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Comment by Howard P Reynolds on September 22, 2015 at 12:31

Add me to the list of mildewed leather - Southeast Pennsylvania.  Grew up in a solid stone house from the 1800s, and there was no central air (climate control) for most people back then.  I joined the military at 18 and didn't come back home for 4 years.  Leather handled knife rotted and so did the sheath.  Of course, now with climate control (humidity) as well as AC, there is less worry about mildew.

Comment by Jan Carter on September 22, 2015 at 12:01

Thanks Clint!  We did put a window AC in downstairs, after 2 weeks of cleaning everything down there LOL 

Comment by Clint Thompson on September 22, 2015 at 11:42

Terry and Jan....

You can use mink oil to treat raw tanned leather. If you dye the leather, dye it on both sides. Then let it dry for 48 hours. Then treat with mink oil on both sides. It would be a heavy dose. Then in 48 more hours retreat.

The Native Americans used bear grease and the top parts of their tee-pees which were being replaced. The top parts were exposed to the cooking fire smoke which contained fat from the cooking of the meat. They made rain gear out of these parts as well.

I have seen mildew on leather here, but it was after it was rained on for a couple of days. Just let it dry out and use saddle soap by rubbing it into the leather. If you have treated it with mink oil then there would be no use for the saddle soap.

This would be the item you would need: Fiebing's Mink Oil Liquid - 8 Oz.

You can get it on Amazon for about $7.05 if you are a member of their Prime.

Comment by Jan Carter on September 22, 2015 at 11:30

Clint,

This is a recent experience for me also.  But in FL everything was stored in rooms in the house with AC.  Here in North GA I am learning that mildew happens LOL 

Comment by Terry Waldele on September 22, 2015 at 10:40

Clint,

I live in Oregon and can attest to the fact that leather can mildew, at least in parts of our state where the humidity gets very high in the winter.   Your comment about untreated leather got my interest though.  I waterproof my leather knife sheaths but don't know if that necessarily makes them mildew-proof.  I have a machete that I keep in my car that isn't garaged, and it's leather sheath has mildewed a little, even though I'm pretty sure I used a waterproofing agent on it after I made it.  Can you enlighten me on this issue?  Thanks.

Comment by Clint Thompson on September 22, 2015 at 9:55

Jan....

I don't know where Jeremy lives but here in Oklahoma and Kansas area I have never had leather mildew. We run a humidity of about 40 to 80%, depending on the time of the year. The reason I brought this up is I have never heard of leather mildewing. I know in the jungles and tropics, untreated leather will turn to slime. Just found this interesting.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on September 21, 2015 at 22:08

(E-tools Continued)

The M1951 in the half open position as design for use as a  mattock, hoe, axe or pick. (the M1967 also can be used in the half open position as a hoe or or mattock.)

another view of the M1951.

The M19512 full open as a shovel. Note the shape of the wooden handle.

The M1956 Carrier with the M1951 in stowed position with the M7 Bayonet attached to the carrier.  The earlier M1943 carrier lacked the bayonet attachments.

The M1967 tri-fold fits the M1956 carrier and I for one prefer this carrier to the LC-1 rubber case designed for the tri-fold, primarily because it is quieter and has the bayonet attachment points.

As mentioned before, both shovels can take a beating but the wooden handles are more likely to break than the all metal shovels.  but you really need to abuse the shovels to get an epic fail!   I have cut down trees up to four inches in diameter with both of them!  I like the tri-fold more because of the spade grip which allows you to grab it with both hands more easily when you're whacking the crap out of stuff when the blade is in the half-open position.

That said -- the smaller the shovel the less useful it becomes when digging.  The bigger the shovel the more of a pain it is to carry.    Are these heavy?  that depends on the individual and how far you have to carry it.  I never had the option not to carry it.  Someone else made that decision for me.  Thus,  weight was never a consideration. But I did have a choice on which I would carry and for that reason, I carried  the M1967 tri-fold in an M1956 carrier but not because of the weight but because it just worked better in my opinion.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on September 21, 2015 at 22:08

first of all, rule number one -- hump your own gear!

That said it was routine for the infantry to hump 50-70 lbs of gear plus your personal weapon, so humping 60-80 pounds was the norm.  We carried E-tools because we had to and because there was a need for them.

Below are pics of my two Army issue E-tools. 

The wood handled one is an M1951, the all metal one is an M1967.  I say all metal because the bronze colored portion of the barrel I believe is anodized aluminum.  Yes it is Army Issue.  I know it is because it was issued to me while serving in the Army.  The wood handled is also army issue (well Marine corp issue) It was given to me by a buddy who had it issued to him while in the Marines.

Below is a couple more pics of the M1951.  The M1951 is an improved version of the M1943.  The principle difference is the addition of a pick head.  The numbers are the years the tools were accepted into the inventory.  the M1943 (no pick head) and the M1951 served side by side and were still in use well into the 1980s before finally being phased out completely.  The m1967 was initially developed for use by the Airborne and Special forces troops  but by 1973 were adopted as general issue as part of the the new A.L.I.C.E system (All-purpose Light-weight Individual Carrying Equipment.

Comment by Jan Carter on September 21, 2015 at 19:05

Jeremy,

I like the make a leather on idea but I am wondering if everything in your pack is set out to dehumidify and dry out before the pack gets stored.  I asked because leather will mildew fairly easily

Featured Comment by Jeremy B. Buchanan on September 21, 2015 at 18:38

Great ideas and suggestions guys. I have seen the U-Dig-It advertised before and wondered how they are. I think they would be a great latrine shovel. As for the pick/mattock, I'll bet it would come in handy for some tasks. I see a lot of great tools shown here. I would be willing to let Tobias carry it for me, Howard, but he would have to carry my whole pack if he is camping with me (you know just to tell me if it's too heavy) LOL. I hope to try it out in the near future, as I plan on camping at least one more time this year. Unfortunately, this one is a China made copy. I sent my wife to pick it up at the military surplus store, as I was stuck at home with other duties. It was all they had in stock and I had to, have them hold it for me (because they can't keep them in stock). I will report back to you on how it holds up. I am contemplating on whether or not to get one of the rubber covers or make a leather one myself. 

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