20 replies to this topic

[Importr]

Folks, this is more of a question of ethics!

Is it considered wrong/improper to destroy a historical item to use for a modern purpose?

Namely: Cutting up a WW1 or WW2 ammo pouch to create watch straps?

I know a lot of peeps already do it, and I want to try it myself. But I am asking myself, Is it right?

[Adeodatus]

wrong on so many levels... I don't get it... Aren't there enough good, quality straps out there?

[specialvat]

If your having to ask, then you know its wrong.

Its just stuff, in 150 years we will all be gone anyway so go crazy.

[OldCorvette]

Some things fall under "must preserve" and some do not. You're not getting a brand new unissued pouch with the box n papers with it and markings from the worlds most famous clothier who was on contract during the war... you're getting a surplus sale item. There were millions of men in uniform during both those wars.

Will there be 10 new WWI and WWII museums built this year?.. likely not. Do re-inactors have what they need?.. likely. Do the current WWI and WWII museums have the original items they need.. likely.

If you're putting something to use that would otherwise be wasted or used as moth food in another 50 years you should feel fine about it....

[redwatch]

Repurposing a piece of history is fine in my mind. If you can make it into something that you will use vs keeping it stored away in the closet then why is that a bad thing? It's exactly what I did to my grandfathers old watch. I hate yellow gold and after my grandfather passed my grandmother gave me his watch. It sat in the watch box for 12 years until one day I realized if I just replated the case in rhodium, and changed the strap, I would probably wear it more often.

This is what it looked like before:





And this is what it looks like now:








Which would you prefer?

[Ronin]

OldCorvette, on 27 January 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

Some things fall under "must preserve" and some do not. You're not getting a brand new unissued pouch with the box n papers with it and markings from the worlds most famous clothier who was on contract during the war... you're getting a surplus sale item. There were millions of men in uniform during both those wars.

Will there be 10 new WWI and WWII museums built this year?.. likely not. Do re-inactors have what they need?.. likely. Do the current WWI and WWII museums have the original items they need.. likely.

If you're putting something to use that would otherwise be wasted or used as moth food in another 50 years you should feel fine about it....

+1 Exactly. When I was a kid, this "junk" filled Army-Navy Surplus Stores. I really see it having no more value than a mass produced trinket from China these days.

[Importr]

Thanks for the comments. Good to hear it from both perspectives, although I think the 'just do it' team won!

I had to ask as I just thought; "has someone used it, maybe not in action, but at some point in training?" And would I be erasing someone's memory so to speak.

But as it was eloquently put, the museums and reenactors most probably have what they need and this stuff is just army surplus.

Yes there are a lot of straps out there, but not what I'm looking for.
So I will have a stab at it

...and Red, your heirloom looks perfect. I'd have done the same.

[thogaa]

They were made in millions. It's not like King Henry VIII's kinky pants - and you'll be wearing that leather with more pride than it ever would have in it's original state. Keep calm and carry on

[Adeodatus]

Why do you need to cut it? I'm really asking. What's the purpose if it? For the leather they were made of?

look maybe they were made in millions, maybe they are insignificant to you, and maybe I'm too sentimental, but I always imagine that guy, who held them dearly in winters, oiled them repeatedly, not because it was some cr appy fasion accessory, but because a good oiled pouch could save his life. When I look at such items I always wonder what kind of joys and horrors these objects had seen. Was it with some guy who opened the gates of Oswenzim, who stormed the streets of Berlin, a grandfather of someone killed in the middle of nowhere in France or was it stored an waited to be called for action but never was? I don't know... There is something magical about these simple items, something that is just beyond their market price value in dollars, beyond the material they were made of.

A strap is just a piece of fasion accessory and you can always buy a new one and make it your own. The pouch, once cut, is lost forever.

[Nanuq]

They used to issue Chippewa and Pendleton wool shirts to the Rangers in the National Park Service decades ago, and put special brass Nat'l Park Service buttons on them. My grandfather's favorite shirt was worn to tatters and unusable when I got it, so I salvaged the unique bottons from it and put them on my favorite Pendleton shirt. I saved the part that was meaningful.

Some day when I'm dead and gone my kids will agonize over what stuff of mine is meaningful. At first they'll keep everything, then common sense will prevail and they'll chuck the pedestrian junk and keep a few treasured items.

I bet you could whack that ammo pouch into a strap that your kids will treasure some day. If you left them the actual pouch..... not so much.

[chum_2000_uk]

Have to agree with the non-nutcases here... put it to good use rather than having it lay around in the loft gathering dust. What's the point in it going to waste just for sentiment sake?

[Adeodatus]

This topic just made me a bit sad. Look, I don't mean to be judgemental, but cutting a 100 year old genuine artifact to decorate a fake toy watch made in china is too cynical for me

[Watchmeister]

99% of 70 year old leather pouches are junk. Unless that particular pouch has specific historical significance I wouldn't think twice - unless you have a problem wearing a piece of Nazi paraphenalia if that is the side the p0uch comes from. I must confess that I tend to stay away from anything even vaguely related to a horrible era in history but that is just me.

[Gran]

Watchmeister, on 27 January 2012 - 09:03 PM, said:

I must confess that I tend to stay away from anything even vaguely related to a horrible era in history but that is just me.

That makes sense

Anyhow its Holocaust Remembrance Day

[cougar1]

redwatch, on 27 January 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

And this is what it looks like now:

Wow that looks gorgeous now, great work, btw what strap is that?

[redwatch]

Its a custom HK Tan croc strap

[LHOOQ]

Isaiah 2:4

[vandal.tbh]

By reusing these kinds of things you're not "erasing" anyone's memory. I think it's the opposite, you honor the memory by keeping the item useful and in most cases probably making it a treasured keepsake. One with a great story. I've been collecting important keepsakes throughout my career. I don't want them to sit in a box in my attic when I could use them for another more practical and meaningful way. Just my opinion!

[Ronin]

Watchmeister, on 27 January 2012 - 09:03 PM, said:

99% of 70 year old leather pouches are junk. Unless that particular pouch has specific historical significance I wouldn't think twice - unless you have a problem wearing a piece of Nazi paraphenalia if that is the side the p0uch comes from. I must confess that I tend to stay away from anything even vaguely related to a horrible era in history but that is just me.

Yes, most are probably already dry-rotted beyond salvaging. I now feel like you do about stay away from that era. However, when were kids, playing "Army" with this surplus stuff, we actually got a kick out of some blood stained pouches and a bayonet we had. Now I am kinda freaked out by it. Especially after seeing "Band of Brothers" and "Private Ryan".

Adeodatus, on 27 January 2012 - 08:53 PM, said:

This topic just made me a bit sad. Look, I don't mean to be judgemental, but cutting a 100 year old genuine artifact to decorate a fake toy watch made in china is too cynical for me

In short, it can dry-rot, continue to decay and break down in an attic or basement somewhere, or as mentioned can be put to use and thus maintained. Since the reality is these have no fiscal value, putting it on a toy watch of little value is a wash. The rest is just Karma if you are so inclined. Like Nanuq said, if this was a family members that survived this horrible time, and their old gear, put it to use.

[thogaa]

LHOOQ, on 28 January 2012 - 02:10 AM, said:

Isaiah 2:4

He made great straps?