I must admit that I have an attachment towards old military gear. There's something about the durability, materials and unbeatable form and function that tickles me the right way. I also share the love for 30-50s style with my significant other, though I do not "dress up" regularly in vintage clothes, except for few purpose bought clothes, such as repro US M65 jacket and WW2 Paratrooper boots.
In my native country we still have obligatory conscription for the chromosomally challenged. As a consequence of this, most guys spend between 6-12 months in service. I spent a total 18 months over two years as conscript and NCO, which just tells that I am a bit slow on the uptake. Back in the day my unit was a periodical testbed of new gear which was under consideration for wider use in the defence forces. Basically you just gave the stuff to the conscripts and after weeks of active use in of drills, you got the gear (or what's left of it) back for evaluation of performance with some honest user feedback on function. Apparently if something can survive a conscript it can survive pretty much everything else and if some poor sod has tried to reinvent the wheel, there's a good chance that the consript testing the gear would have made a solemn vow to cause bodily harm to the designer.
This wear and tear stress for the equipment is universal theme for any military gear throughout the ages, meaning that stuff from the olden days will have a good chance of being in useful condition even today. It is actually not uncommon to see that the solid combination of cotton-leather-steel outlasts anything produced today. Yes, it's on heavy side compared to modern stuff, it can and will get soggy when wet and you have to treat the leather properly, etc. But they are also nearly indestructible and most often utilitarian and well designed products for their intended use.
Varusteleka.fi
Due to budgetary reasons I could not quite go to the Ortlieb section of outdoor store and find good looking, quality bags for the bikes we are building. Therefore I thought I’d see if something could be arranged from military surplus as they quite often have translateable qualities to civilian life. Not surprisingly Etsy, Ebay and number of blogs have used this approach in abundance so there was examples and ideas around. But before the DIY project and modifications, I went to Varusteleka website and started looking for suitable sized and shaped bags.
Varusteleka is a delightfull store in Finland that has a huge stockpile of military surplus equipment, clothes and anything that a (in)sane person would need to make, for example a movie about moon nazis invading the earth (Iron Sky). It has been one of my favourite stores online due to their hilarious product descriptions (also available in English), decent prizes and excellent customer service. It did not take me long to find the stuff I was looking for. As DIY is indeed a bit of an trial and error I decided to hedge my bets a bit and ordered six bags of three different types, some leather straps and a few other things to aid in bulding the bags for the bikes.
Multipurpose bags:
"Ammo-satchel with shoulder strap, French, 1950s, cotton with leather insides and details, dimensions: 30 x 18 x 10 cm, 17€ a piece"
When I bought these online, I knew that these bags would probably need some effort to get them into condition as they were around 60 years old and have been in active use. When I opened the Varusteleka parcel I knew that this might take a bit of effort. The leather parts were dry as cardboard, there was something unmentionable growing in the nooks and crannies of the bags (visual and odour evidence), they were completely bent out of shape, the copper studs were oxidized and the metal parts covered by unnamed coarse black stuff. To be fair for Varusteleka, I had no delusions that they would be in better shape. On closer inspection the stitching seemed to be ok, the leather was not cracked and at least most of the studs were in place.
So I decided to start an experiment with the more damaged bag and see how much could be salvaged.
1. Let's get the bags back to life
It was relatively easy to bend the bags coloser to orignial shape but the leather was definitely taken some beating on the way. Also some (most) of the bends refused to settle and would need to be remolded to original shape. Even though the bag looks ok(ish) the picture does not appreciate the amount of grit there was.
2. Enter soap and water
A thorough wash with warm water and gentle detergent removed most of the muck, algae, mould and bodily fluids from the bag. Then the bags were dried with some cartboard in the inside compartment to keep the desired shape during drying of the bags.
3. Resurrection of the leather with baby-oil
After the leather parts had dried, I soaked every leathery part with generous amounts of Natusan baby oil (paraffin) in and gave it a thorough rub. One bottle of baby oil was hardly enough for the two bags, as the leather really sucked everything in. As far as conditioning goes, the next step is to keep leather properly oiled and to find something to waterproof the cotton canvas. At least the leather came alive and is nice and supple again.
4. Bit on DIY and testing what the bags can do
I put the worse of the two under a bit of experimentation and de-stiched one of the cotton canvas dividers to make one larger compartment and turned it alongside the front to have two mini-compartments. I just have to figure a neat way to make the attachment a bit more permanent. Now I can easily have my camera (second from the right) and wallet in the smaller compartments, cell phone in the middle slit, and plenty of room for a book, canteen or a few 0.5l liter beer cans. When the cover is closed the book is is nicely tucked away from the elements, even though it is now sticking out. I still have to do some work one the copper studs to make them shine though... I took the bag out a few times and I was surprised how nicely it carried as shoulder satchel while biking. My usual houlder bags keep on sliding but this one just stuck to where it was supposed to. I think this is going to be my emergency/spare part/tool bag on the longer rides.
I spent maybe a total of 30 minutes of elbow grease per bag, not bad considering that they are now in a condition that allows public use. Next I will do some modifications on the bag for mounting options for either as pannier, saddle or handlebar bag. Or all if possible, we will see...
Panniers, DDR "ostalgia" style
Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) Sturmgepäck with Strichtarn "camouflage". These were a nice find, at 6€ each, in prime condition and inbuilt waterproofing and good attachment options. I added only two leather straps between them (2,5€ each) and presto! Ready to go as throw-on-the-rear-carrier panniers. Both came with assortment of straps which I have to figure how to use best. There's double-loop attachment options for both sides and bottom, so it's relatively easy to add stuff on the outside. At a relatively hefty size of 30 x 30 x 12 they are best suited as panniers, though I think I will tweak them so that they can be easily carried over the shoulder as well.
The next step is to start thinking of handy ways to attach all of these bags to our current and future bikes. Unfortunately the "on-bike" pictures will have to wait for a bit. It's storming outside second day in a row and there's the Eurovision on the telly. So here, a motivational summer photo from Leiden instead.
Pictures:
Top: Cards by Barry Kade, a Rotterdam street artist who I met while having a haircut.
Iron Sky poster by XooL88: http://xool88.deviantart.com/art/Iron-Sky-Wallpaper-289766335
French ammo satchel : Varusteleka.fi