Resewing webbing

[ThompsonSavage]

Is it possible to resew items (such as cartridge belts and shovel covers) with loose seams or broken treads by hand?

 

If so, is original US WW2 thread still available?

[KABAR2]

Now and then you might find thread being sold at a gunshow but rare.... rayon thread came along in and around 1938 so some modern threads could be substituted these need to be sewn on a comercial machine

and you should cound the threads per inch on the item and set the machine to that..... some items may have to be taken apart to repair said area and then resewn completly.... you will have to weigh wether or not it's worth it.....

[Sabrejet]

WW2 era OD/ khaki coloured threads can be found in GI "Housewife" sewing kits. I have several of them and have used the appropriate threads many times to sew on loose buttons, loose patches and blown seams etc. However, the thread used for webgear is of a heavier gauge so you might have to resort to finding a modern-made substitute?

[ThompsonSavage]

So damaged webgear would not be repaired in the field, just discarded?

 

I was actually hoping that those sewing kits might hold the answer to my problem

[Sabrejet]

So damaged webgear would not be repaired in the field, just discarded?

 

I was actually hoping that those sewing kits might hold the answer to my problem

 

 

I'm sure damaged webgear could be and indeed was field repaired, by so-called "riggers". I think somewhere in my collection I've got an item or two with additional rows of zig-zag stitching over lightly damaged areas.

[KABAR2]

So damaged webgear would not be repaired in the field, just discarded?

 

I was actually hoping that those sewing kits might hold the answer to my problem

 

If there was time for repairs, and it was practical.... stiching on web gear was designed to take abuse I doubt

stiching let loose except in extream cases.... cloth items like packs and haversacks would get torn and sometime

repaired by user until a new one could be procured.

 

As far as thread from a housewife great for hand sewing but fun to put on a bobbin for a machinie....

[Steve B.]

Damaged field gear could be temporarily repaired by the user with whatever materials were available, including the "housewife" sewing kit. The needles and thread in the sewing kit are too small for most equipment repairs, but work fine for buttons, patches, clothing, etc. as they were intended.

 

At the earliest opportunity, the item would be exchanged for a serviceable item. Often, the damaged item would be repaired and reissued. You can often find WWII-era equipment marked "CS" for "Combat Serviceable." These items have been repaired to the point of being serviceable, even though their appearance often suffers.

 

In combat, the situation dicates what happens with damaged equipment. Sometimes the soldier can get new/serviceable items delivered up on the line, but most often they probably had to wait until they were pulled back for rest & re-fit, returned to their firebase, or whatever the equivalant is in their era. The dead & wounded were often stripped of serviceable equipment as needed.

 

The military tends to have some odd processes in place, such as one I am familiar with where the damaged item has to be turned in BEFORE they will issue a serviceable replacement. This doesn't do much good because then you have to do without the item completely for as long as it takes to get a replacement. Instead, you just sort of limp along repairing the item as best as possible and making do with what you have. Fortunately this is mostly as peacetime phenomenon.

[panzerbait]

I have a friend who may still have some spools of early 1950's heavy duty thread for use in web equipment repair. It's khaki in color and very strong stuff. Would you be interested in some if he has any left? It's military contract thread, not civilian. I've used it myself to repair webbing.

[patches]

I'm sure damaged webgear could be and indeed was field repaired, by so-called "riggers". I think somewhere in my collection I've got an item or two with additional rows of zig-zag stitching over lightly damaged areas.

 

What you have there Ian , is what is known as Quartermaster repaired, Riggers athough a part of the Quartermaster Corps where not general repair men of any other units outside of Airborne units, they where affiliated only with Airborne units, and did those alterations and scratch building of items only to be used by parachute troops and glider troops. All other pieces of field gear, every thing from large tents to steel helmets and liners to first aid pouchs where done by Quartermaster supply units, it was these units that repaired clothing as well, to include boots, that zig zig stiching is a signature of a QM repaired item whether it is a pair of trousers or a canteen cover. the QM continued to do this kind of repair even up to when I was in in the early 80s, I could allways see tentage for example with QM zig zag stiching , Field pants etc,etc,. The job of these particular QM suppy personel was to access the damage to an unservicable item and If it could be rendered servicable through repair, the key word here is servicable, to use as an example any uniform item save Dress uniforms can be worn after it has been damaged provided it has been rendered servicable and this damage was overly extensive as to render the item unpresentable,like a noticable large tear, one the front area,on say a pair trousers also the unifoms is not overly stained to the point of it not being able to be cleaned thus making it unpresentable.

 

In WWII for example the supply services where generaly very good and those field repairs tended to be of the temporary nature until a replacement could be issued out, in the ETO and the MTO this was basically the norm, any items that where hard to come by or where slow in getting replaced was because of a general shortage of such items, to wit, wet and cold weather clothing in the fall and early winter of 1944. In the pacific the resupply of field gear and uniforms tened to be about the same, there where exceptions, such the early phase of the New Guinea campaigne in the fall of 1942, early winter 1942-43, as well as Guadalcanal, but these prombels where generally corrected by the spring of 1943, NOW for the Merril's Maruaders in Burma, thats a differant story.

[Sabrejet]

Thanks Patches...a wealth of info, as always! :thumbsup: