Our response to recent criticisms posted on
"Civil War Reenactors Forum"
Recently A reenactor posted a compliment for our Nuckolls pattern canteens. From that well intended plug we have been unfairly scrutinized. The Forum has not allowed us to respond on their site so we are responding here on ours! We here at Tophats take pride in everything that we build. We research our products and build them accordingly. It was never stated that we had produced an exact copy of a Nuckolls canteen. We have however produced a Nuckolls pattern canteen. one that is based from Nuckolls 1862 design.
From what I have read it appears that our detractors have three main concerns with our canteen.
overall appearance, the use of screws, and the shoulder strap attachment.
Appearance - Yes we did modify the appearance of the spout from that of the originals. This was done purposely for two reasons. the first being overall strength, we do not want our spouts to crack. Secondly it was one of the most obvious ways to show that our canteen is not an original and could never be resold as one in the future. Our canteen sides curvature was also modified for the same reasons. We do not want our customers to experience a crack running along the grain of the face pieces of our canteens.
Screws - We decided to use screws instead of nails or rivets to prevent the wood from splitting. Our canteens are made with "new growth" lumber. The originals were built from "old growth" lumber which was much more resistant to splitting since it had a tighter grain.
Strap attachment - Our canteen is attached by using a metal bar and screws, whereas the originals had a wire type attachment inserted into the body of the canteen. Our method allows for repair and or replacement if needed without breeching the interior of the canteen, which might cause fluid to leak out.
Our canteen was built for use in the reenacting community, and not for museums. Our customers are not issued their equipment from a government quartermaster, and therefore must purchase their own equipment. We have offered a product here that we believe will provide our customers years of hard field service with only minimal normal maintenance required.
We welcome comments here at Tophats positive as well as negative, it is how we have grown as a company. I only wish that those who have attacked our product on the "Civil War Forums" would have had the common courtesy to contact us first and ask a few simple questions before they went on the offensive. We wish that the moderators of the "forum" would have allowed us to post a rebuttal comment on their web site, and to join in the discussion. However for some reason they have not allowed us access. Our belief is that if you are going to run an "open forum" for public comment, then that form should actually be open to all and not just a select few.
For those who are members of the "Civil War Forums" are you sure that you want to be an active member of a group that is "closed" to some in our hobby? Or would it be better to support all reenactors no matter what level they participate at in our hobby? We all started somewhere in this hobby, I know I started with very little when I took the field for the first time in 1982, I might have even been wearing farby footwear!
Tophat
