Reproduction Canadian Seven Button Tunic

The creation of all this obscure Canadian webbing has made a quiet but insistant demand that there be a seven button tunic to go with it. The seven button tunic is distinctly Canadian and was the battle dress of 1914, the tunic of the militia units at the war's opening. While the Oliver Pattern webbing and the 1915 pattern never made it to the Front this tunic did and had a certain mystique as the uniform of the Canadians who first fought in France and Flanders, so much so that later soldiers seem to have hooked their fold-down five button collars into a stand-up version of the Canadian tunic. Here's a photo of my grand father in November 1915 with his PPCLI gun crew, British tunic all the way, even with British buttons, but the collar points drawn together. (Lower left).

By contrast, on enlistment, he looks like this.

Finding differences may seem academic at first, but it was a distinction recognized by the soldiers themselves. It simply wouldn't be right to put Oliver Pattern equipment on a five button tunic. For this reason I researched several examples of the seven button tunic in Ottawa finding that the only constant element was....seven buttons, and mostly a stand up collar.

This topic has been covered in another blog so I won't repeat myself here. Check this link:

http://leathersatchels.blogspot.ca/2014/05/seven-button-tunic.html

The point I wish to emphasize is not so much the details of the seven button tunic, or even the reproduction by What Price Glory, but the difficulty in creating a single representation at a time when there was no absolute standard. Here, then, a reproduction becomes an impression, like a sketch. It is the essence, distilled, and yes, there are two more buttons beneath the Oliver ammo pouch in this photo.

What Price Glory is now reproducing these tunics in sizes for the modern man. Don't be scared off re-tailoring! They did that in the trenches too. 

                      http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopaff.asp?affid=1497

Reproduction Canadian 1916 Equipment

Much of my work for What Price Glory has been to seek out artifacts, for which the company has no records, and to send detailed information so that these can be reproduced. I'm prepared to take some credit for accurate recording of details and the work I've done on prototypes and mockups, but great credit must go to the team in India which knows exactly how to give everything the right touch. So it is that What Price Glory is now able to sell Oliver Pattern equipment and will soon have 1915 equipment for sale.

Here is the 1916 equipment now produced for sale.

      http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopaff.asp?affid=1497                     

The basis of the 1916 Canadian equipment was taken from the artifacts that What Price Glory had, the big exception being the back pack which I researched here in Canada. One day I was conferring with Ashok in India, by email, and we were discussing belt details. I do have two badly damaged belts so I thought I might know what I was talking about. I then realized that the two belts I had were quite different from each other. Consequently I became aware that one of the belts probably had an error in its construction. A fitting had been put on the wrong side. This made me realize that artifacts themselves can also be "wrong". I was also powerfully aware that the reproduction belt I had was a clearer record than these poor damaged relics I had in my hands.

For the most part the items I have researched do not belong to me and I no longer have them as references to match to the reproductions. I can only see that what has been reproduced matches my own photograph collection exactly. A most recent departure from this has been in the 1916 Pattern ammunition pouches. A friend of mine recently gave me an original that he has owned for over 60 years. I now have a chance to compare the What Price Glory reproduction to an original. Except for slight dimensional differences in the buckles and the absence of folding score grooves in the flap there is no apparent difference. And as far as that goes both of these differences could be attributed to manufacturing inconsistencies since the ammunition pouches of 1916 were made by different companies in their original production.

Here are more photographs showing the remarkable exactness of similarity between the reproduction and the original. It should also be noted that no attempt has been made to colour the reproductions on the belief that it is time which has made these old pieces of leather so dark. Indeed, the reproductions I own have become a rich brown colour in just the short year they have been exposed to light and the sun. One can only imagine that in battlefield conditions greasy hands and dirt would add their toll to the leather's tones. For anyone who buys any of this equipment rest assured that the light colour is perfectly consistent with the look of the original the day it was first issued to a soldier.

In this photo, below, two straps details are shown. I've seen other originals where the straps have been sewn into the body. As someone who makes prototypes in leather I am aware of how much simpler it is to use a rivet.

I had another interesting revelation in this business of inspecting originals and reproductions. When I first put my reproduction to the test I was surprised to discover that the stud on the belt loop portion of the strap does not have a superb holding power. After a short amount of time and usage it seems that the strap can sometimes pop off the stud, which means that the pouch leans forward off the belt. This could be an issue when one actually unbuckles the pouch flap. I worried that this might be a defect in the reproduction. Now that I have an original I discover it has the same characteristics. Once again it becomes clear that the reproduction, if it is worth it salt, must reproduce all the defects as much as any other aspect of the original. Here is a comparative illustration, below.

There is not enough body to the leather on either side of the slit to stop the sides from spreading apart. Could this be one of the issues which dissatisfied the British with regards to this Canadian equipment?

For more information on the 1916 Canadian equipment refer back to my past blog with the link here.

http://leathersatchels.blogspot.ca/

Below is a photo of the newly available 1916 water canteen carrier frm What Price Glory.

                      http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopaff.asp?affid=1497