completed snapsack: