5 Minutes to Better Bushcraft proofing and Reproofing

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afternoon folks I'm Dave Canterbury with self-reliance Outfitters in the Pathfinder school back in our Series five minutes to better bushcraft we're going to talk about today is proofing or reproof in your canvas or or cloth material I'm going to show you how to do that as cheaply and effectively as possible right now okay so let's say that you've got this canvas pack and it's not washed canvas and you want to relax this canvas there's nothing difficult about that it's not magic I'm using fits and wax here which is what we sell in our store at SRO you don't have to buy this stuff you can make something very similar there are things in here that are proprietary that I'm not even sure what they are but the main ingredients of any fixing wax or waxing type material that you're using for this type of work is going to be an oil base and beeswax base so that it is not completely a solid like beeswax would be when it cools down it's got some tackiness to it and it's soft enough that you can spread it and what you're gonna do is you're just going to take the outside of that pack and you're just going to start to rub in that wax into the canvas and if you've got a sunny day outside take this thing out in the Sun do it because it will absorb into the fibers a lot better if you've got access to a blow dryer or something like that you can heat the fabric up with a blow dryer and it will absorb that wax a little bit quicker and better but it's not difficult at all to do this with just a water watching your hands and going through here with both hands applying it and rubbing it in all you're trying to do is get that stuff rubbed into that fabric and close those pores or fill those pores with wax that might otherwise leak water it's important that you get the seam there is really really good in the areas that are gonna be damp or it could be damp especially the bottoms and things like that and it would take me longer than five minutes obviously to do this entire pack but this gives you a really good baseline for exactly how I'm doing this a little wax on the zippers never hurts anything because it will make your zippers last longer it'll make them run better at the same time now I'll take this bed roll off the top of this this film on survival blanket I'll take it off the top and I'll go ahead and do that top of this pack as well turn it over and do the bottom and you're just gonna keep rubbing this stuff in until you think you've put enough wax on it it's very similar to what you do with g1000 fabric from fowl raven all you're doing is rubbing at Greenland wax into that fabric and ironing it in with heat to absorb it into that fabric until you've got the desired amount of non breathability and waterproofness that you want because that's the sacrifice you make when you wax canvas you lose the breathability of that material but you gain waterproofing so if you're trying to waterproof something this isn't easier will you do that it doesn't take a long period of time to do this and it's not difficult now the big side benefit of this especially with things like backpacks haversacks those types of things is that you are helping to preserve the canvas it won't dry out as fast on you and where did you keep it good and waxed all of your threading and things like that you're keeping those seems wax really good that thread won't tend to dry out and go bad as quick all those things are important when you're talking about the longevity of your gear and they're all things that you want to think about so if you don't have to have breva breathability breathability breathability in the fabric then waxing that canvas it's probably a good idea no matter what because it's going to help it to last longer anyway this is my oil cloth haversack and this thing is way over five years old you can see it's got a couple repairs in it things like that I don't care about that it's fine all you're gonna do with this is the same exact thing

you're just gonna rub this stuff into the fabric really good into that cloth and then rub it in really good with your hands again if you have this out in the heat it's gonna work faster but this is going to reproof or Reap waterproof this oil cloth very very quickly all right guys I'm Dave Canterbury or self-aligned south there's no path under school I appreciate join me for this quick video on how to proof or reproof your canvas or wool cloth I appreciate your views I appreciate your support thank you for everything you do for school or family or for business fault of our sponsors instructors police friends and I'll be back to another video as soon as I can thanks guys