A Rare Waffen Werkzeugtasche
This weekend I am staying home cleaning relics and doing stuff around the house, preparing for winter. The reason for such an unconventional choice, instead of metal detecting, is that hunting season started on Friday. During the first few days of the hunt it is quite busy out there, so it is a great opportunity to get other work done and to recover from this weeks attempts to find rusted treasures, which I am still a bit sore from.
Earlier this week I spent a couple of long and hard days searching two different gebirgsjäger camps. Both have a bit challenging terrain and the ground on these sites are mostly hard and full of rocks and roots.
In the camp I searched on day one I roamed around randomly the first few hours not finding very much at all. I was trying to only dig the cleanest and best signals, which I have been doing most of the season, contrary to what I have usually done, dug on everything.
The strategy didn`t really pay off this time though. The only things to surface were cream tubes, food tins, unmarked cutlery, stove parts and rather uninteresting bits of field equipment.
The remaining hours of the search I spent fine combing one of the "relic hot-spots" I had discovered last time I metaldetected the camp.
This resulted in a single good find. Or dare I say Great?
Field kitchen ladle. Instructions for an oven.
From directly below the mats of moss and berry bushes I pulled out a hinged and foldable, stamped metal plate with handles on each of its short sides. It was rusted, but I could make out two letters on it. "I.M or W.I".
I had a vague suspicion to what this item was, which I confirmed by turning it over.
This side of the item had laid face down into the ground and was far less rusted. It was military green and had silhouettes of various tools in white paint. From its size and shape I could see that it would fit into an Mg ammo box, which I had found the lid of a few meters away a bit earlier. An Mg 34 tool kit! With such a kit the Waffenmeister or Unterwaffenmeister could do field repairs on most of the infantry weapons in the German Army.
What an awesome find to get on the end of the day!
Next morning I made the tool kit a warm bath with oxalic acid and gave it a quick rinse. A lot of the rust disappeared, but it still needs a proper cleaning and loosening of the hinges.
Waffen Werkzeugtasche Painted initials.
The next day of searching was also a full day, just with much less finds. It is strange how this works. On the two previous trips to this particular forest I brought home eight helmets, but now, nothing.
It was faaar between the signals, and I spent long time combing an area where all I found were horseshoes and scraps of zink. Luckily the weather was great so I got to enjoy a beautiful autumn day up close with nature.
On my way back to the car I found a small relic spill from where I picked with me a few toothpaste tubes, an empty but intact EKM leather pouch, a small bottle with a leather cover, food tins and a small knife.
Other than that I had found a gas mask canister and a bike lamp so my backpack was quite light when I reached the car.
I found something else than relics though, which made the day even better. Several kilo of Chaga mushroom. Success!
Chaga mushroom. Knife and EKM pouch. Bottle with leather cover.
I am having a few ideas as where to search in the coming week, avoiding hunters and maybe get some chances to land a few better finds than on this round. In any case fresh air will be had, and nature will be enjoyed. Oh, and the Northern Lights season is on again. The last evenings the show from Aurora has been breathtaking!
Thanks for reading. I wish you a great day! :)
Northern lights Auroras show is always worth watching One of the best things in northern norway. Autumn unmarked fork Top of Mg ammo box. Food tind and toothbrush and toothpaste. From the camps water system. Instruction tag from an oven. Producer mark on an oven part. Klauenbeil. Cheese tube and food tin. Smokestack in a bunker. Gas mask canister. Backpack frame. Bike lamp. Small finds. Autumn in the north.
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