Field Desk

[MPicciotto]

I recently acquired a M-1945 field desk. That is, the big monster one that weighs 80lbs empty and comes with it's own stool. I'm trying to stock it properly. I found this one website with some information:

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/ww2/field_desk.htm

Can anybody offer insight into where to obtain a "cone of office pins" or suggestions on the 5 blotters? Somehow bright advertising ones don't seem right to me... Also does anybody have any additional information on what should be carried in the field desk?

Thanks
Matt

 

[Shangas]

The list says:

Scratch Pads
3 Quire of letter paper
1 gross rubber bands
1 eraser
1 box fasteners
1 tin of black ink tablets
1 tin of red ink tablets
1 tube of paste
4 pencils, indelible
2 lead pencils
1 colored pencil
2 penholders
12 steel pens
1 cone office pins
1 ruler
5 blotters

Blotters (I assume they mean blotting-paper) can be bought from art-and-craft shops.

Ruler - self-explanatory.

Twelve steel pens. This means steel dip-pen nibs. Again, look to your local art & craft shop. Or, go to D. Leonhardt. It's an English manufacturer of art-supplies which makes nibs for writing & calligraphy. If you're lucky, you can find entire boxes of old dip-pen nibs at flea-markets...I have over 300.

Two pen-holders. The wooden shafts into which the dip-pen nibs fit. Easily found at art-shops or on eBay. Again, flea-markets or antiques stores are good places to look for these.

Black & red ink-pellets...not sure. But basic red or black powdered writing-ink should work fine (DO NOT USE THIS WITH FOUNTAIN PENS). Or if you can't even get that, then black & red fountain pen ink should work great as well.

If you can't find any blotting-paper at a shop, there are places online that sells it (I think you can get it from the company that produces Diamine inks, online), or you can just use paper-towels. Rocker-blotters can be found at antiques shops or flea-markets or eBay. Or, if you're good with wood, you can easily make your own.

 

[Davep]

I think "cone pins" or cone office pins are thumb tacks, but ones which have a slight cone shape.


Also you may want to get a copy of "the army clerk". Here is a field desk (there are several) set up in the Camp Roberts post museum. There is a copy on the desk in the picture

Large scale version for exploring
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20236305@N05/3688710657/sizes/l/

 

[FinalVestige79]

A cone of office pins is basically meaning a container of office pins, which were the metal types with the wide bowl shaped metal heads. The cone container cam pre-filled with the pins, I'm looking for a picture of the container.

 

[Shangas]

Aaah, push-pins/thumb-tacks...I reckon those would be easy to find. Not sure about the 'cone' though. Rubber bands would also be pretty easy. The eraser is also easy to get.

What is the "tube of paste" for? Is that like glue or something?

 

[MPicciotto]

Shangas,

I have begun exactly what you said regarding the steel pens, pen holders and ink. Maybe it's just the two manufactures but I found a box of "No. 211 Crow-Quill Penholders" and also a box of "Hunt Companion 12 Roundpoint" pens but they don't seem compatible. The pens are a larger diameter then the round slot cut in the ends of the pen holders. I'm guessing one or the other of these is non-standard? As for ink tablets I did buy this off ebay, it arrived the other day and certainly has the coolness factor going for it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...em=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT&salenotsupported

Davep,

Great photo thanks! I will have to see about "Army Clerk" now.

Granadaguy617,

Thanks for clarifiying what "Office Pins" were. I sort of suspected that. Now to find that cone...

I wonder what would be an appropriate container for mixing my ink in while at events? Should I go over to the photo development tent and see if I can't beg a 35mm film canister? Also I think the "tube of paste" is paper paste or rubber cement.

Matt

 

[Shangas]

Good work on the ink-pellets!

How to use the ink-pellets is pretty obvious. You put the ink-pellet into a travelling inkwell...one of these:

And then fill it with water. Shake it around to dilute it a bit. Any small bottle or jar will do, really, but if you want the extra authentic touch, get a travelling inkwell.

I've never had any problems with dip-pens and pen-holders. You just need to find the holder and pen that fit each other. Usually they're all made to a universal size so that any (or most) pens will fit most holders.

 

[Fletch]

I'm getting this kind of result by Google Image Searching office pins.

Before the invention of the stapler, multipage documents were commonly fastened with straight pins.

A stapler meant carrying extra weight in the field. They were all heavyweight models then. Plus it could jam.

Can't you just see basic training for clerk-typists? Bunch of 30something misfit draftees, blindfolded, tearing down and reassembling office staplers under the verbal barrage of a very old M/Sgt.?

 

[Shangas]

Also, if you've never used dip-pens before, dip-pens bought brand new might have a thin film of oil on them, left over from when they were cut and shaped. To remove the oil, pass a burning match under and around the nib a couple of times. Be warned that the metal can get VERY hot VERY quickly - best to use tweezers to hold the nib.

Doing this will allow the nib to hold ink more effectively. Also, you can buy little reusable clip-on brass ink-reservoirs that slide under or clip on under the nib, to create a space where the ink can be stored, allowing for more words to be written per dip and saving on time. You can buy such little clip-on reservoirs from the D. Leonhardt website.

 

[MPicciotto]

Can't you just see basic training for clerk-typists? Bunch of 30something misfit draftees, blindfolded, tearing down and reassembling office staplers under the verbal barrage of a very old M/Sgt.?

:eusa_clap lol :eusa_clap lol :eusa_clap lol
"This is my stapler. There are many like it..."

I actually have what I believe to be a war time stapler. It is made by "Speed Products" makers of the venerable Swingline brand of staplers. This is a model 30 with a black crackle paint finish and bakelite handle on top. The first stapler in that other thread you referenced is the Model 3. This is the same body. But the base is made of WOOD! yes, made of wood, and all the data is embossed on the bottom including patent numbers, so it wasn't a field modification.

As for holding documents together I think that is what the "box of fasteners" is for I'm suspecting the brass buttons with the two tabs you put through the paper and bend down.

Thanks about the tin. It's way cool. But currently empty. I guess it's a trip to the art supply store for me.

Matt

 

[Davep]

Here is a photo of a box of WW2 issue thumb tacks

http://www.hayesotoupalik.com/images/DSCF1019.jpg

 

[Fletch]

Ah yes BUT:
-They're not called "office pins." ("Pins, Office"?)
-They come in a box, not a cone.

Then again, the list from Ft. McClellan doesn't mention any kind of tacks.

Nor is mention made of what said pins would be used for. Straight pins wouldn't work for posting bulletins - thumbtacks wouldn't work for joining multipages.

Searching Google Web suggests that the term office pin is now used only in Asia, where it can mean either a straight pin or a pushpin.

 

[Davep]

Fletch you bring up another important issue, and that is slang and terminology. Old words change, and new words are created. That is why photographs, high resolution version are a gift to the past.

 

[Fletch]

Another possibility is what are today called bank pins. They're extra-long straight pins, apparently used in banks before the days of staplers. They're longer than standard straight pin size but less than 2", at which point they become dressmakers' pins.

 

[MPicciotto]

Well the "Box of Fasteners" and the "Cone of Office Pins" are two different things. I bought a box of "Fasteners" today. I also bought a box of thumb tacks, because whether or not they are on that list, they are on my personal list of useful stuff to put in my desk for reenactments. Let the debate continue to rage on office pins.

Matt

 

[Eyemo]

I have one of these too...and would love to stock it up with items

 

[JustCallMeLexie]

I've been doing a lot of searching online to see if there was anywhere I could find tips on building a field desk. I haven't found anything. You gentlemen seem to know your stuff, so I wonder if anyone has seen or heard anything about building your own field desk?

 

[John in Covina]

I've been doing a lot of searching online to see if there was anywhere I could find tips on building a field desk. I haven't found anything. You gentlemen seem to know your stuff, so I wonder if anyone has seen or heard anything about building your own field desk?

I seem to recall that they have come up with field desks in the field by modifying some type of packing crate or equipment crate. The hinged lid serves as the desk top.

 

[MPicciotto]

I've been doing a lot of searching online to see if there was anywhere I could find tips on building a field desk. I haven't found anything. You gentlemen seem to know your stuff, so I wonder if anyone has seen or heard anything about building your own field desk?

Tell us more on what it is you want from your field desk? Is it for military reenacting? Or for a recreation of say a civilian expedition like a safari or exploration? What era? Are you looking to recreate a mil-spec box or build a representation of a "field expedient"?

The key to building a field desk or any sort of box (if your not going for an exact replica) is to determine if there is anything pre-existing that you can use and modify. In one of my units one of our members and his father in-law built a really great chuck box. The cost of materials and hardware was a couple of hundred dollars. The materials to modify a "modern" military wooden footlocker would probably have been under 25 dollars, purchased new, cheaper if scrounged from dumpsters. So the chuck box could have been built for say 50 dollars, instead of 350 dollars.

Matt

 

[JustCallMeLexie]

I would like to have the field desk for reenacting. I portray a war correspondent from the Chicago Tribune. I don't think it needs to be according to military specs, since everything else us female warcos had was second hand. I'm just wanting something I can set up my impression in and around (newspaper clippings, portable typewriter, cameras, et cetera). I like how cheap you say it could be to make one! I have a brother who's good with all that, so the labor's free too.