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Romanian Army Canvas Rucksack Review

 


Romanian army canvas rucksack

Rucksacks are an important piece of kit when practicing bushcraft. It's used to hold your tools and other items needed out in the wild. The pack needs to be comfortable and durable. There are hundreds of choices on the market today for a bushcraft packs. Some of these are suitable for bushcraft, whilst others are not. There are plenty of modern hiking backpacks that have a large carry capacity, whilst some do use these packs for bushcraft, in my opinion these are not suitable and are far too large for the needs of a sensible bushcraft kit. 30 to 35 litres is a perfect sized pack for bushcraft. It will hold plenty of gear and food for several nights camping.

The Romanian pack is in it's element in the snow

The Romanian army canvas rucksack is my current choice of pack for bushcraft. The cotton canvas is well made and durable. The canvas is roughly around 16oz. The leather straps are buckles are sewn in well with leather patches on the inside for added durability. The leather is a nice brown shade and thick. The pack has adjustment for the strap length so that you can get a good fit. The buckles have several adjustments so that you can tighten up the pack if you're not carrying a full load. This pack is roughly 30 litres in size and is a bucket style pack, this means that there are no dividers inside the pack. There is a jute drawstring cord that runs through eyelets at the top of the pack for tightening up once it is loaded with gear. There is one pocket on the right side of the pack, with a leather strap and buckle above for holding items. This was originally used to hold a Romanian tarp rolled up. On the lid of the pack is leather strap and buckle for attaching gear and two leather loops. There is a large leather piece attached near the leather strap and buckle for the lid. These would have been used for holding the Romanian army helmet. Luckily, we can use these attachments for other uses. The right side of the pack has a two leather loops as well. 

A water bottle is attached to one of the leather loops.

This pack has plenty of space for carrying a wide range of gear that you would need for bushcraft and plenty of attachments on the exterior. The cotton canvas can also be waxed to make it waterproof. The canvas without waxing can cope in light rain, however with more wetter climates in will eventually soak through. 

The stitching is well sewn and strong

The pack can be tightened down for a smaller footprint

Modifications

There are several changes that can be made to this pack to suit your needs. There are two however, that I believe everyone should do. 

The first modification I recommend is removing the belt hooks from the leather straps on the pack. these metal hooks would have attached to webbing belt to give further support for the pack. Whilst you could leave these on, I think that once they're removed and out the way, the pack looks better and feels a little nicer whilst wearing it without the hooks swinging around. These are easily removed with a sharp blade and carefully cutting the stitching. These come off in one piece and do not leave any holes in the leather. Once these are removed you can tie down the straps so that there is no longer any excess loose from the strap.

The second modification I recommend is removing the jute cord and replacing it with paracord. This can then be tied off with a cord lock or a nice piece of wood to hold the pack together when it's pulled tight. This makes the pack look neater and makes it actually easier to tie up. The jute cord requires a knot which takes a little longer to do. 

A Barmah hat and the Romanian pack

The Romanian pack and a Optimus No.00 stove

Overview

This is a great pack for bushcraft if you're looking for a traditional styled pack. The materials are high quality and well made and it's a simple design that can suit a variety of bushcraft loads. There is plenty of space and this can be utilized well for a few nights wild camping The canvas can also be waxed for waterproofing or a dry bag can be used instead. For the price, this is a hard pack to beat if you're after a traditional pack that works well and will stand the test of time. 
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