Shown here is my version of a simple mid 18th Century shot pouch. It is a variant of my Early VA shot pouch which is based on an original Virginia shot pouch that was documented by Wallace Gusler in the December 2009 Muzzle Blasts(pp. 4-8) as well as a French and Indian War shot pouch documented in the Clash of Empires exhibition catalog (p. 30). This pouch is much more like the Clash of Empires pouch.
This pouch is a one piece bag, approximately 7″ x 7″, with rounded bottom corners. Essentially, it is a “D” shaped pouch just like the Clash of Empires pouch. There is a welt that acts as a center divider. It is flat stitched up the sides. This construction is common to both my Early Va pouch and the Clash of Empires pouch.
As there is no strap on the Clash of Empires pouch, I used the same strap arrangement as on the Early VA pouch which was documented by Wallace Gusler from period sources. That strap arrangement uses double buttons (think cuff links) to attach one side of the strap to the back of the pouch. The other end of the strap is stitched to the back of the pouch.
This pouch is made from 3-4 oz vegetable tanned leather and the strap of 6 oz leather. It is hand stitched with waxed linen thread and stained with vinegar and iron for a blue/black color.
Vinegar and iron is a period stain for leather and wood. I like it because it is quick and easy to apply, doesn’t require a lot of stain, is permanent and doesn’t rinse out. It works by reacting with the tannic acid in the leather.
This pouch has the flap tooled with a typical English pattern using an hand made star stamp. Unfortunately, this leather didn’t take tooling as well as I would have liked. Some leather works better than others.
