Making Waxed Canvas for a 1890's Backpack 

I really like the design and lightweight of the pine wood

So cool! I've been trying to make my own pack for a while that is in a more classic (and in my opinion, versatile and usable) than what you can buy today at outfitters. Your video (and Dave Canterbury's trapper neslon pack video) have convinced me that it is doable and that it can come out amazingly. Thank you for the inspiration!

I'm not trying to be a troll, but you may not be happy with the parafin wax after a while. It does not have the "give" that natural beeswax has and will often crack and flake off. For some reason natural beeswax has some inherent "adhesiveness" parafin lacks. I melted parafin wax and poured it into my tin American Civil War reproduction canteen to prevent rust, like the original soldiers sometimes did, except of course, they would have used beeswax. After about a year , I was getting parafin flakes with every swig. The cotton will probably absorb the parafin and hold it better than the smooth tin in my canteen, however watch the stress points. For reenacting purposes we dissolve one pound of natural beeswax in one gallon of coal oil ( kerosene). Yeppers, flammable as all get out, but waterproof and historically correct. For ground cloths we use cotton canvas and black flat interior / exterior LATEX paint. It absorbs into the cotton, resembles the tarred cloth used in the mid 19th century, and wears long. Touch ups are quick and easy.By your leave, JA

Awesome! Thanks for the demo and walking us through your experience.

I needed this thank you :)

Simplest way I could think of would to be to use a paint roller (fabric removed). Place the fabric on the table, role the roller in the melted wax, then role it on the fabric.

That is awesome 👌

Couldn't have done this in like, you know, a house? I'm sure there were people in the 1890's who had a house.

Good idea, utterly horrendous execution. The entire point of these old time techniques is that the products they create are rugged and quality. You've basically made a big waxed rag in this video. You're supposed to SOAK the canvas in melted paraffin/beeswax, not dab at it like you're cleaning up spilled water. Your ruck will serve for a while but you're going to spend twice the energy and resources keeping it in good, serviceable repair than you would have if you'd done it right to begin with.

Whatever happened to pride in workmanship? Not exactly worthy of a vid.