EISPIRATEN

I found this cool old canteen in Eaton Canyon last week. It says "A.G.M. Co 1945" on it. The internet tells me that these were issues to military people. A mile or so upstream I found some plane parts last month. The thought was that these came from a 1941 wreck of an AT-6. Initially I thought the canteen might be related to that, but when that plane crashed, this this hasn't been manufactured yet. Where did it come from??

Some war vet gave it to his son and his son promptly dropped it over a cliff.

Yeah. Probably in 2017, or something.

It came from the aliens and they want it back.

That's wild.

In the 1940s, was a metal canteen the most efficient way to carry water?

Was it made of aluminum or tin?

It's Aluminum. Searching for "agm co 1945" produces multiple hits. The "a" stands for aluminum. It's thick, and probably still usable, actually. Maybe I'll just use it!

Awesome find. Serious cool factor.

One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?

The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.

HJ

Hikin_Jim wrote: ↑Awesome find. Serious cool factor.

One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?

The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.

HJ

Great analysis HJ.

tekewin wrote: ↑

Hikin_Jim wrote: ↑Awesome find. Serious cool factor.

One of the big debates when I was a kid was between aluminum vs. plastic water bottles/canteens. Plastic was frequently brittle but pretty quickly improved as I got older and eventually won out for the most part -- although lately I'm seeing a lot of people hiking with double walled steel (!) Hydroflask bottles. Hmmm. Maybe they'd like to carry a few lead ingots as well?

The debate these days is more hard-sided (like a Nalgene) vs. soft sided bladders. Bladders are no where near as durable but pack a whole lot better when empty and are super lightweight. A standard Nalgene is 6 oz. -- empty. A bladder, depending on the material, is maybe 1 oz for 1 liter. For short hikes, it doesn't make much difference, but if you need to carry 4 litters, you're carrying a pound and a half of dead weight if you're using Nalgenes.

HJ

Great analysis HJ.

Ask him about stoves! I dare ya.

HikeUp wrote: ↑Ask him about stoves! I dare ya.

I've read his stove article a couple of times already

Which type of container is best depends on a few factors, weight, durability, risk of damage, etc. These days my hikes usually involve a very low risk of damage, so I go for the lightest plastic bottles possible. If I had to fight German soldiers in the trenches, I might opt for an aluminum canteen.

Sean wrote: ↑Which type of container is best depends on a few factors, weight, durability, risk of damage, etc. These days my hikes usually involve a very low risk of damage, so I go for the lightest plastic bottles possible. If I had to fight German soldiers in the trenches, I might opt for an aluminum canteen.

I might opt for Kevlar. ?
HJ