I was referring to the dwarven bread from Discworld, but Pratchett was almost certainly referencing cram. And of course, cram was itself a reference to any number of real-world iron rations breads.
When the British navy named it hardtack they weren’t kidding.
In the days before refrigeration or sealed packaging, bread or crackers had to be absolutely 100.00% dry or it would go bad, especially at sea.
Just ran into some new obsolete survival advice today. I was investigating the utility of using waxed thread as a tinder or fire starting aid. Unfortunately it turns out that unless the thread or twine explicitly says it uses paraffin or beeswax, “waxed” is now used in the colloquial sense of “given a smooth slippery waterproof coating”– namely of plastic. The term is now used in the same sense that people refer to “waxed” milk cartons.
And now I feel like a relic from a lost civilization; would you believe that cotton thread– something that once upon a time was ubiquitous as dirt– has been so completely replaced by polyester that I had to go to a crafts and sewing outlet to buy any?
Yeah, I have seen stuff advertised as having “real Cotton thread”. My wife like linen/flax thread for many things. Amazon has both, fyi.
Where else do you buy thread?
Lots of places, but they all have polyester thread.
Amazon has cotton thread
Amazon has everything, especially all the things that local stores no longer bother to stock. Call me old-fashioned but I like being able to drive to a local store and get something then and there.
Drugstores. Grocery stores. Lots of places carry thread in a few basic colors. People just wanting to do some basic repairs often don’t want to go to a specialty shop for it – especially when they live somewhere where that may mean going to a different town.
Oh, okay. When I buy thread I am almost always buying fabric at the same time, so I want to match it as exactly as possible. I also have a stock of heavy quilting thread (which is always cotton or silk), very heavy waxed cotton thread for mending leather, and, well, a whole lot of other thread. I don’t think I’ve ever owned just a few spools of thread in my adult life.
There are 850 Joann’s Fabric stores in 49 states. They carry at least 6 major brands of all cotton threads. My local store, in kind of a middling sized town in a very rural state shows 143 colors available in just one of those 6 major brands, all touchable and purchasable on the spot.
Hopefully your state isn’t the one state without a Joann’s. There still are small, independent, local fabric stores that will carry cotton thread and other sewing supplies but not nearly as many as before the small business death knell brought about by Covid.
I in fact did end up driving to a Joann’s, but only after exhausting closer venues I thought would surely have cotton thread.
And Linen thread.
tip: most fabric stores that still exist have morphed into hobby quilting and craft stores, as the flood of disposable clothing made in third world countries washed away the impetus to sew clothing. Quilting uses all cotton thread, as synthetic thread is stronger than the fabric and makes holes. Any fabric store will have cotton thread.
The town nearest me has an ancient fabric store that has done this. I patronize it every chance I get.
I hadn’t read this thread in a while, so I just got to this post today. I had to google P-38, and the first 5 or 6 results were a WWII fighter jet. And I thought “wow, that’s really not packing light.”
The P-38 can opener looks like something I’d cut a finger off with. I’m a menace to myself with a lot of tools.
I have a P-51 (mentioned above) on the ID lanyard in the bug-out kit. There are P-38s scattered all through the various camp kits. Simple little thing, but invaluable if your are away from the OXO in the kitchen box.
Are the P-38s and P-51s any better than just using my pocketknife can opener?
Not really. Different angles, but same result. I just like having options.