Swedish M/40 Mess Kit -Stove Modification for Espresso Pot M40/44

After our trip to La Connor earlier his week, I realized that it might be nice to use our new Swedish M/40 Mess Kit and Stove set up to steam up a pot of Italian espresso while out in the field.  The problem with the M/40 kits, is that they will support the mess kit pots, but not anything that is narrower....... like an Italian espresso pot!

You can see in this photo, how the size of the cook pot is limited by the open area after the pot stands are folded open inside the stove.

     
A quick bit of rummaging through the scrap pile in the back of the shop and I came up with a couple of pieces of very heavy duty, mild steel plate that was drilled out with penny-size holes.  Perfect for my adapter plate for the inside of the M/40 stove.   I traced out the bottom profile of the mess kit pot and cut the shape out with a hack saw.  I smoothed it up with a file, burned the paint off with a torch, cleaned it up with coarse sandpaper and then painted it with a couple of coats of green, hi-temp, barbeque paint.  I preheated the finished paint with the torch to let it get through the initial smoking (If you don't do this, the paint will smoke when you first heat it on the stove to cook on it).

Here are a few shots of the plate and how it fits in the stove and with the espresso pot.  The plate sits on the fold-up pot supports inside the stove.  I highly recommend this addition to any Swedish M/40 stove set up.

The grill stores nicely in the bottom of the stove base.  I wrap mine to keep it padded and quiet while transporting the bundled up kit.

Bundesgrenzschutz Parka, BGS Sumpfmuster Camo

 I've been on the look out for a Bundesgrenzschutz camo jacket ever since I started collecting BGS items (from the time I started restoring the BGS bicycle over a year ago).  The price and availability of these jackets have always kept me from finding the right jacket, at the right price.............  that is, until a few weeks ago.  While going through my usual routine of searching eBay for BGS items, I started searching for Bundesgrenzschutz items using misspelled words, and odd search phrases.  My crazy search paid off this time!  I found a Bundesgrenzschutz camo parka that was listed in the wrong category, with Bundesgrenzschutz misspelled and no mention of BGS or Police in the description!  To make a long story short, I had the winning bid, at a fire-sale price!  Score!  I received the jacket earlier this week, and after a few repairs, I love it.

When I bought the jacket off of eBay, I was told that the only damage was a slash through the shoulder sleeve pocket flap and patches.  The slash was repaired with heavy zig-zag stitching and the listing photo showed this clearly.  The seller said that he could not find any other damage and that other than the flap, the jacket was in near perfect condition, and it sounded like it would be my size.  When the jacket arrived, I pulled out the liner and got it ready to go into the washer (STRONG cigarette smoke smell!).  It was at this time, I noticed that there had been two slashes on the back of the jacket that had also been repaired.  The repairs were nearly invisible from the outside.  There was also a small cut in the liner that lined up with the outer shell slashes.  I did a little zig-zag stitch along the raw edges before washing to keep the fabric from unraveling and tossed it in the washer.  After the jacket air dried, I removed the damaged BGS patches from the sleeve flap and repaired the flap slash with iron-on tape inside the flap (the tape was totally concealed between the inner and outer flap fabric), followed by straight stitching by machine.  I then sewed on a new set of BGS patches.  It turned out great!  The small "Bundesgrenzschutz" arch is not perfect, so when I find one one in better shape, I'll replace it.  Until then it's good to go.

Here are the "Before" shots of the jacket flap:

Here are the "After" shots of the jacket flap:

Here are a couple of shots of the repaired slashes on the jacket back and liner:

Interior shot..... backside of the fabric.

Backside of pile liner.

Before we move on to the "photo album" of this great parka, let's just touch on a few of the details of this style of camo and parka.  The camo on this jacket is Bundesgrenzschutz Sumpfmuster 3rd Pattern.  This camo pattern is nearly identical to the WW2 Wehrmacht Sumpfmuster 43 pattern.  This BGS Sumpfmuster 3rd Pattern camo style was used from 1963 until the Bundesgrenzschutz discontinued the use of camo in 1976.  The parka was adopted in the mid 1960's and is nearly identical to the all green, post-1976, BGS parka.

When I received the jacket, it had a very old set of shoulder boards attached.  They are obviously not correct for a jacket of this time period and I suspect that they may be from the early 1950's or maybe from WW2.  The gold trim is brittle with age and the wool fabric has that old and stiff-brittle feel as well.  I'll be researching them........ if anyone reading this blog entry has any good information on these boards, I'd love to get a comment or email from you!

Update on the shoulder boards, 8/25/11:
The photos of the boards have been view and evaluated by a number of long time collectors of WW2 German military equipment and uniforms and the unanimous opinion on these boards is that they are original WW2 Wehrmacht.  The edge piping is white, for Infantry.  Here is the link to my seperate posting on these Wehrmacht Shoulder Boards.

Here's the album:

The date labels in the parka and liner both match and have the same date and maker.  They also both have the same soldier's name tag sewed onto the liner and shell.  It's nice to know the liner and shell are both original mates...... dated 1975.

And to end things in the usual historic style....... here a few shots of this parka in use by BGS officers.  The photos are from the late 1960's.  Notice the great use of white paper under the helmet nets for snow camo in the first photo.

Parka worn by officer on the far left.

Espresso in La Conner on our Coleman Sportster Camp Stove

Sweet Pea, the pugs and I took a day and headed up to Whidbey Island and then over to Marysville, via the wonderful little town of La Conner, and then back to Port Townsend.  We had a great day, rode both of our new ferries, the Chetzemoka and Salish, found a few treasures in Mt. Vernon, had an espresso break under La Conner's Rainbow Bridge, bought a couple of incredible "wet burritos at our favorite drive-through Mexican food spot in Anacortes and then ate them by the shore of Deception Pass............. all-in-all, a great day!

The little Coleman Sportster 502-700 stove worked wonderfully for a quick pot of espresso in our little Italian espresso pot.  The stove fits perfectly in my little salt and pepper Swiss bag.  It's a perfect grab-and-go bag for the little stove.

View from our "coffee break" spot by the road........

The Coleman Sportster & Espresso Pot steaming away.

Sharky and Sweet Pea

Here's a short vacation photo album from the trip:

On the Ferry looking back at Port Townsend.... on our way north in the A.M.

Looking west at Fort Worden as we leave Port Townsend.

La Conner.  Looking back towards town as we drink our espressos.

On the ferry home, looking back at Whidbey Island.

On the ferry, almost home, the end of a great day!