burlap

[IaSpanky]

After reading this forum for awhile I have started to look at things in adifferent light. Amyway my wife and I got a 1 pound bag of Jamican coffee for a christmas present it came in small burlap bag (cover for the real sealed bag) and she was going to pitch the burlap. I kept and figured there has got to be some use for it, so what is a small burlap bag good for?

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

Yeah I'm interested myself. Just the other day I saw some burlap bags in Tractor Supply Company for $1. I started to buy a few, but wasn't real sure how I would use them.

[kyratshooter]

You can put small things in a small burlap bag.

Burlap bags were utility sacks of the past. The "Green plastic garbage bag" of days of yore. My grandad was a dedicated user of burlap bags, the big ones. Only they were not called burlap bags, they were "tow sacks". These sacks were made from the waste of making jute rope, a substance called "tow". They are incredably strong and do not tear like plastic sacks.

Were did they come from? Mostly from the feed store. All of the feeds came in burlap bags, usually of the 50 and 100 pound variety. Sweetfeed, shell and cracked corn, all grain feeds came in burlap.

We used them for everything. Some things with odd memories, good and bad. Much of it clandestine. We put stuff we did not want seen in burlap bags.

Road kill pickup.
A tow sack was kept in the trunk of the car in case one happened across a fresh road kill. You scooped up the critter by its tail and dropped it in the sack for transport home in the car trunk.

Hiding dead pets.
Adults put dead pets in tow sacks to hide them from the kids for the trip to pet heaven.

Carrying potatoes.
Tow sacks were the customary method of carrying potatoes to neighbors or kin when their supply ran short. Nothing like the sound of potatoes rolling across the floor after being dumped out of the tow sack.

Carrying frogs.
A tow sack was a necessary part of "frog gigging". You tied the sack to your belt as you hunted the elusive bullforg and dropped your catch in the big sack. We would actuall come close to filling the sack on occasion.

Hunting Rabbits.
Sack used the same as for frogs.

Hunting ducks. They are used to cover and camo the entire boat if necessary. Burlap was the origional "camo fabric".

Hunting deer. I built my first ground blind from burlap sacks about 10 feet from a well used trail. I built it in August with the mandatory salt block in place. I removed the salt block two days before season opened and killed three deer from that blind my first year hunting.

Crushing ice.
Ice was purchased in 50 pound blocks. (no convinience stores with bags of crushed for sale back then) In order to make icecream in vast quantities, one needed to transport and crush the block. The big block was placed in the burlap sack for the ride home. You then took a big single bit axe and used the flat to crush the big block into small chunks for use in the hand cranked freezer. The crushing was done inside the sack, so you had a sack of ice and a wet soggy bag.

Carrying hog meat.
At hog killing we used burlap sacks to carry the butchered chunks from butcher site to the house where we would place the meat on the roof of the porch for "chilling" overnight so we could salt it the next day.

When they get old and torn and are no longer usefull for carrying stuff you can still use them for several things.
One use for old bags is in burrying stuff. The make good funerary wraps for rover or fluffy due to their biodegradable nature. If you live in the country and start diggin a hole and strik burlap you stop, replace the soil and dig elsewhere!

Two, you can soak up grease in the workshop or garage. You do not throw these soggy sacks away. You save them for use as fire starters or torches.

Three, char. They make some of the best tinder and char available to the primitive fire starter.

Four, cleaning guns. Unraveled tow is excellent gun cleaning material. I use it on my ML guns all the time due to its coarse and abrasive texture. It searches out all the fouling and scrubs if from the rifling like magic.

They also had decorative uses. We sometimes nailed them over the barn windows to cut the winter chill.

HTH

[gryffynklm]

Hem the open end if it isn't already to keep it from fraying. Use it to keep a group of related items together in your pack. First thing that comes to mind is a fire starting kit. Flint Steel and tinder. In the event you run out of dry tinder you can cut up the burlap bag shred it a bit and use that as tinder.

If you have a small stove you can keep it in the burlap if you don't have a bag for it already. It would keep the soot form getting all over.

Keep it on the outside of your pack and use it to keep foraged items in it.

Carefully cut every other thread and pull it out to make a small net.

Its a bag, put stuff you need to keep together in it.

Keep in mind if it smells like burlap, so will your pack until the smell fades.

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

Couldn't it be used to help keep things cool in summer? Kinda' like "Evaporation cooling" effect? Just wet the bag with whatever needs to be kept cool inside of it?

[gryffynklm]

Poco, If you can get that many cheaply how about making a ghillie suit. You may have to let it air out in the sun for a few days to get the smell off. Use cheep spray paint to variegate the color.

[kyratshooter]

Couldn't it be used to help keep things cool in summer? Kinda' like "Evaporation cooling" effect? Just wet the bag with whatever needs to be kept cool inside of it?

Yep, back in the old days they soaked burlap bags and draped them over the beer barrels in the saloons. That was about all the cooling the beer got.

And yes, the first gillie suits were mde by the Scottish game wardens, from burlap.

[crashdive123]

What are you guys thinking?????

Burlap Crashcarta knife handles - just sayin'.

[gryffynklm]

Ya, what was I thinking?

You know you are a knife addict when you see a piece of burlap and think you can make a knife handle with it. Then you do.

[hunter63]

I have collected every burlap sack I could find for "primitive covers", gear bags etc at rendezvous.
You can buy it as yard goods and make good blind material for duck?turkey/deer blinds, as well as a jack-pine savage (northern red neck) ghillie suit.

And you can put "stuff" in them.

I like the old cotton feed/flour sacks as well....Like the old graphics and old time look.
Found a bundle od about 20 sacks at a flea market once...What a score!

LOL, never gave knife scales a thought, thanks Crash!

[randyt]

works great for a bee smoker, probably the best to be had.

[Batch]

Malting bags.

Fill the burlap sack up with corn and soak. Then put it in a compost pile.

[Rick]

Hand it to the cashier the next time you go to the store and tell her to put your stuff in it. Tell her you stopped using paper and plastic because you don't want anyone to think you are bi-sacksual. (Ha! I slay myself. I really do)

Fill it with walnuts and go fishing.

[mosquitomountainman]

Stuff it with sand and use it for a sandbag rest on the firing range.

If it's big enough stuff it with plastic bags, shrink wrap, etc., sew the end shut and use it for an archery target.

[BENESSE]

I always liked the look of burlap for clothing and throw pillows.
Some ideas here:
http://crystelleboutique.com/index.php/potato-boutique/

[mosquitomountainman]

... Yo Only they were not called burlap bags, they were "tow sacks". These sacks were made from the waste of making jute rope, a substance called "tow". ...



The mountain men referred to using "tow" for cleaning firearms. (The same way we use cleaning patches today.) Is this the same material they were referring to?

[NightShade]

Great for carrying heavy crap that will rip or tear any other box or bag... use em at work alot.. throw ten 3 in. Schedule 40 steel elbows in... (idk maybe 200 lbs) ..toss it over the shoulder and carry em to wherever we're welding.... lot easier than taking multiple trips... this stuff is rugged!
also have used it to create ground blinds, and have heard of people makin' ghillie suits, though I can't claim experience there.

Oh yeah... and knife handles... duh!

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

Well here it is Tax refund time, and we did our annual thing...Went and had a big Steak Dinner.... But that isn't why I'm writing this. After the meal was over, as we started to leave I noticed the huge burlap sacks of "In-the shell" Peanuts and asked what they did with them when empty.... The reply? "We throw them away". So I asked for the two empty ones that were sitting there, and they said "sure"! Then the manager said "I think we have some more in the back, you want those?" I "Lit up" and said all I could...Sure if you don't mind! So I came home with 13 Large Burlap sacks(The wife and kids are confiscating 3 for "Sack races", which leaves me 10)

Well I remembered this thread (The reason I asked for the bags in the first place) and just wanted to share another possible source of bags with all of you. All of them were the right "Price" too...FREE! These bags are even larger than the ones I had seen at TSC too. Oh and one more thing... not only do they smell like roasted peanuts, there were a couple of plastic bags in one or two, and inside was about 1 lb of roasted peanuts in one bag! It might not be all that exciting to some, but I am excited!

[your_comforting_company]

Man, they are so common around here we don't even think about them.

I sometimes carry one as a seat cusion, or use as a windbreak or shade. I store punk wood in them a lot and dry tree barks, and we use them sometimes when picking peas over at the U-Pik. Bushel them old pears and stuff out, reload them with pecans to sell at market... we have bunches of them here and there doing various jobs right now.
I give you 10 days and you'll have a use for each one LOL.

You can never have too many burlap sacks. I don't know how I missed this thread before. Handy for foraging some things, especially junk out of the woods. they really can handle just about anything that'll fit.

[crashdive123]

Awesome score Poco. I haven't found a good source for them around here, but there are some eateries like you described. I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

[Mischief]

Couldn't it be used to help keep things cool in summer? Kinda' like "Evaporation cooling" effect? Just wet the bag with whatever needs to be kept cool inside of it?

BINGO,We have a winner folks

[Trabitha]

After reading this forum for awhile I have started to look at things in adifferent light. Amyway my wife and I got a 1 pound bag of Jamican coffee for a christmas present it came in small burlap bag (cover for the real sealed bag) and she was going to pitch the burlap. I kept and figured there has got to be some use for it, so what is a small burlap bag good for?

Drop net.
Fish trap.
Store root veggies in it, burlap is GREAT for that.
Oh...if there is a pretty picture on it, I've seen some REALLY cool pillows.
I've seen people make them into belt pouches to hold shotgun cases after they skeet shoot.
Never toss a bag that has no holes. ;)

[Beans]

As a youngester when I was plowing. disking, harrowing the fields. We would fill a gallon glass jug with water and ice. The glass jar would be wrapped in a wet burlap and placed inside a paper bag. It was hid under some brush at the end of the field. If we were thirsty we would stop on that end of the field and drink of water so cold it could cause your stomach to cramp if you drink too much of it at one time.

We also used burlap bags when we went fishing. Keep the caught fish in the burlap bag in the water until time to come home. The wet burlap bag also kept the fish fresh on the way home.
I even made a cheap pack out of one by tying ropes to each corner to make shoulder straps.

We always had burlap bags behind the seat of the farm truck, that and bailing wire was a great collection of working items.