LAWRANCE ORDNANCE
1908 Pattern Web Equipment
Khaki Devil are delighted to be able to announce a partnership with Lawrance Ordnance of Sydney, Australia. We were a long way down the road of developing our own 1908 webbing when we decided to see what was already available on the market. All the available sets were 'roadtested' by The Khaki Chums' on tours to the Battlefields of Europe and it was clear to us that the Lawrance Ordnance kit was, by far, the best of the bunch. Rather than re-invent the wheel we decided to approach Lawrance Ordnance and ask if they would be prepared to allow us to be their exclusive UK Agents.
The deal is now in place and all the web items are now in stock, here in the UK, without the wait while they are transported half way around the world. The other major selling point to us was that it is possible to buy individual parts rather than whole sets. This flexibility suits many of you who only need certain parts to complete other sets or additional parts to adapt sets from early to late patterns.
This is Lawrance Ordnance's own description of the production and manufacturing processes which have gone into their webbing:
The release of our reproduction Web Equipment, Pattern 1908 in 2004 was the result of more than two years of painstaking research and development. To accurately reproduce the equipment each article was carefully measured with detailed drawings being made. Original documents as well as period photographs were also used to ensure accuracy. Samples were received, and corrected over many months before a final pattern had been approved.
Unable to locate a weaver that already produced the required standard of webbing we were forced to have the webbing made. This entailed producing one tonne of webbing in 13 different widths and weights. In order to reproduce colour correctly, cotton thread was purchased and dyed before being woven. The colour of the webbing was reproduced by computer colour matching unissued M.E&Co 1916 entrenching tool covers.
All of the brass fittings are die stamped and are produced from new, not recycled, brass. The dies for all brass fittings have been reproduced using original fittings as templates.
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1908 Pattern Straps, Supporting
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