Ah, it is a comfort in old age to find how fifty year old memories return! They make, or used to make, a special tasteless resin or gelcoat for boat water-tanks.
I think the wax they use for candle-making has a higher melting-point than the hand-mouldable kind I used to remember in childhood, and certainly than beeswax. Although I am sure the last is the type used back in the earlies, the candle wax is probably more durable and less likely to impart a taste.
I remember someone breaking a lamp she had had for several decades, made from sort of dried tropical calabash. It turned out to have numerous examples of some kind of weevil glued to the inside by whatever had dried there. That could be a social liability if you say, like Colonel Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now", someone you admire can drink from your canteen. You should always choose the lesser of two weevils and I think it might be the resin.
keep us posted. i had one i used for years, took to all of the F&I events and kept it in my attic till one day i found out that MICE rely like them, end of my LARGEINAREA GOURD WATER BOTTLE! so do not store them were the little critters may be, where ever that might be? there every where!!.
The canteen that I HAD was about 14" tall with a long neck. They also make great Bluebird houses! Here in Wisconsin it is best to start seeds indoors as they take a long time to mature.
NRA Life
NMLRA Life
F&AM
SOOO.....scraping two of my gourds resulted in them starting to turn into a raisn rendering them unusable for a canteen. Bummer! I have two left that I did not scrape and are just about dried, have a good shape and size, not to big not to small.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |