Blankets

[Delmonico]

I also gots a dollar that says he ain't really sleepin'.   But it is a good photo of what bedrolls tended to look like from the descriptions of them.   What ya had fer blankets and a tarp to cover you. 

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Where are those pictures of bedrolls?  I need idears. Wink

Trinity,
Here are a couple of photos of mine.
The cover is made of 10oz Sail Cloth (sail cloth has been around since the days of the Vikings & you can still get it), that I've waterproofed with linseed oil and beeswax, yes I know its not fire proof, but I've been using that formula on canvas for almost forty years and have yet to set myself on fire.

You can get good comercial waterproofing but I try to use the early formulas when I can. This bedroll is about 20 years old and has been in the mountains all the way from Virginia to Montana. I've used just what you see down to 10 below and you can stay comfortable.

The blanket is a Whitney LaChiene, 100% new virgin wool.  Whitney has been making this particular pattern in the Whitney mills of England since 1690 and was a favorite of Native Amercians during the fur trade era, and still is.
If you've got a good quality wool blanket, you can take it to the dry cleaners, and have them dry clean it. This will close up the fibers in the wool and it will almost shed water, but it has to be a good wool blanket and virgin wool is the best.

The cover has four ties on each side made of 1/4" hemp rope installed with 58 cal lead balls, not grommets. This way I can utilize it as a tent or lean-to in nasty weather.

The bottom photo shows what it looks like all bundled up and tied with a carrying strap, which is made of hand woven (not loomed) hemp rope. It weighs in at around 14 pounds, most of the weight in the blanket. It makes a nice tight little bundle for horse back and/or carrying in the woods or mountains.

I forgot to add, the sail cloth measrues 7 feet by 7 feet.

OCB

[Delmonico]

As a side note, dried linseed oil will decrease the flamability of the beeswax, linseed oil is not very flamable.

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[Trinity]

Cool!  Thanks.  Now I have a better idea of what I need to shoot for.

[Delmonico]

The large bedrolls by the chuckwagon in my opinion tend to repersent what cowboys carried on the northern plains on roundups.  These took place in the spring and fall when the weather was cooler and more blankets were needed.  Every picture I can find good documentation on of chuckwagons are of roundups, the bedrolls carried on these were much heavier than what were used on trail drives from Texas which took place in warmer weather.

On roundups in the colder weather and on trail drives when the weather got chilly two cowboys that were on the same watch would bunk together placing on tarp on the ground, covering with the blankets and the other tarp.

I carry 5 heavy quilts in mine, when the weather isn't cold the extras make a good padding on the ground.