
Water Carrier and Cooler for the 
Auto Camper 
CONVENIENT water container 
as well as cooler can be made 
from heavy canvas cut according to 
the dimensions of the drawings. The 
sides of the water bag will fold up, 
leaving a base section without any 
seams. The sides will have to be sewed 
upon a machine with a double line of 
stitching. This will leave 
the top open a width of six 
inches. Heavy weight can- 
vas will not leak and there 
is no need to waterproof 
it if the canvas is of proper 
weight, such as used in the 
army tent material. Dou- 
ble stitching of the seams 
along the diagonal sides 
will take care that this sec- 
tion is water-tight. 
The bag filled with wa- 
ter can be attached to the 
running-board by two loops 
of canvas sewed upon the 
lower corners. Rawhide 
lacing is passed through 
the loops and tied to two 
eyelets screwed into the 
running board. The top 
of the bag should have some sewed-in 
eyelets or rings through which a light 
rope or rawhide lacing may be passed 
and the end tied to some convenient 
place such as the lower part of the 
windshield rod or possibly to the side- 
light support. 
The top piece cover can be made 
from a strip of canvas 12 by 8 inches. 
By folding the top piece over, the top 
of the bag along the dotted lines shown 
in the top-piece drawing, you will have 
not only a cover, but one that will be 
dust-proof. Two eyelets sewed into the 
top-piece cover will allow the rope or 
rawhide support to be passed through, 
holding the cover on the bag firmly. 
The two loop pieces can be cut to fit 
and sewed along the lower corners of 
the bag, allowing a few inches to 
form the loop. The ends of the loop 
pieces are to be sewed upon the bag. 
If you first make the bag and then 
cut a piece of paper the size of the 
top piece cover and practice folding 
476 
it, you can then cut the top piece from 
this paper pattern and get it to fit 
right with the eyelet holes in the right 
place. 
The advantage of such a water car- 
rier lies in the fact that it can be 
placed on the car where it is quickly 
used and filled and takes up little 
room. If the bag is thoroly wet before 
filling it, the water on the outside will 
evaporate, cooling the sides of the bag 

GoJo. Water Carrier a 
How it looks on the running board. 
and this in turn will cool the water in 
the bag. The position of the bag on the 
running-board is such that it will get a 
lot of wind which will make for rapid 
cooling enroute. While on the road all 
that will be necessary to fill the water 
bag will be to drive alongside of some 
water supply. In camp, if the top piece 
is removed, one can get water quickly 
from the bag by simply untieing the 
support rope at the top. 
The army canteen employs this prin- 
ciple of evaporation from the sides of 
the canvas cover, which, if wet, will 
cool the canteen and keep the water 
within quite cool. 
W. A. KIMBALL, 
White Plains, N. Y. 
Sheath for Hunting Knife and 
Axe 
All of the well-known makes of 
knives and axes show painstaking 
study of the sportsman’s requirements, 
relative to utility and niceness, This 
consideration, however, seems to cease 
with the completion of the knife or 
axe, little or no thought being given 
the sheath, that very necessary requi- 
site to the proper care and conveyance 
of either knife or axe. 
The weaknesses, based upon my own 
experience, and that of many of my 
sportsman friends, are several; i. e., 
the sheaths for knives of the “Marble’s 
Woodcraft Type,” a very 
serviceable all-around 
knife, are usually very 
flimsy affairs, single 
stitched, and_ reinforced 
with rivets. This stitching 
usually fails to stand the 
trials of one real hunting 
trip, and more serious still, 
are the rivets placed in 
front of the blade. It has 
been the writer’s experi- 
ence that with limited use, 
the blade works its way to 
these rivets, making it im- 
possible to avoid dulling 
the edge. This is also the 
case with most axe sheaths 
now on the market. 
The writer after numer- 
ous unpleasant experiences 
with this form of sheath, finally had 
one made by a good harness maker. 
This, after the strain of several exten- 
sive trips into the wilds, is still in first 
class condition. He followed the essen- 
tial lines of the standard stock model, 
with these exceptions; i. e, the back 
piece containing the belt slots, he had 
made of soft, but heavy sole leather. 
In the front, or face half of the sheath, 
he made use of a lighter, though still 
heavy leather. Then while the stock 
was wet he had the front piece molded 
to the shape of the knife blade, and 
lower third of handle. Between front 
and back halves, where stitching 
would run, he had inserted a_ three- 
eighth inch strip of soft leather, one- 
sixteenth inch thick, to cushion the 
knife edge, and protect the stitching. 
Then, while the leather was still wet, 
and with the blade still between the 
two halves, he had the sheath triple 
stitched. He then allowed the leather 
to dry with the knife still inserted, 
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